I scored a rare weekend pass from my wife last Friday so did the only sensible thing I could do.
Jumped on the first plane I could and flew the 2,500 km from my home on the Gold Coast to Hobart, Tasmania to visit my 18 yo son, Harry.
Harry picked me up at the Airport (with his work mate Jonny) and we headed off for a Boy’s Weekend.
We had no idea where we were headed, we just pointed the car up the beautiful East Coast of Tasmania and went.
Harry climbs a rock – Bay of Fires
As it got later in the day we started thinking about a place to stay.
The Tiny Town Of Weldborough Has A Hotel
I’d heard a bit about a tiny hotel in the tiny country town of Weldborough, but it was still 2 1/2 hours from where we were and it was getting late.
Never mind – we made the call and the lady at the hotel booked the 3 of us into the Family Room for $120 a night. I told her we’d be arriving in a bit over 2 hours.
Cool!
So we headed the car inland and got to the hotel at 5.30 pm.
We ordered a few beers and mentioned to the lady that we’d booked the Family Room a couple of hours earlier, could we please grab the key and drop our bags in the room?
“Oh sorry, I double booked that room. You’ll have to have 2 double rooms. That’s $80 a room,” she said.
I Hate Being Played For The Sucker
I never care about the cost of things. Ask my wife – she’ll tell you I piss money away on all sorts of things.
But I hate being played for a sucker. Really, really hate it.
And I was being played right now.
So I asked the lady if she could give me the rooms at $60 a night, on account of her booking my room to someone else and to save me the difference.
I thought that was reasonable – I’d booked the room at the agreed price and then driven 2 1/2 hours out of my way to get to the hotel.
It didn’t seem right I’d be out of pocket $40 just because she either made the mistake or had grabbed another booking and ignored mine.
So it was no biggie, I thought. Except for the answer.
“The owner will be here in 1/2 hour, but he’ll probably say no,” she said.
Okay then. I’ve been told!
Was I “The Sucker“?
The lads finished up their beers and off we went to Scottsdale, another 45 minutes driving.
Playing The Customer For A Sucker Didn’t Used To Matter
Playing the customer for a sucker (or punishing the customer for your mistake/deliberate overbooking??) years ago didn’t really matter. After all, I’m essentially a short term tourist, who the hell am I going to tell about terrible service?
But it’s not years ago. It’s now. It’s the digital age.
When people get aggrieved they have various avenues to voice their displeasure.
Can Bite You On The Ass
Play someone for a sucker – or not have the sense to make right your wrong – and it can bite you on the ass.
Sure, our little incident won’t have much of an impact on the success of the Weldborough Hotel, but it will cost them a few thousand dollars.
And I’m sure that money would be much better off in the pocket of the Weldborough’s owner than in the pockets of the people he won’t get to see now.
Even A Nobody Has Influence
Now, as regular readers will know, I’m a nobody. But even a nobody like me has a bit of influence these days.
Firstly, there’s the money they lost from turning us away.
Jonny Has Hollow Legs Syndrome!
My son’s mate Jonny has a serious medical condition – the guy has hollow legs. If he drinks, the beer goes straight in and fills his legs up. And he’s an Englishman.
Putting those together means he can drink about 30 litres of beer no problem.
Which he did at our new hotel in Scottsdale! All up the meals and booze cost us about $300 – money we would have spent in Weldborough.
Jonny trying to be an Aussie in yet another hotel
Then There’s Trip Advisor
Secondly, there’s Trip Advisor.
I know the importance of Trip Advisor because I consult to many different companies on using Trip Advisor. It’s rather important.
So I do my review on Trip Advisor and tell my story and have my whinge.
No biggie – people will read it and probably not base their booking decision on it, but it certainly negatively affects the brand that is the Weldborough Hotel.
And consider if another reviewer writes a similar tale as mine – well, then the Weldborough has a major problem.
My Clients Include Tasmanian Tourism Operators
My clients include various tourism operators and one of them very regularly sends his clients off on trips around Tasmania with tips on where to stay for an authentic Tasmanian experience.
Me relating my Weldborough experience to him isn’t going to help push up occupancy levels at the Weldborough.
Then there’s the motorbike trips I do with 5-6 mates each year – next time we’re riding around Tasmania we won’t be staying at the Weldborough.
Lads take a break at Freycinet
Add in word of mouth comments from me (and this article) and then the impact adds up.
And, as I’ve said before when I’ve done a poor customer service case study, it’s lucky I don’t still write my newsletter to 250,000 subscribers OR have my ABC radio show.
Then things could really start to have an impact.
(And yes, I know some of the above sounds bloody pompous – bear with me, just trying to make the point!)
Not Spiteful
I always feel a bit spiteful writing articles like this. You see, the guys at the Weldborough Hotel are probably good operators trying to make a buck.
One bit of shit service shouldn’t reflect on what they do as a whole.
As the bit below demonstrates (read it in a minute!!), I’m keen to give praise where it’s due and I feel felt some affection for the Weldborough Hotel.
The point of the article is to illustrate that every customer is gold. So treat him right.
Whilst that dopey looking bloke who wandered in at 5.30 pm on a Friday night (that would be me) is obviously a tourist and will probably never come this way again, sometimes that bloke has the influence to really bite your business on the ass when you flip him off.
By “sometimes” I mean “most of the time” in this digital day of:
- Trip Advisor,
- Facebook,
- and the rest.
Everyone now has huge influence.
The Twist In The Tale
There’s an ironic twist to this tale that makes me laugh.
On the Weldborough Hotel web site you’ll see a review very prominently placed.
It’s prominently placed because it’s a great review.
“Best Old Pub In Tasmania”
“…….Fantastic friendly service, amazing food and comfy accommodation – terrific value all round.
Take a trip out of your way if you have to – it’s worth the visit.”
So I did take a trip out of my way.
But no, I didn’t find the service friendly or the accommodation comfy. No, it wasn’t “terrific value”.
What sort of dickhead wrote that great review?
Yep, my own son Jack from a stay 1 1/2 years earlier.
Awkward!
On that same page they reference an article a guy wrote about how great the Weldborough Hotel was when they looked after his son who was doing a solo charity run around Tasmania.
This guy wrote:
“The team are super friendly, the meals are brilliant quality and the accommodation is terrific value.
At just $60 per night, the Weldborough Hotel provides old style accommodation with new age service and care.”
Wonder what idiot wrote that?
Yep, that idiot would be me.
Now it’s really awkward.
(I’ve deleted that article, because I just can’t have it on the site if I don’t believe it now. Heh, call it a personality trait!)
The Takeaway
If you agree something with a customer and then screw up, don’t make the customer pay for your mistake.
That’s not fair and seems a bit dodgy to me.
And if it’s not fair, people get really annoyed. Then they whinge to others. Sometimes thousands of others.
The post Playing The Customer For A Sucker – Everyone Has A Voice To Fight Back In The Digital Age appeared first on Online Marketing Australia.