Archive for the ‘Hospitality’ Category

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

Sicily and the Manager of first impressions

May 27, 2014

Sicily

Dee is the absolute best at holiday arrangements – she looks after everything and every year we have the best time when we go away.

I can’t stand picking through brochures and websites but she loves it and locks down every detail including great places to visit, excellent accommodation and this time she even managed discounted advance parking at Dublin airport!

Months in advance she managed to get a great deal on a cabriolet car rental and she double checked this with the car hire company, Atlas Choice a few days before we were about to fly out. Car hire can be a little hit and miss in particular when you can get the car you booked “or similar”, which is a term that is quite open to interpretation.

Dee had booked a Renault Megane cabriolet and the plan was we were to collect it at Catania airport after our evening flight and then drive to our hotel, which was an hour away. All going well we would be sipping on a cocktail before 10pm looking out at the Mediterranean and up the next day spinning around the coast with the top down and the wind in our hair!!

“I am sorry, there is a problem with your car and we will have to give you something else” our lady from OS Car Rental said (these were the local agent for Atlas Choice car rental).

“But we confirmed this with you just two days ago?” we said…what was the point?

“There is nothing I can do except give you a bigger car, a Kia Sportage” was her solution and hopefully they would deliver the replacement car to our hotel in a few days.

Hmm..You just couldn’t trust this crew judging by the girls attitude – at this stage she was really annoyed that we would not just accept what she was giving us and move on and out of her way.

She asked us to sign a contract for the Kia Sportage for the duration of the hire. We weren’t very happy being presented with a ‘contract’ that would technically lock us to this car. “We will sign it if you note on it that you will change the car as promised in a few days“.

At this stage she totally lost it “I sign nothing” complete with hands waving and extravagant gesturing ….”If you want a car tonight you sign the contract and take the Kia“. At one point she tore the contract out of Dee’s hand as she saw that we were going to write a note on it.

I was so amused at this point that I managed to get her to repeat her “I sign nothing” performance but this time I recorded her – if anyone from her company gives a toss about customer survive they will enjoy this!

Hotels booked and paid for and getting nowhere fast with our Sicilian friend and determined that she wasn’t going to muck up the start of our holiday we relented ….20 minutes later we rolled out of the car park in something we wouldn’t have booked in a 1,000 years with 114,000 miles on the clock.

Our first thoughts were that Sicily was a big con job and we were on high alert – what were we to expect next?

Thankfully we got the friendliest welcome from the hotel, which was much better than we could have expected and we had our cocktails a little later than planned! We were too late for dinner but the kitchen managed a club sandwich for us.

My daughter Ellen and her boyfriend arrived to Sicily the following evening and got stung paying a €96 euros charge for ‘outside normal hours‘ collection of their car and were thinking ‘what next‘. They had a frustrating hour trying to argue that people coming off a regular evening flight to collect a pre-booked car was quite normal and should not incur a penalty. Con job?

My son Brendan and his girlfriend arrived to Sicily a few days later and got caught with a €25 taxi bill for a 2 minute ride to their hotel. When they questioned the amount he grabbed their suitcase and threw it in the boot of his car until they coughed up. Rachel’s first thought was ‘I just want to go back home‘.

First Impressions All three of us had a lousy first impression of Sicily, which thankfully was replaced quickly by some fantastic ones.

Should every country, every place and every business have a ‘Manager of first impressions‘ to make sure that your first impression is great because that first impression lasts?

Greg Canty

Greg Canty is a Partner of Fuzion who offer Marketing, PR and Graphic Design services from our offices in Dublin and Cork

Tags:, , , , , ,
Posted in Customer Care, Destination Branding, Holidays, Hospitality, Travel | 6 Comments »

How’s it going?

May 14, 2014

“How’s it going?” a bright face looked up at me.

I had a busy day yesterday…

Up early for a meeting to help mediate a problem between two parties that I know well that were about to go through a silly court process, gave a social media course to a group of business owners, drove to Dublin for a big pitch to a potential prospect – I feel it went well, fingers crossed!

We headed for an early bird to Chez Max on Baggot Street with our crew and were joined after by friends for a few drinks and some fun.

We ended up in 37, Dawson Street for more fun and then Burger king of course.

There was a beautiful full moon hanging over Dublin on this gorgeous night as we strolled back to our hotel. Our usual haunt was booked out so we ended up trading up to the very fancy, Merrion Hotel. Hotels in Dublin are clearly getting busier, which is a great sign for our economy.

