It was a story that led me to Aldeburgh in the first place. I recently read Scapegallows by Carol Birch, a book that follows the life of Margaret Catchpole, a feisty young lady who was twice sentenced to hang and eventually shipped off to Australia. Her true-life account is told in the context of the ‘free trade’ activities (smuggling) that were rife along the Suffolk coast in the late 18th century. The author’s colourful descriptions of the towns and villages along the Orwell and Alde rivers made me curious to see the places for myself. Not for the first time a good story did far more to entice me than any marketing campaign could do.

Having arrived at Aldeburgh I climbed the steps to the Moot Hall, the 15th century timber building that still serves as the meeting place for the Town Council today. I entered the town’s museum and was greeted by a rather excitable elderly lady, who told me with great enthusiasm that I was the first visitor that day. I guess 25 deg C and sunny is a rare turn of events on the east coast and most folks didn’t want to be stuck indoors.

The lady began telling me about the history of the building and how, although it now sits on the shore, it had once been in the centre of the town; such has been the action of the North Sea in slowly but relentlessly claiming the town’s low-lying land. She urged me to go south to Slaughden, where an entire village had been washed away in the Great Storm of 1953 – an enormous event that made an indelible mark on so many communities along this coast.

When I told the lady of my own reason for venturing out to Aldeburgh her face lit up and she told me to go to the local bookshop and request a copy of a book about the town’s smugglers. She described how those caught would be led ‘up the steps’ and tried in the room in which we were standing, with further hearings – and sentences of hanging – taking place in Ipswich.

I took a few moments to look around what is an excellent little museum, but it was the lady’s passion and obvious pride in the town’s history that had me convinced I wanted to come back to Aldeburgh and to learn more about its past.

Just up the coast in Southwold I stood on Gun Hill and looked out beyond the six large cannons and down the row of colourful beach huts below. The guns were never placed here as a defensive measure, but merely as a rather fancy piece of coastal landscaping – it’s said that they were only fired once in 1850 and a man was killed as a result of the explosion.

As I was standing alone reading about the history of Gun Hill, a man came up to me and said, “I see you’re interested in our local history”. For the next few minutes he told me tales of the battles in the North Sea between the English and the Dutch, before surprising me with the account of Rudolf Diesel, the German inventor of the diesel engine, who went missing in the North Sea in rather remarkable circumstances (well worth a read). As suddenly as he had arrived, the man thanked me for listening, wished me a good day and walked on.

Two ordinary people linked by nothing more than a lively curiosity in their local history. And they are not alone – I’ve had similar encounters in many other parts of the country. By sharing their knowledge with a passing stranger they do a great job in promoting their home towns as places to which I certainly plan to return.

I’m sure I’m not alone in being influenced by such encounters. On an individual level they are far more persuasive in creating a positive vibe about a place than any expensive promotion. Should that enthusiasm to share local trivia and history be bottled by local tourism officials and used to encourage others to come and visit? Maybe I’m being selfish, but I suspect things are best left just as they are.

The true British tourism champions (no fancy campaigns required) is a post from: 501 Places

I read a recent article written by a hotel receptionist (I’ve searched through my archives to try and find a link, with no success) that had me banging my head on the desk in frustration (metaphorically, of course). The author was scathing about the inventor of rolling luggage (suitcases with wheels), saying that they had single-handedly destroyed the income of bellhops. With the advent of bags on wheels, hotel customers are now more likely to say “It’s ok, I’ve got it” and take their own luggage up to their room, so depriving the bellhop of their tips. According to the article, whoever thought of these bags is now responsible for “families going hungry at Christmas”.

