I travel a lot on business, so this story in USA Today caught my eye...and caused me to sigh, yet again, at how little the marketing "experts" paid -- and paid quite well -- by corporate America really "get it."
Yes, the little things matter. But the "little" things and the basics aren't necessarily the same thing, okay? A few examples:
If you offer guest laundry and I ask for laundry soap, do not hand me a box of powdered bleach and insist that it's soap. This means you, Country Inn & Suites of Fort Wayne, Indiana.
If your ads state that you offer free high-speed internet access, it would be nice if you mentioned, even once, that it's wireless only. This means you, Holiday Inn Express of Newport News, Virginia.
If you offer "free" breakfasts -- look, first of all, understand that we know better, okay? Those are reflected in the basic price of the room. But okay, let's say for the sake of argument that you do offer free breakfasts: if you do so, and and you try to cater to groups of lodgers, is it not likely that there will be a run on breakfast items the next day? Does it require a degree in multi-valued advanced rocket science to, oh, I don't know, plan ahead so as not to run out of breakfast staples four or five times a week, hours before your "breakfast" service closes? This means you, Country Inn & Suites of Clarksville, Tennessee.
(Especially if you're catering to groups of senior citizens. Jesus, those people eat like wolves.)
And basics really do mean basics, hotel people: hot water. Toilets that flush. Water pressure sufficient to clean a razor while shaving. And electrical outlets.
Yes, electrical outlets. You no longer offer enough, and trust me, I'm not unique in this complaint. Yes, a television in the room is nice, and so is a lamp and a fridge. And now I see, according to the USA Today article, that some locations are offering stereos along with Sirius or XM radio.
Very nice, and thanks (although I've never seen the latter). But I travel with a laptop computer, a beard/mustache trimmer (and recharger), an iPod (with recharger), an alarm clock, and sometimes with a portable cassette player or CD player. Yes, you have outlets in the room -- but they're already occupied, by your TV, your cable box, your lamp, your fridge. I think you can do better, before you start boasting of satellite radio service or electric aromatherapy candles.
Am I being Baby Boom-curmudgeonly about this? I think not: the caption to the photo accompanying the story reads, "Gen Xer Leslie Liberatore, 36, checks e-mail in the lobby at Chicago's W Hotel."
Well, of course she's in the lobby! There weren't enough outlets in her damn room!
Q.E.D.
Posted by Craig Ceely at March 27, 2005 02:16 PM