Ovation Trophy 2012 – the Prologue

“Yesterday evening I arrived at Lucerne, and put up at the best inn there, the Schweitzerhof” [Count Leo Tolstoy, “Lucerne”] I looked around the Cirrus as we pulled away from the dock opposite The Schweizerhof, one of our host hotels. What an eclectic mix we were – Danes, Germans, Italians, French, various Swiss, many Brazilians,… Read more »

Care in the Air. Customer service at Delta Airlines?

I’m seething with rage at Delta Airlines. When I needed an airline to be “human” and to understood a painful personal situation I was treated appallingly with extreme disrespect. When I then spent considerable time documenting this experience for the airline I was told that complaints had been “out-sourced” to another airline and then I… Read more »

How do you market a destination? Lessons from Memphis

by Padraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua Tourism-Review.Com recently ran a piece by David Whitley (http://www.grumpytraveller.com) entitled “A Destination Marketing Dilemma: How do you sell a city like Sheffield?” It’s a well written, mildly strident rant about what he calls the “cack-handed, hope-over-reality marketing” that many destination organisations are guilty of. He insists that destination marketing… Read more »

It’s not about the money, money, money? Leveraging employee engagement and emotional connections for success

“It’s not about the money, money, money” Leveraging employee engagement and emotional conections for success by Padraic Gilligan, Vice President, Industry Relations, MCI In the November issue of Pharmaceutical Market Europe, Nick Eve, CEO of UK based communications agency, Pumphouse, writes about employee engagement. He quotes recent research that shows the issues facing major corporations… Read more »

Sweet Home Alabama?

“Sweet Home Alabama?” By Padraic Gilligan, Managing Director, Ovation Global DMC and Vice President, Industry Relations, MCI The much reported story of the German corporate executive who was arrested and jailed in Alabama for not having the required documentation on his person raises some interesting issues for corporate meeting planners and destination marketers. It appears the… Read more »

EIBTM 2011 – Behind the Scenes

EIBTM 2011 – Behind the Scenes by Padraic Gilligan, VP, Ovation Global DMC and Global VP, Industry relations MCI  2010 v 2011 What a difference! What a difference a year makes! Exactly one year ago most of Europe lay under a thick covering of snow making travel in and out of Barcelona extremely problematical. This… Read more »

Do you know weird and wonderful people? Key Attributes for DMC success.

The late, great Jack Franchek once told me that success as a DMC was all about cultivating relationships with weird people. And Jack being Jack exaggerated that contention to the nth degree: “Unless you’ve got a whole bunch of outcasts and weirdos in your Rolodex (this was a pre-Internet age!), you’re as useful to me as… Read more »

Hero or Villain? The true identity of the DMC!

At an industry function recently I found myself seated between two agency executives. I spent a fascinating and frightening evening listening to war stories about their experiences with DMCs around the world. In roughly half of the stories the war in question was won as a result of incredible acts of heroism and valour on… Read more »

A week in Las Vegas – Days 4, 5 and 6 (Site International Conference)

A Week in Vegas – Days 4, 5 and 6 (Site International Conference) IMEX America drew to a euphoric close on Thursday PM with all participants declaring it a triumph. It was a real “if-you-build-it-they-will-come” phenomenon but not so much in relation to infrastructure as human relationships. Ray Bloom has build strong relationships in our… Read more »