Emotional Blackmail

This to me epitomises a major failing across much of the hotel industry,  particularly in the US where so many people rely on the age-old practice of tipping to make a modest living. There is a mindset at play that suggests that customers have a responsibility, a moral duty even, to grease the palms of a whole army of people they come into contact with. The maid in the room deserves a few dollars (“I can’t understand those mean people who don’t think to leave a few dollars for the poor folks who make up their room” was a comment I read in a discussion on this topic); I’ve been advised that I should give the guy who drives my car to its parking space 10 yards away a dollar or two if I don’t want a long wait on my return (or even a scratch, according to some); and as for waiting staff, many folks argue that when you enter into a restaurant you as a customer enter into an unspoken contract with your waiter, and that by not tipping by the expected amount, you are breaching that contract. “If you can’t afford a tip that will be expected, don’t use the service”, says Stacey Julien from AARP.

No business sense

To much of the world this mindset makes no sense at all. Surely, when you walk into a hotel it’s not unreasonable to expect the management to have worked out what it costs to run their business: electricity, maintenance, marketing, wages. Yes, that last one. Paying everyone who works for you a fair wage. Once you have worked out these costs, then you factor them into what you charge the customer and hopefully there’s enough in there for you to make a profit too. Is it so hard?

Apparently it is. When a hotel in Chicago opened in 2010 and announced a no-tipping policy, others were quick to criticise. “Certain positions that have always lived off tips—like doormen, uniformed services staff—what would they do?” asked the president of the American Hotel and Lodging Association. Some people clearly feel that the focus of a hotel should be not on the guests’ experience, but on providing a whole army of people who play a cameo role in their stay with a living scraped together from cast-off coins and dollar bills.

No wonder hotel staff bemoan the rolling suitcase, even though it is obviously a good thing for travellers. Goodness knows what arguments will be made when self-parking cars eliminate the need for valet parking (if there was ever a need for it in the first place).

Basic customer service

Surely it’s blindingly obvious that when your business is about delighting your guests and providing them with a hassle-free, enjoyable experience, the last thing you do is drop them into a moral minefield; or worse still, put them into a situation where they are effectively blackmailed into paying upfront if they want their room to be cleaned properly/bag carried and not lost/car returned without an accidental scratch.

If you even start to put your guests’ satisfaction at the forefront of your business model, paying your staff a decent wage and adopting a no-tipping policy would appear to be a no-brainer.

Rule 1 of basic customer service: it’s about the customer, not you is a post from: 501 Places

Tourism officials go to great lengths to promote how friendly their country is to foreign visitors and with good reason: ask someone who has just come back from a holiday to describe their experience and it’s likely that the hospitality they received (or lack of it) will be one of the first things mentioned. It’s something we remember long after our trip is over. But while tourism marketing might emphasise the warm welcome people receive, is that welcome really so good at the critical points at which a smile or scowl is most noticed? Who are the local ambassadors that really matter?

There are probably three parts of a travel experience that are the most important when it comes to people forming an opinion about a nation’s friendliness.

1. Customs and airport security officials 

The United States has long suffered a bad name in this area – I’ve been through US customs many times and have experienced the worst (being treated like an unwelcome pest and receiving a thorough interrogation just for daring to return too soon after a previous entry) and the best (where the TSA staff acted as if they enjoyed their job and treated passengers with courtesy and even humour). It’s not just the US – I still remember visiting Australia 12 years ago and the informal banter we enjoyed when negotiating border formalities in Melbourne. The tiny island of Palau meanwhile gave us a less than happy send-off when security staff did their best to confiscate items of our hand luggage, citing local rules of which we had no knowledge. All minor incidents, but they do leave a lasting impression.

2. Taxi and bus drivers

Taxi drivers the world over have a reputation for being crooked. In many cases it’s fully warranted and the most slippery ones can usually be found loitering outside an airport waiting to prey on unsuspecting and exhausted new arrivals. But I’ve also encountered charming and courteous drivers who have chatted with warmth about their country, offered helpful advice and gone out of their way to help without any hint of a scam.

Bus drivers can be every bit as important a local ambassador as a taxi driver. I remember seeing one driver in Madrid go off on a loud foul-mouthed tirade at a poor young American girl, who committed the heinous crime of presenting him with a €20 note. An apologetic local lady gave her the change and gave the driver a piece of her mind. On the flip side there are those bus drivers with ridiculously sunny dispositions, greeting passengers as if they were long-lost friends, singing as they drive and projecting an infectious air of relaxed contentment that starts a trip off on the right note.