As we made our way back to the hotel I noticed the bodies nestled in their sleeping bags alongside doorways just off Stephen’s Green. At least tonight it was dry and not too cold, which is a small blessing for those unfortunate enough not to have a roof over their heads for the night.

I glanced into one doorway where i noticed there were two people sleeping alongside each other.

To my surprise a bright face was staring up at me. For a brief moment we connected “How’s it going?” he said in a soft friendly voice. “Not bad at all, thanks”

We made our way back to our hotel and put our heads down for the night.

Today it’s off to Dublin Airport as we are taking a flight to Sicily for a well earned rest and some sunshine – it should be great, we’ve never been.

I wonder what my bright faced friend is doing today.

Greg Canty

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion, Marketing & PR with offices in Cork and Dublin

Tags:, , , , , ,
Posted in Charities, Friendship, Holidays, Hospitality, Irish Economy, Tourism, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

Ambassador, The Restaurant that became a friend

May 11, 2014

Jimmy and William Wong, Ambassador Restaurant, Cork

“We never ask a customer to leave” William told me.

I was absolutely astounded by this. How could you run a business in this way? What about staff costs?

We were doing some work with the Ambassador Chinese restaurant in Cork a number of years back and William Wong the manager and one of the family owners explained some of the business ethos to me.

He told me a story about how a professor who was visiting UCC had arrived late, had his meal and in the early hours of the morning he was still there, enjoying a few cigars (when this was still allowed) and after dinner drinks. He was the only one left in the restaurant but they waited until he was finished before they started tidying up.

Maybe in a family run business you can do this but this incredible work and customer service ethic explains why this restaurant has done so well since William’s parents opened it in 1987.

For as long as I can remember this luxurious Chinese restaurant has maintained incredibly high standards of food and always excellent, friendly service.

In this time I have eaten there so many times, on family occasions, on dates, on special occasions, entertaining clients and for special treats with our own team and I can’t remember ever being disappointed with the experience. Every time you went there you enjoyed the food, the ambiance but also the special welcome and friendliness.

During our short time working with them we got to know the family and in particular William quite well. Without a shadow of doubt he has been one of the very best clients to deal with, always appreciating what was done for him and an absolute pleasure to deal with.

On one occasion William returned from a trip away and brought us back a scroll with ‘Fuzion‘ written on it and a special oriental teapot, which must have been a pain in the backside for him to be carrying around! We treasure both of these gifts and on the odd occasion that you might come across someone that is really unpleasant these remind us that there are special people out there.

I have my own special, if slightly unusual personal connection with William – I was in the middle of a meeting with him one afternoon when the call came through that my granny had passed away. Other than family and close friends I couldn’t think of a better person to be with when that awful news came through.

Sadly the Ambassador restaurant closed its doors last night for the last time (May 10th, 2014) as the building has been bought by Penneys.

Cork will truly miss not only a great restaurant but one that had become a fantastic friend to so many of us.

After 27 hard working years you might wonder what legacy has been left behind by the Wong family?

It’s huge….

The very best of luck to Linda, Norman, Jimmy, the other members of the Wong family and in particular our special friend William.

Thank you for all of those special moments – We’ll miss you.

Greg Canty

Greg Canty is a Partner of Fuzion who offer Marketing, PR and Graphic Design services from our offices in Dublin and Cork

 

 

 

 

 

Tags:, , , ,
Posted in Customer Care, Family, Friendship, Hospitality | 10 Comments »

Good Friday and the Scarcity Principle

April 18, 2014

Good Friday - The Scarcity Principle

I’d do anything for a drink in the pub right now..

It’s always the same on Good Friday – once you know all the pubs and off-licences are closed you want nothing more. We can have wine or beer at home, like we do frequently on a Friday evening but on this day you would just want to go to the pub!

As usual in the lead up to Good Friday we heard the publican and the restaurant lobby groups giving out quite rightly about the antiquated law, which has no sale of alcohol permitted in Ireland unless it is in a club or unless you are a guest in a hotel.

The Scarcity Principle

Robert Cialdini, one of the foremost experts on influence, found that people value and desire something more when it is rare or difficult to obtain. He called this the Scarcity Principle. Across numerous experiments, Cialdini and others have found that making something rare (“only 5 left”), time limited (“one day sale”), or unique (“just for you”), increases its perceived attractiveness and value.

