Painting you can find in Four Seasons Hotel http://www.flickr.com/photos/uggboy/

I am fascinated by hotels.  They are complex.  They require many skills for them to work well.  Hotels are a fine business challenge to their owners, managers, staff, suppliers & customers.

There have been films about hotels -

There have been TV programmes set in hotels -

Hotels are a highly competitive business.

So I thought I’d do a little research.
I know many people who work in or have owned a hotel.  All their advertising budgets are down.  The amount they’re spending on traditional media has fallen – dramatically.  This got me thinking about new media.  How are hotels using new media – particularly Facebook and Twitter?  Let’s focus on Twitter: how are Irish hotels using Twitter today?

Gregan’s Castle in Co Clare, a 4-Star:  “Winner, The Georgina Campbell Country House of The Year Award 2010. Tweets by owner Simon Haden.” – 1,795 followers, on 78 Twitter Lists,  has sent out 612 tweets so far. http://twitter.com/GregansCastle

Fota Island Resort in Cork – 381 followers, on 15 Twitter Lists, has sent out 144 tweets so far
http://twitter.com/fotaisland

Brandon Hotel, Tralee, Co Kerry – 360 followers, on 18 Twitter Lists, has sent out 263 tweets so far http://twitter.com/brandonhotel

The Cliff House Hotel – 865 followers, on 47 Twitter Lists, has sent out 1,583 tweets. http://twitter.com/CliffHouseHotel It’s chef Kajuiter also tweets – 235 followers, on 19 Lists, has tweeted 1,569 times.

Travelodge Ireland (11 hotels) – 1,842 followers, on 54 lists, 1,423 tweets sent

Claregalway Galway – 1,576 followers, on 39 Lists, 3,933 tweets

Mount Juliet, Kilkenny – 1,366 followers, 41 lists, 623 tweets.

Jury’s Inns, Ireland & UK (30 hotels) – 986 followers, 65 Lists, 584 tweets

The D Hotel, Drogheda, Co Louth – 1,712 followers, 57 Lists, 338 tweets

Here’s Marketing Times:  a useful place to go if you’d like to see the top 30 Irish hotels – rated by their weight on Twitter. And – in case your are wondering – the best Facebook info I could find .

Marketing Times [@marketing_times]  has 277 followers, is on 17 Lists, and has shared 229 tweets so far.

All makes me wonder how many hotel marketing directors & managers are thinking deeply about how best to use Twitter – as their budgets tumble?

ps – I better declare that none of these hotels are a client of MarketingWriteNow.com.

I went to the official launch of CorkMeet 2010 yesterday.

In Cork County Hall, 17th floor of what must be the tallest live building in Cork, at 5.30pm.   There were about 150 people there for the event (15% women).  I stood alongside Conor Keane, business editor Irish Independent – media partner to CorkMeet.

Jim Daly, new Cork County Mayor, introduced the launch.  Martin Riordan, county manager, Ciara Crossan WeddingDates.ie, Conor Healy, Cork Chamber, and Micheál Martin, Irish minister for foreign affairs also spoke.

I was surprised Cork City Council was not there.

At CorkMeet 2009, this business made many excellent contacts – and subsequently gained  new clients.  I was very impressed with the first year of CorkMeet – and 2010 it may even improve.

George Hook & Newstalk Radio are behind it – supporting it as media partner.

After the speeches I met Kathy O’Dwyer of Internsinternational.ie & Yvonne Coughlan RSVP - among others.  There was a good buzz in the room.  I also met one of the Polish embassy staff whom I’d met in 2009.  It looks as if there will be businesses from France, Rumania, UK, Belgium, Spain, Czech Republic – at least – at 2010.

The new feature for 2010 is a “Meet the buyers” session.  About 25 multinational buyers will meet SMEs for a facilitated round table discussion.  This is designed to get the people from big corporates closer to small business entrepreneurs – for the benefit of both, I’d say.

