Group Travel Scoop - Groople.com

The New Seven Wonders of the Architecture World

A few months ago the Group Scoop brought you a look into the modern 7 wonders of the world. Now we have a new conversation to begin about the new 7 wonders of the architecture world. The new edition Conde Nast Traveler get credit for the selection of the new seven wonders of the architecture world.

So if you can’t decide where to take your next group trip, consider centering it around a tour of Conde Nast Traveler’s “new seven wonders of the world"...

Cumulus, an exhibit hall at Danfoss Universe- The Cumulus building gives you a chance to take a walk in the clouds. The building is called Cumulus because that’s what it is- a cloud like building. This celestial wonder is the science and technology museum in Nordborg, Denmark.

Burj Dubai- will be the tallest building in the world when it’s completed. The crown Jewel of a city very rich in fascintating architecture. The final height is top secret but it’s rumored to be somewhere above 2,275 feet and over 160 floors.

Wembley Stadium- A Fans dream. This wonder manages to seat 90,000 with no obstructed sight lines. Wembley Stadium will be the centerpiece of the 2012 London Olympics.

New Museum of Contemporary Art- Looks as if a child got a hold of a stack of silvery blocks and stacked them to the sky. The inside of the museum may be the true treasure of this wonder.

Kogod Courtyard- Part of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C. It is a curved roof formed from a patterned grid of glass and steel above pools in the courtyard of the Old Patent Office Building. Be careful not be overwhelmed…

Red Ribbon, Tanghe River Park- This wonder is a testament of man integrated and complimenting nature. Located in Qinhuangdao, China, about 180 miles east of Beijing, it’s a beautiful red steel bench that looks like a flowing red ribbon that runs a 1/3 of mile through a riverbank garden and ecological preserve.

The Crystal-Looking as if a man made crystal is growing over a classic church style building. It’a a controversial addition to Toronto's Royal Ontario Museum.

FlyClear of Airport Security

Want your group to "fly" through security at the airport? Want to "soar" above the rest of the crowd waiting to be screened? Want to "rise above"… enough with the cheesy flying references.

Point is I have a pretty nifty idea for frequent fliers. It’s called flyclear. It’s a card that entitles its holder to bypass security in the airport. What’s even better is you can skip security and NOT be gang tackled by homeland security. Not bad.

The flyclear program is in a number of major airports including: Albany, Newark, Denver, Orlando, Indianapolis, San Francisco, JFK, San Jose and more…

This luxury will cost you $128 in fees and a few minutes of hassle. Step one is complete you application online. Step two is stop by a local flyclear location prove who you are, take a photo, and your prints.

Fly clear costs a little bit of money and a little bit of time to give you a privilege only the president used to get- getting on a plane without standing in line for security.

Groopvine Update

News Alert - Groopvine Upgrade

As many of you know, we here at the Group Scoop are dedicated to following the developing story of Groople’s Groopvine’s evolution.

This time the Groopvine development staff has rolled out new improvements to help you get your group together on the same page…in this wave of Groopvine evolution, we see an easier way to view RSVPs, communicate, and plan.

Manage RSVPs– Now on the top right of your trip page are drop down lists that organize the status of someone you’ve invited to join the trip. The guest’s name and icon will appear in invited, not coming, or haven’t responded boxes.

Email Communication- When someone in the group posts in the forum, creates a poll, or takes another important action an email reminder will be sent to the group. Now everyone will be alerted when important items in the trip are changing.

Activity Scheduling- the activity scheduling tab has been upgraded with a nifty function of keeping a "who’s attending" list. You can now keep track of who’s coming to what planned activity.

Three very cool features for an already great product. More upgrades on the horizon, stay tuned here for the latest Groopvine updates.

Your Best Group Photo - 5 Ways to Take Better Group Pictures

"Are you a professional photographer?"

"How much did you pay for that camera?!"

Listen up Group Scoopers, we have some advice here to make your next group photo your best ever.

