The Biggest Ship, Secret Hacks, & a Trip Up Our Sleeve

We're back with a fresh season and a chance for you to win a getaway! We'll share tales from our recent travels, from mega-cruises to local jaunts. Get the inside scoop on the travel industry's surprising trends and the strategies shifting our own business plans. We're dishing out handy travel hacks to save you money and headaches. Plus, stay tuned for the full reveal of our big giveaway and exciting plans for this season!

Season Three Kickoff and Travel Updates

Narrator: Welcome to No Tourists Allowed, a podcast where two recognized travel industry executives with a combined 71 years on the inside of travel and technology give up their secrets to the thing everyone wants to do: travel better, pay less, and see more of the world. Here are your hosts, Mike Putman and James Ferrara.

Mike Putman: Good day, everyone. I'm Mike Putman.

James Ferrara: And I am James Ferrara. Welcome back to No Tourists Allowed. I should say happy season three, Mike.

Mike Putman: Yes, season three it is. As our loyal listeners would know, we did take a break over the holiday season, which extended beyond the holiday season into Chinese New Year.

Lots of stuff going on with the businesses and it's just been tough. So apologies for not starting back up when we said we would, but we're here now.

James Ferrara: But in a good way, it's been tough, right? It's because we've had so much business and so much travel. We've been on the road a lot, Mike and I, as usual, and we've had a lot to celebrate.

The Season Three Grand Prize Giveaway

We ended last season by giving away a Virgin Voyages cruise for two. So it is kind of appropriate that we'll start this season, Mike, with a little announcement. We are going to give away at the end of season three, which will be towards the summer, a free vacation for two.

We've done cruises before, so we’ve come back to land and we will do an incredible vacation for two on land. We won't tell you exactly what the details are yet. We're going to tease that out over the next couple of podcasts, so keep coming back. You might hear about a luxury all-inclusive resort or some fabulous European capital. Who knows?

The other thing is that you'll hear about how to get in on this drawing. Our brilliant producer, Nathaniel DeSanctis, worked up a program last season where you did different things during the season to get more and more entries into the drawing.

Why fix it if it ain't broke? We're going to do the same thing this year. We might ask you to come to the website, refer a friend, download the podcast, or do any number of things and get more and more entries into the drawing.

Mike Putman: Absolutely. And we don't know what we're giving away yet, to be honest. That's why we're not telling you. But we will know and it will be fantastic as always. It has to be a great way to have some fun this season as well.

Traveling for the Lunar New Year

Lots has happened over the holiday period and through January. We're in the middle of a very important time for a lot of our friends in China and other parts of Asia that celebrate their New Year. The kickoff was this past Saturday, February 10th.

This is the Year of the Dragon and this runs until the 24th of February, culminating on the 24th with a Lantern Festival. It's a very important time. For those of you who don't know or haven't been involved, it's a bit like our Christmas or holiday season.

A lot of people take time off and a lot of people travel. It's a very big holiday, especially for those in China who celebrate. The travel business goes crazy in that market. You can't get seats on trains or flights. It's a very important holiday. We are just getting through that part of the season.

James Ferrara: Mike, I've never been there for that. So I'd like to put in a request that next year's podcast around this time, we do that in China for the festival.

Mike Putman: Oh yeah, and we just need to plan far in advance because things get booked up. It's a crazy time for sure.

Recent Adventures and New Cruise Ships

James Ferrara: Where have you been between mid-December and now? I mean, I just came back from Nashville, from Florida, and from the inaugural of the new Icon of the Seas from Royal Caribbean, the largest cruise ship in the world.

We went to the Bahamas, but the ship itself is a destination with 10,000 people on board and at least 30 restaurants and entertainment venues. We had an amazing time, of course. Where have you been?

Mike Putman: You know, I was just talking to Nathaniel before we got started today and I am trying to remember. Since Christmas, I think I have only flown to Florida where we had a meeting, and then I went to Charleston.

Actually, I've done two trips to Charleston. Once to see my daughter after Christmas and then another time my company had their executive retreat and we rented a house on the Isle of Palms. We spent four or five days together going through strategy.

But that's been about it. It's been actually a little bit light for me. A lot of travel in November and December, but I spent a lot of time at home, which has been a nice break.

James Ferrara: Well, I'm going over to London in a couple of weeks. Maybe you'll come with; we'll have a chat about that.

Talking about cruises, Mike, I know you saw the inaugural of the Icon, which was spectacular. I'm sure all of our listeners saw lots of photos on Instagram and the news. There was a tremendous amount of coverage.

But Carnival is going to christen a new ship that I think you might be attending as well, with a surprise godmother with long fingernails. That's Gwen Stefani, the pop singer. I'm a big fan of Gwen Stefani.

