Danny DeVito tours Italy with his “Troll Foot”

by Mike Barish on

There are plenty of ways to document a trip. You can blog during your travels, shoot some video or, of course, take pictures. Often, having a recurring theme in your photographs can help create a narrative for your friends to follow. Pictures of you in front of famous works of art, sampling local foods or posing with monuments can turn photo albums into photo essays. Or, of you’re Danny Devito, you can take pictures of your foot as you meander through Italy.

The diminutive actor who is best known for his work in Taxi and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (and as the “crap left over” in Twins) is currently tweeting his way through Europe’s boot while documenting his self-proclaimed “Troll Foot.” His foot has visited the Duomo in Milan, Piazza San Marco, and the canals of Venice.

You can follow his adventures (or, more accurately, his Troll Foot’s adventures) and live vicariously through his stubby appendage. With so many celebrities tweeting the inane triviality of their lives, it’s refreshing to see someone of such prominence leveraging new media in a way that both enlightens and uplifts others. What better way to teach others about Italy and promote the benefits of travel than posting grainy images of your creepy foot?

It should be noted that a fairly extensive perusal of DeVito’s images has led this reporter to discover that the actor has not one, but two Troll Feet. Once again, Gadling is at the forefront of investigative travel journalism.

Photo via yfrog user Danny_Devito.

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How to effectively complain about your trip via Twitter

by Grant Martin on

Now that airlines have all jumped onto the social media bandwagon, we constantly hear about miracle stories of lone customers being helped out by a Twitter plea for help. Deep from the soul of the faceless empire, airlines and hotels have been reaching out and virtually hugging stranded travelers, breathing life into the ether and ushering the free radicals back out into their corrected itineraries. It feels great to be loved, doesn’t it?

What a powerful tool this Twitter is. A few well written comments to ten thousand listeners can spread vitriol quite quickly, so even if a customer’s ire is misplaced it’s important for companies to respond. And once they reach out, those 10,000 ears hear the praise. Southwest, for example, reached out directly when a traveler posted a comment complaining about the check-in procedure at the airport. Though they couldn’t disperse the queue, their attention turned a negative situation on its side, comforting the traveler and ultimately winning credibility.

Before you run off criticizing every facet of your trip to @AAirwaves and @MarriottIntl though, think about your approach. While Twitter is a great tool for delivering a concise message to corporate America, if you want results you’re going to need to frame yourself correctly. Here’s how: Follow and hook your audience

If you’re flying on Virgin America this weekend, start the dialogue early. First, follow them, then include the @VirginAmerica mention in a few of your tweets to put yourself on the radar. If the Virgin folks see you building some momentum, they’ll tune in as well. Abjectly showing up and spewing out insults doesn’t carry the same weight as a concerned, engaged consumer.

Generate a narrative

Documenting the development of a problem via a series of tweets not only gives the company insight into the situation but also gives you a patient, objective approach — something that you always want when filing a complaint. It also helps to make suggestions along the way, pointing out problem sources and people.

Pick problems that can be addressed

If you think that you’ve identified an issue that needs to be escalated into the media jungle, pick something that the PR folks can address. For example, if you’re going to complain to @virginamerica or @AAirwaves about no overhead bin space or a smelly passenger next to you, what can you expect them to address? Tight cabins and strange seat mates are a way of air travel life and that’s something that you have to deal with.

Conversely, if you’ve been stuck on the tarmac for four hours or the gate agent wrongly bumps you off a flight, then public relations can sweep in.

Be gracious

Despite the fact that you have 1500 followers, Twitter does not give you permission to be a jerk. Expecting an airline or hotel to respond to your tweet just by virtue of your position is vain and inappropriate. If you’re lucky enough to have corporate America reach out during your travel, consider yourself fortunate — you got your concern addressed at lightning speed compared to what could have happened.

Are the economics of Twitter airfares worth it?

by Grant Martin on

More and more budget-travel tipsters are pointing towards Twitter, Facebook and social media outlets as the source for wild cheap airfares these days. And it’s true, in a way. By subscribing to the pundit feeds online it’s possible to get the inside scoop on a few good routes, often saving a few shekels on a future itinerary.

