Rocky Mountaineer Vacations' Guest Lounge Blog

1 Millionth Guest onboard the Rocky Mountaineer

The Man in Seat 61

This week, RMV welcomes the Man in Seat Sixty One. When I first heard about Mark Smith, the man in Seat 61, I thought it sounded very much like a James Bond episode. The domain name alone carried intrigue.

I became aware of this site because it seemed to drive a lot of traffic to the Rocky Mountaineer site - actually, an incredible amount of volume.  Mark's site is a mandatory for those considering rail travel anywhere in the world.  Having said that, I was certain we could convince Mark to update his information on Canadian rail (and the maps!), and more specifically on the routes that RMV now offers, by inviting him on the Rocky Mountaineer and Whistler Mountaineer trains.  I am delighted to say, welcome aboard, Seat 61 - and we will keep you posted on his impressions.

Why the Seat 61 designation?  Read here....

A Serious Case of Nothing to Say...

One of the dangers of blogging is writer's block.  The other (often as a result of the block) is blogging with nothing to say.  I am determined not to post for the sake of posting. Two things happened in the since my last post in early April....daily visits increased by 20% and 6 people have emailed me to see if I have stopped writing.  Guess that is a positive sign.

The reality is our train season has started.  With up to four trains operating each day and planning for next season well underway, I got, well, a little bit busy.  But the world has changed in a short period of time giving me some material to share with you.

Fuel surcharges.  The dreaded words of all travellers.  I have been with this organization for a decade and in the past, we have agonized over the implementation of fuel surcharges - and never done it. The reality is the costs have far surpassed a level that RMV can manage - the impact of the increases on a business that operates trains is immense - and far beyond what we had budgeted several months ago.

Regrettably, beginning May 15th, RMV will add a Cdn$30 person fuel surcharge for each 2 day trip on the Rocky Mountaineer.  A fuel surcharge of Cdn$5 per one way trip on the Whistler Mountaineer will also apply (terms and conditions prevail if I did not explain every scenario in this posting!).  The good news is if you have already booked your trip and placed a deposit, the surcharge is waived, no matter when you travel. Plus, if you book by May 14th, we will waive it, as well.  So get off the fence and book today.  For any questions, please contact our sales center directly.

What else....? We now have the ability to take on line bookings on selected tour packages off the Rocky Mountaineer site - the Whistler Mountaineer site has been able to be booked on line for some time.  I have a whole new appreciation of the techie side of the business.  In today's world, it seems so straightforward to have a booking capability on the internet.  Easy for the marketing and sales guy to say. Vacation product is difficult to configure with all the options that are available.  Having said that, we are up and running.  What we are really excited about is that after November, our sites will be relaunched - blown up and re-designed with enhanced on line booking capabilities.  Not that exciting for you to be reading a blog about this perhaps, but a real step forward - and a big investment - for us - and an expectation of our guests.

Our one millionth guest on the Rocky Mountaineer is coming up. I blogged about this last year and soon it will be a reality. We have forecasted the honoured guest will be travelling on the Rocky Mountaineer on June 5th.  If you are travelling that day, stay tuned.  The lucky one millionth guest will be treated like royalty and there is a significant celebration to take place.  Kind of like winning the lottery but you don't get to retire!  Thank you all for making us successful enough to celebrate this milestone.

Fuel surcharges, on line booking and one millionth guest - a potpourri to break writer's block.

 

New for 2008! Rocky Mountaineer GoldLeaf Culinary Team

We are truly excited to welcome a new culinary team onboard the Rocky Mountaineer routes in 2008.  The team now includes 4 renowned chefs, who will lead a superb dining experience and enhance the GoldLeaf brand even further.

Working as a chef or in the galley of the train is a unique experience.  I have had the opportunity to watch this first hand many times and continue to be amazed with the dexterity and teamwork involved.  Imagine a 200 square foot stainless steel kitchen with a four foot aisle and no windows.  Then imagine imagine as the train curves, climbs and gently rocks along the route - only you do not know when the next movement will occur as you synchronize your work with a team of 5 talented professionals, preparing 140 a la carte presentations a day in each GoldLeaf dome.

The results are impressive and the chefs have been working hard in the "off season" to ensure the dining experience matches the outstanding scenery in western Canada.  There is more on the culinary experience found here. Bon appetit!