3. Service staff

For many holidaymakers the closest interaction they will have with local people is when they order food or drink. Waiters, waitresses and bar staff may not be trained or given incentives to show their sunniest side to all passing foreigners, but it’s those encounters both good and bad that remain in our memories. If you’ve ever eaten or drank in the same place more than a couple of times during your holiday you’ve probably made a connection with one of the staff, and they will be one of the reasons that you’ve made that place your temporary local. On the other hand, get ripped off by a couple of waiters and it’s easy to dismiss the whole country as a tourist trap and warn others that they need to watch out as the place is full of crooks.

Perhaps tourism authorities need to focus on training the people in these roles to serve as effective local ambassadors, to project the image they’ve inevitably spent millions creating and promoting. Or perhaps it’s better that people continue to act as they are and travellers continue to form their own opinions on where to go to find the warmest welcome.

What price a friendly face: who are a country’s local ambassadors? is a post from: 501 Places

People travel thousands of miles to see the world’s top tourist attractions. When they arrive they are hardly likely to be deterred by an overpriced entrance ticket. With this in mind, is it reasonable for tourism chiefs to charge any amount they can get away with, or is there any benefit in providing a good deal to visitors who will probably never come back? Let’s look at a couple of examples:

Romance on the cheap 

If you’re after an example of a value for money day out, look no further than the German town of Rudesheim, the unsophisticated, unabashed tourist hotspot on the Rhine. It’s a popular place for river cruise boats to moor up for a day or two, so it might seem natural for local businesses to hike up their prices to cash in on the passing visitors. When the lady in the tourist office tried to sell us the Romantic Tour package I expected, with the scepticism of experience, to be offered an overpriced tour of the type I’d normally pay to avoid. And yet…

For only €14 we enjoyed the following:

A 15 minute cable car ride up to the Niederwald monument (a panoramic viewpoint over the town and the Rhine valley)

An hour’s walk along a section of the Rheinsteig, a long-distance path, with wonderful views along the river and beyond (ok, this bit is always free)

The 20 minute chair lift ride down to Assmannshausen (a chocolate-box German village)

A boat across the river to Castle Rheinstein and entry to the castle (well worth a visit)

The 50 minute trip by boat along the Rhine from the castle back to Rudesheim.

Boat rides, chair lift, cable car and a castle, all done at our own pace and all for €14. A pretty good deal in anyone’s book and it tended to follow a trend that we found across Germany (away from the circus of Neuschwanstein Castle at least).

Squeeze them until the pips squeak

In a previous post I wrote about the entrance fees for visiting the world’s most famous sites (Entrance fees to the 7 Wonders of the World) – it’s clear that the pricing policies adopted in different nations pay little attention to supply and demand, running costs or anything else you might get taught at business school. Some bean counters (the folks at Petra appear to be a good example) like to find that ‘sweet point’ – a cynical approach that translates as hurting people till they squeal too loudly. They look at the highest price they can charge before enough people walk away to hurt their overall revenue.

I suspect the Shard in London is another case in point. The £25 fee to access the panoramic platform appears way too high – beyond the ‘sweet spot’ their money men have estimated and I would make a bet that the price will come down quickly (or there will be so many 2 for 1 offers that only the most unsuspecting victims will pay the full ticket price).

There’s more to it than profit

Other tourism officials, such as the folks in Rudesheim, seem to have no interest in raking in the profits and are offering tourist prices in western Europe that wouldn’t feel out of place in SE Asia. Perhaps there are subsidies involved, I don’t know and it’s not really my concern. As a tourist I consumed the experience on offer and am passing judgement on whether it represented a good deal for me.

Not only did we have an enjoyable day out and see parts of the local area that we wouldn’t otherwise have seen, but our experience had a positive impact on our overall impression of Germany as a whole and made us more inclined to return. How much is that worth?

