Have Media Will Travel

A blog about outdoor adventure, family travel, national parks, media, technology, marketing, fitness and me.

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Trump Tower: Good Start, Bad Ending

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NOTE: This may look like a rant, smell like a rant and seem like a rant. But it’s not a rant. But it could be… and that’s the point of this post.

Our family went on a 2,200-mile road trip adventure over our Spring Break last April that involved camping and touring 6 states in 7 days. (See posts here: Spring Break 1, Spring Break Post 2, Spring Break Post 3, Spring Break Post 4, Spring Break Post 5, Spring Break Post 6, Spring Break Post 7, Spring Break Post 8, and Spring Break Post 9.

Our three young sons: Dirty, riled up and tired from roughing it for 6 days. Destination? 5-star luxury resort in Las Vegas.
Our three young sons: Dirty, riled up & tired from "roughing it" for 6 days.

We “roughed it,” camping along the way. Las Vegas was our last stop before returning back to Lander, WY. It would be the first real civilization since our trip started. We thought we’d treat the boys to the opposite extreme. So before our trip started, we splurged. On Priceline, we were able to get a night at the 5-star, 1-year-old Trump Tower in Vegas for $90.

Our three boys in front of Trump Tower... OR... Our country bumpkin sons have arrived.
Our three boys in front of Trump Tower... OR... Our country bumpkin sons have arrived.

Arriving with 6 days worth of red dirt and grime on our bodies and in our orifices, Trump Tower was exactly what the doctor ordered. And well deserved, I might add. We had hiked hard and the boys never complained. We were in need of some special treatment, a hot shower, good meal and a swimming pool.

It was exquisite. Robes for the entire family, and a huge outdoor swimming pool. The boys were in heaven and we felt we had arrived.

Hayden and Wolfie posing in front of some famous person's ride. (Every time they saw a stretch they were certain it was Miley Cyrus or Zac Efron!)
Hayden and Wolfie posing in front of some famous person's ride. (Every time they saw a stretch they were certain it was Miley Cyrus or Zac Efron!)

The stay was a perfect end to a perfect Spring Break family adventure.

Until, that is, we went to check out. There was a single person attending to all checkouts and there were about 25 people in line waiting to check out. We stood in line for 35 minutes.

The boys, who had watched The Apprentice with us a couple of years earlier, remarked “When Donald Trump finds out about this, that person at the counter will be so fired.”

We were angry, though. I wanted my 35 minutes back. That was 35 minutes of sightseeing we couldn’t get back and 35 minutes of road that remained in front of us instead of behind us.

We left, disgruntled. Which is a shame given the stay was absolutely wonderful.

About halfway back home, I was checking email on my Blackberry Storm and there was one with the subject line: “The Donald Thanks You for Staying at Trump Tower.” I showed the boys. Although I knew this was just good marketing, they thought it was awesome and special that The Donald would personally send a note to us.

Of course I know it as email marketing, but it's the fact our boys thought Donald Trump really wrote us a personal note within hours of checking out of Trump Tower that makes it great.
Of course I know it as email marketing, but it's the fact our boys thought Donald Trump really wrote us a personal note within hours of checking out of Trump Tower that makes it great.

As a result of the aforementioned, I decided to give the Trump Tower a pass. But most wouldn’t. We had a perfect stay and then had to go through the painful activity of waiting in a long line for 35 minutes. Given today’s technology and the fact it was a 5-star luxury resort, no one should have to wait in line for 35 minutes to check out of a hotel.

In today’s social media landscape, many customers would rant about it on TripAdvisor and Yelp, their blogs and Twitter, etc. (Again, don’t view this as a rant as much as an example of something that started out great but ended poorly. I will not be posting a negative review to TripAdvisor, Yelp, etc.)

The moral of the story is respect people’s time and apologize if you’re going to waste it. As we waiting in that long line, sitting on our suitcases, a simple apology by someone would have gone a long ways. Not an apology once we arrived at the counter, after 35 minutes, but during the long wait. A simple “I’m so sorry about the inconvenience and the long line” would have probably resolved my frustration a great deal. And it wouldn’t have cost the business or staff anything to do that.

Marketers: A little care goes a long way

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I’m convinced that the solution to most marketers’, and businesses’, problems lies in hiring people who care.

I love the company, Life is Good. Not only because of their great story, fantastic products and their name, but also because of their slogan, which is something to the effect of: “Do what you love. Love what you do.”

