Five ways to deliver a meaningful customer complaint

Bad customer service bothers the hell out of me. I know I’m not alone on this: nobody likes receiving something less than he pays for. But for me, it’s something of an obsession, having worked in businesses where there is nothing quite like a “quality problem” to put the brakes on your career (or derail it entirely). And perhaps unreasonably, I have incredibly high standards – which I do reward commensurately, from gratuity to word-of-mouth advocacy. Whatever the driver, I am quite comfortable approaching a hotel or restaurant manager with both criticism and high praise, and I’ve found out what works and what doesn’t.

If all you want to do is go for the jugular when you get unacceptable service, don’t bother reading the rest of this: it won’t help you out. When you encounter a service failure, sometimes you have to fight every urge you have to win and stay focused on what really matters: delivering a meaningful customer complaint. In the end, you will feel much better about how you’ve behaved. I had to bite my tongue Saturday night at a hotel‘s resturant here in New York: it hurt, but in the end, I’m happier with the outcome (which is limited to my behavior, since the restaurant’s manager failed to take interest, let alone action).

So, the time comes to talk to the manager … here are five ways to do it effectively:1. Forget about free: nothing annoys me more than people who bitch and complain just to get a 10 percent discount next time. It’s as transparent as it is demeaning to all involved. The human race, quite simply, deserves better. O, the next time you have a service gripe, open with, “I’m not looking for anything out of this,” or “Don’t worry about a discount or free anything, I’m just looking to have a situation fixed.” It changes the nature of everything that follows.

2. Be constructive (and show it): focus what you say on the situation at hand, and explain your problem in detail. At the same time, offer ways that it can be fixed. Most restaurant and hotel managers, for example, will throw a discount or a comp at you (which, at least, is better than the airlines, who won’t help to remedy a situation without a struggle). This may make the immediate problem go away, but it doesn’t solve anything. If you’re specific and contribute something worthwhile, you’ll get better results.

3. Be calm and clear – but firm: yelling and screaming may give you some temporary satisfaction, but that wears off quickly. Wouldn’t you rather get a resolution that’s more enduring? Approach the situation with a cool head, and remain rational. If you make a point, back it up with examples from the experience that bothered you. Report the facts, so to speak, and be very careful to avoid a tone that comes across as accusatory. At the same time, however, you do have a right to stand up for yourself. Use it.

4. Follow it up in writing: this goes for both good and bad service frankly (email and letters rarely reflect the former, and it does make a difference). Even if you have a conversation, summarize it in email, and click send. This will add a bit of weight to your concern and increase the likelihood that it will be addressed. Also, it will keep the manager honest with his employer and himself.

5. Prepare to offer a second chance: okay, this can be tough after you’ve had a bad experience. If you have offered targeted constructive criticism that has been taken seriously, and you’ve been in touch with the establishment after your initial encounter, you do owe the property a chance to win you back. When you do return, you should thank the manager for any discounts offered but refuse them. If this isn’t possible, add your savings to the gratuity (if service warrants it). The experience alone should be your reward, not the financial incentive.

[photo by star5112 via Flickr]

Grantourismo blogger on guidebooks and travel writing

Last week I posted a Q & A with blogger Lara Dunston and her husband and partner Terence Carter about their travel project and blog Grantourismo. In addition to good advice about renting a vacation apartment and getting “under the skin” of a place when traveling, they had a lot of interesting things to say about guidebooks, both from their experiences writing them and how they see travelers using them wrong.

Read on for more on the guidebook writing process, how you can use them best on vacation, the changing media landscape, and which bloggers and publications offer the best content for travelers.How did this project stem from your experiences as travel writers?
Grantourismo began as a personal travel project that developed from our frustrations, firstly, with our own work as travel writers, and secondly, with how many travelers rely so much on guidebooks. Terence and I wrote, updated or contributed to around 50 guidebooks for Lonely Planet, Footprints, Rough Guides, DK, and others, and what we loved most about guidebook writing was when we worked on a city guide and rented an apartment for a month or two and really got beneath the skin of the place.

So many writers who aren’t residents of a place ‘parachute in’ to a destination for a few weeks and do crazy 18-hour days ticking off sights/bars/restaurants etc in a frenzy and leave. We didn’t start travel writing to live like that. However, what we disliked was the tedious stuff – ensuring the post office was in the right spot on the map, checking bus timetables, etc. We’d also been doing lots of feature writing, especially profiles, for magazines and newspapers, and what we loved about that was experiencing places through their people.