On thing that is almost mandatory on every type of group trip is a group photograph. But most of us aren’t group photography experts. Or really know much more about photography than which button to press on our digital camera.

I used to be such a novice, until for this story I searched the internet and found some advice that has really turned my digital photography skills around. The best article I found was at macdevcenter.com.

I’m going to limit the advice to digital cameras for simplicity's sake. So without further delay the Group Scoop’s:

5 Ways To Take A Better Group Picture

#5 Cloud Mode – when you’re taking outdoor shots and it’s sunny out change the white color balance to "cloud mode" this will increase the reds and the yellows resulting in warmer looking photos.

#4 Line of sight – if you don’t have a tripod and need help taking level pictures, pretend you’re driving. Focus on something in the distance and line up with that, chances are your pictures will level out. Also, photography experts suggest you use a gut feeling and don’t over think if the picture is level or not. Go with your gut.

#3 Use your Megapixels – the most important picture you’ll take on your trip is probably the group photo. Now is not the time to be stingy with memory. Use the full capability of your 10 Megapixel camera- HIREZ all the way.

#2 Tripod – they make inexpensive and very small and manageable tripods these days…forget the advice in #4 and pick up a small light weight tripod. You can pick one up for around $20.

#1 Hire a professional – There are many instances where a group photo will be the icing on the cake, the cherry on the top of a great memorable time. Thousands of dollars are spent on lodging, transportation, and food, why not a couple hundred to preserve the moment in the best way possible. There’s a reason professional camera’s are worth  $30,000 - they take better pictures!

Hope this helps! Please comment on any additional tips you think would help people take better group photos.

A Luxury Hotel for your next corporate meeting on the cheap?

Business Week recently published an interesting story regarding travel…the cheapest rates at the most expensive hotels.

If you play your cards right (i.e. using Groople to book the room for you) what’s good deal for an individual can be a good deal for your group travel too. So listen up business travelers!

Cheap is a relative term in this case. It will cost you at least $700 / night to see how the other side lives in these exclusive destinations. We’re talking the cream of the hotel crop here. The highest end of high-end hotel properties.

Believe it or not, the most expensive average hotel rates are not in Tokyo, London, or NYC- they’re in Moscow. The Russians are back!

• Speaking of Moscow, the prices at the Ritz Carlton are generally in the thousands but rates can be had for (gulp) only $1370.

                             p.s. the most expensive room is $17,555

• The Ritz in Tokyo will allow you to live like royalty starting at $625 (most expensive: $18,773).

• I have a real deal for you in the ultra luxurious Pudong Shangri-La in Shanghai with rooms to be had from $283-$5,938.

• Closer to home (here in the US of A) why not pick up a room at the very exclusive Four Seasons in New York for a paltry $755 (they range up to an impressive $30,000)

There’s a quick snap shot of the luxury hotel game and the minimum prices to get in. I better start saving now…ok, that’s $.56 cents and counting…

Read more about these hotels at Businessweek.com

Groople CEO Mike Stacy on Groople in the WSJ

On Wednesday of last week our company had the great honor to be featured in The Mossberg Solution by Katherine Boehret alongside Tripit (if anyone from TripIt happens to be reading this, I think you guys have a great product). I just love it when a blogger or a noted journalist like Katherine takes the time to write about our company and gives us feedback. Fortunately, Katherine found a lot she and her friends liked about Groopvine which was great to read. At the same time, she pointed out some areas where we need to improve. This reminds me of taking our seven month old daughter to the doctor for her set of preventive shots. I knew they were going to really sting but in the end she’s going to be much healthier. (I think I felt more pain than she did.)  It’s never easy to read about someone finding fault with your product but, just like my daughter's shots, it’s a great way to get in better shape. So when you use Groopvine, please take a few extra minutes to share your thoughts on what’s working for you and more importantly, your ideas on how we can improve. Rest assured that your comments are taken very seriously by our team.  A significant amount of the new functionality that we’ll be adding over the next several months has come from ideas that our customers have shared with us.