That says it all. “Passion-centric” is the buzzword we are hearing that describes people who are brought together by a common passion.

If we have passionate people on our teams, who truly care about what we’re promoting and offering, then they serve as the best ambassadors we could hope for. They reflect the best aspects of our business.

One great example I have of this involves a hotel in Salt Lake City.

About a year ago, our middle son, Hayden, had to get a lump removed from his neck. It was his third such surgery and every time the lump came back it consumed us with worry. What if it’s cancer? How we hated to see our 6-year-old go through another surgery.

Hayden, a year after his successful third surgery. (If you look closely you can see he has an incision across the front of his neck)
Hayden, a year after his successful third surgery. (If you look closely you can see he has an incision across the front of his neck)

The Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City is phenomenal, and at 5 hours from where we live in Lander, WY, it was the best option.

We booked a stay at the Shilo Inn, in downtown Salt Lake. Upon booking the reservation, the attendant on the phone asked me what brought us to Salt Lake. I told her the brief story about our 6-year-old having surgery scheduled to remove a lump from his neck at the nearby Children’s Hospital.

We booked a room and a week later, arrived.

During check-in, the attendant remembered us and said she was praying for us and wishing us a great stay. She’d be thinking of our son, and of us, she said, as we checked in.

When we got to our room, there was a gift basket, complete with a card for Hayden, and beach balls for all three of our sons for the swimming pool.

To say that touched us during what would be a truly worrisome stay is an understatement. It moved us… and had the effect to make our sons happy and to take Hayden’s mind off the surgery.

Following the surgery, we returned to our room. Rachel Bremer, the marketing/sales person, sought us out and asked us how Hayden’s surgery came out.

The concern was genuine. Way more than I would have expected from a simple hotel reservation and hotel stay.

And I’ll tell you what, the Shilo Inn could have a train track right outside it and we’d always stay there when we visit Salt Lake City.

The care and concern showed for us during our stay spoke volumes and will never be forgotten. They won us over. Their people won us over.

(BTW, Hayden’s operation that time was a success; the lump was not cancerous. So far so good – it has not returned.)

An Unsolicited Phone Call *Can* Be Perfect

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Seth Godin posted “Poisoning the Well” on his blog Friday morning, April 3.

And as usual, with his wisdom, Godin pretty much nailed it. Godin’s Permission Marketing remains one of my favorite business books, and was a pivotal one in our destination travel business.

Or I thought he had nailed it until later that day.

”This

You see, my mother-in-law has a birthday coming up on April 9. Since we are leaving town for a spring break trip and would be in some remote place on April 9 where there are no phones or cell reception, getting a gift ordered for her birthday had been on my “to do” list for over a week. By Friday afternoon there it was, still nagging at me and yet to be checked off the list. I still needed to order Theresa a lily bouquet to be delivered on April 9.

Right after a quick bite for lunch at home, my phone rang. I didn’t recognize the number, so I ignored the call and let the answering machine do its job.

A friendly lady’s voice came over the machine.
Hi there. This is Janet from Gift Tree. I’m really sorry to call you. I know this is an unsolicited call. But I was looking at our records from this time last year and saw that you ordered Theresa Johnson a gift basket for her birthday. Is there anything we can do to help with her birthday this year?

As I heard this, I swiftly picked up the phone.

Why, yes, you certainly can help, I exclaimed. And before I knew it (in fewer than a couple of minutes), I had ordered a beautiful lily bouquet with gift card to be delivered on the morning of my mother-in-law’s birthday.

Whew. Now I don’t know how all the stars aligned just perfectly to make the above happen and be a good thing, but it was exactly perfect. Something important had the effect of checking itself off my list, almost with no effort, and all thanks to the great customer service and tact provided by a company eager for business and eager to please. A rare thing in today’s world.

Sure, timing had a lot to do with it. Talk about Gift Tree getting lucky and hitting me right at the time I had a need for them. But also, I think much of it had to do with the fact that Janet’s message started out with a sincere “I’m really sorry to call you.” It is nice when others show respect for your time.

For the record, we are among those who get the unwelcome unsolicited calls that come on a Friday or Saturday evening when our family is snuggled down for a great movie night or board game. Nothing is more inappropriate or annoying, or goes further to make us not want to do business with the company from which these callers are calling.

But for now: Gift Tree, I thank you. You reached out, and with tact, you helped make my life easier.