out and about Archives - Siren Comms_
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out and about

This month, Siren is excited to kick-off two important initiatives for the business, supporting our growth strategy and honoring the commitment to our mission of ‘continually striving to deliver the best results for our people, clients, partners, and the planet. Our two first business improving initiatives are focused on our people and culture. 

 

Siren Comms is delighted to join the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) to support the continual professional development of our team and we have begun work with the National Centre for Diversity towards achieving Investors in Diversity accreditation. 

 

Whilst we have always taken great pride in our ethical conduct, transparent approach and focus on people, joining the CIPR supports our commitment to developing and investing in our wonderful people even further. Without people our business would be nothing. And boy do we have some wonderful people across our team. 

 

 

The CIPR is the world’s ‘only Royal Chartered professional body for public relations practitioners, boasting nearly 10,000 members’ and works in partnership with its members to ‘set, maintain and advance the standards in which public relations is conducted in’. 

 

In joining this professional body, we are committing to working within the CIPR’s ethical Code of Conduct set in place to hold practitioners accountable to their employers, clients and the wider public – something which has always been at the core of our approach as practitioners within the industry.  

 

We will also be able to access the institute’s Continuing Professional Development scheme and Accreditation and Chartership programmes ensuring that our team is offered the BEST possible training and development support. 

 

 

The second significant business decision is to commit to working closely with the National Centre for Diversity to achieve their Investors in Diversity accreditation. This process evaluates businesses through staff and partners to ensure their organization promotes Fairness, Respect, Equality, Diversity, Inclusion and Engagement as part of its policies and practices. Whilst we are proud to have built a business and team culture in which these values are respected and promoted, every business must look to improve in this space, and this is our commitment to do so. 

 

Stay tuned over the course of the next few months for live updates, learnings, and successes the team will be sharing as we embark on this journey of development, education, improvement and, of course, celebration.  

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blog, business, client news, out and about, photo, siren team news, travel & pr

Last week 65 travel agents and two journalists from TTG and Travel Biz turned up at Gatwick airport ready to embark on Barbados’ Mega Fam to celebrate the 65 wonderful years that British Airways has safely carried UK travellers to its paradise shores.

In partnership with TTG, Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc. and British Airways ran a competition for travel agents to win a place on the fam trip to explore and experience the island in all its glory. Siren hosted the media along with a group of 20 excited agents, on the trip.

The group was split across three luxury hotels including Turtle Beach, Seabreeze Beach House, and the recently opened The Sands Barbados.

After touching down on the scorching tarmac, the group were straight into their busy itinerary, from the Island Safari, heritage railway tour and cave explorations to site visits of a diverse mix of hotels on island. The trip encompassed all the best bits of Barbados and showcased the plethora of activities available. Barbados is a favourite for winter sun seekers but it has so much more to offer than simply sun, sand, and sea. 

On Friday morning the agents were hosted by Sandals resort where they took part in a mini trade show, this was a great opportunity to meet all the hotel partners, receive all their news and updates and create lasting relationships from which they can move forward and sell the destination in the future.

The Barbados Olympics was one of the highlights of the week, agents and media battled it out in a race of their choice; either taking to the waves for a 100m swim, running a mile on the open road, as well hitting the countryside tracks for a 5k cycle; and for the adrenaline junkies, the obstacle course at the Barbados Ninja Throw Down put them through their paces.

We are happy to say that though our Siren did not win …or even finish the course… she did tackle every obstacle with commitment and enthusiasm… until she fell off the monkey bars and was dunked in the pool #lifeasasiren #goneswimming

The final night saw the agents dancing the night away with rum in hand and soca beats pulsing through the air as they sailed the sea on a catamaran cruise.

By Sunday night no one wanted to leave and our Siren was left knocking on hotel doors and scouring rum shacks for all her wayward sheep.  To the disappointment of the agents, and the relief of our CEO, the trip returned all heads accounted for and not one extra stowed away in a suitcase.

SUCCESS!

Want to know more about Barbados? Visit www.visitbarbados.org

Got a destination that needs representation? Give us a call

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blog, out and about, travel & pr

What is luxury? I am fairly confident that if you asked 100 people, you would get 100 different answers. To some, it would be having the time to appreciate the small things in life. To others, it would be related to space and freedom, whilst others might describe luxury simply as the ability to indulge in the consumption of material goods. If even defining the word luxury is hard enough, imagine trying to find a phrase or description that successfully describes luxury travel – well, I can tell you now, it is almost impossible.

Last week, Siren Comms_ was invited to the first ever TTG Luxury Summit to cover current trends and opportunities in luxury travel, putting a wide range of topics under the spotlight to challenge the sector on what it needs to do to stay relevant in an ever-changing environment.

 

The full day’s itinerary mixed thought-provoking keynote sessions from the likes of Ben Fogle, Elegant Resorts’ Lisa Fitzell, Lydia Forte of Rocco Forte Hotels and Dr Antonia Ward, plus moderated panel debates and interactive audience sessions. For the first time in this format, the event was held in association with Siren’s client Celebrity Cruises as headline sponsor – all part of the build up towards the launch of their first new ship for 10 years, and the maritime embodiment of the concept of ‘modern luxury, Celebrity Edge, just weeks away.




The main findings, trends and updates from the day can be seen below, with the most important point for luxury businesses being the need for adaptation – change is the only thing that is inevitable!

 

Summary: 

  • Artificial Intelligence (AI) and robots will take over elements of the travel industry, but the human touch, and insider knowledge, that luxury travel customers demand – and which luxury agents can offer – will be hard to entirely replace.
  • Choose content and storytelling over advertising – it evokes a stronger emotional response in the consumer
  • Luxury travel has nothing to do with age, culture, gender, it is a mind-set
  • Embracing a digital delivery doesn’t have to mean sacrificing the personal touch


Our advice to clients and industry advocates is to remember that while the 21st Century definition of luxury means it isn’t what it used to be, it would seem that people are far more driven by personal events and experiences now than material objects. So an industry like ours that trades in the creation of experience should capitalise on the advantage it has.

Jenna Osborne

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