CorkMeet 2010 will target all Ireland – hopefully get people from Northern Ireland down too.

Maeve Bowen is the overall project manager – and I hope to meet her in the Enterprise Park in Macroom soon –  for a bit of the inside story behind this enterprising business development.

Anther business partner to CorkMeet 2010 is B2B Print.

Ran out of time now – but I have notes on what was said by the speakers – hope to add those later…

Disaster

I went to a 4-star hotel yesterday for a business meeting.  I was hoping to do a deal – turn a prospect into a new client. We were checking  each other out – to see if there was a good fit between our businesses.

We met in a hotel I didn’t know well – but I expected to get 4-star customer service. This is what happened – the lessons I’ve taken from the experience.

The story from customer’s view:
We wanted to sit outside & drink coffee.  That part of the hotel  turned out to be “not open yet” – we were ushered inside. That was a bad start because the weather was good.

I asked for croissants – they had none.  I asked for toast – I was told that wasn’t possible because the person serving couldn’t go get toast from the kitchen. I didn’t want scones. So I settled for coffee only.

Ten minutes later, I changed my mind.  I asked again for toast – this time I asked the member of staff to use the phone and tell the hotel manager there was a customer who wanted toast.  I also said, nicely, that I expected the toast to be delivered within five minutes.  I’d decided to put myself out, test the quality of customer service systems – but I was already thinking “the management here doesn’t empower the staff to deliver what the customer wants.”

The toast came in about three minutes.  It was put on the table.  A sideplate was delivered – unclean.  I decided to say nothing.  But I photographed it on my iPhone. We had a meeting to get on with – by this time, we were deep in discussion about how poorly the hotel was being led.

Later, I asked for another coffee.  The person I asked forget my order.  This was now a 4-star Fawlty Towers.  I repeated the order to a different person.  The coffee was fairly good.

My potential client & I began to look closely round the space.  There were loads of cigarette butts in view: the cleanliness was a disgrace.  We became completely distracted & discussed how long the hotel would stay in business. There had been a big investment in the physical appearance of the hotel recently.  But it looked as if the culture of the place was deeply flawed.

Unexpected benefits of poor customer service:
The customer service issues gave us an opportunity to deepen rapport – the unexpected benefit of lousy service was that we formed an alliance to do something to improve customer service in Ireland. We also agreed to do business.

I made notes of all the issues.  I thought of leaving the hotel, saying nothing, and writing about how bad it was – how poorly I’d been served.  I felt like going,  never returning.  But I had a bigger interest.  I went to the reception desk & met the duty manager.  I offered feedback which was taken ["all feedback is good" - was the cliché used].  It was a relief the manager listened to me.  He seemed to take it in.  He thanked me – and I went off about my business.

What wasn’t done to recover the damage
The manager didn’t seem to realise I would never return to the hotel.  He didn’t seem to realise my lifetime custom was at stake.  He did nothing to make it up to me.  I don’t  think it crossed his mind to refund me all the money we’d spent.  I bet he didn’t think of inviting me to stay free in the hotel overnight.

The manager would have had to do something extraordinary in order to prevent the hotel losing a customer for life.  I’ll never agree to meet anyone there again.  I’ll tell many people about my experience.  The marginal cost of offering me a free overnight stay in the hotel is about €14 – the cost of cleaning the room.  The loss of my custom for life is certainly many times that.

This is only an example of what goes on all the time.  The customer is not given the service that the brand promises.  If the customer brings this to the attention of the business – the business doesn’t know what’s at stake – or even how to invest in repairing the damage.

Overall take-away:
There is a serious need for business education.

PS  Here’s a lovely blogpost about positive customer service : it came to me via Twitter:  http://twitter.com/Ali_Davies

Do you have Twitter for your business?  This is dead relevant to you too.

Shut your account straightaway.  Close it down.  Take it out of public view.  Do the closing professionally: announce the move properly – but above all stop damaging your brand via Facebook or Twitter.

