Hotels and their service

Something that I have started to notice and maybe this is the hotel chain that I have been staying at is there are times when customer service and just service in general seems to be going downhill while the price of staying at the hotel is going up. Maybe we are just getting the hotel when they are having a bad weekend but that seems to be happening more and more.

• Breakfast area – not keeping items stocked so that the guests can grab their food and coffee and be on their way. This time at the hotel the coffee was running very low when we got ours and then I think it ran out not long after but it took a while for it to be restocked. The sausages were low (only 2 left when we got our food), so none left after we got food and the plate area was empty in one section for empty. It took quite a while to get any of these items restocked and some people did without sausages and probably coffee as they were in a hurry.
• Cleaning staff – they were very impatient with the elevator. One of the elevators was out of order so it meant only one was working. One of the cleaning stuff was constantly pressing the button to call the elevator as if that would make it come faster. This is just after 8am and lots of people would be leaving at that time. When the elevator finally arrived it was full of guests leaving with their luggage so that is why it took a while. One of the cleaning staff walked by us and I thought she was going to try and get on the elevator before us but she waited otherwise she would have heard me.
• Cleanliness of the room – when putting our shoes in one of the closets discovered a part of a cracker on the floor. Have no idea how long it has been there but it shows that the floors of the closets are not cleaned on a regular basis. We didn't have crackers so it was there before we arrived.
• 
  Recognition of being a member of the chain – this is something that has happened a few times. Yes, we are recognized as a returning guest to the hotel but not as a gold member of the hotel chain. When you get the survey that is one of the questions that you are asked and again this time I will be stating not recognized as a gold member. Sure, when I get into the room it welcomes me by name and as a gold member.
• Caution pylon - this pylon was in the one elevator that was working the entire time we were in the hotel. The floor wasn't wet as it wasn't raining out and we didn't see anyone washing the floor at any time we were around the elevator.

These are some of the issues that we saw on our latest stay and something that chains need to understand that can impact of a guest continues to start with a specific chain of hotels or is it time for them to try a different chain and see if that chain has better service.

Something that we are going to be doing is trying a different hotel chain to see what they are like. Being able to have the flexibility to try and different chains and not just stay with one does help quite a bit. We will see how that stay goes as we have already booked a trip and I will make sure that I write up about that experience.

40 years

Here I am sitting and writing about a date that was 40 years ago, and the date was September 8, 1986. This is the day when I started my first full-time job and it was for a company that I continued to work for until October 31, 2001. Yes, that seems like a lifetime ago and in some ways, it has been a lifetime ago and it’s been for me most of my working life. When I sit back and think about how things have changed since that date, I know that both the world and I have changed. 

In 1986 after just finishing college, I had no idea what working full time was really going to be like and how your free time is limited because of the basic things that you need to do everyday. Sure, I had gone to college but there were long breaks between classes and if you didn’t want to attend a class on a specific day you didn’t have to. Now, working meant showing up at a specific time each day of the week and then leaving at a specific time. Things sure did change but it was something that I enjoyed, and I know that I learned a lot working at that first company.

Things are so different now compared to when I started working and the use of laptops and cell phones are just a couple of the things that have changed. Overall, the way that we work on is so different, but the job still needs to get done and demands of your time are still here. Now, the means of communicating has really changed and now when you haven’t answered a text message or a voice mail, someone will call you and ask why.

Our free time now is so different, because now we can order online our groceries and meals and they will be delivered to our house without in a lot of cases talking to anyone. For some people their free time is spend scrolling on their mobile device and losing hours watching different things that are posts on social media. Growing up we could only watch a program on the television at a scheduled time and now it’s whenever we want to watch it.

I know that I have changed from being that scared individual that walked into an office to start her first job to someone that now is a partner of a business. Sure, there are times when I wish I could go back to the easier ways of life, but I am enjoying my life as it is and if I hadn’t started working for the company that I did, things might have been very different for me. Forty years really isn’t that long ago when you think about things and sure things that changed and life is different, but I can still look in the mirror and see that person that I was.