Broad, dirt cheap fares (sometimes called bingos), however, are harder to pin down. You’ve probably heard about the one guy who got a $7 airfare to Iceland or the other woman who flew to Buenos Aires for $40. These (mistake) fares usually occur two or three times a year and more often than not, last less than 24 hours. Yet these are the tickets that fuel the pundit followers.

Now, with the proliferation of active Twitterers, Flyertalk and Slickdeals, bingo fares are becoming harder and harder to find. Rick Seaney (@rickseaney) is a great example. The CEO of Farecompare has access to a broad spectrum of ticket data before it gets sent to travel agents like Orbitz and Expedia and as such, has a virtual crystal-ball into airfares that are going to soon be available. Great position to Tweet from, right? But can’t the airlines follow the same feed? Could they perhaps pay Mr. Seaney to find mistakes before we do? It’s not unlikely.
Now, the more “viral” a fare goes (with mistake fares), the greater the chance that it’ll be canceled quickly. So effectively, this boils the bingo fares down to being in the right place at the right time — in front of your computer, with a credit card when the fare goes live. And booking it. Immediately. Were you busy updating your Facebook profile? Reading Ashton Kutcher’s Twitter Feed? Digging through the endless retweet drivel that isn’t relevant to YOUR ticket? Sorry, you missed it.

In the end, its a question of opportunity cost. How well worth your time is it to sit at your desk, reading pages of Twitter junk to sift out your special fare? The forty hours that cumulatively add up over the course of the year could easily be spent, well, working — the output of which would be the money to buy a regularly priced ticket.

What today’s travel consumer needs is a low frequency, high volume alarm, one website that makes a phone call or sends an SMS only when your perfect fare comes up, the red telephone on your desk, so to speak. This phone may only ring once or twice a year, but when it does, you can pick it up and book your dream ticket. And until then? Spend your time reading Ashton’s feed and not blindly pawing around for bingo fares.

Now, who’s willing to make that call?

Unlimited Twitter on the go for $7.95/month with Peek

by Scott Carmichael on

The folks at Peek have been featured here on Gadling ever since we brought you one of the first ever reviews of this mobile all-you-can-eat email device. In fact, we were so impressed with the little emailer, that it was featured as one of our top 25 products of 2008.

A couple of things changed in Peek world in 2009 – most notably, the introduction of their faster Peek Pronto. But it appears they are keeping the best for the end of the year with a dedicated Twittering Peek.

The first photos of this device leaked out last week (Peek isn’t good at keeping a secret), but the first official leak comes from Amazon.com.

TwitterPeek is priced at $99.95, and comes with 6 months of service. After that, each month is just $7.95.

To be honest, this sounds like one hell of a deal, and Peek did two things right here – they priced it right, and they jumped on the Twitter traction. Twitter is hot, and an $8 mobile Twitter device is going to be a huge hit – it wouldn’t surprise me to find this under the tree at many households this holiday season. Normally, getting Twitter on the go requires a decent smartphone and a pricey data plan.

An official announcement from Peek will probably follow later today, but if you can’t wait, Amazon is more than willing to accept your orders right now.

Collect Marriott freebies with “Trick or Tweet” promotion

by Katie Hammel on

As Halloween approaches and the weather gets cooler, we realize that winter in the northern US, with its short hours of daylight and negative wind-chill factors, is just around the corner. Suddenly, it seems like there’s no better time to book a tropical vacation. If you’re thinking about a trip to a sunny island paradise, log in to Twitter and start following Marriott Resorts.

Now through the end of October, the company will be giving away daily coupons for perks at Marriott Resorts in the Caribbean and Mexico. Even if you aren’t planning on traveling until the temps dip a little lower (or even until next year), you can still take advantage of the freebies. The vouchers are good through December 20, 2010.

All you need to do is follow Marriott Resorts on Twitter and watch for their “Trick or Tweet” tweets. Click the link and download your voucher, which will be good for deals like free drinks, free rounds of golf, discounted spa services and more. Each voucher is good at a specific resort, so follow along and collect the deals that work for you.

Free drinks in Grand Cayman or a cheap spa treatment in Aruba? I’m feeling warmer already.