You may think me mad.  You certainly think this extreme advice.  I hope you’re interested enough to hang on a minute – just to see what’s driven me into this position.  After all, “everyone” is rushing headlong into social media – new “free” media.

There are so many businesses using Facebook badly in Ireland.
They set up an account, open up a presence – and then set about undermining the value of their brand.  They don’t use Facebook well.  They use it as if it was an advertising channel – a traditional, boring, advertising channel.  They use Facebook to announce their offers, urge consumers to buy from them, and generally interrupt the life of those stupid enough to follow them.

What they don’t do is engage.
So many businesses on Facebook and Twitter don’t engage with customers & potential prospects.  They don’t respond to questions, don’t supply information requested.  So many businesses remain silent while they’re being discussed on Twitter & Facebook.

Every time they fail to respond openly & willingly, they damage their brand – unless of course their brand promises to disappoint customers.

So if you shut your shop on Friday, and don’t open until Monday – think again.  Do your customers want you on Saturdays?  Do your customers have problems on the weekend?

And during the week, do you actively seek to find out who’s chatting about your products?  Do you try to imagine who’s out there with a problem for which you could be a solution?

Stay off the new media – unless you are seriously interested in serving customers.
The impression you give otherwise is dreadful.  If you’re the marketing director, and your Facebook account isn’t great, it reflects badly on your company & your career prospects.

We can track you these days.  We can build a good picture of your track record via your Facebook & Twitter presence.

Get serious about new media – or get underground.

PS : This blogpost was inspired by a Tweet this morning from a business owner who was frustrated at the lack of response they’d experienced from an Irish business.

When I wanted to change from one supplier to another, I had to do something risky.  I had to close one account – the one I had with Meteor.  That was straightforward.  Meteor were easy to deal with.  They placed no obstacle in my way – all their business processes seemed to work very well.

I had to open another account with O2.  O2 were easy to deal with – all the setting up processes seemed to work very well. I was looking forward to becoming a customer of O2 – because they offered the iPhone. [The only reason I switched suppliers was the iPhone.]

The problem, the mess, the horrid situation came about in between the two suppliers.  I was forced to shut off my supply from Meteor before I could get supply from O2.  I was compelled to be without mobile phone connectivity for a while.

It didn’t matter how long I was left waiting for the new supply to kick in.  I wanted un-interupted supply.  I wanted all my contacts intact.  I wanted the move from one company to another to be seamless – and it wasn’t.

The customer was left carrying the can.  The customer was made to suffer uncertainty, anxiety and frustration.  The mobile communications sector screwed me.  It put itself first.

It would be so simple to arrange things so that there’s no switch until the customer is ready to pull the plug.  Wouldn’t it be much better if you could check you had all your contacts intact  - before you cut yourself off from the supplier you’re leaving?

Isn’t this a dreadful example of how not to do customer service?

"Dots Obsession" by Yayoi Kusama at Parc La Villette in Paris

“It used to be price… now it’s all about customer service.”  So said an Irish small business owner to me yesterday.  He was a web developer.  He’s now an entrepreneur – developing a new business venture to sit alongside his established company.  He’s based in Mallow, Co Cork, Ireland.

Customer service – I thought we cracked that in the 1980s.  Tom Peters &  Robert Waterman wrote “In Search of Excellence“, British Airways did “A Day in the Life” – the whole business world seemed to be on to customer care and total quality management.  Even Bill Cullen got into “Penny Apples“.

But what’s happened?  Have we consumers got an good enough deal? Are we in love with our suppliers?  Do you think a corner has been turned & service is now as good as we need it to be.

Of course not.  Customer service is still lousy.  It’s usually a disaster.  Awefully bad.  Most customer service is an insult to customers.  At best it’s OK, it’ll do.  But I’m obsessed with customer service & think most companies are stupid about it.

