I guess it must be hard to be a relatively small country that nobody knows too much about, apart from the image that it’s always cold there. Not the best beginnings to plan tourism campaigns, but I’m constantly surprised at how persuasive Iceland is about getting tourists there.

Now, I haven’t (yet) been to Iceland, and I don’t like to fall for marketing hype, but both the tourist board and tourism operators like the airline Iceland Express have such a pleasant way of encouraging me that it’s got right near the top of my must-visit list. And nobody’s paying me to say that.

I often read the blog that belongs to Iceland Express, because it’s actually really entertaining, and the airline has some great marketing campaigns - recently they started a site called Iceland Socks where you can make your own talking-sock video, set against various sightseeing backdrops of Iceland.

The tourist board has a website that sounds so friendly (it even has a category of tourist attractions called “Bits and Pieces”) that I’m even more intrigued. I only know a couple of people who’ve visited Iceland, and while their travel tales were all positive, they were definitely the more adventurous type.

Can I believe what the marketers say?

I’d love to hear from anyone who’s already made the trip up to Iceland - does it match up to the hype? And in general - should you ever believe the tourism marketing or do you want your info from a more independent source?

Interesting investigation on BBC Watchdog last night regarding issues with consumers credit or debit cards being frozen abroad by their own bank. It’s an issue I featured back in September 2007, so I thought it was worth updating that blog post with some additional advice.

Useful travel tips

• Inform your bank prior to departure that you are going to be using your credit or debit card abroad
• Leave your mobile number with the bank and ask them to contact you if they have any issues
• Write down the person you spoke to and their position within the bank
• Write down the contact details of the bank and take it with you on holiday
• Don’t rely on just debit or credit cards, take some foreign currency too for emergencies
• Don’t use a bank machine that isn’t attached to a bank, as you’ll never get your card back
• Remember your security details because you will be asked them whilst abroad

Apparently consumers have had issues with their account being frozen despite them contacting the bank – the banks blame their computer system which freezes the account if it see’s any strange activity but it’s still important that you follow the advice given above.

Not that this isn’t going to help if your stranded abroad, but contact the financial ombudsman with details of your complaint. It’s outrageous that you have to inform your bank when you are going on holiday, but on the other hand I am glad that they are protecting our money.

Have any of you had a bad experience with this issue?

The original Travel Rants Carnival promoted over 80 new and established travel blogs but keeping it going was becoming time consuming, so I have decided to change the format. On the first Sunday of every month I will review five established or start-up travel sites or blogs.

This carnival is open to any non-commercial and commercial holiday and travel website and all you have to do is send me a link to your website or blog via my contact form. Before you send your submission please be aware that the reviews will be 100% honest, no fluffy reviews.

The first set of reviews will be this Sunday, so your submission must be received before Midnight on Saturday. The travel blogging community is welcome to participate by writing their own reviews or comment on my reviews as I am sure not everyone will agree with me.

If you have any questions please leave them in the comments.

There’s no doubt that online travel is dominant but today I wanted to see if travel companies have improved consumer communication. A few years back I realised that the majority of travel companies did not allow consumers to contact them through a cheap method of communication – that’s email.

Have they improved, well I visited the websites of three big travel brands and three independent travel agencies to see who is the best at communicating with the consumer. The results are quite interesting, so let’s see who wins the travel rants consumer test.

Big Brands

Travel Republic

Provided an online facility which allowed me to raise any questions about my booking; provided address, telephone and fax number but no email address or contact form for any holiday queries or issues that I may have with their website. The contact details seemed to be hidden at the bottom of the about us page.

Thomson

I found the contact us link in the footer of the site and whilst they don’t provide you with an email address they do provide a ask a question service where you can find frequently asked questions and the response. With a few clicks I could find the office addresses, and they were telephone numbers I could use, unfortunately though they are 0871 and 0844 numbers.

Expedia

Like Thomson, Expedia have a customer services section with the most frequently asked questions and their responses, but I couldn’t find a link to a contact us page, which had clearly the office addresses and relevant telephone numbers, and I couldn’t find any feedback or email contact form.

Independent Travel agencies

Travel Counsellors

Well, it wasn’t a good start because their site was not loading properly in Firefox or the Safari browser but that’s for another article. I have to congratulate them on the fact that the contact us link was at the top of the site, easily found, had the business address, telephone numbers and an email form where I could ask questions and leave feedback.

Southall Travel

Hat’s off to Southall Travel; not only do they provide an email address, telephone number, business address, but they also offer a live chat feature, where as a consumer I can chat with someone from the company and ask them questions live. Great idea.

The Holiday Place

Another independent travel site with an easy to find contact us page, which included a number of telephone numbers, the business address, and an email enquiry form. The downside is that the enquiry form is quite long, and cumbersome to complete, so offering a quick enquiry form for general advice would be a good idea.

So what have I learnt from this.

The independent travel agencies are offering email communication and in my opinion are making the communication channels much easier for consumers. On the other hand though the larger brands would get many more emails, so offering a ‘ask a question’ type functionality like Thomson and Expedia do, is be a good idea for frequently asked questions.

The winner for me though is Southall Travel for their live chat feature – a free and neat idea for consumers to communicate with a travel company. What would you like to see travel companies do more where communication is concerned?

From May, anyone can bid for trademarked travel brand name on Google ads, but I know, what does this have to do with travel consumers. Well, surely one issue could be that it’ll be confusing when you view a sponsored advert for Thomas Cook but it directs you to an affiliate website.

We have all at some time booked a holiday with a brand that we can trust, so you can understand why some travel companies are upset by Google’s decision. Apparently, this change could cost travel companies millions because they want to protect their brands, so it makes me wonder if this cost will be passed on to the consumer.

Can anyone think of any other reason why this change could affect consumers?

It’s not that often that I rave about airlines but I am impressed with Southwest Airlines who are using Twitter to great effect. It takes confidence to open up communication channels online and allow consumers to complain publically about their experiences.

From reading Twitter tonight I found a small number of passengers have complained about their service, the airline respond, apologising, advising passengers and generally making sure that the customer is satisfied with the outcome.

It is a shame that many travel companies do not trust their own brand and services enough to allow consumers to communicate with them publicly. I’d like to see more companies communicating with consumers by creating communication channels like travel blogs, forums on their own websites.

Does anyone agree / disagree, and why?

On Thursday night I stayed in the Shaftesbury Kensington Hotel, and on inspection in the bathroom I noticed a sticker asking me to think about the environment. Every single light that could be switched on, was on, the TV was set to stand-by, mini bar was switched on, yet there was nothing in it.

The lights on the landing were on all day and night – okay there needs to be lights for when drunken guests stagger home from award ceremonies but what about lighting that switches on when someone enters the floor. That seems a sensible idea to me.

Don’t get me wrong, the hotel was fantastic but it made me realise that hotels can do a lot more to help the environment.

Wow what a night and an experience I’ll never forget. When I first arrived, I wandered around looking lost, but when I found my table, I was so pleased to be in such friendly company. Everyone from eDigital research and table 33 made me feel so welcome and I’d like to thank them all for that.

This is getting to be an Oscar type blog post..

Presenter, Claire Balding of the BBC, was hilarious and a really nice lady.

I’d also like to thank the judges and everyone at Travolution who have made my year, it’s quite an achievement that a part-time travel blogger can be in such great presence, and win an award. Finally, I’d like to thank everyone who congratulated me on the night, via email or twitter.

My new Travolution award is sat proudly on my desk.