The McCluskey Blog

The voice of today's customer

An interesting new website, which works a little like TripAdvisor, is starting to make an impact in the UK. Sutori.com is a community-based website that aims to provide an outlet for the voice of today's consumer, and offers companies the chance to respond if it takes their fancy.

The site enables consumers to (usually) have a bit of a rant and register their 'mood', which can range from 'delighted', 'frustrated', 'livid with rage' to 'I think I'm in love'. You can measure which companies are most loved or hated by visiting the Goodwill Meter.

To date the site is a little empty - there are some good examples of moans and debates, such as this one about Carnival Cruise Lines, and this one on United Airlines, but there don't seem to be many companies taking the initiative and responding yet. Probably because they have no idea of the site's existence.

It's an interesting point - how much time should companies spend monitoring, and responding to, sites like this? Presumably more will develop over time, so does it conversely mean that companies should allocate resources accordingly? Does the complaints department trawl the web instead of waiting for the letters / phone calls?

Certainly TripAdvisor can rightly claim to enjoying a certain amount of influence when it comes to the travel industry. On its homepage it makes the impressive claim that '18,103,970 Travelers From 190 Countries Planned Trips Here This Week'. That's an amazing figure if true. On its 'about' page, TripAdvisor offers instructions for how representatives of hotel, restaurant, or attraction management can respond to reviews written about their property. I wonder how many actually do - whatever the figure is, I'll be it's not even 1% of 18,103,970.

Feelgood-Factual

I wrote several months ago about the dearth of good travel programming on TV. BBC Holiday is no more, and Wish You Were Here...? hasn't been with us for a long time now. But there is a new type of pseudo-travel programme all over our screens at the moment, and it's called Feelgood-Factual.

Every so often I read Private Eye, which is where I first read the FF term. Their column 'The Zapper' lists shows such as Coast, Great British Journeys, Britain's Favourite View, Mountain, Robbie Coltrane's B-Road Britain, etc. etc.

Says Private Eye: "The idea is that the hubbub of modern life has put us out of touch with the 'real' Britain - that is, the Britain where the Boche got bashed, you could set your watch by the railways and, if you left your front door open, someone would probably pop round and tidy your garden. As luck would have it, TV is on hand to show us that this Britain still exists. It makes for great telly because everyone likes being told their country is something more than a cesspit; the luscious aerial photography certainly suggests as much and the potted histories that accompany such patriotic porn lend it all a gleam of worthiness."

As with many major TV series nowadays, travel pages offer their interpretation / added detail for readers. See these examples from the Telegraph and the Guardian. And another Telegraph one. 

I'd be interested to hear any comments from some of this blog's international readers - do you see a similar trend in TV programming in your country?

Elvis Week

You may not know it, but this week is Elvis Week. This Thursday, it will be 30 years to the day since the King passed away whilst sitting on his 'throne'.

The week is billed by the organisers as the largest celebration of all things Elvis in history. Online, at Graceland and around the world, projects that celebrate Elvis's legacy are being planned. Millions of Elvis fans will attend events and, of course, purchase a huge amount of memorabilia and merchandise.

Graceland is now statistically the second most visited private residence in the United States, behind only the White House. The Graceland grounds include a museum containing many Elvis artifacts, like some of his famous Vegas jumpsuits, awards, gold records, the Lisa Marie jetliner, and Elvis's extensive car collection. One of the most impressive displays is the trophy room off the main house, displaying Elvis's huge collection of gold and platinum records and other awards, stage costumes, photographs and more.

Plans have been announced to turn Graceland into an international tourist destination on a par with the Disney or Universal theme parks, sprucing up the mansion and doubling the 600,000 annual visitors. A new hotel is a possibility, or an expansion to the nearby Heartbreak Hotel.

The Telegraph has some good coverage of the 30th anniversary, as does the Times which features its view of the 50 greatest Elvis songs - with videos.

And finally, for those of you with nothing better to do - my favourite 5 Elvis links.

One, two, three, four, five.