World Travel Green Awards can’t be bothered to answer press queries
Written by Karen BryanThe inaugural World Travel Green Awards will be held in Slovakia on 16 October 2008 in tandem with the Europe Travel Awards. The event will take place at Aqua City which bills itself as the ” the World’s leading green resort”.
Carpathian Mountains, Slovakia
There are ten categories such as green resort (surely the host Aqua City must be a leading contender), green hotel and eco friendly airport (a bit of a contradiction in terms). There are also ten regional categories mentioned such as Indian Ocean and Central America. I was unsure how many green awards there are in total, maybe there is a winner for each geographic region as well as each green category? I phoned the World Travel Awards to ask for clarification on this but they appeared unable to answer my query on the phone and asked me to email them. Now I would have thought that an Awards organisation would be keen to answer press questions, even from a lowly travel blogger, or at least have offered to get back to me with the information requested instead of asking me to contact them again by another method.
Not a shining example of customer service by an organisation administering awards for enormous achievements in the global travel industry. Well I’m not nominating the World Travel Awards for outstanding customer service.
After that diversion into the failings of the World Travel Awards customer service, back to the issue of just how green the event will be, as I assume that most of the attendees will be flying to the event. Is this merely the World Travel Awards jumping on the green bandwagon or a serious attempt at reducing the environmental impact of travel?
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It’s typical of the travel industry, but I think bloggers have got to persist, and sometime they will start to realise the importance of blogs and blogging.
Maybe their is a language difference and that’s why they asked to email.
I received a phone call on my mobile from an American travel start up and I don’t think he could understand my accent too well so I asked him to email me.
Darren, it was a London number I phoned and the person who answered sounded British, Now I know that I do have a Scottish accent but I’m sure I can be understood.
It’s quite acceptable that the person who answered the phone was not able to answer my query but I think she should have offered to get back to me with the answer (unless they haven’t decided how many green awards there will be).
What is the point in issuing a press release and then not responding to queries initiated by this?
Hi Darren and Karen,
in this case the release was issued by the World Travel Awards PR office and it was their phone number that Karen contacted. Just to clarify, I am the PR for AquaCity, where the first World Green Awards are being held in October 2008. I will be delighted to make sure that any oustanding enquiries are answered immediately, or within a couple of hours maximum, and if I don’t know the answer, I’ll certainly find out for you! The World Travel Awards decide how many awards they make and in which categories, I’ve spoken to their organiser and made them aware of your blog, I trust they contact you soonest. But please do let me know if there is anything we can do as I am very aware of the importance of speedy replies to the media.
With kind regards,
Mary Stuart-Miller,
PR AquaCity Resort, Slovakia
World’s Leading Green Resort.
Thanks for your comment, Mary and for contacting the World Travel Awards so they can reveal how many Green Awards there will be. Pity that the World Travel Awards PR office don’t seem to take the same speedy approach to responding to press queries as you, even in response to their own press release.
OK Europe a la Carte, World Travel Awards holds its hands up! Customer service is at the heart of what we do and we agree it was unacceptable that Karen Bryan could not access information when she telephoned.
It is no excuse, we know, but unfortunately the person who answered the telephone was new and we accept that our induction training process could have been better. We can assure you this will change.
We really have taken this to heart because one of our stated aims is to ensure that overall we improve the international industry’s quality and performance in every aspect, including most particularly, customer experience.
It is a tribute to blogs such as Europe a la Carte that we and other companies are pulled up on aspects which are less than excellent.
But we want you to know that we are listening – and we will and are improving.
As for whether we are jumping on the bandwagon of responsible tourism, that is your opinion. But then you could say that about anyone who is trying to work towards a more sustainable world.
World Travel Awards has been recognising environmental issues in our awards for some years now and we felt it was time to strengthen this focus.
In the past, we believe that green issues have just been a talking shop. But now we must take this issue much further, encouraging companies to really make a difference.
For too long this subject has been a bit “airy-fairy” and simply not grounded enough. Every company and organisation needs to seriously consider what practical action they can undertake and by introducing the Green Awards we hope we are, in a small way, helping the industry to face what must be a real step change.
And before you ask, we are also turning the green spotlight on ourselves by looking at ways and means that we can also reduce our own carbon footprint. Yes they are small differences but the point is that if everyone does the same, the travel and tourism industry can make a sizable contribution.
In addition, the industry has a responsibility to be more caring. An industry that tries to help and empower communities, enhances the life of local people, offers jobs and firmly places the environment at the very core of their corporate and social policy.
I would, of course, be more than happy to talk to Karen at any time and if I am not available at that moment, just leave a message with a telephone number and I will come back to her as soon as I possibly can.
In answer to her question, though, there are worldwide green categories as well as regional awards for Africa, Asia, Australasia, Caribbean, Europe, Indian Ocean, Middle East and North and South America.
Finally, let me apologise for the uncharacteristic lapse in service. As I say, it will not happen again.
Jane Larcombe,
Global PR Director
World Travel Awards
Jane, thanks for your reply. I think that you should stress to all members of staff that they should always take contact details from enquirers and that someone will get back to them later in response to their enquiry. That is a basic rule of customer service. I’m feeling a bit guilty that perhaps I’ve landed an individual in the soup when that was not my intention. I don’t think that you should try to lay the blame at the feet of a new employee, the organisation has to take responsibility and it’s unfair to the new employee that they are mentioned in the public domain.
I think that this incident illustrates that with the instant publishing enabled by blogs, PR agencies really need to be on the ball and be well prepared before they put out press releases.
Perhaps a good way to illustrate The World Travel Awards green credentials would be to have a virtual awards ceremony to avoid all the air travel to the awards? If you calculate the emissions caused by all the attendees to the awards ceremony, it is in direct contrast to the aims of the awards.
A virtual award is an interesting thought. However, its worth saying that all guests travelling to Aquacity for the World Travel Awards Green and European ceremony save the equivalent carbon emission on an average flight within 10 min of arrival
This is based on the fact that Aquacity saves approx 27 tonnes of carbon each day.
Jane Larcombe,
Global PR Director
World Travel Awards
Jane, surely it would be better not to produce the pollution from attendees’ flights in the first instance rather than to say they are negated because Aqua City is “green”.