When I went on Icon, the godfather of that ship was Lionel Messi, the great soccer star. That’s unusual, by the way, to have a man; it's usually a woman. I got to meet him and take a picture with him.

So I'm really hoping, fingers crossed, that when I go on the inaugural of Jubilee—and I have to do these things, guys, it's part of my job—I'm going to be angling for a photo with Gwen.

Mike Putman: That would be cool. Actually, she literally ran into my wife. We were walking back to our car from dinner and she had her kids and I don't know if it was her husband or her boyfriend. This was like 10 years ago and she literally walked right into my wife.

I didn't know who she was, but my wife recognized her, and of course she started chatting her ear off as Gwen was apologizing profusely for running into her. That was my brush with her.

But given the choice, Lionel Messi—I'm a soccer fan and boy, that would have been something special had I been invited. But I was not invited to the Icon of the Seas, so I didn't get a chance to meet him. Maybe next time.

The 2024 Travel Industry Outlook

James Ferrara: Listen, since we're starting off the year—and that's part of the fun of this business, meeting people like that, testing out new cruise ships, eating, all of that—it all comes under the rubric of travel, right?

There have been some very interesting research papers done, some analysis and forecasts for the year. The outlook for the travel industry is great, despite what I've heard from people with other viewpoints.

I deal a lot with bankers and people from the financial sector. They're looking at the economy in general and they have some concerns. It's a presidential election year, and while we seem to be doing much better with inflation, the credit markets are tight.

People with that background think that it also applies to travel. But this year at least is a good example of where I don't think that's true. The outlook for the travel industry is very different from the outlook in the credit market.

There's been a lot of talk the last year or two about the decline in revenge travel. Remember that feeling we all had after the pandemic, like we just want to travel as a kind of revenge against our time in the pandemic? Yes, that has sloped off and is almost gone now.

But there were people who predicted that travel sales would slope off as a result, that things would slow down. Actually the opposite is true. We're seeing great growth in the travel industry, despite the fact that revenge travel has disappeared.

Mike Putman: Yeah, this report James is referring to is by Deloitte. There are some interesting points in that. One of the things it was saying is that we're past this revenge travel part, but they measure intention of travel, which is our precursor.

When they survey people throughout travel, the intention rate is higher than it has been, even after the pandemic. You can see this stair-step rise where there's still more demand, or intention of demand, which typically plays itself out.

Two points came to my mind as I was reading through that study. One is that this is a presidential election year. Every presidential election year I have seen in my 39 years in the business, there has been a softening during that period.

Not necessarily now, but as we get closer to the election, like the third and fourth quarter, there is typically a softening. When there's a lack of clarity and certainty in a marketplace, people withdraw their disposable income.

They still may go out to eat or buy clothes, but what you see a softening in is that discretionary spend when people are uncertain of what's going to happen in the future. So I think we will see that.

The other point is that the world has really changed after the pandemic and the attitudes of people in more mature markets have changed. I think there has been a switch from buying hard goods, like a luxury car, toward putting that money toward experiences.

A lot of experiences revolve around travel—certain peak experiences in your life. There's been a lot of research that supports that theory and I think the pandemic had a lot to do with it. It's great for our industry and great for people to do these lifetime things rather than putting money into assets that depreciate.

James Ferrara: Agreed. I like the fact that the Deloitte study and another study from Phocuswright actually agree on this projection that travelers will spend more. A large percentage of travelers say they intend to spend more this year even than last year, and last year was a boom year.

Also the Phocuswright report was about economic and cultural sustainability, not just environmental sustainability. I really like that because it's something we talk about here a lot at No Tourists Allowed.

We've talked about visiting places, supporting local economies, and trying to maintain that sense of place. We shouldn't turn a tourist destination into T-shirt shops and ice cream stores, but try to preserve the very things that make that place special.

The Phocuswright report asked travelers what they want to spend their money on. About two-thirds said they want to spend their money in a way that it benefits the local economy. I think that's really intertwined with our message: eat in local authentic restaurants, shop locally, and stay at more authentic places.

Try to stay away from the big boxes and look for something that's more true to the destination. The economic effect of that is really important. It is a kind of sustainability. I really love that about that report. So look it up, guys, if you're interested. It's Phocuswright's report called Beyond Climate Change: Cultural and Economic Sustainability in Travel.

Mike Putman: Yes, very good. And the guys at Phocuswright—for those of you who may not be aware, they are the leading research consultancy company in the travel business.

Corporate Events and Business Acquisitions

James Ferrara: Mike, a lot of other headlines are going on, not the least of which is that my company, InteleTravel, has acquired a new company. We acquired a company called MGME, which is a big corporate events and meeting planning agency.

It's such a wonderful thing for us. It's a move into a new part of the travel industry where they do incentive travel programs for corporations, product launches, and big life sciences and pharmaceutical events.

