The important customers are the majority, not the celebrity
Archive - Originally posted on "The Horse's Mouth" - 2013-09-08 08:42:14 - Graham EllisLast night, I had been planning to go along to the Assembly Hall - to an evening with Dick Strawbridge, TV Celeberity Chef and eco-warrior. But it didn't quite work out like that - and I found myself, as the event got close, still waiting for him at the hotel to check in and thinking "he's cutting this rather fine". I learned he had gone straight to the event when someone tweeted "OMG - Dick Strawbridge is standing right next to me..." and by that time, I would have been rushing to "close" to get up there for the show. Ah well - he'll probably come down straight after the show. And I suppose I have to allow for him popping across during the interval. Alas - 20:40 and I get a message - "he's not staying with us now" and it turns out that all the back-and-forth with his agent, the pressing us for a free room as a "sponsorship" for the Food Festival - was all for nowt. I don't yet know how and why his plans changed (and plans do change), but it would have been joined-up and polite for someone to let us know. It's a triple whamee when someone does this to a supplier - not only do we lose any marketing opportunity, but also we turn away other business (a full hotel) and indeed we have the extra expense with a "no show" situation of staffing / waiting around for hours, and the worry / concern. I'm probably being intemperate in writing this - I should just turn the other cheek - but it hurts. He did, I understand, apologise to Lisa at the event when introduced; that's one cheer, I suppose, but "sorry" can't really make up for an unnecessary messing us about, costing us money and losing us other income.
We have five rooms, and we can sometimes apply the 80/20 rule. 80% of the rooms are 20% of the trouble, and 20% are 80% of the trouble.Let's move on this morning - I'm preparing breakfast, not for a TV celebrity chef (who doesn't know what he's missing), but for an otherwise-full hotel of guests checked in for most of the weekend. I've met all but one couple already, and they're lovely people. Very much "come as guests, leave as friends" and we can do very well, thank you, without the hassle.
Come stay here, pay your way, and we love having you. But please don't ask for too many more favours / pull rank; we'll politely suggest you try elsewhere. And that's for our own sanity and the good of our other customers.