What’s the difference between guidebook and feature writing?

With guidebooks, unless Terence had a photography commission for the same book we were writing, we mostly traveled anonymously. As feature writers we could contact people, doors would open, and we’d have incredible experiences, and come away feeling like we’d really learnt something. For instance, for a story on Michelin-star chef Pierre Gagnaire’s Dubai restaurant, we spent a night in the kitchen, Terence cooking and me observing and notetaking and – Terence ended up cooking a dish for Pierre! Grantourismo was an attempt to develop a project that would give us the opportunity to have more of those kinds of experiences and have the best of both worlds, of guidebook and feature writing. We also wanted to inspire travelers to travel in the same way, to engage more with locals and explore their own interests when they travel. This desire grew out of a frustration with seeing how obsessed people were with their guidebooks and witnessing travellers miss out on amazing opportunities because they would only go to places their guidebooks recommended.

I’ll never forget going to a great little stand-up seafood tapas place in Barcelona and seeing a young American couple sitting on the doorstop next door frantically trying to figure out if it was in the guidebook. The place was heaving and it was full of locals! Just go in! There’s also another famous tapas bar in Barcelona which once had a great reputation but it fairly mediocre now but because it’s in every guidebook, people line up for it an hour before it opens. Yet there are 20 other better tapas bars in the surrounding streets! We’d rather see people leave their guidebooks closed occasionally, talk to locals more and pursue their interests. If you’re passionate about food and cooking, why not go to a place and do a cooking course, stay in a vacation rental and shop at the markets and cook? If you love a restaurant get tips on where to eat from the waiter, and if the restaurant is quiet, why not ask to see the kitchen and chat to the chef?

So can travelers still rely on guidebooks for basic info?
Guidebooks are great for background information on a wide variety of topics on a place. What’s the alternative? Lugging around half a dozen books on the history, politics, geography, culture etc of the destination? Or load those books onto a Kindle or iPad, although of course not all travelers can afford hi-tech gadgets or even want to take them to some destinations. The ‘front/back matter’ in guidebooks can usually be relied upon – sometimes the stuff is written by subject experts, or it’s written by authors who do a great deal of research, it’s fact-checked, and it doesn’t date quickly.

Where guidebooks can be unreliable on the other hand is in the perishable information – reviews of hotels, restaurants, shops, cafés, bars, their addresses, phone numbers, prices, opening times etc. It’s not necessarily the author’s fault. Businesses move or close down, things change. It’s the fault of the publisher and their long production schedules – sometimes a year or 18 months can pass from the time the author has done the research to the time the books hit the shops. Some places never change or change little, like small country towns, but cities like Shanghai or Dubai change constantly.

We once worked on a first edition guidebook that took two years from the time I submitted the manuscript and Terence submitted the photos to reaching the bookshops. I wrote the first edition of one guidebook and updated the second edition, but I know that book has since been reprinted twice without further updates. How can travelers rely on those books? In some cases, I think the publishers have a lot to answer for, particularly when new museums or significant sights would make a ‘Top 10’ list but haven’t been added.

Any guidebook series you do like for local recommendations?
We like niche guidebooks, such as Hedonist’s Guides, which uses authors that really know their stuff when it comes to restaurants, bars, and hotels.Hedonists also come in a cool hardcover book as well, so they don’t fall apart, and as iPhone apps that are updated much more frequently than the book.

This year, on our Grantourismo trip, we’ve been on a mission to find locally produced guidebooks in each place we’ve visited, and when we’ve tested out a book and loved it we’ve interviewed the publishers/editors and showcased the book on our site, such as the arty and rather philosophical ‘My Local Guide to Venice‘ and the straight-talking ‘Not for Tourists
in New York. We want to encourage travelers to look for these books because they bring a uniquely local flavor and multiple perspectives on their destinations, unlike the big mainstream global guidebook publishers where the authors’ personalities are never allowed to shine.


What can user-generated content like TripAdvisor offer travelers compared to traditional media?
I think user-generated content supplements books and travel features in newspapers/magazines but can never replace quality guidebook authorship or travel journalism. While user-generated content wins out in terms of currency (the reviews have dates), guidebook authors and travel journalists are professionals with expertise. It’s our job to assess hotels, restaurants, bars, sights, and so on. Having slept in thousands of hotels across all budget categories, eaten tens of thousands of meals at all kinds of restaurants, visited thousands of museums, etc, gives you a degree of experience and expertise that the average traveler who has 2 weeks (in the USA) or at most 4-8 weeks (in the UK/Australia/Europe) holiday can never hope to match. If a guidebook author tells me the XXX hotel is the best in Milan and a reviewer on Trip Advisor tells me the YYY hotel is the best, I know whose opinion I’m going to trust.

