“When’s the next one?” asked Juergen Siebenrock, vice president, the Americas, Lufthansa, as his team wrapped up their innovative and interactive presentation for Global Traveler’s Globility Board.

Lufthansa was third in a series of presenters at our first-ever Globility Board meeting. Last April, we introduced you to our Globility Board, a group of well-traveled subscribers composed to act as a conduit for information about our readers’ interests and insights both for ourselves and for our clients — the airlines, hotels and travel products these same people utilize regularly. Our event brought these board members into the same room with our clients, engaged hospitality vendors in conversations with their customers, and opened a forum for unprecedented access and feedback.

Our first meeting convened Sunday, Jan. 27 at The Benjamin Hotel in New York City. Ten of the 20 board members flew from all corners of the country to provide invaluable feedback to Denihan Hospitality (parent company of The Benjamin), our hosts for the two-day event; South African Airways; Lufthansa; and Global Traveler’s editorial team.

After a getting-to-know-you dinner Sunday evening, the board settled in for a day of meetings at The Benjamin. Each presentation took a different approach, but one thing remained the same — a consistent, insightful and useful level of feedback from the Globility Board.

Katie Meyer, vice president, corporate communications, Denihan Hospitality; Cole Hernadez, assistant director of brand marketing, Denihan Hospitality; Lourdes Padilla Ramirez, sales associate, Denihan Hospitality; and Joe Gaeta, general manager, The Benjamin, staged a presentation of the various properties under the Denihan umbrella and also further introduced The Benjamin and all its amenities.

Our Globility Board felt strongly that the hospitality brand needed to do more to link its various New York, Chicago and Miami hotels on the website and in advertising. They believed marketing the brand as one unit with several properties, rather than as individual hotels, would help create a “trusted brand,” which, according to member Mark Rizkowsky, helps create “a comfort level important for the business traveler.”

An area of focus for Denihan moving forward is the brand’s Web presence. Our seasoned travelers want to learn more about the brand from exploring the website than they felt they could. The website lacks the brand identity they are seeking. As member Donna Childs states, “The web presence does not reduce the risk” a small business owner could be making by staying in an unknown Denihan property.

This type of feedback is important for the Denihan brand; travelers’ thoughts, attentions, praise and suggestions are the cornerstone of moving forward for the hospitality brand.

“We were delighted to host the Globility Board at The Benjamin. In our business, all decisions must be based on customer input, and Denihan is ruthless about that,” said Meyer. “Having the opportunity to spend the day with this group of experienced travelers — none of whom were at all shy on sharing their views on travel — was eye-opening and entertaining. The Denihan team took notes based on the board’s feedback and plans to use some suggestions in the future.”

Next on the agenda was Gregg Truman, vice president, marketing, for South African Airways, who opted for a discussion with our Globility Board members, prompting conversation with questions such as: What other airlines stand out to you? How do you define service for an airline? What will make you change airlines? The chat was followed by a presentation on the airline.

Gregg Truman talking about South African Airways with the panel © Christopher P. Ottaunick

Truman was immediately drawn to the opportunity to participate in our first-ever panel. “To be able to ascertain what travelers are looking for, what they like and what they don’t like, in real time allowed South African Airways access to a diverse range of opinions and thoughts. Getting feedback on our brand, our products and services in an intimate setting allowed for an in-depth line of questioning with experienced travelers that provided keen insight into, in our case, the airline industry as seen by passengers.”

And, in the case of SAA, what was that keen insight? Our expert travelers believed the country’s tourism board needs to do more to promote the destination. Paula Vogel’s idea of the time required to travel to South Africa changed when Truman noted a flight to South Africa is “two movies, a nice meal and a good night’s sleep.” A change in perspective otherwise unavailable to the airline and the traveler.

Our group had strong feelings when it came to defining service for an airline. Being greeted nicely, recognition, smiles, a focus on me, eating when you want and the quality of the food — these were some of the answers provided. But what most stood out was the sense of loyalty Globility Board members felt for their airlines, alliances and their frequent-flyer status levels. How many qualifying bonus miles would it take to make our panel reconsider their normal airlines? Double elite qualifying miles and incentives aside from points. The group is also more likely to consider a different airline once they’ve reached their status qualifying level for the year.