I could be diplomatic.  I could mince my words.  I could be careful &  play the long game.  But I’ve had enough. Customer service is so generally woeful, it’s time to shout STOP.

All the theories, systems, magic haven’t worked.  All the initiatives designed by consultants have failed to bring lasting change.  It’s as if

“A lesson has to be repeated until it’s learned.”

For example:
a restaurant in Cork city gave me dreadful service – so bad it took back my pizza & gave me another.  It didn’t charge me for the pizza.  It thought it was giving OK customer service by not charging me.  It wasted my time, spoiled my time out with family, I was itching to get home.  What a stupid thing to not charge me!  The situation was such that I’d decided I was never coming back: they needed to give everyone at the table a free meal + at least a voucher for another free meal – in order to get me to come back.  They needed to think big to repair the damage to their custom and reputation.  Instead they got petty – a bloody refund.  An insult.

This is typical of the small-minded thinking most business has about customer service.

If this was sex it would be a damp squib.

What do you think we should do about it?  Do you think I’m over the top?  Are you satisfied with the service you’re getting?

"Dominating" - by tedxjlibraries (Flickr Creative Commons)

I’m going to France in about 40 hours.  I’ll be there for five days.  I want to use my iPhone while there.  That’s my problem.

I live in Cork City Ireland, and I’m a customer of O2 – the mobile phone operator.  I’ve limited funds.  My  business is not rich – it needs to be shit-hot at cost control & cash-flow.  As a micro-entrepreneur, sole-trader, small partnership, SME – I can’t afford to waste any money roaming in France.

I’m afraid of being ripped-off.  Scared I’ll run up a huge bill while abroad.  I feel that collectively the mobile phone operators have constructed a system that’s so complex I can’t understand it.

A system that swims in small print, in conditions I’ll never read, let alone understand.

There may well be a simple way to roam in France – a tariff that’s not extortionate – a predictable procedure.  But I feel exposed to risk of coming home poorer.  I’m deeply suspicious that if I use my iPhone to tweet from Lourdes, I’ll get a horrid bill – each tweet might cost me as much as a glass of wine.

In other words, I’m a customer of the mobile phone industry, and feel at the mercy of my supplier.

This is crazy.
I’m the one paying, the one who deserves to feel in charge, is entitled to feel clear & confident. The boot is on the wrong foot.

As soon as possible, I’ll change all this.  I’ll have my revenge on O2, on Vodafone, and everyone of the companies that seem as if they are colluding to put me in this unpleasant position.  I’ll remain an O2 customer for now.  But some day, without warning, I’ll jump ship – I’ll abandon the whole industry.

Technology develops, all the time.  Out there somewhere, there’s someone working on a solution to my problem. Millions of ordinary people are in a similar position.  Everyone’s screwed right now. We’re all struggling to cope when we go abroad.  Roaming is tough for everyone who has to pay their own bills.

This experience happened yesterday…

I tweeted [as @omaniblog ] to say I was going to France &  needed help & advice: how could I tweet at  lowest efficient price?  I asked my Twitter followers to help me.

I sent several tweets about my problem.  I got several replies.  I’ve  followers who’re willing to help others.  The replies I got offered suggestions & comments:

“Try Vodafone “pay-as-you-go” SIM card…  Try “unlocking” your iPhone…  Try ringing O2… “

These ideas were all great to get – I felt connected, part of a community of people who have to find a solution to this roaming problem.

Did I hear from O2, Vodafone, or any mobile phone operator?
No.  Do mobile phone operators work on Saturdays? Yes.  Do O2 monitor their reputation?  Does O2 keep an eye on what their customers & potential customers are saying about them on-line?

Social Media Monitoring… I know a bit about this art.  I’ve had contact with several companies that offer software to corporates, offer corporates & SMEs the ability to track customers with problems.

