Archive - Originally posted on "The Horse's Mouth" - 2007-10-25 18:46:33 - Graham Ellis
The hotel is spartan and the staff unfriendly. The Wifi didn't work and the support company was informative about the problems, but passing the buck on to others and not able to actually fix the issues for many hours. The restaurant had unset / unwiped tables all over, with food smeared on the menus. To reach the service area I can see from my room is a two mile drive down and back up the dual carriageway. And when you get there and order their advertised and pictured breakfast special, the cup of coffee that comes with the product is only a third of the size of the one photographed. The rude woman tells you she's served you right - that you should read the word "regular" and ignore the picture.
At lunch today, one of my delegates asked me if I prefer training in our own centre, or travelling the world and seeing places.
Actually, I enjoy both. Some away trips don't have these trials and tribulations ... and traffic jams and emergency fire drills and directions to the wrong building ... that I have also had this week. Where there's an opportunity to see somewhere interesting in the evening, enjoy some well presented services, and take in a different culture it can clearly be fun for a few days. And it can also be instructive to us as to what we should be doing on the hotel side of the business.
Am I enjoying this trip? "Quiet amusement" I think I have to say. Yes - I enjoy seeing how things should not be. I can take a certain smug delight in realising that if we're even just mediocre, we win hands down over so many others. But I can also learn a series of warnings and look carefully to make sure that we're clear on those points. And at the end of the day (I hate that phrase's overuse but it's the right one here!) I've got a bed to sleep in that's going to let me get ready for the following day's Tcl course, and at a price that's not so high that I resent the poor value.