“Passengers expect quality service, and now more than ever it becomes apparent that airlines, hotels and everyone in travel has to deliver that quality; but then we all need to go above and beyond,” said Truman. “But once a passenger has determined that they are willing to embrace your brand, they will go out of their way to support it. Of course, and it was reinforced during our session, frequent-flyer points and awards are a key component to maintaining that loyalty.”

Lufthansa took a different approach during its session, using interactive software that allowed the Globility Board members to select their answers to specific questions. Once all the answers were locked in, a poll was automatically created for all to see and discuss. Lufthansa’s presenters included Deborah Horn, global business development; Don Bunkenberg, director of sales, North America; and Juergen Siebenrock, vice president, the Americas.

The event was attractive to the Lufthansa team, as they were seeking advice from our board members, asking how they could attract more travelers to their first-class cabin — wondering what would prompt them to pay for an upgrade and the ways in which they could attract more first-class business.

“At Lufthansa, we are always interested in gathering feedback from our customers, and we hold regular Customer Advisory Boards to ensure that our products and services are meeting the expectations of our customers,” said Horn. “However, we seldom get the opportunity to collect information from the customers of our friendly competitors. Therefore, when Global Traveler approached us with the idea to get a board together comprised of a group of their readers who are avid frequent travelers, we were immediately ‘on board.’”

Based on the results of Lufthansa’s survey questions, the majority of Globility Board members are employed by a small organization, they fly mostly in business class (even for leisure travel), nearly all of them book their own travel, and 91 percent book through the airline’s website directly.

Lufthansa executives relished the chance to discuss travel with our panel. “Our expectations were surpassed — not only were the Globility Board members avid frequent travelers but they were passionate and highly engaged throughout the event. There was a mix of business and leisure travelers with a wide variety of preferences and factors that influence their selection of an airline,” said Horn. “We were able to collect information about how they value airline bonus and status programs, the value of specific product elements, their preferred booking process and even discovered how Lufthansa is perceived in comparison to our competitors. In addition, the participants proved to be ‘savvy travelers’ who provided us with concrete feedback that will help us to shape a new offer that we are planning to introduce in the near future.”

Lastly, GT’s editor in chief, Lisa Matte, led a roundtable discussion on the magazine, asking our devoted subscribers which sections they liked best, which cover was strongest in 2012, how they discovered Global Traveler, and what suggestions they had for the magazine moving forward.

Unanimously, the favorite section of Global Traveler is our GT Tested section. Another undisputed favorite was our April 2012 Hong Kong cover. Opinions differed over our Cabo (July 2012), wine (August 2012) and skiing (November 2012) covers.

Where are we lacking? Readers would enjoy more coverage of cruises and agree our monthly Calendar section should cover events two to three months out. When it came to our re-launched website, the group agreed interactive content would draw them in again and again.

At the end of the day, the Globility Board members were ready for more, all agreeing they could easily sit through more sessions. That opportunity will come somewhere around the globe when next we bring together our knowledgeable focus group of subscribers.

From The Board Our Globility Board attendees share their thoughts on their first experience at our event.

Donna Childs Jersey City, N.J. ‘I thought that the process was perfect for our purposes. … The discussions were most insightful.’	Paula Vogel Lake Oswego, Ore. ‘With the variety of comments, where we agreed was interesting.’
Steve White Los Angeles, Calif. ‘I did seem to feel that the group was a very savvy one; there is a lot to be learned about upgrades and miles from this group.’	Tom Linhard Parker, Colo. ‘It was interesting to see the cultural differences between the expectations of European travelers and U.S. travelers.’
Mark Rizkowsky New York, N.Y. ‘I feel like many of our ideas were accepted and actually listened to.’	Celeste Linhard Parker, Colo. ‘I wouldn’t be surprised if one of these days The Travel Channel would want a glimpse of one of our meetings.”
Joe Cestaro New York, N.Y. ‘It was interesting to me that although there were a wide range of opinions we heard that day, everyone is so passionate about the travel experience and was eager to be involved and share their opinions.’	Mike Russo Colorado Springs, Colo. ‘There is really nothing I can think of to improve the total experience. I enjoyed participating very much and am glad I made it out to New York.’
Frank Brightwell Seattle, Wash. ‘I have to say that I learned from each of the presenters, not only about their respective products but also about bigger issues and even other products as a result of our conversations.’	Jean-Christophe Murat North Bay Village, Fla. ‘I thought the format of the event was excellent in terms of the length and format; hearing from industry professionals about the strategy of their company was very insightful and a rare experience.’

Photos by Christopher P. Ottaunick