If the traveler writing on Trip Advisor focuses on describing in detail their very specific experience of a hotel or restaurant, that kind of information can be helpful when weighed up against other reviews by travelers and experts. Where it can be detrimental is when the Trip Advisor reviewer starts making claims about a certain hotel being the best in the city or the cheapest or friendliest or whatever. What I want to know is how many hotels have they stayed at or inspected to be able to compare their hotel to? A guidebook writer specializing on a destination might have stayed at a dozen hotels in that city over a number of years, and inspected 50 others. So when it comes to user-generated content, my main issue is with the authority of authorship. There are also plenty of games being played out behind the scenes with
manipulation of reviews (both positive and negative) of properties. In a recent destination we visited a local foodie who told us to simply ignore the top 10 places listed on Trip Advisor as they’re rubbish. And she was right. We’ve personally seen scathing reviews of hotels and restaurants that we know are some of our favourites in the world – so who are you going to trust? The user ‘britney_1537’ or a professional travel writer?

Where do you see travel journalism going?
I can’t see travel journalism in magazines or newspapers changing significantly because it hasn’t changed in its genre, form or structure a great deal at all. What has changed is that there are far more journalists working for broadsheets and travel magazine these days that are doing trips ‘courtesy of’ a tourism body or travel operator – and it’s apparent from the first paragraph, even if it’s not declared. There has definitely been a trend toward publications redefining and narrowing their focus and we’ve seen wonderful new niche travel publications born in the last year or so such as Wend and AFAR – a magazine after our own hearts and minds!

I can see traditional travel publications embracing more user-generated content in the way that some of the UK newspapers have been doing by incorporating reader’s travel writing and tips and linking to those on their main travel pages. I love how The Guardian in the UK engages its readers on Twitter and I dig the Twi-Trips that Benji Lanyado does, which are kind of mini-versions of that fantastic journey the Twitchhiker did that had us all engrossed in his journey halfway round the world relying totally on the hospitality of strangers.

I also think we’ll start to see more travel writers like Terence and I who have worked across traditional media platforms entering into direct relationships with companies as we have with HomeAway Holiday-Rentals and producing content on their own websites and blogs or on the company’s blog, as say, David Whitley has done for Round the World Flights in the UK. But it will only work if the writer can negotiate editorial control as we did with HomeAway Holiday-Rentals. As long as writers maintain their integrity and apply the same ethics they would to a story for a newspaper or magazine, it’s a good thing. But how many travel companies are willing to give writers this freedom? If you look at our last few posts on Cape Town and our first posts on Kenya – which are both reflective and critical – you have to ask yourself how many travel-related companies are willing to let writers produce this kind of content that doesn’t gloss over the situation on the ground?

How can travelers benefit from the changing media landscape?
Travellers can benefit by content that is more creative and less restricted by a publications editorial style or writing guidelines, by content that is more freewheeling in spirit. A perfect example is Pam Mandel who blogs at Nerd’s Eye View, who has a unique, intimate, chatty style of writing that wouldn’t work for a lot of newspapers for instance – but she’s heading off to Antarctica soon on a sponsored trip and I can’t wait to see how she brings her own singular brand of writing to that adventure. What’s important with these gigs, like Grantourismo, is that travel writers continue to be upfront, honest, critical and opinionated in their writing. They need to maintain their integrity and ethics. Travelers in turn need to expect that of the writers they’re reading – if they’re seeing ‘sponsored story’ or company widgets/logos on their blogs (both travel writers and bloggers), they need to look for an editorial policy. It’s only by writing critically that writers will win readers’ trust in the long term and projects like Grantourismo will succeed.

Check out more on Grantourismo on their blog and Twitter page.

All photos courtesy of Terence Carter.

Best college restaurant: Good Morning America wants your vote

For most of us, college was a low period in our culinary lives. Ramen, macaroni and cheese, beer for breakfast. . .ah, the memories!

When we got tired of contributing to our freshman fifteen with junk food, there was always that one place that served up something a little better, a little special. If you’ve been to college, or even if you haven’t, I bet you just thought of that place right now.

