One of my many flaws is biting off far more than I can chew.

The upside is, I get a lot done. The downside is it never feels like I get a lot done…

… because there’s always so much more to be done.

Don’t get me wrong, I leverage technology and a great team of people… but there are some things I insist on dealing with personally.

Take Saturday, for example. Boss Lady and I set off early for Heathrow with no intention of flying anywhere.

Instead, we were heading to Bath Road – a road I know only too well – which runs alongside the airport where all the major hotels are located.

We were there to look at conference facilities. I’m switching a few things up, and one of them is venues for our live, in-person experiences.

With a client base from all over this spinning rock, the location makes sense.

I’ve done a number of gigs at the Marriott down there in the past, this time we were looking at a different venue – the Renaissance (part of the Marriott group), because of a recommendation from a friend who’d recently attended a four-day seminar there.

I’d stayed in this venue several times when travelling. From my experience, I’d describe it as “comfortably functional” for its purpose of a transitional stay prior to travel. I’d never seen or experienced its’ conference facilities.

Impressively, and I say this with sarcasm, the individual were were due to meet hadn’t even arrived by the time of our scheduled appointment. And never did as far as we know.

It was obvious everyone else hadn’t got a clue we were coming, either – despite two weeks of email exchanges with their conference sales lead.

In my head, I’m already checking-out. It’s going to take one hell of a turn around to get me onboard.

I do have high expectations. Proudly so, too.

Sixteen years playing a fundamental role in meticulously ran gigs in the US does set a standard I’ve found venues in this country struggle to meet. I make no apology for my intolerance of poor, average, mediocre or “typical” service (let alone wanton negligence).

Why would I allow the world-class experience I work so hard to deliver to my clients to be sullied – to any degree – by another party? And pay for the privilege.

I don’t think so. If my experience in a venue is substandard or shoddy, my client experience is going to be substandard shoddy.

Over.

My.

Dead.

Body.

Cut a long story short, we were shown around the facilities – and I wasn’t impressed. It felt cheap.

Anna and I then grabbed a bite at the bar (the restaurant was closed. At Heathrow – the busiest airport in the world – on a Saturday lunchtime. Go figure). 

They didn’t need to put anymore nails in their coffin… still, they weren’t done yet. The service in the bar was, to put it mildly, underwhelming.

Why would I be willing to withstand that for my event delegates? To save a few bucks?

Nah. Not my style.

It took us two-and-a-half hours to travel to Heathrow. I’d no intention of wasting the journey. We had to return by mid-afternoon, but I needed to see something that could work.

I planned to head to the previously mentioned Marriott, but first went straight over the road to the Radisson.

I’d spoken to them a couple of weeks back. There’s a story in-and-of-itself in that conversation, but to keep this story on track, here’s what happened next.

Given we were not expected, I asked for someone to show us around the facilities. Ten minutes we waited in the foyer for the manager.

On my second prompt, this time to the concierge, the manager emerged. At least he had an apology in him.

The facilities were much better. Now I could see us there.

Still, I had concerns. The manager didn’t impress me. A nice enough man who had very little, if any, interest in our needs. Not good for someone responsible for operations.

And it’s not as if I didn’t try. He just wasn’t interested. His listening ability was on par with my opera-singing ability.

Non-existent. 

Anyway, the facilities were impressive enough to at least have a conversation with their sales people…

… but they’ll need to work hard because, once again, I left feeling totally underwhelmed by the human experience.

I don’t get it. Hospitality is a people business – and it’s the easiest part to get right, so why is it so few do?

I guess in this case it’s the blatant complacency based on being in a location with such a large footfall.

But considering there’s another 20+ hotels on the same stretch of road, it seems an absurd way to approach business to me.

After all… and this is the crux of what the management and staff at these two venues appear to be either utterly oblivious to, or worse still, unconcerned about: 

How you do one thing is how you do all things.

Not a universal principle that’s wise to forget at any juncture of the client engagement journey… and especially when the relationship is at such an early, vulnerable stage.

Warmly,

Christian

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