Their clients are HBO, the Estée Lauder Companies, and Verizon. Very blue-chip clients. It is an exciting move for us and we will be able to have our InteleTravel advisors offer these kinds of event services to large corporations.

It has been all over the trade press. We have another acquisition that we're about to announce in the next couple of weeks, too, in a totally different direction in the travel industry.

Mike Putman: And for most of our listeners who aren't going to know the size of McVeigh Associates—that's their old name—there are over 50 employees that are part of that acquisition.

James Ferrara: Sure. They typically do between 500 and 1,000 events a year for their clients, and the economic value of those events is over half a billion dollars in travel spend and event production. So it is an important company and a really important growth for my company.

International Travel Hack: eSIMs

Mike Putman: That is awesome. I want to tell our listeners about a couple of things over the last few months that I picked up on that might help them in their travel. We talk about travel hacks often.

I found that iPhones 14 and above have an eSIM feature. I'm going to tell you why this is important. You have a SIM card that your mobile provider gives you, but in newer phones, you can program your phone basically to have a second account.

In most European countries data is shared. But with the UK backing out of the European Union, their data is separate. For Americans traveling abroad, you generally get whacked with heavy charges if you use data.

I learned there are companies like US Mobile. They're not a paid advertiser, but I've had experience with them. These folks sell eSIMs that can be your secondary phone line with international packages.

If you are a subscriber of one of the big mobile companies in the US, you may not have international coverage and it might be expensive. You can pick up a second line for as low as $72 for an entire year.

That can give you a second phone number and international data and calling. Something to think about if you're going to travel a lot overseas and your current plan is restrictive. You can save a tremendous amount of money.

James Ferrara: Mike, I learned that lesson the hard way years ago. I went on a trip and came back to a $900 bill because my plan didn't cover international data. Now I have an international plan that I leave on all the time.

It's basically $10 a month from AT&T. Since I travel so much, you can turn it on and off every month. If you're an AT&T customer, all you have to do is inquire about the international plan. That's a really reasonable way to do it, too.

Airline Hacks and Regulatory Updates

Hey Mike, there was a hack we learned about recently in the news regarding Virgin Atlantic. This one is really interesting. A lot of you are loyal Delta Frequent Flyer members, like myself.

If you ever try to book travel using your points to Europe, you'll find it's excruciatingly expensive. I looked at some flights the other day and to go one way from the US to Europe in business class was 300,000 miles.

But I did find a hack. Virgin Atlantic, which is owned by Delta, still operates as a separate brand. You can actually search on Virgin Atlantic’s website for tickets on Delta because it's the same ownership.

You can find flights as low as 50,000 points each way for business class. If you do a Google search for "Virgin Atlantic Delta Hack," you'll get the results. There's a way you can go and do a search on Virgin Atlantic and you'll get back some results.

Then you can change a component in the URL—that string where you put the HTTP—and it'll give you a full calendar where you can find these hidden gems. It is significantly different.

Under the Delta category, I saw an announcement yesterday that there is a bit of a trade war going on between the US and Mexico aviation issues. The US is seeking to deny Delta and Aeromexico the renewal of their antitrust waiver.

This can significantly affect the availability of flights into Mexico from the US and the cost. It isn't fully determined yet, but it's something to keep an eye on.

TripAdvisor Trends and Tips

Mike Putman: One last bit of news is it was just released that TripAdvisor is considering going private. They actually have more traffic than any other travel site in the world.

As listeners may remember, their CEO was on our first season, Stephen Kaufer, and left in 2022. He has been replaced by someone from the media world and it looks like the company may be taking a different direction to go back private.

James Ferrara: Such an important company in our industry. I'll repeat the tip Stephen Kaufer gave that really surprised me. We asked him for his own personal travel tips to make travel easier. He told us that he actually goes on to TripAdvisor and jumps into the chat rooms and bulletin boards about specific destinations. If he's going to Paris, he posts something in there and asks for recommendations for restaurants or things to do.

He says he gets the most amazing contributions from this community of frequent travelers who troll those bulletin boards. Even he goes there to get that kind of advice. Maybe some of you who listen have tried that out before; you should let us know how it worked for you.

Conclusion and Season Preview

Mike Putman: Absolutely. Well, we've got a power-packed season coming up. We've got quite a few guests already lined up for our season three. We've got a giveaway so great we can't even tell you what it is at this point, but it's going to be great.

Thank you for listening today and for rejoining us in our third season. We look forward to sharing more travel tips and advice. As always, if you have suggestions, please come to our website. We'd love to take your questions. Thank you so much for listening.

James Ferrara: Thank you guys. Come back for our season three vacation for two giveaway. We look forward to talking to you next time.

Narrator: Thank you for listening to another episode of No Tourists Allowed.