As an undergraduate in Tucson my favorite was a grimy dive bar called Mike’s Place. It served its last under-aged drinker years ago, closing down in the face of “urban renewal”. In graduate school in Columbia, Missouri, my fave was Shakespeare’s Pizza, which serves up delicious pizza right next to campus. It’s the best I’ve ever had, and I’ve been to Rome. Even The Pizza Files gave it a good review.

Now Shakespeare’s is one of four finalists in Good Morning America Weekend’s Best Bites Challenge. On this Saturday’s show they’ll announce the finalists and tell you how to vote for your favorite. They’re not very good at keeping secrets over at ABC, because the Columbia Tribune revealed the finalists to be Sandwich University in Morgantown, W.Va.; Öl Stuga in Lindsborg, Kan.; Camellia Grill in New Orleans; and Shakespeare’s.

Personally, I know Shakespeare’s is the best because I’ve never been to those other places. How can they compete?

What was your favorite college hangout? Reminisce in the comments section!

Five American-style North Korean restaurants for foodies

This may not have been the case a few years ago, but Pyongyang is definitely on its way to becoming a culinary destination … well, maybe not. Nonetheless, it is pretty wild that the self-isolating regime has let slip some pretty wild information about the dining options available in the capital. If you can finagle a way into North Korea and somehow get yourself a bit of freedom to move, there are now some interesting restaurants for you to visit.

Swing an eating trip to Pyongyang, and you may find yourself munching on the familiar. There are several western-style restaurants popping up in this strange city, so eating like a local may mean eating like you’re home.

Let’s take a look at five restaurants in Pyongyang and how you could scarf that grub in style:1. Okryu Restaurant: just opened last week, this soon-to-be hot spot garnered a mention by the Korea Central News Agency, which means its launch was intended to be made public. The claim is that this place can accommodate thousands of customers, so live on the edge and skip making a reservation.

2. Samtaesung:
a relatively new addition to the Pyongyang culinary scene, this burger joint is open 24 hours a day and still recommends making reservations to pick up your food. This is a place to see and be seen, especially if you’re tight with the regime: Kim Jong-il‘s sister, Kim Kyong-hui, is said to benefit personally from all the cash spent there.

3. Pizza (no name given): dine on pies with ingredients shipped in from Naples and Rome. The first North Korean pizza parlor is said to have been created at the request of Kim Jong-il himself, so you know the quality is going to be top notch! So, without a name, how can you expect to find the place? Ask where the pizza joint is; it’s not like there are dozens.

4. Beach (outside the city): get outside of Pyongyang, and you still have some options. In Wonsan, at the beach, you can find even more pizza. Just remember to wait at least 20 minutes before jumping back into the waves!

5. Cubby’s: this is the restaurant that never happened in Pyongyang. Originally the dream of a New Jersey BBQ joint owner, plans to expand Cubby’s to Pyongyang were explored. The owner, Bobby Egan, befriended some North Korean diplomats assigned to the United Nations in New York City and even took a few trips over to his buddies’ homeland. Alas, according to his recent book, the plans for a DPRK franchise never came to fruition.

[photo by John Pavelka via Flickr]

New Pyongyang restaurant opens to rave reviews

Forget Manhattan, Pyongyang seems to be the hottest spot for new restaurant openings. Sure, there seems to be a new dining option popping up in New York City every time you blink … but that’s to be expected! When new options come to North Korea, it’s a bit more noticeable.

Only two weeks ago, word hit the west about a new burger joint in the North Korean capital, called Samtaesung, with links to Kim Jong-il’s younger sister, Kim Kyong-hui. Well, there’s now another hot spot in the city, according to the Korea Central News Agency, the official “news” mouthpiece of the regime.

The KCNA reports that a 6,000 square-meter restaurant, Okryu Restaurant, was just finished. Apparently, it can handle thousands of visitors and “is a catering centre for providing best service to people.” This is a start that would make most capitalist restaurateurs salivate!

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And, as is always the case with the North Korean media, it only gets better:

With the appearance of the elegant, magnificent and exquisite restaurant, a good combination of national, classical and contemporary architectural styles, the area of Okryu Restaurant has turned into a street of catering facilities built in a peculiar Korean architectural style to be proud of.

The opening was celebrated with a ceremony last Friday, and some major people were in attendance: “Jon Ha Chol, vice-premier of the Cabinet, Ryang Man Gil, chairman of the Pyongyang City People’s Committee, officials concerned, soldier-builders, officials and employees of the restaurant.”

[photo by yeowatzup via Flickr]