Online Program Designed To Help Travel Industry

[peter991]

Online program designed to help travel industry better serve the gay market

Now worth billions of dollars annually, the gay and lesbian travel market has become a significant segment for hotels, tour operators, agents and travel destinations.

However, according to the world’s leading gay marketing specialists, Out Now, gay travellers are less than impressed when it comes to customer service. Out Now reveals that staff unfamiliar with the gay community can feel unsure about what to say or how to act, leaving both parties feeling worse off.

As a result, a new training and accreditation system, known as GayComfort™, has been launched as an innovative means of addressing these problems. The comprehensive online learning program covers areas such as how gay customers differ from other customers, what concerns them, what language to use and what phrases to avoid. GayComfort™ offers practical advice, language tips, real-life examples as well as role plays and quizzes.

"Gay travellers have for years been telling us stories of bad customer service ruining their vacations," said CEO of Out Now, Ian Johnson. "From mild discomfort to outright homophobia, the stories differ, but one thing is constant. The result has been that many gay people experience stress at various stages of a vacation - from making a booking to hotel check-in to ordering room service. They are unsure how each individual staff member might react to them being gay. When you think that the whole point of a vacation is to relax and feel comfortable, that situation is far from ideal."

"Many working in customer service in the travel industry, both young and old, are not that familiar with the gay and lesbian community," Johnson added. "They wonder what phrase to use when referring to a same gender partner, or how to respond when told by a customer they are gay. Even how to deal with a double room booking at check-in can cause them concern. GayComfort™ gives staff the insight they need to deliver customer service in a way that makes the consumer feel respected, welcomed, comfortable and relaxed. All of which makes for increasing levels of repeat and referral business from the gay travel market."

Meanwhile, the International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association (IGLTA) is working with Out Now to bring GayComfort™ training to its members.

“With literally billions in gay tourism dollars, euro and pounds up for grabs each year, it seems likely this product should find an industry ready and willing to learn how to improve the ways it delivers customer service to the gay travel segment,” Tom Nibbio, Global Ambassador for IGLTA said. “This is history-in-the-making for our gay tourism industry!”

For more information about the program, please visit www.gaycomfort.com. Online tutorials are also available from www.youtube.com/gaycomfort

Peter

I know there's been a couple of threads recently in this Forum about bad experiences when gay people take holidays - any recent experiences - good or bad to report?

[Scott]

I have found customer service to be an oxymoron here in Thailand--although a lot of people are very polite. On the other hand they do often service customers very well....

[geriatrickid]

Couple observations;

gay travellers are less than impressed when it comes to customer service.

Gee and I thought I was the only one to get crappola service (see Scott comment above)

Out Now reveals that staff unfamiliar with the gay community can feel unsure about what to say or how to act, leaving both parties feeling worse off.

Umm, aint just gays. Checked into a Chinese hotel with a g/f some years back and had a rather embarrassing time trying to explain why we slept in 1 bed.

GayComfort™

OMFG, are they tardettes or what? It's just such a bad name. What were they thinking? This is going to be the source of alot of bad jokes.

They are unsure how each individual staff member might react to them being gay. Can't be any worse than when me and friend checked into to a hotel in Galveston, TX and the reaction of the middle aged lady when she saw my friend's big rainbow pride sticker that said lesbian power (his roomie's bag). I think she wanted to tell me I was going to burn in hel_l, but was too confused by the 2 idiots in front of her both of which were wearing those capri pants that everyone was wearing up north but hadn't yet made it out of the "gay" wardrobe in the armpit of Texas.

I dunno, my friends and I always have odd adventures and it often involves terrifying the maid or something when someone picks the wrong time to run out of the shower naked or to making a joke that an unsuspecting soul thinks is a reference to a naughty act and no amount of comforting can prepare an innocent person for that.

[chuck_s]

Couple observations;

gay travellers are less than impressed when it comes to customer service.

Gee and I thought I was the only one to get crappola service (see Scott comment above)

Out Now reveals that staff unfamiliar with the gay community can feel unsure about what to say or how to act, leaving both parties feeling worse off.

Umm, aint just gays. Checked into a Chinese hotel with a g/f some years back and had a rather embarrassing time trying to explain why we slept in 1 bed.

GayComfort™

OMFG, are they tardettes or what? It's just such a bad name. What were they thinking? This is going to be the source of alot of bad jokes.

They are unsure how each individual staff member might react to them being gay. Can't be any worse than when me and friend checked into to a hotel in Galveston, TX and the reaction of the middle aged lady when she saw my friend's big rainbow pride sticker that said lesbian power (his roomie's bag). I think she wanted to tell me I was going to burn in hel_l, but was too confused by the 2 idiots in front of her both of which were wearing those capri pants that everyone was wearing up north but hadn't yet made it out of the "gay" wardrobe in the armpit of Texas.

I dunno, my friends and I always have odd adventures and it often involves terrifying the maid or something when someone picks the wrong time to run out of the shower naked or to making a joke that an unsuspecting soul thinks is a reference to a naughty act and no amount of comforting can prepare an innocent person for that.

Many have tried to make money off the G/L/Bi/Trans community here in Thailand and thought if they did do such a venture it would be big. There are really only a short list of reliable sites in Asia and in Thailand who do cator to the community here as a whole:

• Dragoncastle http://www.dragoncastle.net/
  
• Dreaded Ned's http://www.dreadedned.com/
  

They are not a commerical venture on run as a hobby.

[phayao]

I've never had a problem when travelling with my BF in Thailand or Europe, never in the last 16 years.

I didn't have any problem before in New York hotels bringing up friends.

Maybe Idaho, Texas, Sudan, Iran or North Korea are different (I haven't try) and they need some "crash courses".