Pink Choice deviens le site incontournable des "reviews" sur les hébergements et hôtels pour les voyageurs gays.

La qualité du site est au rendez-vous et la niche marketing le positionne comme le Tripadvisor pour la communauté gays & lesbiennes.

Trevor, l'un des fondateurs de Pink Choice nous donne son point de vue sur la création du site, le marché des gays, la dynamique du web et sa passion pour les voyages.

> Trevor, can you tell some information about you?

We moved from the UK to the States in 1994 to own and run a guesthouse in Provincetown. Previously we had lived in London for many years having met in 1974. My partner (Stephen Mascilo) had experience in the hotel industry. He was the European Human Resources Director for Intercontinental Hotels. I (Trevor Pinker) was a family doctor, and I had no hotel experience except as a consumer!

As you probably know, Provincetown is a gay destination on Cape Cod, and we settled into our new life relatively quickly and painlessly. Business increased so In 1998 we decided to buy a second guesthouse. We ran the two successfully until 2005 when we decided to sell the first. We now run a 7 room guesthouse and have more available time. This allowed us to conceive and launch Pink Choice.

In 2004 Stephen and I were two of the first same sex couples to legally marry in Massachusetts, having already been together for 30 years.

>You manage a great travel site, Pink Choice, Can you tell us the story and some fact about it?

As owners of 2 gay guesthouses we have met a large number of gay and lesbian travelers who agree that there are limited resources online that provide information for members of our community about places where they can stay and feel comfortable. There are a number of good hotel review sites online but prior to Pink Choice nothing existed specifically for our market. Whenever we traveled we often had difficulty finding a suitable hotel where we could be assured that we would we made to feel welcome.

The success of Pink Choice depends on members of the gay & lesbian community taking the time to write about their experiences staying in hotels, inns and guesthouses that market to the gay and lesbian community. We want to receive all reviews, good and bad! Based on the ratings that hotels receive we will present Pink Choice Awards annually to those properties that have provided the highest standards of guest service.

We launched Pink Choice in August 2006 with 16 North American destinations listed. Since then, our destinations have increased to more than 100 worldwide as site users have suggested new additions. Traffic is increasing on a daily basis and we currently have more than 500 unique visitors/day, staying on the site for more than 9 minutes on average.

>Can you give us some higlights about your goals with Pink Choice!

The first was seeing an idea become reality and watching it grow.

Our aim is for Pink Choice to be the first choice and most trusted website for gay and lesbian travelers wanting information about gay and gay-friendly accommodation worldwide. As Pink Choice grows we plan to expand our listings to include rental properties and all the services that exist in a destination ( restaurants, gyms, spas, clubs etc). Site users will eventually be able to rate and review all apects of their travel experience.

We have recently introduced a blog on the Pink Choice site. We plan for this to become the #1 platform for all topics related to gay travel.

>Gay and lesbian travelers spend more time on Internet, have more and more financial power and special request for their professional trip, vacation and hotel.

What are their special needs for hospitality & travel ?

Gay travelers do not generally have dependents and have a high dispossible income. They are more computer literate. They take more vacations than their straight counterparts. Many of the corporate hotel groups see the value of the gay $ and therefore market to the gay community as being gay friendly. Pink Choice reviews will provide site users with information as to which hotels really are. We want to feel comfortable and not to be worried about being who we are. But to a large degree the needs of gay travelers are no different from anyone else.




>Internet is going faster and we talk now about Web 2.0 and Travel 2.0. What do you think about this evolution in the tourism & hotel market place ? Word-of-mouth marketing and User Generated Content are the big trends for Travel 2.0 ?

As guesthouse owners we have seen a rapid trend away from print advertising. All our marketing is now online and more than 70% of our reservations are made online. In particular the gay community are very high users of the internet. Travelers are making their own reservations without going through a middle man like a travel agent. More are turning to internet resources for comments and opinions about destinations and properties made by consumers themselves. In our opinion, this will only grow.

>We see important impact of news technologies (RSS, AJAX, podcast, blog, socialnetworking tools, Google mashup,Vidéo etc), what is your point of view ? Do you plan to put vidéo on Pink Choice ?

As Pink Choice grows we will try to embrace the latest trends in technology. First we have to build a comprehensive database to acheive credibility. The site is end user driven and the more reviews we receive, the more credible the site will become as a resource to other gay/lesbian travelers. Pink Choice is an informational site and as such we need to focus on this and not allow the site to be diluted with content that blurs our focus.

>What about your developpment in Europe. Are you looking for more hotel partner in this area ?

Any hotel that markets to the gay community is welcome on the site. Hotel owners can register on the site and add their own hotel in any global destination. Site users can also recommend (or not as the case may be) any hotel in which they have stayed and we will immediately add it to the site. We want Pink Choice to be consumer driven and not just a marketing vehicle for a hotel company to target the gay traveler. As for Europe, we are receiving reviews from travelers for European destinations and this will continue to grow.

>Any advise for hotels who want to catch the Gay and lesbian travelers ?

First and foremost, honesty. Don't pretend to offer something that you can't deliver.

Secondly, Pink Choice is the ideal vehicle for hotels marketing to our community. We have a number of advertising options that allow hotels to enhance their listing to showcase their properties. In addition Pink Choice allows direct links from the site to hotels' sites, so visitors to Pink Choice can read guest reviews and then go directly to the hotel's website and make reservations. Additionally there are advertising options on all the destination and subsidiary pages on Pink Choice. We suggest to property owners that they encourage travelers to post a review following a stay. The more reviews a property receives, the greater the credibility one can attach to the reviews.




>What are your taste for:

>Travel:

Very mixed tastes. We enjoy city breaks as much as beach vacations. We generally opt to stay in gay hotels in resorts that market to the community (Fort Lauderdale, Palm Springs etc) that have received good reviews from guests staying with us. We often pick a corporate hotel if staying in a city that we have grown to trust.

>Travel destination:

We are interested in any destination worldwide! South America and the Far East are particularly appealing.

>Hotel :

Any hotel large or small where we feel comfortable

>Business:

We get frustrated with hotels not offering wifi, particularly the larger hotels in major cities. And equally frustrated by having to pay for it when they do. We offer that facility in our guesthouse and know how easy and inexpensive it is to provide.

>You have the micro

Pink Choice is growing primarily by word of mouth and travelers surfing the web. We encourage gay/lesbian travelers to write reviews of their experience so that other travelers can benefit from their experiences. Only then will the site gain greater credibility.

We are encouraging business owners to get travelers to review their properties. We have been surprised to be told by some business owners that they are hesitant to get their guests to write a review as they are afraid of getting a negative review. If they are proud of what they provide, why should they be concerned ? If they get feedback, isn't this a good thing. Better to know what can be improved or corrected rather than live in isolation from knowing what guests want and what can be provided or corrected.

Eighteen months ago, we never thought we'd be running an internet website. We're nervous, excited and committed to the growth and success of Pink Choice. We are energised by the response and feedback we have received from business owners and gay and lesbian travelers.

Many thanks for taking the time to write about us.

Best wishes,

Trevor & Stephen

Pink Choice LLC

8 Cottage St, Provincetown, MA 02657, USA

508-487-3694

www.pinkchoice.com

info@pinkchoice.com