Monday, April 27, 2009

Prague spots for free

Recently I have read very interesting article in the Czech newspaper. It suggested to visit several places in Prague which are for free. Furthermore, these places aren’t known as Charles Bridge or Old Town Square; therefore, you can enjoy in quiet and friendly atmosphere.

The most narrow Prague´s street

It is just half meter wide and the people are directed by traffic lights. It doesn’t have any name and it is situated near Charles Bridge. The map is available here.

Infant Jesus and his clothes

Do you have any wish? If yes, you have to visit Our Lade Victory Church. It is said that the statue of Infant Jesus in this church will fulfil your wish. In addition, you can visit his wardrobe. These clothes are used for Infant Jesus by nuns. For more information please visit the site of Church – here.

Second level of St. Vitus's Cathedral

This Cathedral is very famous, everybody knows how does it look like from the bottom view; however, there is change to get to the second level and get completely another view at cathedral. You have to ask the management of chathedral to see the second level for free. Additional information about cathedral are available here.

Petrin´s undergound

The Petrin is hill is full of mines. The entrace is in Lobkovic graden at the Petrin. See more information here (Czech only but with the map)

Safe of Czech national bank

Nowdays there is an exhibition of Money and People. You can find also the examples of fakes. Few information available here.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Facebook, Twitter and Prague City Apartments

Maybe you have already seen our profiles on Facebook or Twitter but for those who have not I would like to introduce our profiles in mentioned servers. PCA has decided to come closer to our clients and we have become a part of these communities.

Facebook:

Recently we have launched a new facebook campaign for 10% discounts. The rules are pretty simple, just become a fan of PCA on Facebook and you will get 10% discount in any of our apartments. This campaign is becoming really popular. In addition, our clients are sharing their experiences on our profile with the other travellers on Facebook. You can see the photos and movies of Prague and Prague City Apartments. We would like to start serious discussion about Prague, Prague hotels and other Prague accommodation. Facebook offers unlimited options to make the profile very interesting.

For our FB profile, please follow this link

Twitter:

We are completely new on Twitter; however, we have already got some subscripers. Twitter is much easier to understand and to get more familiar with such social environment than Facebook. Our aim on Twitter is to come up with fresh, clear and interesting messages concerning news from Prague respectively from Prague City Apartments. We would like to share our hot news, offers and events. The potential of Twitter and Facebook is huge and we would like to use it.

For our Twitter profile, please follow this link

We would really appreciate if you can support us by becoming our fan of PCA on Facebook or you can follow us on Twitter. Thank you.

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Apartment vs Hotel: 5 pros for apartment

There has been always discussion about differences between apartment and hotel room and it is completely valid for Prague as well. It is no secret that Prague City Apartments is standing on the side of Apartment. I would like to show you five most important advantages of apartments today.

1. More Space

First imporatant advantage of apartment is space. In comparison with hotel room you will get more freedom and comfort. Next point regarding the space are separated bedrooms. That made it possible to have business meetings in the lounge area while someone slept in one of the bedrooms. In other words, you will get more freedom to entertain guests the way you want to.

2. Own Kitchen

Hotel room usually will have a fridge that is mostly filled with over-priced drinks and has no facilities for cooking and often no facilities for cleaning clothes. An apartment will ideally have a fridge which is entirely empty for you to use for storing food and ingredients for your own cooking; in addition, you will get fully equipped kitchen (including microwave, toaster, kettle, owen and so on). Cooking some of your meals in the kitchen instead of going out to eat for every meal is another excellent way to save money.

3. More Privacy

Apartments are sometimes located off the beaten path as well, and are more private than hotels. Hotels are typically louder and offer less privacy. Apartment have a greater ambiance to feel with amenities like DVDs, satelite TV, wi-fi internet, work space, safe box and much more.

4. Save Money

It was mentioned that you can save money by cooking for yourslef; furthermore, if you are going to stay for longer period of time then there is no more reasonable stay than in apartment with regards to money and your comfort. You can save big amount of your budget by staying in apartment.

5. Pet Free

Last but not least of advantage of apartments is in having your pet on your holiday. Prague City Apartments is offering the pet on request but usually there is no problem unless you are going to bring herd of dinosaurs. Most of the hotel prohibits to have your pet in room but pets are allowed in Prague City Apartments accommodation.

Finally, wherever are you going everything depends on travel situation and own preferences Both oportunities have advantages and disadvantages; the number of people on your trip, the vacation atmosphere you desire, and amenities are all factors that can influence your decision.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Prague City Apartments on Tripadvisor

TripAdvisor.com is a free travel guide and research website that hosts reviews from users and other information designed to help plan a vacation. TripAdvisor is an example of consumer generated media. The website services are free to users, who provide most of the content, and the website makes its money from advertising, mostly from travel-related industries.

