Vacation Planning Technology

So here I am in a Sedona coffee shop filled with locals, Java Love Café, I highly recommend. I booked this trip about a month and a half ago on an impulse. Now Sedona has been on my list for a long time but the actual decision was made one day in a half hour at lunch in my office.

As a time share owner, I have access to other properties at random times called “Getaways.” So every-once-in-awhile I search availability just for fun, to day dream and possibly plan a trip. Well, April 11, 2011, Sedona finally showed up with availability! And not just an odd date in a week’s time, Memorial Day week! (9 day vacation for only 4 vacation days :))I quickly checked flights on Southwest, they were still affordable so I booked the trip. And the research began…

I read reviews of the Sedona Summit on Trip Advisor. As I said, I’m a time share owner so I’m used to the hard sell when you check in. This place got hammered with bad reviews because of the aggressive sales people. It also had super positive reviews for the rooms, amenities and location. The picture above is one of the breath-taking views from the property. Perfect!

I love the pre-vacation anticipation and exploring the activities the destination has to offer. And as a marketer, Wow! I love SEO for this! Found this coffee shop where I’ve met the most interesting local fellas! Found the Cowboy Club restaurant where I ate snake, buffalo and cactus for the first time ever. (Touristy and crowded but fun to try the funky, weird food) Found my private hiking guide Jim from sedonahikingadventures.com online. He’s become my own personal Sedona concierge and you’ll hear more about him in my next entry. I also booked a body wrap and sunrise balloon ride thanks to the handy, dandy SEO.

And my brother-in-law’s very polite GPS lady guided me to Sedona with zero wrong turns and no stress.

Now that I’m here, I’m not completely detaching from technology. Got a phone call and a few texts on my Blackberry during my hike yesterday! So weird that I got service way out there but not in my room! That’s fine, I need time to quiet my mind, breathe deeply, feel the energy and shut this laptop down!

Survivor Tweets Rock!

I recently posted about how I rarely watch live TV. I love my DVR for the freedom it’s given me!

Well, the last few weeks Survivor episodes have had the host, Jeff Probst, live tweeting during the show. This is the coolest! To have this kind of access to the host, the guy who’s been there since the beginning, to have his commentary, jokes and insights is a huge value-add to sitting alone on my couch yelling at the TV!

And this resurrects ‘appointment viewing’ for TV. For the last two weeks I’ve been on the couch promptly at 7 with my Blackberry in hand to watch Survivor and follow Jeff’s tweets. I’m watching live so I can’t fast forward through the commercials. This has to make the advertisers happy. It has improved my viewing experience, deepened my loyalty and now I’m telling people about it!

On the flip side, yesterday a group of managers met in our conference room to watch a webinar on coaching. The hosts gave us the hashtag to use so we could comment and submit questions. They failed to manage their time properly and due to all of their extraneous bantering, they ran out of time and couldn’t take advantage of the feedback received via Twitter. Bummer for them!