Thanks for the lovely comment! ![]()
On the PM front, it is on the to do list with a number of other forum tweaks, and hoping that will be sorted by the end of July.
PostsFeedback from new member 15th June 2014 10:39 PM
“i like the light hand on the tiller by steve & clive as moderators ; and also like that whenever either of them makes a substantive post, its packed with valuable content.”
Thanks for the lovely comment! On the PM front, it is on the to do list with a number of other forum tweaks, and hoping that will be sorted by the end of July. Customer Service - thoughts? Is it getting better or worse? 15th June 2014 10:35 PM
“This vignette illustrates how NOT to do customer service! We aren't left as raving fans of the hotels service. The moment by moment decisions the assistant manager made were reactive, not responsive; and even the final upgrade offer didn't achieve the primary objective. ”
Unfortunately this seems to be a major issue with a lot of hotels. Over the years me and my better half have been fortunate enough to stay in plenty of nice hotels, and have also done plenty of Premier Inns. But being honest, I think I've been more disappointed with 5 star hotels, and more impressed with Premier Inns. We've had a catalog of issues, Credit Card getting scammed from a well known London hotel, another ran out of bread for breakfast There's also been a few great ones, and when customer service is done right, and not reactive as stated, it's a refreshing change. Yet by contrast, on the budget side, since having kids we've stayed in quite a few premier Inns, the last one a few weeks ago one by the London Eye. Price doesn't get any better for the location, but more importantly I know what we'll get. The room will be tidy and comfortable. It's no thrills, but the staff are still 100% switched on, and who ever is manning reception is fully qualified to deal with any gripes or grumbles. On this occasion we were next door to a noisy heating unit which clattered for about 30 minutes at 22.00. Not late, but was worried it would disturb the kids. Within 10 minutes, issue sorted and a nights stay refunded under their good nights guarantee. No arguments and no stress. Premier Inn have been spending a fortune marketing and honing their message, but having stayed in a number of their hotels around the country, I think they've got the customer service model spot on. Black Cabs in Uber protests 15th June 2014 10:00 PM Catching up on the news, and having never heard of Uber, I wish I had shares in them looking at all of their airtime! Tonight it's all about cabbie strikes in Greece moaning about Uber. Planned or not, fantastic marketing Is there a standard size for business cards? 15th June 2014 9:36 PM Good feedback. I'm a fan of the business card, as you say it's good for face to face interaction, can act as an icebreaker, and is a useful tool to quickly give someone contact details. But then to counter my own argument, it's very rare these days I manually create a new outlook contact from a business card. I may amend details, but 9 times out of 10 I create a new contact from their email address. Plus I'd say the majority of business meetings I've attended over the last 12 months, the key people there either didn't have a business card, or claimed to be waiting to get new ones done. Versus a breakfast networking meeting where every member thrusts cards at you, and they end up on the cork board I'll keep on carrying mine, but I suspect their use (outside of networking clubs) is on the decline. Anyone else still business card fans? How many of you hire a limousine for any occasion? 10th June 2014 11:52 AM I associate the word "limousine" with drunken women on a hen night, hanging out the top and normally screeching or shouting abuse. Wedding car or funeral car, then yep at some point you'll prob need both. Airport taxi, yep, Limousine, nope.
Bing Webmaster Tools - any good? 10th June 2014 11:01 AM I do get frustrated with Google Webmaster tools, and how out of date any reported data is, to the point of almost being unusable. Tools like analytics are superb, so always baffled why WMT is always so slow and out of date. Someone was praising the Bing version of Webmaster tools, and will confess to not having used it for a long time. It used to be very basic with limited functionality, so was looking forward to checking it out..
Looks like I'll be waiting a bit longer Anyone used or tried the Bing tools recently? Any good, comparable to Google, better worse? No Worldcup adverts on Google - now we know why 10th June 2014 10:49 AM This is about the only aspect of the world cup I find interesting as a non football fan Apparently FIFA have Trademarked or own the IP to the phrase "World Cup" and even "Brazil 2014" so according to Search Engine Land you won't see any PPC adverts or non FIFA commercial organic results. Just had a look out of curiosity and can see it's all news related results or wikipedia. Maybe should start a thread "cheap Brazil 2014 t-shirts" and see what happens... When the customer isn't always right.... 10th June 2014 10:36 AM My awkward side would say the customer, tough, you were told it wouldn't fit, now cough up for the rest and then install it in the living room Unfortunately the world is full of idiots... Redirecting mobile users to your mobile homepage - beware! 9th June 2014 7:51 AM Interesting discussion from Search Engine Roundtable. Basically, if you are redirecting mobile visitors from the page they were expecting (maybe your normal desktop URL) to an automatic mobile homepage, then Google will now post a warning, explaining this to the user.
Google is just trying to be helpful, but the message may spook some visitors. If you're site has a responsive design (ie will show the same content on any device) or has a mobile specific site that matches the desktop URL's, then this isn't an issue. But if you have implemented a stopgap or bodge mobile solution such as redirecting all mobile traffic to a single page, possibly like a .tel website, then this could affect you. If in doubt, check your site from a mobile search and make sure you can browse your site without any Google warnings cropping up. More info can be found on SEO Roundtable. Devon to become a global producer of Tungsten 9th June 2014 7:33 AM Work has started to excavate Britain's first new metal mine for more than 40 years. The Hemerdon tungsten mine on the edge of Dartmoor will cost about £130m to dig and is expected to start producing the metal in 2015. The mine, near Plympton, will exploit the world's fourth-largest deposit of tungsten. Work starts on £130m Devon tungsten mine - BBC Pretty impressive for the local economy, obviously it's not a British owned company, but at least its some employment and a few quid back in Corp tax |