He explains that this Scarcity Principle works on the idea of Reactance.

Essentially, it happens because none of us like to be told no, limited in any way, or have our freedom constrained. So, when we think we might miss out, not be chosen, or be denied what we want, we “react”. That reactance makes us try all the harder and want what is denied us all the more.

In some strange way maybe this is a great marketing trick for pubs and restaurants as all of sudden we ‘desire’ a visit!

Maybe pubs and restaurants should embrace the day and take the opportunity to do some minor renovations, repairs, spring cleaning or take some precious time off and get ready for that rush..

What are you doing to create some scarcity in your business?

Greg Canty

Greg Canty is a Partner of Fuzion who offer Marketing, PR and Graphic Design services from our offices in Dublin and Cork

Tags:, , , , , ,
Posted in Hospitality, Ireland, Marketing, Motivation | Leave a Comment »

Avoiding Temptation

March 6, 2014

I spotted her out of the corner of my eye.

She looked back at me inviting me to come over. She was elegant, dressed in black with an air of sophistication.

Come over to me and I will tell you intimate secrets about yourself …. Get closer, put your feet and the whole weight of your body on top of me.

This could be embarrassing and overwhelming …. should I?

I battled desperately with it, she kept staring, tempting me to make my way over to her.

I dug deep and decided it would be best that I resisted…after all, I was away with Dee on her birthday weekend in a very fancy hotel with fabulous food and wine at every turn.

I weighed it up and decided not to weigh in – tempting as she was, she could ruin my whole weekend.

I never quite understood why a hotel would put weighing scales in their bathrooms …..!!

In your business be careful not to put up any barriers to your customers buying what you are selling.

Weighing Scales

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

Fuzion are a Marketing, PR and Graphic Design agency in Ireland with offices in Cork and Dublin

Tags:, , ,
Posted in Hospitality, Motivation, Personal development, Travel | 6 Comments »

Can great customer service be up to the customer?

October 9, 2013

Grumpy customer

“Table of Death” was the expression he used ..

I had the most interesting conversation with an experienced restaurateur yesterday – our conversations are refreshing as he always has a different way of looking  at things.

Yesterday we were chatting about the importance of great customer service and how now, more than ever, it needs to tip top as the decisions about how someone spends their disposable income are much bigger than before.

He gave me an interesting perspective about how the customer can play a huge role in the service they experience.

In particular he spoke about the “Table of Death”, which is an expression his team uses when they spot a bunch of customers who just should not be on a night out. They arrive grumpy, every interaction with the service staff is curt and unpleasant and their whole demeanour is negative.

The staff pick up on this immediately and tense up and then as sure as night follows day “Murphy’s Law” kicks in – that will be the table where something gets spilled, someone gets bumped into, something gets overcooked and there will always be something wrong with the bill.

The tension that is created by the negative vibe of that group of customer’s just infects everything and everyone they touch – a good night guaranteed!

He reckons they get at least one group like that every second night and they can spot them nearly the minute they walk in the door.

I notice myself that the pleasant client will get more from our team. The really mannerly and appreciative client will get somersaults from our guys. When you hear our team saying “I love working on that account” or “they are my favourite client” you know that client will get the very best from us and will enjoy the best results from their investment.

For some reason some people have decided that the best approach to business is by being “nasty” – it might make people jump but it will never get the best from them.

Next time you go for a meal ask the waiting staff how their day was!

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

Fuzion are an Irish Marketing, PR and Graphic Design agency with offices in Cork and Dublin

Tags:, , ,
Posted in Customer Care, Hospitality, Motivation, Positivity | 5 Comments »

Tipping the Customer

September 28, 2013

Hostaria La Cross, Garda

It was bucketing out of the heavens as we stared out the window of our hotel in Garda in Italy during our summer holidays. It hadn’t let up for over an hour and it showed no signs of stopping anytime soon.

We had planned a leisurely stroll into the lakeside town and a nice meal on the waterfront but that was impossible – the tummies were groaning at this stage and the hotel restaurant was shut.

The restaurant that was directly across from the hotel (we were about a mile away from the lakeside strip) didn’t have the views that were on the lake but it didn’t seem to stop the steady stream of locals using the place since we had arrived.

Day and night there was a constant stream of Italian cars in and out of the place – it must be good if the locals were going there we reckoned. I checked on Four Square (a phone APP where you can leave tips about places) on my phone and the restaurant had some quite good reviews left by previous diners.

