The Happier the Hotelier, The Happier the Guest
When launched Qbic got featured on CNN. I didn’t see it myself. I red the transcript once, but thanks to fellow Blogger Época Alta I found the Youtube link:
The first ever Qbic Hotel is four months in operation now and its occupancy rates are reportedly over 90%.
Unofficially, according to a comment on its Blog, confirmed by a post on the official WSC Blog, Dutch Nuna4 has won the World Solar Challenge.
They arrived at Port Augusta at 16.54 hr local time, just 6 minutes before closing time of the control and finished the official timed stretch of the race. The Port Augusta to Adelaide (where the official finish is) leg seems not to count as a timed part of the race, as the leg has too much traffic and racing would be too dangerous.
The Nuon sponsored Delft Technical University Team rules the waves (err the sun rays) as this is the fourth consecutive win on a row of this biannual challenge.
Apparently they did not beat the team’s prior average speed record, because they met more clouds and rain under way.
Now I am curious if they will consider competing in a solar car race in the United States of America, for instance the 2008 American Solar Challenge, a 2400 mile race from Dallas, Texas to Calgary, Alberta.
To be updated.
Update 1) It seems the servers of the various sites are groaning under heavy traffic……
With this magnificent photo that I pinched from the Panasonic World Solar Challenge site today, I’ll give you a short update after 3 days of racing and a rest day in Alice Springs:
It is a pity that the organization is so scarce with giving proper information. I believe there is a lot of interest for multimedia coverage of this race, but alas not much to be found…..For instance in the Volvo Ocean sailing races and in the America’s Cup match sailing races we can follow the races in real time in our armchair behind the computer while each competitor has a camera and a GPS tracking device mounted on their yachts. Same is the case with the World Rally Championships.
Very sadly the US competitor of the University of Michigan, the Continuum of UM Solar Car Team, due to an accident are way, 11 hours and 24 minutes according to their Blog, behind Nuna4, but they seem to gain now.
My Blogger friend Albert Barra pointed me to El Blog de un Hotel ie A Hotel’s Blog. [ed: since the opening of the hotel the Blog has been discontinued and removed]
Not that I am able to read or write Spanish, but with the help of Google Translate (Beta) I can at least assume I know a bit about what El Blog de un Hotel is posting about.
I like the concept: The Hotel talks to the reader while being built and is meandering in its posts the same sort of way I am meandering myself in this Blog. It keeps its name and brand and location secret. It will be located in Spain and will open 365 days after the Blog started. As the Blog started September 25, 2007, the hotel will open in September 2008.
The last post shows us interesting Artist Impressions of the mystery hotel’s design like this:
It features two clever ways of building traffic:
Both may create their own buzz, or maybe even hype….
I will follow the developments with interest.
Last edit August 2009:
Alas the Hotel is the Madrid Eurostar, but it appears the blog has been wiped.
The landing page says: Translated via Google:
Blog of a Hotel
Hola a todos.
Hello everyone.Como sabéis ya soy una realidad. As you know I’m already a reality. El pasado 9 de enero abrí mis puertas para empezar a recibir huéspedes. On January 9 I opened my door to start receiving guests. De momento todo va muy bien, pero estoy desbordado de trabajo: coordinando los montajes de las habitaciones, controlando la calidad de mis desayunos, poniendo a punto mi Well Health Club y dando una cálida bienvenida a todos los que ya han querido conocerme.
At the moment everything is going very well, but I am overwhelmed by work: coordinating the assembly of the rooms, checking the quality of my breakfast, my point being Well Health Club and giving a warm welcome to all who wanted to know.Por todo ello, y lamentablemente, me será imposible seguir manteniendo activa esta bitácora . Therefore, unfortunately, I will be impossible to keep this blog active. Hemos compartido mucho juntos, he aprendido un montón de vuestros comentarios y espero que, a lo largo de este año vosotros también hayáis disfrutado con mis comentarios y descubriendo mis interioridades.
We shared a lot together, I learned a lot from your comments and hope that throughout this year you also you have enjoyed my comments and finding out my insides.Ya se ha empezado a contactar a los ganadores de los diferentes premios, pero si estáis impacientes, podéis enviar un email a.
Has already begun to contact the winners of the awards, but if you’re impatient, you can send an email to emailComo dicen los humanos, esto no es un adiós sino un hasta pronto.
As the human, this is not a goodbye but a see you soon.
…It was a very nice and creative example of marketing via a blog… I am really surprised they simply threw away all the good work…
Veerle Pieters is a Grapic/Web designer based in Belgium, a talented photographer and founder of Duoh!, a dynamic print/new media and web design company, based in Deinze –near Ghent, Belgium, She has an impressing portfolio.
Veerle’s Blog 2.0 is always interesting to read. The Blog covers a myriad of subjects that interest me as well, like:
and
Enjoy!