WWW also stands for World Wide Web. Nevertheless, just for the fun of it and to confuse the search engines, I will tag this post with my WWW tag that I originally intended for items related to the Internet. The other posts filed under WWW have now the tag “Internet”. My spell checker keeps saying Internet is spelled with a capital “I”. I am not sure this is correct, but English is not my mother tongue.
First
My attention was drawn by a post of
Kitty Bean Yansea’s noe defunct Blog Hotel Hotsheet had as motto: “Check it out before you check in” and was written for USA Today.
The post is this: Hotels: What are you most thankful for?
Kitty being female, I thought it wise to incorporate her list here, be it only to keep it as a memo for myself:
- Free Wi-Fi.
- Bright bedside reading lights.
- Curved shower rods that give the illusion of more space in a standard tub or rather the walk-in, glass-door shower.
- Free wine happy hours. Not only is it delightful to come back to a complimentary cup of cheer at the end of a long day, but it’s a chance to chat with fellow guests if you care to.
- Pillow top mattresses. We’re getting so spoiled in the USA that it’s harder to stay in non-luxury hotels elsewhere, where I’ve found mattresses to be harder or saggier.
- Hotel housekeepers earning better pay. They deserve it, especially considering the extra lifting and pillow-casing they do with those heavenly new beds.
- Most of all, I’m thankful for a cheery face and a compassionate welcome when I arrive at a hotel jet-lagged, work-worn or frazzled by trying to find it. A kind and caring staff is the No. 1 hotel amenity as far as I’m concerned.
Then
My attention was drawn to
The Hotel Law Blog of Jim Butler, who is a partner of a Los Angeles law firm that “does a couple of billion dollar deals (mostly hotels cum condominiums) on an annual basis”, and who gives some interesting observations in his postWhat Woman Really Want post on his Hotel Law Blog after reminding us that the US counts three (only three?) very influential Ladies: Condoleeza Rice, Hillary Clinton and Oprah Winfrey, he stresses:
Women are making:
85% of all consumer decisions! and
70% of all travel decisions!
His list goes as follows:
- Security Women value extra measures that ensure their safety and security;
- Cleanliness Women care more than men about cleanliness;
- Transportation Women want complimentary shuttle service to and from the airport, and to areas other than the airport;
- Simplification Women care more about express check-in and checkout, and are more interested than men in an interactive system through the guest room television set that provides information about local events
- Business Services Women want the same business services that men want, but more women want service enabling them to send and receive faxes from their laptops;
- Creature facilities Women want full-length mirrors, make up mirrors and hair dryers; they want spa services and more diversity of restaurants on the premises;
- Ambiance Women value the ambiance of small boutique hotels, as well as distinctive hotel decor;
- Perks Frequent guest points are more important than frequent flyer miles—women want to be rewarded for their loyalty
Jim continues with a couple of very good suggestion: Woman want to be asked what they want and they want to be listened to! Well, as Jim continues, Isn’t that what man like also?
Thirdly,
Sean Dodson writes for the Guardian. His column Best of the net: Pod Hotels demonstrates a remarkable similarity between him finding Pod- or Cube alike hotels to my own findings here on Happy Hotelier. In What is Travel Networking? his tip about the site The Thelma and Louise Club
an on line community of women worldwide which enables members to meet like-minded women, find travel companions and fulfill their aspirations. Also enjoy great holidays, day trips, articles, and our favorite products and services.
made me think: “They could give us even more insight in the subject of this post”!
But, alas this is a strictly female site. Therefor this simple but happy male would like to ask the female readers of this post to give us some input about the site and their experience.
Finally
Very recently, a Dutch Ladies Glossy by the name Libelle (a title owned by Sonoma) started a story or a B&B for a year in Barcelona by the name of Casa Libelle. They screen ladies who they send in 12 foursomes for periods of four weeks to a B&B in Barcelona. As yet it is not clear to me whether they have started the B&B just for this purpose or that they simply send their readers to an existing B&B in order to help the owners out. In any case the Dutch ladies sent to Barcelona have to report via Blogs and via videos and all is shown on Libelle’s Website which is in the air for a week or two now after experiences some difficulties. As the site is entirely in the Dutch language, a link is not necessary. For those who read Dutch the story can be found on the Dutch language sisterblog weekendhotel Mama goes Barcelona. I will keep you posted in English from time to time.
This also seams a great source for What Woman Want!
Well ladies (and gentlemen of course), what do you think?