We decided to make a dash for it and despite it being just across the street we did get fairly wet.

Hostaria La Cross, GardaHostoria La Cross gave us a warm greeting as we entered but after doing so the waitress left us standing there – two minutes later she came back to us with two glasses of prosecco .. “welcome!“.

Wow – we were given a gift on the house before we had sat down or ordered anything.

It put us in great form and we had a fabulous meal (despite every second dish being laced in truffle oil..can’t stand that smell!)

Of course we left a big tip after our special night but really appreciated the “tip” the restaurant gave us at the start of the meal.

The last few times I have taken taxis in Dublin and in Cork I have noticed that each time the driver has “rounded down” when it has comes to the fare “€10 is fine” when the fare clocked €10.70.

The simple gesture is a big change to how it used be and it shows the appreciation of the business and invariably you end up leaving a good tip.

Last night after our meal in Bacco in Ballincollig we were offered a Limoncello on the house as we were settling the bill. They showed their appreciation for the business …”Thank you, we’ll be back”

Giving the customer something they are not expecting is a clever way of saying thank you and building customer loyalty.

Are you tipping your customer?

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

Fuzion are a Marketing, PR and Graphic Design firm in Ireland with offices in Cork and Dublin

Tags:, , , , , ,
Posted in Customer Care, Holidays, Hospitality, Marketing, Sales, Tourism, Travel | 9 Comments »

Mushy Peas!

September 24, 2013

fish and chips with mushy peas

“I’ll have the fish and chips please” .. yum yum!

It was our first time eating at this busy restaurant that we had heard a lot about including the multiple awards it had received in recent years.

The Fish and hand cut Chips with mushy peas caught my attention – I fancied that with a pint of Murphy’s.

In the meantime we ordered some starters and chatted.

The fish and chips arrived, nicely presented with a slice of lemon, tartar sauce and a mini bowl of frozen peas.

Had I read the menu wrong? …I didn’t think so, it was mushy peas – for me fish and chips just isn’t the same without mushy peas

I tucked into the meal and it just wasn’t quite the same with the frozen peas – I took one mouthful and just left them behind. Not the same ..

“Is everything ok with everyone’s meal?” the waitress asked.

“Yes thanks” I didn’t want to be a crank about the peas so I said nothing and besides on a night out when you want to relax the last thing I wanted to do was complain.

At the end of the meal our plates were cleared and in my case a mini bowl full of frozen peas were returned, pretty much the way they had arrived – I wondered had anyone wondered why.

At some point someone in the restaurant decided it was easier or ok not to serve mushy peas  – after all, it’s not really too big a deal and the chances are no one complains so why not do it again the next night and the next night and so on?

And besides, if people weren’t happy wouldn’t they complain..wouldn’t they?

For me instead of being the award winning restaurant it’s the place that tells me I am getting mushy peas but serves me something else – I won’t complain but I probably won’t be back.

At times do we all serve something that’s not quite what we described on our menu? 

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

Fuzion are a Marketing, PR and Graphic Design agency in Ireland with offices in Cork and Dublin

Tags:, ,
Posted in Customer Care, Hospitality, Marketing, Sales | 10 Comments »

How do you treat your Captive?

September 2, 2013

Tent - Electric Picnic

We were going to Electric Picnic the following day and as we are a little older and used to our few comforts we opted for the hotel in Portlaoise instead of a tent!

The hotel that is normally “from €59” per night was now €200 but the snag was if you wanted to book for Saturday night then you had to book Friday night at well – fair enough we reckoned.  We have come to accept that when you are a “captive” they can pretty much charge what they want – its like the last minute Ryanair flights.

Maldron Hotel PortlaoiseThe first thing that got me was the “from €59” banners on the way into the hotel – at least have the decency of taking those down when you are charging people €200 x 2!

We weren’t expecting The Ritz but we were hoping for this hotel alongside the motorway to be good at least and maybe there might be a buzz and a few things going on for the “Picnic”.

We booked in to be told that the rate was room only and breakfast, which was extra would be served from 8am …hmm

The room was a little bit tired but functional, the second bed had been removed, the light kept switching off in the loo and there was virtually no mobile phone reception (not their problem I guess) – my kids would be ringing as we were meeting up at the festival the next day.