Taken for a ride: the price of top tourist attractions is a post from: 501 Places

I was in London on Sunday as part of a family day out to experience the Jubilee celebrations. We didn’t see much of the pageant and may have got a brief glimpse of the Queen (it could have been Camilla, we were a long way away) but at the end of the day our troupe of seven all agreed that we had enjoyed our day and were glad we had made it into London despite the weather and the congestion.

Yet on the face of it our positive experience had little to do with all the hard work and considerable expense that had gone into setting up London’s big party. We didn’t see more than a quick glimpse of the boats on the Thames and only got to the riverside when the Queen had long passed. We didn’t dress up in Union Jack paraphernalia, our only concern being to have the right clothes for the weather.

What we did do is get caught up in the crowds that hung around Fleet Street and The Strand, that hovered around Piccadilly Circus and that shuffled towards London Bridge in the afternoon rain. The high spirits, the traffic-free streets, the painted faces of excited children and the good-natured banter of those caught up in the melee around the river made the trip worthwhile. I don’t hold any strong views for or against the UK having a monarchy and didn’t swell with pride or gratitude as those interviewed by the BBC appeared to do in perfect unison. I merely wanted to experience the atmosphere in London on one of its biggest ever public celebrations.

The events of the day got me thinking. We had a good time without experiencing any of the highlights that were promoted on TV and elsewhere in the previous weeks and months. Isn’t there a parallel here with our experiences as tourists? We often go somewhere with a main purpose of seeing a world famous statue, museum, cathedral or natural wonder. But how often, when we’re home and back in the swing of our normal lives, is it these pre-packaged travel experiences that stick in our mind? Or is it more likely that we remember best of all a chance encounter with a friendly passer-by, a sensational slice of cake at the cafe we stumbled into when our feet were crying out for a rest, or a hilarious overheard conversation between a fellow tourist and a local?

Those involved in tourism go to great lengths to create the perfect travel experiences for their potential visitors. How challenging it must be for them that many of the most memorable moments are spontaneous ones that can’t be artificially created or stuck in a TV ad. In fact, many of my best travel memories, those that instantly take me back to a place and put a smile on my face, happened in one location but could have occurred anywhere.

I’m glad I was part of that Jubilee crowd, even without seeing more than half a dozen or so entirely forgettable boats. It was witnessing the jostling and scrambling for vantage points, not to mention the retreat into a coffee shop for giant cups of hot chocolate that made the day; now how do you bottle that and make it look appealing to others?

Why the best travel experiences often involve seeing nothing is a post from: 501 Places

Stay-cation, day-cation, car-cation – when will we see the end of the urge to create these awful PR buzz words, created in an attempt to make the mundane seem a little more exciting?

Given that it’s highly unlikely that we’ll see this ridiculous trend finish anytime soon, I thought I’d take a sneaky look at the possible horrors that might appear in future press release and adverts. Here are a few ‘-cations’ that you shouldn’t be surprised to encounter:

Publi-cation – where every part of the trip is posted on your Facebook wall

Syndi-cation – a girly holiday

Allo-cation – a singles holiday for people who like to make many new friends

Medi-cation – a short post-event programme at the end of a doctors’ conference

Vindi-cation – a weekend break in the Scottish Western Isles

Domesti-cation – a special holiday for couples who enjoy a good argument

Notifi-cation – the opposite of the domesti-cation. This is a break where couples refrain from having a row for the duration of the holiday

Forni-cation – a holiday for people born with an extra pair of legs

Magnifi-cation – a break that’s guaranteed to have you singing its praises

Pacifi-cation – a holiday in Hawaii

Modifi-cation – a break for old men in slightly dodgy Parkas

Bifur-cation – a culinary break for the indecisive carnivore

Certifi-cation – a holiday for the insane

Vo-cation – an orienteering trip for Germans

14 likely new PR buzz words for 2012 is a post from: 501 Places

Visit England launched their new promotional campaign ‘Holidays at home are great’ last week amid a flurry of PR activity. Jeremy Hunt, the government minister with the bloated title of Secretary of State for Culture Media, Sport and the Olympics, kicked off the £5m initiative and declared it the biggest ever domestic tourism campaign. The star attraction of the launch was a 90 second TV ad; more on that later.

