Right you are Darren. Totally boring they are most of the time. Just lists of prices usually. And I trust none of them, because as soon as you walk in, they’ll tell you something like “oh, those prices are if you book 2 years in advance” or something like that.

Postcards from travellers who booked there would be a great start - maybe have a competition running that encourages them to send it in, in exchange for some interesting prize. A bit of UGC would not go astray.

Could not agree with you more, aren’t some of them really boring.. we could almost start a photo comp for the most boring shop front!

If your agent reading this why don’t you broker a deal with a sporting shop all retail shop that would be willing to cross promote ie you could promote a super hot ski deal say in there shop, and they get to dress your window with inspirational gear.
Just an idea from the travelling little nomads. Travelling with Kids should be fun.

Yeah, lot of truth in this. A while ago we carried some articles about the spread of plasma display screens in agency windows, but they don’t seem to have spread all that much. As far as I remember, the agencies we spoke to that did adopt them said they boosted traffic.

Things should liven up in September when Royal Caribbean sends out the marketing materials for Oasis of the Seas, but a) that’s cruise-specific and b) if all agencies rely on big marketing pushes from big companies we’ll get more colourful but very uniform windows.

@James - better to take a positive approach - run a comp for the *best* shop front and get other agencies inspired. Like the cross-promotion ideas though.

Darren, right you are.. I cringe at plasmas every time I see them, purely from an environmental point of view!

just would like to add one more item to the above offerings (all very good) but its not just the shop window.
have you seen some of the outrages uniforms some of these people wear, bright pink shirts and neck shafts, shocking aqua blue blazers.
I’m sure its designed to promote a summery feel good feeling, all it does for me is make me nauseous.
May be they should have the staff in the shop window, it would definitely grab you attention.

You make a very good point. The few travel agents that are still around here are either buried away in a shared business building on the bottom floor in the back or they are in a strip mall with tented windows to keep the glaring sun out.

They definitely need to take a moment to use some window art to attract new clients. With over 80% of all travel being booked online they need to make their store front look like the home page of their site, if they have a site.

Yes, apparently LCDs do use less energy

It’s not just that. In order to make either LCDs or Plasmas, a powerful greenhouse gas, NF3 (17,000 x more powerful than CO2), is used.

OLEDs would be best, but we’ll have to wait for those to be available in larger sizes.

The girl in the bikini would attract my attention! Please do not tell the wife that though.

yes this is right, most of travel agencies look like very dirty also, they don’t care about the cleaning, attraction and they didn’t tell the correct time also.

@ Darren

I have been watching this for ideas…. We use Worldchoice displays… posters with less prices more information.

But then Worldchoice is the only group that does window display training. (Fingers crossed I am right)

@James

Yes we tried this with a few local stories. But with the onward march of chains we have lost out this way.

@ Nathan

We would love a plasma screen and have had a survey, which found we can not have one because our building faces the wrong way. Meaning the sun on the windows would render it invisible. The other problem we found was we could not insure them.

@ Rohan

A girl in a bikini would get you in any store, wouldn’t it?

@ Jonathan

Sunglass free so you can sit with the staff when buying a holiday! Yes some uniforms are a bit bright. But you prefer smart or casual?

In Barcelona (where I’m writing from), many of the agencies have flat screens (I haven’t ventured close enough to see if they are Plasma or LCD’s) but I’ve seen so many that are always turned off!! Seriously!! I don’t know if it’s to save electricty, or maybe the loop drives the staff mad, but that I find hilarious!

Most travel agencies are boring in side aswell as outside. They all look really dated and old.