Less than 2 Years till 2010 Olympics in Vancouver and Whistler

Invest 5 minutes and watch this incredible video - a beautiful representation of the sights and sounds of British Columbia - and proof it does not always rain here!

No Smoking Please, we're Canadian!

About 7 or 8 years ago, our founder and owner determined that the Rocky Mountaineer experience would be smoke free for our guests and employees.  I was reminded of this upon hearing that Sheraton Hotels have made the decision to create smoke free rooms in North America.  Many other hotels preceded them.

The decision for RMV back then was somewhat ground breaking - North American and specifically Canadian, attitudes have changed a great deal since then - but we certainly received some strong feedback against our decision at the time.  The reality is that our decision then, and now, makes sense on a number of levels, not the least of which is that the trains travel through three provincial parks and 7 national parks and several mountain ranges, and we cherish these fragile environments.  Forest fires can be started easily with discarded cigarettes.

Eight or nine hours without a cigarette can be difficult for many smokers.  We ensure that all train personnel have Nicorette (tobacco substitute) on hand to help ease the transition.  But we also receive incredibly supportive comments on how comfortable a smoke free environment is for our guests.

For more information on this topic and specific regulations in each area or province of Canada, click here.

We all want a Perfect Vacation!

A post by Seth Godin about the "problem of perfect," rings so true in the hospitality industry.  Whether you are on a vacation or in a restaurant a or visiting an attraction, the customer expects - and the management attempts to present, perfection in their product delivery.  But is it attainable? Of course not.

Many customers are not prepared for the adventure part of a paid experience. The recovery of a slip up can be an adventure taken in the proper context, or it can be a ruined day.  Seth uses the word "interesting."  Interesting has unpredictability to it.  Perfect is predictable.

As the Rocky Mountaineer brand becomes more established, the expectations rise; and so they should. Any product in the hospitality industry has a mix of an infrastructure element and a people element.  Both can be unpredictable in their delivery, but they can be interesting if one is open to what the final result may be. 

Very occasionally, our trains get delayed.  Sometimes an hour, sometimes more.  Long explanations why (another post), but likely because of freight train traffic on the same route. You may read some comments about this on some of the travel sites. Yes it can occur.  What was anticipated to be a perfect trip may not be - but with the change in plans, some unexpected magic can occur.  Our onboard team kicks into another gear.  You see things track side you may not have noticed.  You learn about an area you may never have known about - or you may find out that you and someone else in the coach grew up in the same hometown.   The journey, especially an interesting journey, is the the destination. This is the lure of travel for so many. And that can be perfect.

Over 50 Social Networking - Eons

Last night, the US CBS network show, 60 Minutes had a profile on Facebook and it's founder, 23 year old Mark Zuckerberg.  It got me thinking how fast this type of social networking has caught on and how the medium is now nicely segmented for other demographics.

Eons describes itself as the Facebook for people over 50 years old.  Given that I will go out on a limb and say that the majority of people who use Rocky Mountaineer Vacations travel products are 50 plus, I had a look.  There are some interesting travel articles, groups and blogs that may be worth a look.  It is simple to navigate and really fast. The guaranteed thing about Eons is that you won't find my kid's profiles there.

If 50 plus is not your age group, try Multiply for the 30 plus crowd or teebeedee if you have hit the 40 year old mark.  Either way, have fun with it and you might even find some people who have been on the Rocky Mountaineer or can impart some advice.

What's a GST?

In Canada, GST stands for Goods and Services Tax.  You can read about it on the link, but the good news - if there can be good news on a tax - is that it has just been reduced to 5%.  In short, your vacation to Canada just got reduced by one percent.  Happy New Year!

Travellers from all over the world!

I was asked this morning about the origin of our guests onboard the Rocky Mountaineer.  A quick look at our guests bookings for 2008 shows representation from 18 countries around the world.  I would expect that we will exceed 25 countries in 6 months time.

To date, we will be welcoming guests from...Germany, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, Bermuda, Brazil, Denmark, Gibraltar, Hong Kong, Malta, Netherlands, Singapore, Sweden, United States, Canada,Ireland and Switzerland.  And travelling with us in December are some guests from French Polynesia.

Apparently, the are 194 countries in the world, so we have sold only 9% of the markets available!

Welcome all!