Not a single mobile phone operator chipped into the conversations I had about roaming.  I felt they couldn’t give a damn about me – I’m too small to count?  You can imagine what it’s like to have both a “roaming” problem and also a problem of being “ignored” by my so-called supplier. You can imagine because this has happened to you.  This is not a one-off.  This is what it’s often like for customers: an operational difficulty compounded by a ‘personal’ problem. No one like to be ignored, abandoned & neglected – left to sink or swim alone.

One company got in touch with me.
One single, singular company in the whole world wide web.  One person, the director of products & innovation of MAXroam. I didn’t contact MAXroam.  The direcctor of MAXroam, Pat Phelan, found me.  He sent me a tweet.

MAXroam isn’t even a mobile phone operator.  It’s a company I’ve no contract with.  I’ve never even left a cookie on their website. One of my followers suggested I try MAXroam, recommended this by tweet.  A director of MAXroam noticed.  He sent me a tweet saying MAxroam would sort me out. “Ring me on Monday” said Pat Phelan.

I don’t know yet whether my requirements will be met by MAXroam – but I’ll never forget they were the only company to offer me a solution.  Even if it turns out my O2-contracted iPhone can’t be used in France at a price I’m willing to pay, I’ll still tell hundreds of people this story.  I’ll talk to people over dinner, in cafés & pubs – I will use this experience to link with others who share this problem.  I’ll even write a blogpost + tweet about this today – before any solution is in the bag.

The very fact that MAXroam was listening to the chatter on Twitter, and got in touch with an offer to help – while O2, Vodafone ignored me – is enough for me.

Maybe I’m making a meal of this
… but I think this story is typical of our times.  It features the market leaders, dominant forces, using their muscle to take unfair advantage of their customers. Market leaders dominate, & establish a system that excludes customers. [At least I know this to be true for mobile telecoms.] Thankfully there’s a minnow, an outsider, who’s seen an opportunity to solve a problem.

Thanks again MAXroam, thanks Pat Phelan.  I’ll be phoning you on Monday morning.

Facebook Network - by Marc Smith

BNI is big.  It’s a worldwide organisation  with branches in many countries including Ireland.  It was founded by Ivan Misner (chairman) who’s here now in the Clontarf Castle Hotel in Dublin.  He’s keynote speaker today.

I’m a Visitor to BNI Ireland Conference today.  I know many members of BNI in Cork city & during the last year they’ve given me great help with my business.  This includes lots of moral support during the ups & downs of keeping going during tough times in a damaged economy.  I count some BNI members among my best business friends.

So it’s good to see at close quarters what Ivan Misner has sparked.

There are about 100 delegates here – the conference registration for Visitors is at 11.00. The theme is “Networking Like a Pro” – and this is the 25th anniversary of BNI.

Marian Finucane is a speaker. I’ve never met her but admire her RTE radio programme.

Rob Brown came to Cork a few months ago and spoke on “Reputation Management” to a BNI breakfast at Rochestown Park Hotel.  He’s here today to speak. He also spent three hours with Irish BNI leaders yesterday. I met Rob briefly after his Cork bash.  Yesterday I wrote a testimonial for him. I’m sure he won’t mind me sharing it.

“It’s three months since I first heard Rob Brown speak to a crowded hotel room in Cork Ireland.  Usually, after that long, I’d have forgotten the speaker.  Maybe some of their ideas would have stuck – but the personality behind the words would have faded.

Rob Brown walked from the back of the room, right up the centre.  His voice strong and punchy, his words arresting – by the time I saw him pass me I was hooked.  I’ve heard many good speakers in a long life of listening to corporate voices.  Rob is up there with the really good ones.

The man was a bundle of energy, a powerhouse of content, a confidence that infected me. Rob Brown gave the BNI audience so  much content on “Reputation Management” that I felt I needed nothing more for the next few years.  There was so much compressed experience in his presentation, I was almost overwhelmed with the excitement of it all.

But there was something human about Rob Brown – something that made it possible to find my own space and my own decisions on priorities.  I came away well able to decide for myself how I would grow my reputation in a sensible way.