Yet amid all this noise there appears to be a distinct lack of joined up planning and execution. The press release proudly boasts that the campaign ‘is supported by the home nation tourist boards of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland’. Perhaps it is, but I certainly couldn’t find any mention of the campaign or the TV ad on any of the respective websites. In fact I would be very surprised if the Scottish, Welsh or Northern Irish tourist boards were indeed enthusiastic about promoting a campaign that mainly involves English actors wandering around England, with only a cursory mention of their own nations.

Perhaps most confusing of all is the total lack of recognition given to the campaign by Visit Britain. A campaign that does mention England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland might sit more comfortably under the Visit Britain umbrella, but no; not only is it the Visit England brand that is behind the campaign, but Visit Britain have not even publicly acknowledged its existence. This from two organisations that occupy the same office and share many internal administrative functions. Is this an oversight or a case of internal politics at play? I’m sure people in the know can enlighten me but to an outsider it all looks a bit clumsy and disorganised.

Even when you do make your way through the Visit England site, getting specific information can be frustratingly difficult. As an example we spent a couple of fabulous days last week walking on and around Romney Marsh in Kent. I wanted to read about the area so took a look on the Visit England site. There is a ‘Places to Go’ tab, with a Rural Areas subcategory from which I could select Kent; so far so good. It was here that the trail started to break down. There was no mention of the Romney Marsh on the Kent page at all. At least there was a link to Visit Kent; I would surely find my information here. Another three links later (after much trial and error due to navigation that was as clear as the water in the English Channel) I eventually found a link to the Cinque Ports website – a name with which I had only become familiar after my visit. I had reached my goal. Sadly, the link was broken; my mission remained unaccomplished.

Why does any of this matter? It matters to me because I firmly believe the UK is a fantastic place for people to visit. For those of us lucky enough to live in any part of the UK we have so many nearby attractions to explore on day trips or short breaks. As well as my trip to Kent in the last week I also travelled out to the wild and remote Essex coast, home to a wealth of natural attractions and brimming with fascinating history. London meanwhile has an inexhaustible supply of new places to discover. Having spent the first 38 years of my life staying as far away from the south east of England as I possibly could and raving about how good the north is, I never imagined I would sing this region’s praises so much.

Promoting British tourism should be an easy task although judging by recent activity that is perhaps not the case. I’m not enamoured by the use of has-been celebrities trotting out cliches and slagging off other countries to try and promote Britain, but perhaps it works for some people; I presume they tested the ad in front of a focus group who gave it a nod of approval.

TV ads or not, it is a real challenge to persuade UK residents to explore their own country and not travel to places that guarantee more sunshine, warmer waters and colder beers. Surely the first step to success is for the tourism bodies, already fighting for meagre resources, to work together in their high-profile campaigns.

You can see the TV ad from Visit England here.

Promoting British tourism: a simple task made complicated? is a post from: 501 Places

The pattern has been nothing if not consistent in the last few decades. Cities that spent millions (more recently billions) in their preparations to hold the Olympic Games found to their cost that their estimates of a tourism bonanza proved way off the mark. Thousands of hotel rooms remained unoccupied while those who did come shunned the ludicrously high prices for food and transport wherever they could.

Crazy Olympic Hotel Rates

Not to be deterred by previous evidence, London officials are still boldly predicting a bumper summer. Hotels are certainly preparing to make the most of the expected Olympic cash frenzy. You can bag a room at the Crowne Plaza at London Docklands in early July for £108 a night. Book the same room in early August and it will set you back £480. The Holiday Inn Express at Swiss Cottage normally charges a reasonable £68 a night; visit during the Olympics and you’re looking at £359 a night. Yes, that’s right: over £350 for a night in a Holiday Inn Express. There’s demand management and there’s outright greed borne of fanciful predictions. It would be cheaper to stay in Paris and travel in each day by Eurostar than to pay these rates.