We had done enough driving for one day so we decided to grab a bite to eat in the restaurant – it was surprisingly quiet as we were pretty much the only diners except for a bunch of young women. We managed to get the worst chicken wings of all time and the 100% beef burgers (festival fever was kicking in already!) were tasteless and overcooked.

We watched as a man sat alone in the corner waiting for his meal – from where we sat we could see that it was ready and sitting under the heated lamps. The waitress was chatting to the manager but didn’t seem to spot that his meal was ready – she came over to us, cleared our plates and then collected his meal and brought it to him. I’m guessing it was sitting there for about 5 minutes.

It was at that point that a young and older woman arrived – they were obviously here hoping for a nice meal and I felt a sense of responsibly towards them. I felt like telling them to go somewhere else!

“Are you sure I shouldn’t say something to them?” I asked Dee.  “You can’t do that and besides, they will think you are mad” A good point I reckoned!

The manager marched around the restaurant with a sense of authority – I watched him wondering – does he realise how bad the place is?  The two chefs were staring out from the open kitchen waiting for another customer order – come on guys, surely you want to produce better meals?  Do better even for your own satisfaction?

Our plates were cleared – the waitress had a sixth sense that “how was your meal?” was a question she shouldn’t bother with.

Young Wonder at Electric Picnic 2013

Young Wonder from Cork

The following day we had a great time at Electric Picnic, the highlights being Young Wonder, Daithi and the rock god Robert Plant (ex Led Zeppelin). At the festival you could see that some of the vendors were taking advantage with expensive food and beer but some were charging normal prices.

We were back at the hotel for about 2 am to find none of the glasses had been cleared from the room from the night before – I was looking forward to checking out the next morning.

This place has settled for a certain standard, a level of service that delivers you rooms at €59 and one that leaves you unsatisfied and sealing the argument that you get what you pay for. They could do better, an awful lot better if they just tried and had some pride in their product and service but In some ways it didn’t matter because we were captives for both nights.

Instead of giving us a “good” experience for our overpriced stay and possibly making us consider it again (at €59) we will now pass the hotel every time we take the trip back and forth to Dublin and say “that’s that poor place that totally ripped us off during Electric Picnic …do you remember?”

There are times when our customers are captives:

  • They need something urgently
  • They are stuck with a problem
  • You are the only one open
  • They have a crisis
  • They have no other option at the time but deal with you
  • You have a monopoly in that area
  • You are the only one with their files

When your customer is a captive how do you treat them?

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

Fuzion are a Marketing, PR and Design firm in Irealnd with offices in Cork and Dublin

Tags:, ,
Posted in Customer Care, Entertainment, Hospitality | 9 Comments »

Mark Geary, my Grandad and Ghosts

March 29, 2013

Mark Geary - Coughlans Bar

We found ourselves last night squeezed into the most intimate venue ever, Coughlan’s Bar on Douglas Street in Cork to see the fabulous Mark Geary.

This was my first time at Coughlan’s, which is a one of those fabulous old style pubs, a listed building, which has been in the Coughlan and Ellis family for over 200 years. The gig happens in a little room at the very back of the pub, which is no bigger than a large dining room.

Annette who manages the music at the venue maximises every inch of space so that as many people as possible can enjoy the gigs – we were lucky to get in and only for an intervention by Mark himself (yep, we’re one of those “fans” who he knows by name – so many great chats after gigs.. Mark is like that) we would have been home early.

Mark was brilliant as always with his mix of great songs, fabulous guitar work, the very talented backing singer Grainne Hunt, a terrific keyboard player, Mark Penny and of course flavoured with his quick wit and story telling…his “da” was from Charleville (where they eat their children, apparently!!).

Mark launched into song after song including a great track called “Ghosts” , the theme song from one of his superb albums …he spoke to us about his dad and I thought about my own family.

This would have been one of my granddads locals – Jack Burke lived literally 100 feet away from the pub, living at the bottom of High Street. He drank there and apparently my great grandmother had the odd tipple in the snug – women would not have gone into the main bar.

My granddad passed away 47 years ago just after I was born.

Coughlans Bar - Douglas StreetAs we left I looked around the pub at the old bar counter, the old seats, the old pictures on the wall and imagined all of the customers down through years who sat there, sipping on their whiskey and having the banter and I tried to picture Jack Burke sitting on his stool with a family anxiously waiting for him, wondering when he would be home.

..Ghosts

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

Tags:, , , , , ,
Posted in Entertainment, Family, Hospitality, Music, Personal development | 2 Comments »

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »