Help for Chronic Losers
If you are perpetually running around — not for your clients, but in search of your missing PDA — or if the Taxi Commission's Lost and Found is the most called number on your cell phone, you might want to consider one company's product.
Trackitback sells coded ID labels for about $10 each. Customers affix them to their personal items and then register the unique ID numbers through www.trackitback.com. When a registered item is lost, the ID label instructs anyone who finds the item to call the toll-free number provided on the label. The company's recovery center is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to assist in the recovery of its clients' lost items. The system safeguards the customer's identity.
Trackitback makes all arrangements for the item's safe return and does not charge any additional shipping or recovery fees incurred in the process. Finders who report lost items also receive a reward — a free pack of ten ID labels. Additionally, customers also have the option of offering a cash reward to finders. This cash reward amount is determined when the customer originally registers the item at the Web site. It can be whatever amount is deemed appropriate, based on the value of the item.
The company is based in Canada but is introducing its services to U.S. customers. President Jason Wagner claims that most missing items are lost and not stolen, but that because of lack of identification and a convenient return process, only 5 percent of lost items are ever returned to their owners.
The labels are available in a variety of sizes, including ones suitable for cell phones, cameras, MP3 players, laptops, and PDAs. Canadian consumers can find the ID labels at over 1,500 retailers, while U.S. customers can purchase the labels directly from the company's Web site.
Sites for Sightseers
q: Are you just back from vacation but already daydreaming about your next one? Or perhaps you haven't yet picked this year's destination because you have only narrowed down your vacation spot to a continent or two so far? Here are three Web sites that may be able to help you with the planning — or the fantasizing.
a) VirtualTourist ( www.virtualtourist.com ) boasts that it has over 600,000 members from over 220 countries sharing insights, unbiased hotel reviews, and tips on the best hotel rates and airline fares. Members sign up for free and get free Web space to create their personal travel pages. There are over one million photos posted by the members, who write passionate guides about the cities they visit.
b) WhatsOnWhen ( www.whatsonwhen.com ) has an amazing listing of upcoming and ongoing events all over the world. You can search by month, destination, and interest (including arts, bizarre, kids and family, gay and lesbian, science and knowledge), as well as by keyword. For example, the word "joust" called up nearly 50 events through June 2006 in about 10 countries.
c) GoNomad ( www.gonomad.com ) bills itself as the alternative travel resource. It defines this as travel that teaches, challenges, enlightens, and rewards. Examples are taking a weaving course in Guatemala; volunteering in Nepal; joining an active, educational tour through Europe: or staying with a local family in Africa. The site includes links to programs on studying, volunteering, teaching, and interning abroad.
When your room comes with that little extra something– or someone
Consultants have some of the best travel tales.
Here's a roundup of some of their stories pertaining to unexpected "guests":
• "I showed up at a Comfort Inn late one night and went into my room, and there was a naked man on my bed. He hadn't been able to get a reservation for that night, so he had checked in the night before and checked out, but never left. As it was the last room in the hotel, there was nowhere for me to stay. I had to call a friend and stay in his spare bed."
— Charles Wise, principal, Inforte
• "I had a cricket move in with me on one weeklong stay. The hotel staff was unable to locate the cricket, since he only sang when the lights were off at night. They were also unwilling to renegotiate the room price based on the additional 'occupant.'" — Mike Kincaid, manager, Kurt Salmon Associates
• "I found a cockroach in the room and gave it to the desk clerk upon checking out. The room fee was waived."
— Noel Kreicker, principal, IOR Global Services
• "At the Marriott South Beach Miami, mosquitoes got into my room. They sent someone up immediately to spray the room and brought me something for the bug bites. Once the sliding doors were closed and the room free of mosquitoes, they sent cookies up and an apology for the Miami weather and high number of bugs." — Dianne Faup, former Director, First Consulting Group; currently with the Office of the Deputy Secretary, US Department of Health & Human Services
• "I am 39 years old. I was staying at the Ritz Carlton in San Juan and had not put the secondary lock on the door. In the middle of the night, four beautiful Puerto Rican women came into my room (by mistake) and jumped into bed with me. There was a bit of screaming and then a bit of laughing. The hotel never did figure out why they were sent to this room and why their key worked in my door. They were actually checked into the room below me. Things like this never happened to me before I was married. Boo-hoo." — Gary Davidson, executive vice president, Harbor Consulting
Rewards Vs. Comfy Bed
Nearly 65 percent of those who responded to Consulting Magazine's Best Places to Stay survey say that hotel membership reward programs influence where they stay. However, when choosing an accommodation for a stay of more than a month, location and the quality of the accommodation edged out loyalty programs. It seems that when consultants are looking for lodging for the long haul, practicality and comfort mean more than any gained points.
a) Hotel membership reward programs influence where I stay.
Strongly agree:
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