The ‘people will pay anything’ mentality extends to taxis and will no doubt cover many restaurants who are expected to roll out their ‘Olympic menus’ over the summer, charging customers special rates to help them commemorate the big event. I strongly suspect this approach will hurt London not only in the numbers who are deterred from visiting in 2012 but also by the negative publicity that such greed will bring to the city. London cannot afford to have the world thinking it is even more expensive that its current reputation suggests.

Grounds for Optimism?

There is much talk about the overall effect of the Olympics on London. Visit Britain and the Mayor of London are unsurprisingly positive, predicting a huge celebration that will paint London and the UK in the best possible light. It is striking that the official language in recent weeks has shifted from talking about a great boost for London in 2012 to the more hopeful (wishful?) line about a long-term Olympic legacy.

At this week’s CIMTIG Question Time a panel of travel industry experts were asked for their views on the effect of the Olympics on UK tourism. It was broadly acknowledged that the number of overseas this year would see a drop, although the general feeling was positive about the long-term benefits of the Games to London.

Positive feeling is good; we wouldn’t bother to get up out of bed without it. But that optimism needs to be set against the £9 billion (or more, depending which source you believe) that will be spent by the time the Closing Ceremony brings the London Olympics to a close. Talk of a long-term legacy is of little interest to those businesses who are hoping to cash in on the massive tourism spike predicted earlier. How will a long-term legacy be quantified in monetary terms? Will we now be hoping that extra visitors come to London  in 2013 and beyond just because of the remaining Olympic infrastructure? The evidence in Sydney, Athens and Beijing doesn’t offer much hope here.

Welcome to London 

It doesn’t have to be this way. Those hotels charging sensible rates for the Olympic period will already be full. Avoiding the temptation of charging rip-off prices for transport and food will help promote the feel-good factor that should accompany the open-air parties and celebrations throughout the Olympic period. This in turn will provide the positive message that London and the UK is so desperate to give to the world. Is it achievable? Without a doubt. Will it happen? Based on current evidence I’m not optimistic.

Greed and the Olympics: will London learn the hard way? is a post from: 501 Places

Over the weekend we had the chance to explore two cities in the south east of England that have a fair amount in common. Both are a short train ride from London; both have enough olde worlde buildings to be regularly used as a filming location for period dramas; and of particular relevance to this post, both can lay claim to being home to a famous name whose legacy is known throughout the world.

Yet the contrast in how these two cities promote their star attractions could not be sharper. Rochester, a 40 minute trip along the high speed line from St Pancras, makes much of its Charles Dickens connections. Wander along the high street and you’ll see a plaque on every other building. On one building is the nun’s house from Edwin Drood; on the next is Satis House from Great Expectations; here is Mr Sapsea’s home; wonder into the Guildhall and you’ll learn about Pip and his apprenticeship. Every link to a story is clearly marked while the Visitor Centre and Guildhall make a big show of every possible aspect of the life of Dickens as well as that of his many well-known characters.

The next day we took the opportunity to explore St Albans during the annual Residents First weekend. I was keen to see the old house of Samuel Ryder, a name known around the sporting world for his sporting legacy. In 1927 he set up the first golf match between Great Britain and the United States. The Ryder Cup has since become the most important event in the golfing calendar and one of the world’s most prestigious sporting events.

As well as setting up this golf tournament he made his fortune by creating penny seed packets, enabling people with small homes and modest wages to add colour to their gardens and windows. He was the mayor of St Albans and a dedicated philanthropist, making contribution to many of the city’s institution and leaving a legacy that covers many of the historic buildings.

It would be generous of me to describe my visit to the Samuel Ryder Room as underwhelming. Now an upper room in the Comfort Inn, his office resembles a typical bland corporate meeting room with nothing to tell a visitor of the history of the site. There are a few golf-related photos on the wall but no clues as to why they are there or what the link is between this building and one of the world’s premier sporting events.

