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Block Island Vacation Highlights Customer Service Opportunity
I had the most amazing experience spending time on Block Island, RI (view on map) last weekend. Everything about the island itself was fantastic, but there’s a customer service incident worth telling you about.
My friend and I arrived to the island around 9 am and knew there would be no way we could check-in that early. That being said, we had breakfast and made our way to the Atlantic Inn to drop our bags and then head to the beach.
Around 1:30 pm we left the beach to go check-in, but unfortunately that didn’t go as planned. The attendant informed us that “the rooms will not be ready until 3 pm.” I had previous knowledge that the room we were staying in was not occupied the night before so this remotely confused me.
I pressed forward and said, “Is there any chance you can check to see if the room we will be staying in is ready?” He responded by saying, “Unfortunately the rooms won’t be ready until 3 pm.” I then said, “So you are saying that housekeeping is currently in the midst of cleaning every available room?” He shrugged.
The manager then came out and stated that “it’s our policy not to allow check-ins before 3 pm.” I followed up with, “Even if the room is ready and you have guest that have been patiently waiting since early this morning?” She said, “That’s our policy sir.”
We turned around and walked off feeling a bit shocked that they were so hard pressed on this “policy.” Had they let us check in 1.5 hrs early (to our room that was ready) it would have been very much appreciated, and cost them nothing. Instead, the experience turned negative and it’s now the topic of this blog post and will result in me sharing my experience on TripAdvisor (which is something I don’t normally do).
This scenario was such a simple “win” for the Atlantic Inn, but the manager blew it. I appreciate policies, but I’ve stayed at a ton of hotels and the standard seems to be that if a room is ready guests are typically accommodated. It’s unfortunate that the Inn has such strict polices on an island that practically forces you to relax.
All that aside, if you have the chance to visit Block Island you should definitely do so. It’s probably one of the most peaceful places I’ve ever been in the states. Check a few of the photos below.
How Sharing can Impact Someone’s Life
I’ve had an eventful life and try my best to have a positive outlook on what’s to come.
Along the way I share my experiences, good and bad, but have never really stopped to think about how stories from my little adventure (life) impacts others. The letter below that I received on Facebook earlier this week definitely made me give that some thought.
“I know I never really said much to you when we used to ride (cycling group) together, but I want you to know that over the past couple years reading your status updates, watching you run for office (and voting for you!), and pull up roots and move to NYC, your get-up-and-go attitude of finding adventure in everyday life has been profoundly inspiring for me. So much so that I did a kind of crazy spontaneous road trip this summer…and now, in my 2nd day back in Greensboro, I’ve applied to take the GRE and gotten graduate school application packets from 3 schools in Wyoming and Montana.
Following your dreams is a lot harder than all the pithy sound bites and quotations would have most of us believe; seeing your example of finding joyful moments and sharing them with anyone who will listen, seizing the opportunity in each day, and jumping in with both feet has made an impact on me.
So thanks! Keep up the amazing attitude and good work; I can’t wait to see what the future holds for you.”
I’ve been fortunate enough to have many professional successes and do lots of cool things… but I’m hard pressed to think of something that has been as rewarding as that message. Positively impacting someone’s life is one of the greatest things you can ever do – even if you don’t realize your doing it.
I think businesses can learn a great deal from examples such as this – I’ll discuss that in a different post though.
Is Age the Reason LinkedIn Lacks Sharing and Conversation?
I’m on a LinkedIn kick right now – no doubt about it. From my post last week that highlighted a fundamental problem with the site (or groups to be more specific),
“In theory, LinkedIn groups are a great place to discuss various topics with like minded people. That happens on occasion, but it’s always as if the party is interrupted by someone pitching something or people that are trying to out “expert” each other.”
I’ve just about convinced myself that the problem I seem to have with the site is completely related to the age range of most of the users.
When I started thinking about this a bit more seriously I did the only logical thing – and that’s take the topic to Twitter. I simply asked if anyone knew the average age of a LinkedIn user and @MariJean quickly responded with what you can read below.
The link she shared sent me to a post on Brian Solis’s website titled “The Age of Social Networks.” The post highlights a study that Pingdom did and there’s a graphic worth sharing.
If I’m interpreting this correctly the graph highlights that nearly 75% of LinkedIn users are over the age of 35-years old, and just shy of 50% are 45-years old or older. And hey, if you’re in either of those demos please note that I’m about to make a general statement. I know you rock so this probably doesn’t apply to you.
Is it possible that a vast majority of the older demographic simply don’t understand the art of sharing and taking part in conversations (as opposed to constantly pushing products)? Again, I know you rock – just give it some thought for a minute.
I know a massive number of folks that got there social media start with LinkedIn (some have adapted, others haven’t) and I’m just not sure the site instilled the sharing value that is so important. It’s as if the “Sharing” lesson was skipped and they went straight to the “Push” lesson… and skipped the “Constantly pushing info is bad” chapter along the way.
If you think I’m blowing this issue out of proportion that’s ok, but do know I’ve discussed this topic with a ton of people of all different ages and the vast majority see the same issue that was highlighted at the beginning of this post.
I do think there’s an exception to this theory. For those in the demos previously mentioned that got their social start on Facebook or Twitter… they very likely learned a different culture and are more adept to sharing and taking part in conversations.
What’s your take? Is this ludicrous? Did LinkedIn prove to be a faulty starting ground?
Bonus: I saw this discussion starter in the daily digest for one of the LinkedIn groups I’m part of.
“If you believe in your business, why aren’t you spending more in AdWords? Is it too complex or do you not believe in your business?”
What makes this even more humorous is the fact that the person that started the thread works for a company that pushes AdWords. Imagine that… on LinkedIn.
Is Anyone Seeing what You post to Facebook?
There’s an article over at Teach to Fish Digital that I was reading a while back and I wanted to share some of with you.
In short, the article highlights one important fact that will make you want to continue reading this post.
“According to the Facebook consultants at BrandGlue, 1 in 500 updates make it to the news feed.”
The article points out three things that help decide whether your posts show up in the news feed or not:
- Affinity
- Weight
- Recency
Now for a little added detail on each.
“Affinity Score – This number defines the relationship between object creator and recipient. Those who comment and like your personal updates have a higher affinity than those that do not.
Weight Score – Each object is assigned a score based on the number of comments and likes it earns. An object with 15 comments and 20 likes has a much greater weight than an object with 0 comments and likes.
Time / Recency Score – This number is a reflection of how long ago the edge was created. Each edge will lose its mojo very quickly. For example, the oldest edge in my news feed right now was created 42 hours ago. Most were created in the past 18 hours.”
Chris has done a good job explaining what each of those items means to you so click over to the article to learn more.
It’s very important for marketers to have an understanding of what this information means and how to apply. Pushing out updates that aren’t getting seen (unless people view the Most Recent feed in Facebook) doesn’t do you much good.