Fast Food Establishments

This blog is being written after we were trying to enjoy lunch at a fast-food location and things just didn’t go as well as it could have. The food was fine so that wasn’t the issue, it was the other customers that weren’t considerate while they were in the location. Here are some examples of what happened:

1. Two high school students were sitting at the table next to us and they are picked up 99% of their lunch at Metro (one of our local grocery stores) and then came into this location so that they could sit down and eat. One of the girls had purchased a pop from the fast-food location but that was it. So, they were sitting at a table for four and had only purchased a pop during a time when the location was busy. Also, they had purchased some potatoes at the grocery store but needed salt so they walked up to the counter and asked for it as well.  If you are going to sit in a location when it is busy, make sure that you have purchased move than 50% of what is on the table from that location.

2. A group of four girls come in, and they placed their orders and then they are trying to figure out where they want to sit. One girl goes down to the back of location and gets a table and then one of the girls waiting for her food starts chatting with this girl sitting at the back of the location. It was pretty busy and that type of chatting isn’t something that should happen when there are lots of other people in the store. This group did seem to get organized and had their lunch without much of an issue other than they didn’t clean up their table when they left. Everyone else made sure their tables were cleared off.

I understand that when a fast-food location isn’t busy you might have a little bit of something from another store but not most of your meal and make it clear that it was from somewhere else. This fast-food location didn’t serve pizza in bags or broiled potatoes in a plastic container or pop in bottles. So this was one of the issues that really bothered me.

Something else that maybe the location would improve is how close to the end of the counter the first table is. When people leave the counter, they go past a wall, and the first table is right there and if you are sitting there isn’t like people are almost coming into your space when there is a lot of open space around that table. If we sit at this table again, I will be making sure that I sit at the other two seats so that we are a little further away from where people and their trays seem to be.

So, when you are visiting a fast-food establishment when it’s busy please be considerate of the other customers as they want to enjoy their meal. I understand that students want to have lunch outside of school some days but if you are purchasing your food from a grocery store, you need to figure out a space outside to have your food. I understand it is difficult for fast-food locations to monitor the customers sitting in their store and in a lot of cases they don’t want to approach a customer as they don’t know how that customer is going to react.

When communities work and when they don't work

A lot of us are part of some online communities be it for work or pleasure and there are times when things run smoothly and then there are times when things just don’t work. I think we have all seen that happen to at least one of the communities that we are involved in. 

One of the key factors for a community working well is have leaders/administrators/moderators that are part of the community. If the key people are not posting and seeing part of the community that is when things start to fall apart. Those individuals don’t have to be posting all the time, but they at least have to be making comments to posts and at least being visible within the community. If these people either never post or hardly post it makes it difficult for some communities to continue to be effective.

Another factor that can determine if a community to going to work or not is having community members that post and what to be involved. I have seen too many communities where only a few members do the majority of the posting and everyone else just sits back and just lurk. It is important for a community to work well there needs to be conversations. It’s important to have members that want to engage and be part of the community because if everyone just lurks that isn’t a community at all.

Online communities be it for work or pleasure can help you figure out issues or provide you with information about things that you are interested in. I know that I have been involved with communities for both work and pleasure and some have been really good, and others haven’t helped at all. Communities do have a life span and some of them with last for years while others may only last for a few months, as it depends on the purpose of the community and the type of members that are involved in it. What is really sad is when you find that a community that was a wonderful place to participate is slowly fading away. It can be hard to realize that this community may not last much longer but if you enjoyed it when it was in it’s peak, remember to enjoy it and know that you were part of it during it’s good times.

 

 

Sharing on Social Media

If you are going to share other posts on social media, please explain why you are sharing a post. If you are just sharing a post without explaining why you are sharing, you are just spamming everyone.

There are so many times when I am looking at Facebook, and I am feeling that I need to try and control a bunch of things because I am feeling like too many people are just sharing posts and not explaining why they are sharing the posts. I understand that you might think the post is important, but you MUST explain to me why it’s important.

I have seen lately quite a few of my friends just sharing posts without any comment and that is getting very frustrating because I don’t have a clue why they are sharing the post other than spamming everyone. There are so many posts that you see so many ways that if you are going to share something you need to explain why you are sharing on your page.

I have times where multiple friends have shared the same post and none of them have given me the reason why they are sharing. It might be something that I might/should pay attention to but if everyone isn’t giving me a reason to look future into the issue regarding the post I am just going to ignore it.  

So, if you would like me to pay attention to something that you are sharing, you need to explain to me why you are sharing something. Just a simple share doesn’t tell me anything and if you continue to do this type of sharing you might end up not being someone that I see your posts.

For a lot of us we need to understand and only see posts that are important to us and when friends or family just share without a reason that can limit how much of them, we see. I have already limited what I see for some people and if you are one of those that just keep sharing things without explaining why, you are probably going to go into that category of those that I don’t see your posts and I will only check on what is going on in your life occasionally.     

Being a blind sharer means that you aren’t respect or care about others in our circle so why should we care about what you post. You aren’t caring about those in your group because you don’t explain why you share something that doesn’t us give a reason to care. Hitting just a share button means that you don’t care enough to give me a reason why I should care.

Apps and promos

How many times have we received a promotional code through one of our apps that we have on our mobile device, and it just wants us to purchase something that maybe we looked at once and decided it wasn’t worth it. I know for me, I have seen this too many times when I have received a code or the “you need to purchase immediately for this discount” when the discount wasn’t even a discount. 

What everyone needs to be aware is that some of these promotional codes or buy now to receive the best discount isn’t really a discount, it is a business or app that is just trying to make sure that they pressure individuals to feel that the purchase is a now or never. What they don’t think about is just trying to show maybe someone how an item might help the individual.

I know for me when I get this immediate promotional code or you must purchase now, my decision is I am going to walk away from that item because that business is demonstrating the need for sales instead of trying to meet the needs of the potential consumer. I recently signed up for a fast food chain for some of their promotions but what I found out is that they are going to both blast me through the app and the blast me through emails so why should I want to purchase from them just to meet a promotional requirement. For me, I will purchase at the various fast-food chains when the chain meets my needs not when there is a promotional item that I MUST purchase.

What a lot of the apps and promotions need to realize is that just offering me a discount isn’t going to make me jump to purchase your item. The location of the store is going to be a major deciding factor and if you aren’t with my immediate location I am not going to drop everything to drive miles just to get a discount. Businesses need to understand that a discount might be nice when I am close to the actual location but if I have to drive miles to receive the specific discount it is no longer a discount it is an expense to me.

When the app gives you a time sensitive promotion you need to look at the cost of getting this promotion versus not getting the discount. In some cases what you save by not getting the discount is more than the discount you could have received. Act now, don't think, as we need your money more than you do.

 

Why should I move?

Recently I was seeing that there was an event that was asking attendees if they would be willing to move from the hotel from where the event was being held to another hotel that was a little bit of a distance from the location. Yes, I understand that the event hotel was going to make sure that you were transported between the two locations but that doesn’t matter.

Something that we need to understand that there was a contract (separate to the specific event) from January through March for a group of rooms that were to be vacated prior to the event that was to happen at the end of April and early May. Well, what happened is the long-term contract was extended without looking at what other contracts were signed and suddenly we had a major issue. So, what happened was the hotel where the event was contracted, they were able to find another hotel within the same area that was able to find accommodations, but they could accommodate people that were willing to have a king bed so that really did impact a lot of people. Yes the original hotel was willing to make sure that they could transport the individuals back and from the new hotel but there are still the challenges.

Something that a lot of organizers don’t think about is how many individuals will be going up to their room for just those few minutes to escape the sounds of the event space or what happens if I forget something in my room and need to do a quick run up to the room to get that specific thing that I need to continue to move a specific project forward. I don’t want to have to give out how to get to my new hotel to just spend a few minutes in my room and then turn around and get back to the event hall.

For a lot of attendees at an event, we have to understand that moving from one hotel to another might seem easy to some but can be a challenge to others. How do I move between the two hotels because do I always want to spend the time and energy going between the two hotels. Sure, the event hosting was willing to pay for the transportation, but they didn’t think about the time and energy that was going to happen for the different attendees.

I understand that there might have been an issue between an existing long-term contract and a signed contract that was done a year ago, maybe what should have happened is the people that there at the original hotel should have been the ones moved to accommodate a contract that was signed a year ago.

There seems to be a lot of there long-term contracts that are around in the hotels, but we also have to think about the contracts there were signed a year ago and how it looks for individuals that want to stay at a given hotel. Why are there so many less rooms available and maybe that is what we need to look at.

Edit: there is an update and it ended up that the hotel was able to resolve the issue and the attendees of the event didn't have to move to a different location. I am happy to hear this because it shows that hotels need to understand that a contract that was signed should be respected.