I’d go back to Rob Brown again.  Next time I’d want to hear him on another topic because his style suited me – and it’s still vivid after much competition from other interests.”

Brian Moore is also speaking here today.
I’ve met Brian a couple of times at BNI meetings when I was “subbing” for a BNI member. He lives in Limerick and is a trainer with the Referral Institute. I wonder what he’ll be talking about today?  You can follow him on Twitter @brianmoore007.

Photograph by Shikeroku

I’m suspicious of business Newsletters.  I suspect they’re fraudulent.  They appear as if they are offering me News – they really hope to sell me something.  In other words, they are a dressed-up bit of advertising.  That’s my difficulty.

For a long time I’ve been thinking about publishing a Newsletter.  I get them all the time – many are stunning in design. Many come from people whom I respect &  want to support. But I still delete them all, most of the time.  Business Newsletters irritate me.

The fact that I have this difficulty with Newsletters is not a reason to stop producing your Newsletter.  I am only one voice, one consumer – I am no authority.  The fact that I don’t like Newsletters should not stop me publishing one: the Newsletter is for others, not for me.

The problem is Advertising.
I hate it.  I resent it.  I have to put up with it.  It is everywhere.  I am thrilled to see it decline.  But it’ll be around for a long time yet.  Brands want to be recognised: they need to keep reminding people that they exist.  In the global market, with so many companies producing similar products & services, your brand is your difference – it is hard to get it to stay in the consciousness of others.

Advertising interrupts.  It breaks into my world.  It sorta shouts: Notice Me, See Me …. and often more Buy Me.

I began with Newsletters because I’ve been tweeting with @IrishSmiley(Frederique Murphy) –  a business that publishes a blog and a Newsletter.  The blog contained a promise that there is extra stuff in the Newsletter, different in tone, more personal.  I got interested, I almost signed up for the Newsletter.  But my suspicion held me back.   “I bet it’s all spoof designed to send me ads” said the voice within.

My gut tells me that News is good.  Personal is great.  A Newsletter that’s personal, very personal,  really gritty, incredibly human and messy… a Newsletter that short, that’s all new… that might work.

What’s your view?
Do you have a Newsletter you love?  One you’d love to share in a comment here ?  Let’s see if we can gather a few examples of superb Newsletters that are not sophisticated tricks?

PS After publishing this post, I found this excellent stream of discussion about Newsletters (led by@whatswhat_sian, thanks to @irishsmiley.)  This gives you different views to consider.

Last Tuesday, I joined them in the Café that Denis built on Washington Street, downtown Cork City. It was my first meeting with Lisa & Denis.  We got together to discuss Cork. I guess we all have vested interests in the future of Cork.

I’d already written my dissatisfaction with the image of this place where I live (and am growing to love). I’m disgruntled you could say.  I’m also committed to changing its reputation, so that I can relax and be proud of the place where my child will grow up.

But alone I’m useless.
A solitary voice bleating away into a vacuum.  Collaborators matter so much that nothing decent will be done by me without the active co-operation of others.  ”Collaborating Cork” – I hope.

The meeting was wonderful: we got on well.  We found an shared interest in the future of Cork and all we had to do was buy into the idea of doing our best to transform Cork.  All four of us are big networkers; we use Twitter and other tools to link people, to build little communities of like interests.  As we chatted about what Cork is like, how difficult many Irish people find collaborating, how lots stay in their silos – a stranger interrupted.  She butted in and told us she we collaborating with at least 40 pubs in Cork.  She was interested in our conversation.  A new link was made.  A ball began to roll in my head.  I began to sense that the notion of re-branding Cork was a mover.

The next thing that happened was on Twitter. #TransformCork began to be used.  You can see a few of the recent tweets here.

I’m going to continue this story here.  I’ll add new material when I have time.  The most important thing is to do this now.  Transform Cork is going to become a movement…  Citizen Branding lives…