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TV Ads Not Enough to Cure Travel Fatigue
Opinion · December 7, 2001

"Americans are asking: 'What is expected of us?'" President Bush says in a new TV ad sponsored by the Travel Industry Association of America. To which a chorus of hotel employees, airline crew members and cruise line staff answer: "We ask you to live your lives. Do your business around the country. Fly and enjoy America's great destinations."

But the president and the travel industry may be asking too much of us. Americans aren't just wary of travel; they're sick of it. And it's going to take more than a couple of commercials to get them back.

There's no doubt that we're suffering from a kind of national travel fatigue. Even the Travel Industry Association (TIA) acknowledges that domestic travel spending in the U.S. will drop by $33.7 billion this year, a decrease of 7 percent over 2000. TIA believes the reasons for our aversion to travel can be linked to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the slowing U.S. economy.

It's wrong. Our disillusionment can be traced to an earlier time when the business was flush with profits and the people pocketing our hard-earned travel dollars somehow managed to forget that theirs was a service industry.

Airlines spent the latter part of the 1990s raising fares and cutting service. From January 1996 to January 2001, the average one-way airfare increased 33 percent, from $230 to $305, according to American Express. However, the price of an unrestricted economy class ticket - which is commonly used by business travelers - shot up by an unbelievable 77 percent during the same period.

Meanwhile, airlines cut corners wherever possible to maximize profits. The major U.S. carriers moved economy class seats closer together in order to wedge in more passengers; they reduced or eliminated meals on flights, and they lessened the amount of fresh air pumped into the cabin. Service levels deteriorated in tandem, as airlines lost more luggage and chalked up more delays than any other time in recent memory.

The hotel sector also made similar errors. From 1996 to 2000, the average daily room rate increased 23 percent to $117.80, according to PKF Consulting. That's less dramatic than the airline price hikes, but it only tells half the story. Hotels also began adding extra fees to room bills in order to pad their bottom line. Major hotel chains quietly introduced surcharges of $1 to $10 for services once included in the price of a stay. Among the more unusual fees were charges for bottled water, in-room coffee makers, and use of the swimming pool.

In some extreme cases, hotels imposed fees for calling a receptionist or a bellhop, dialing a toll-free number, parking a car, or even watching television. Worst of all, the hotels often failed to properly disclose the fees, preferring to wait until guests settled up to tell them.

The picture with cruise lines and car rental companies wasn't that different. Although cruise prices have resisted the upward trend because of an overcapacity of berths, they've followed the rest of the industry in eliminating amenities. Complaints about food and service levels are at an all-time high, according to the online cruise publication Cruisemates.com. No wonder: cruise lines have had no choice but to continue lowering prices, and something had to give.

Auto rental companies have taken a page out of the lodging industry's playbook, too. They've jacked up prices - from an average daily charge of $51 a day for an intermediate rental in 1997 to $61 this year, according to Runzheimer International - and added a number of creative surcharges. Among the most infamous add-ons are airport shuttle fees and license charges. Until recently, these weren't disclosed until you returned your car.

You'd think that the industry might have come to its senses earlier this year when the exasperated traveling public decided to stay home. As early as May, airlines began noticing a drop-off in passenger traffic, according to the Air Travel Association, an industry trade organization. In response, the carriers insulted their best customers - business travelers - by squeezing them for more money. American Express reports that in January, the average economy class fare cost 47 percent less than an unrestricted ticket; by September, the gap had widened to 54 percent. And let's not forget the ubiquitous hotel energy surcharges of this year, which spread far beyond California to states that had no energy crisis.

Put differently, the travel industry just didn't get it.

No, the terrorist attacks aren't doing the travel business in. Neither is the soft economy. The travel business has done itself in. It should look inward - not to the president or the taxpayers - for a solution. Perhaps it should start by telling the travelers what they need to hear.

We let you down. We've learned our lesson. Please come back.

Christopher Elliott is a travel commentator based in Key Largo, Fla. All e-mailed questions may be edited, condensed or republished at the site's discretion.