I heard today of a hotel who normally takes extra business in January as a result of a local annual golf tournament, providing a welcome piece of business for this otherwise quiet month. Due to the bad weather in January the event was cancelled. Instead of scheduling to another quiet period unfortunatley the golf club went ahead and re arranged the event – for mid February – clashing with Valentine’s Day and half term.
The result? Unhappy golfers as they had to pay premium rates, unhappy hotelier as he had to turn away business, and worse still unhappy regular guests who could not get a room.
The moral of this tale? Talk to your customers, get the dialogue going and discuss the options to achieve a win-win
Caroline CooperÂ