Hotel Impossible and Trip Advisor
Sheila and I have become huge fans of The Travel Channel's "Hotel Impossible". The show helps hoteliers in need who can't seem to grasp why they are losing business. In many cases, what many of these hotel owners and managers think is "acceptable" is absurd and that is the reason they are failing. What is worse is that I think most travelers could be better managers than many of these featured hoteliers. This makes for some interesting shows.
The host of the show, Anthony Melchiorri, is an interesting guy and highly qualified to host this show or manage any hotel or resort in the world. His resume is quite impressive and his management style, vocabulary and behavior resembles my own. He knows when to get angry, he knows when to raise his voice and he knows when to back off, listen and be a bit more 'soft' when necessary. His resume includes glowing reviews of his work and successes at The Plaza, DoubleTree Times Square, Lucerne Hotel and the historic Algonquin Hotel, all in Manhattan. This guy is qualified and he seems to have standards as high as I do!
On a more personal level, I also enjoy watching Anthony because we share some of the same stomping grounds. We both grew up on Long Island and then went into the US Air Force where we both learned about effective training, evaluation and standards.
Anyway, I am writing here about one thing which Anthony always stresses at every hotel. He always stresses the importance of internet presence, hotel management systems/software and internet customer reviews. Some of these hoteliers just can't seem to grasp that without a positive internet presence, you will fail. Some hoteliers can't seem to grasp the importance of good ratings in review websites such as TripAdvisor. These same hoteliers also can't seem to grasp the fact that they must listen to their customers, learn and adapt in order to succeed.
With websites like Trip Advisor, all hotels, motels and restaurants must raise the bar within their own businesses to stay competitive. Years ago, decades ago, if a customer had a bad experience at a hotel, only that person's family and friends would hear about the experience. Today, each customer can reach thousands upon thousands of people and these people they are reaching are all potential customers. These complaints/reviews are targeted right at potential customers. As a result, every hotelier must ensure standards are being met consistently and that customers are happy.
As far as I'm concerned, this is great news. I refuse to stay in a fleabag motel. Decades ago I came home from a stay in a cheap motel only to realize later that we brought home an uncontrollable houseful of bugs. After that incident, I've always been very careful about where I lay my head down at night. I notice negligence. I pay attention to the details.
As I have written here a few days ago, I wrote another review in TripAdvisor about our latest hotel stay. As an example of just how many people read these reviews, just in a matter of a few days almost 400 people read my latest review. More importantly is the fact that these particular 400 people are more than likely potential customers of that hotel.
Some hoteliers argue that the only people who write reviews are the people writing bad reviews. This is absolutely wrong. I, myself, have written quite a few good reviews on different sites. Also, all these non-believing hoteliers would need to do is to look at the reviews of their competitors and they will see the good reviews and why everyone seems to be going to those competitors' hotels.
Just in the past week, seven of my reviews on TripAdvisor alone had been read by 1400 readers! Hotels, motels and restaurants must take this seriously and they must raise the bar within their own businesses or they will fail.
Anyway, I think TripAdvisor is an amazing tool for all travelers. Also, every traveler should watch a few episodes of Hotel Impossible. Some of the stuff hoteliers, hotel managers and hotel staff do is just unbelievable and these are things every traveler should see in a television show, not experience firsthand.
The host of the show, Anthony Melchiorri, is an interesting guy and highly qualified to host this show or manage any hotel or resort in the world. His resume is quite impressive and his management style, vocabulary and behavior resembles my own. He knows when to get angry, he knows when to raise his voice and he knows when to back off, listen and be a bit more 'soft' when necessary. His resume includes glowing reviews of his work and successes at The Plaza, DoubleTree Times Square, Lucerne Hotel and the historic Algonquin Hotel, all in Manhattan. This guy is qualified and he seems to have standards as high as I do!
On a more personal level, I also enjoy watching Anthony because we share some of the same stomping grounds. We both grew up on Long Island and then went into the US Air Force where we both learned about effective training, evaluation and standards.
Anyway, I am writing here about one thing which Anthony always stresses at every hotel. He always stresses the importance of internet presence, hotel management systems/software and internet customer reviews. Some of these hoteliers just can't seem to grasp that without a positive internet presence, you will fail. Some hoteliers can't seem to grasp the importance of good ratings in review websites such as TripAdvisor. These same hoteliers also can't seem to grasp the fact that they must listen to their customers, learn and adapt in order to succeed.
With websites like Trip Advisor, all hotels, motels and restaurants must raise the bar within their own businesses to stay competitive. Years ago, decades ago, if a customer had a bad experience at a hotel, only that person's family and friends would hear about the experience. Today, each customer can reach thousands upon thousands of people and these people they are reaching are all potential customers. These complaints/reviews are targeted right at potential customers. As a result, every hotelier must ensure standards are being met consistently and that customers are happy.
As far as I'm concerned, this is great news. I refuse to stay in a fleabag motel. Decades ago I came home from a stay in a cheap motel only to realize later that we brought home an uncontrollable houseful of bugs. After that incident, I've always been very careful about where I lay my head down at night. I notice negligence. I pay attention to the details.
As I have written here a few days ago, I wrote another review in TripAdvisor about our latest hotel stay. As an example of just how many people read these reviews, just in a matter of a few days almost 400 people read my latest review. More importantly is the fact that these particular 400 people are more than likely potential customers of that hotel.
Some hoteliers argue that the only people who write reviews are the people writing bad reviews. This is absolutely wrong. I, myself, have written quite a few good reviews on different sites. Also, all these non-believing hoteliers would need to do is to look at the reviews of their competitors and they will see the good reviews and why everyone seems to be going to those competitors' hotels.
Just in the past week, seven of my reviews on TripAdvisor alone had been read by 1400 readers! Hotels, motels and restaurants must take this seriously and they must raise the bar within their own businesses or they will fail.
Anyway, I think TripAdvisor is an amazing tool for all travelers. Also, every traveler should watch a few episodes of Hotel Impossible. Some of the stuff hoteliers, hotel managers and hotel staff do is just unbelievable and these are things every traveler should see in a television show, not experience firsthand.
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