Recently, TripAdvisor enhanced the functions for accommodation owners. The owners can paste TripAdvisor’s recommendation banner of his/her property to website. According to Hotelmarketing. com travellers trust other travellers, so owners can benefit by displaying what they’re saying on their own websites. In a 2007 survey of 360 e-commerce companies, sites that added user reviews reported very positive results:

-- 56% lifted conversion
-- 77% raised traffic
-- 42% increased the average shopping basket

Therefore, Prague City Apartments is going to present its residences with regards to TripAdvisor´s recognition:

Residence Karolina


Residence Rybna




Residence Masna



Residence Karlova



Residence Cerna



Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Party by Prague City Apartments

The boss of PCA, Martin Tomasek, prepared a great party for the employees to get to know each other better. Recently PCA has increased its number of employees and this party was a great oportunity to introduce them to the rest of the PCA family. Party was held in Wine club Monarch.

When I walked through the streets of Prague towards Monarch that evening, I was full of expectations. And then when I reached my destination all of my expectations were fulfilled, even outdone. I was shocked when I saw my boss wearing an apron with four stars of Michelin and cooking for all of us. The funny point is that the best restaurants awarded by Michelin stars can only reach three stars at maximum but Mr. Tomasek had to have four stars of Michelin.

I think he looks better with an apron then in a suit, doesn't he?

After a while I recognized his helper, our IT master (Martin) who was wearing just three stars of Michelin; nevertheless, without him we would eat at 2 am. The main cook was a little bit slower. To complete the picture of our management, Ivana took place next to them, as she was the main advisor and the guide through the party.

Our management: now guess who is the boss of the kitchen?

Great wine was chosen for our drinks and thanks to this liquid the evening went much faster than I expected.We did big cheers to our boss and since then we were cheering as much as we can. Because the wine was great and, moreover, it was free.

Prague City Apartments family

Very suprising point was meal. Most of us were expecting cold kitchen but MT and his group came with "foreign" cuisines. The entire menu consisted of nine meals! The time schedule was one meal per hour. The meal was delicious.

One of our nine cources

Later we discovered why the meals were so delayed. We found that MT was chatting with the receptionists and he didn't have time to cook. Evidently, he didn't that much of an interest to feed the male part of the company.

Somebody is hungry?

The party was brilliant at least from my point of view. I am including a few more pictures at the end. I hope the next party will exceed my expectation as well.

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Prague flash game vol.3


I have created new flash game from Prague. Today, I would like to show you front view of residence Karolina.

Enjoy the game.
Flash game - Residence Karolina


For more games please follow:
Flash game - Rybna
Flash game - Charles Bridge

Sunday, March 15, 2009

No more hotels?

The aim of this paper is to provide a brief insight into world of tourism, especially of accommodation with regards to financial crisis. Today’s financial problems are influencing the whole world. A lot of companies are on the border of bankruptcy, others already have bankrupted; unemployment rate is increasing, money is being withdrawn from the banks accounts and these aspects also influence the sector of tourism.

The world of travel is changing. Next one and or two years travel business will be influenced by financial crisis. There is no doubt about reducing family budgets. It makes sense that first what is going to be reduced are holidays, vacations or trips. tIhere is no wonder that according to report of PWC hotels are managing in a downturn. Niels Pedersen Managing Director (Supranational Hotels, November 2008) stated: “In 2009 hotel revenues typically will drop 20 per cent, with the five-star market hardest hit, four star properties down by a quarter, three stars dropping 10-15 per cent, and budget hotels remaining static”. A top executive with an international luxury hotel chain, who did not want his name used for fear of losing his job, stated recently that the dominoes are falling among full-service hotels frequented by business travellers in London, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Paris, Prague and even New York. Until recently, hotel rates in New York were buoyed by robust demand by financial services executives and by foreigners lured by a favorable exchange rate (stated in The New York Times, November 2008).

Hotel business is going to challenge against poor periods. Therefore essential question is rising:

What will be the impact of financial crisis on accommodation services?

According to opinions mentioned above, there is serious fear of final output of financial crisis. I am not able to know all results in economy of accommodation providers. However I can bet that most of them will tell you that they can feel consequences of such crisis. But let me divide the question into two subquestions:

What will be the reaction of travellers to financial crisis with regards to accommodation?

What will be the reaction of accommodation providers?

The solution will be placed on the shoulders of accommodation providers. Travellers are searching for better offers. Travellers will be forced to stay longer with searching for offers because spending money will be more careful than before and travellers will require the same quality for lower price. It can be seen as two different approaches; however it is crucial to take into the account that in these times, people will think in the way of; if I am going to spend certain amount of money I would like to have appropriate accommodation for it. Moreover the travellers will be looking for other types of accommodation as an alternative of hotels. From this point of view the financial crises can be more profitable for alternative accommodation in comparison of hotel.

