|  | Excerpt from: Do Business in Vail!
| | June 20, 2008 | | Article by Michael Kurz, President/CEO of the Vail Valley Partnership | My wife and I just returned from Peru — an extraordinary destination,
especially for someone whose high school Spanish has been pushed about
as far as it will go in just asking, “Where are the bathrooms?”
But,
remarkably, with the help of some well-trained, kind and extremely
knowledgeable guides from Peru’s Condor Travel (yes, a personal plug)
we made it comfortably and securely through two large in-country
airports, two train stations, three hotels and three guided tours
without a hitch and with a maximum of courtesy and efficiency. Cars,
drivers and guides showed up early with the appropriate and correct
itineraries, transfers, tickets, etc., and the personal attention we
received made us feel like dignitaries at every step along the way.
In
decades of travel, we have never used an operator for private travel
before but our tight schedule and the incredible scale of the tourism
options in Lima, Cuzco and Machu Picchu over a 10-day period demanded
precision and it was delightfully delivered. I may never set foot out
of the country again without this wonderful assistance.
But,
this column is more than a commercial for tour operators. It’s a
testimony to the effect individual people who go the extra mile can
have on strangers in a strange land.
It’s not so much that
visiting the Vail Valley is the overwhelming and outworldly experience
that visiting foreign lands can be, it’s more about the reality that
visiting anywhere really different from your home turf can be somewhat
intimidating.
Just as in Peru, there are printed guides,
travel books, on-line maps, destination signage, etc., but none of that
can substitute for a knowledgeable, smiling, friendly local who asks
oft-befuddled visitors if they need a little assistance.
We’ve
all heard the stories of people being judgmental about this town or
that saying, “too snobby” or “they ignore you there,” or “we felt like
intruders.” The truth is, bad behavior toward guests is unusual here,
and because of sound customer service practices throughout the valley
and programs like Destination Experience — the Platinum Service Program
at the Vail Valley Partnership — it’s becoming exceedingly rare.
Still,
we all need to remember that the best path to endearing the brand, the
destination and valley-wide activities to our guests is to treat them
the way you’d want to be treated if you were feeling lost or a bit
disoriented and needed a little “local” insight.
Small acts of
graciousness can go a long way in changing the feeling of being out of
place to a feeling of being welcome, fitting in and belonging. Although
it can sometimes be inconvenient or awkward to approach a guest on the
street or on the bus, if you go the extra mile to help it will be
appreciated, remembered and talked-up for a long time to come.
Those
of us involved in economic development throughout the valley continue
to work hard on the macro issues that will eventually bring us to
365-day sustainable economy, but it really is something this simple
that on a micro front produces results that benefit us all every day. | | |
|
|
| | |