Wonder around the city and it’s the same story at the other sites associated with Samuel Ryder. No plaques, no boards, no directions; not a hint to the passing visitor or even the curious resident about the history of a man whose name is known around the sporting world.

It’s hard to understand why St Albans, a city that is desperately keen to attract day-trippers from London, has completely failed to make a noise about one of its most famous residents. He may not be a household name on the scale of Rochester’s Dickens but to millions of golf players and supporters around the world his name will forever be associated with many of the sport’s most famous moments.

Surely there is scope for a museum that celebrates the great moments of the Ryder Cup as well as the life of the man himself (his seed business went on to become part of Holland and Barrett). Of the many millions of American and European visitors who come to London, how many are keen golfers who would jump on a train for 20 minutes to visit the home of the Ryder Cup if the right facilities were provided?

Samuel Ryder doesn’t even manage a mention in the St Albans tourism website although a leaflet has recently been produced that at least allows interested visitors to follow a short trail around the town to see the sites linked to the Ryder story. You can find it in an easy-to-miss corner of the Tourist Information Centre (or here).  Hopefully the local tourism folks will find a way to use the city’s links to the Ryder Cup to promote St Albans to a global market. So far their efforts have been distinctly below par.

St Albans and Samuel Ryder: A Tale of Two Cities is a post from: 501 Places

I’m currently arranging a new mobile phone contract. In common with most people I have very low expectations of the customer service I’m likely to receive. This is borne out of years of bitter experience. While the staff often appear incapable of connecting my phone to a functioning network at the price I signed up to, they do display far more enthusiasm in encouraging me to spend extra money on stuff which holds no interest for me. Insurance, technical support, discounted games consoles have all been offered this time in an attempt to increase the value of my custom.

Phone companies of course are not alone. Fast food joints have long used the ‘would you like fries with that?’ line. Presumably it works, as do the frequent requests from museum staff to buy a guide book or the staff in the hardware shop to buy a box of ‘special offer’ light bulbs.

Of course the concept is not a new one. Many businesses have long worked on the principle that you entice punters with an attractive low headline rate and then proceed to fleece the customer with numerous add-ons, whether requested or not. Airlines offer headline rates that few can secure and then whack on their own surcharges; restaurants offer discounts that are soon cancelled out by doubling the cost of drinks, while the assistant selling you a new computer is more interested in you opting for product insurance than in you buying the item itself.

Perhaps of all businesses it is hotels that offer the most needless and irritating examples of upselling. Resort fees, internet and parking charges are piled on in a seemingly deliberate attempt to wind up their guests, while food and drink prices appear to be governed by how much the management think they can get away with.

It doesn’t have to be like this. A few enlightened business owners (perhaps from their own experiences as customers) have chosen to surprise their clients by their contrarian behaviour. We’ve stayed in a couple of hotels where the contents of the mini-bar were complimentary. Ok, they weren’t packed with malt whiskies and brandies, but there was enough beer, juice, water and chocolate to leave these guests very impressed, for what is a relatively small outlay to the hotel.

Do guests pay for these treats in their room rate? Of course they do. But there’s a lot to be said for the giving the impression that staff are more concerned about you having the best experience than in relieving you of extra cash at every opportunity.

Is this simply down to applying a high initial price that then allows you to be generous to your customers by giving back out of the excess you’ve charged? If this were the case then £300 hotels would not charge £25 for parking while £50 alternatives offer it for free; the motel wouldn’t offer a complimentary packed lunch while the 5 star hotel provides the same service for £15.

The ability to make customers feel valued is surely all about attitude and not economics; the ability for those in charge to be able to say “how would I like to be treated if I was the customer?” It’s such a simple starting point for any business philosophy yet it’s one that appears to be a million miles from the minds of those who create ‘the customer journey’.

“Would you like fries with that?” Is upselling upsetting the customer? is a post from: 501 Places