As I stated; travellers will try to find same value or quality instead of hotel. Therefore types of accommodation as apartments, bed&breakfast, hostels, pensions, hospitality exchange and so on may benefit from from increasing interest in other types of accommodation. However it is necessary to be aware of impact of financial crisis also for these alternative types of accommodation.

Without regards to accommodation types, what can an accommodation provider do with degreasing demand. "There's [been] nothing like this in history, in terms of falling demand" says Bjorn Hanson an industry analyst with New York University's hotel school (Time.com, 2008). I have succeeded in finding some examples, how hotels are dealing with degreasing demand.

“One is to cut services — closing gyms, shutting business centers earlier and no more 24-hour room service. Of course, this is easier for mid-price hotels to cut than luxury hotels, where customers expect a certain level of service.

One option most are rejecting is reducing the overall room rates, because hotels feel they got burned doing that in 2001. "They found that the math doesn't work," says Yesawich, CEO of Y Partnership, and a travel industry consultant; "you have to book too many more rooms to make up the lost revenue." What they are doing this time around is offering promotions and upgrades: Fairmont is offering third night free and $100 gift cards.

Discreet discounts, on the other hand, are all the rage. Priceline, for example is expanding its roster of top-flight inns. "Hotels that we've wanted for a long time, like five-star hotels, are coming in," says Chris Soder, president of North American travel. Yesawich explains that hotels are taking a portion of their inventory, maybe 20 to 50 rooms, and selectively discounting them in this opaque way. "Even a modest rate is better than no rate at all." (Time.com, 2008).

One group of traveller can benefit from such situation – business travellers. Due to decreasing prices for hotels their position as customers is improving. Hotels are directly bargaining with corporate travel managers, offering lower room rates than in the past, "I'm hearing that they're doing better in negotiating with hotel pricing," says Caleb Tiller of the National Business Travel Association (Time.com, 2008). Corporate managers are also in a good position to negotiate with hotels for add-ons, like free Wi-Fi, gym use and breakfast.

However (I don’t like to use “however”) some authors and experts in travelling are warning that discounting can be dangerous for the image of company. They are suggesting (HSMAI, 2008):
• Protect the brand when discounting
• Add value rather than discount if possible
• Reward the loyal guest rather than all guests
• Integrate marketing with yield to optimize promotion and marketing spend
• Make the best from what you get through up-selling and merchandizing
• Negotiate shorter corporate deals to provide flexibility in the recovery

And finally we are getting to marketing and other investments. “Many hotel businesses will be tempted to freeze infrastructure investments, mothball new growth hotel projects and defer integrating the latest acquisition. Advertising and recruiting investments are easily cut, as are loyalty programmes for customers and staff. However, some hotel businesses will take a different approach and selectively invest where others are cutting back. These are the businesses that will benefit“ (hotelmarketing.com, 2008).

From this point of view there are easy to cut marketing costs and investments opportunities, however, if you do this you can lost your way, how to recover from nowadays situation. Another output of these statements is to get closer to customer. Continue investing in relationship or leverage new media are two of many topics by Dorothy Dowling (hsmaieconnect.org, 2008). Very popular approach is social marketing. Sites such as blogs, forum, facebook, myspace and so on are really worth to travel companies.

Let me conclude this article. I hope it doesn’t sound too ambitious - Travellers are likely to cancel their trips and accommodation providers are more than aware of it. Therefore their prices are falling, services are upgrading, other types of accommodation are available, more benefits are offered and etc. In my opinion travellers don’t need to cancel their trip, they need to open their. And the oversupply is very favourable for travellers. Maybe in two years when the world will recover from the crisis these benefits or options will be reduced.

From the point of accommodation provider I can say that the fight for customers will be harder than ever before. It is crucial to convince travellers to travel, because it is worth for them. So my point is not to reduce marketing or investments but completely another approach – get closer to the customers. It is essential to be seen by travellers. Other point is to deliver added value to customers. Because world of mouth (social marketing) is very powerful tool for today’s marketers.


Resources:

Report of Price Waterhouse Coopers: “Hotels: managing in a downturn“, accessed December 2008, http://www.hotelmarketing.com/downloads/pwc_managing_in_a_downturn_nov08.pdf

New York Times: “Hotels Struggle, but Guests Less So“, accessed December 2008, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/18/business/18road.html?_r=3&ref=business

Time.com: “Hotels Try to Adapt to Hard Times“, accessed December 2008, http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1866717,00.html

HSMAI: “Leading Through the Economic Crisis and Preparing for Recovery“, accessed December 2008, http://eo2.commpartners.com/users/hsmai/series.php?id=798

HSMAI: “Back-to-basics marketing tips for today’s challenging economic conditions“, accessed December 2008, http://www.hsmaieconnect.org/file/152003601.pdf