Search engines, ratings sites and a Concierge
I was intrigued to write this article after numerous incidents where guests would come to us for recommendations and as you are engaging in conversation and informing them of what you think would be best for them, the guests would be Googling what you are saying replying back that what is showing on their screen is slightly different to what you would be explaining. Now this is not only with Google search , I’m just using it as a reference, this also would account for Tripadvisor, Yelp and all the other various sites out there now that rates all the establishments by their reviews. Not too long ago, I had 4 guests, altogether, ask me various questions, all at the same time, to which I replied to each of them accordingly, one question was “Where was the local restaurant to the hotel that I would recommend? “, I mentioned the name and where it was, about 200 meters up to the right, the reply there was “It says 250 meters on my phone”, another question was how far away Portmarnock was by taxi, I said about 40 minutes to which the reply there was “It says 35 minutes on Google Maps”. ☺ Frustrating indeed however we are professionals and we know how to handle it.
Now moving on and in relation to general searches, we all know that Google has no personality, no smiles, no character and when it comes to providing the correct information or making a recommendation it is in fact you who is inputting information into the infamous Google search bar for a returned result. That returned result can have dozens of choices which can seem more daunting, more confusing, most of which would be and are not meaningful to you and more website/link clicks would be required to fulfil your original request leading you or “misleading” you to search more for your required answer. Google ads pop up at the top and sometimes you may think that these are the top recommendations however this is totally the opposite, these are the ones that pay Google to be in that position in the first place and in return they either pay a fixed fee or a per click fee and therefore are irrelevant to you.
Now returning to the Concierge, when you contact us, we recommend to your required requests and tailor to your specific and personal needs, to your own desires, we smile, we say hello, we interact, we are there for you and most important of all we are real and human, we are at the end of a mail or a phone call should an issue arise where you need to contact someone in person. We don’t give you dozens of various choices, it is quite the opposite, we would offer you a selection tailored to your needs.
In all our respective hotel’s we have a select number of service suppliers that we choose personally, and i mean personally, this is to ensure that they are the best to serve our guests, we meet with these to ensure that their standards comply with what we expect from them that our guests will be satisfied and will be in the hands of a service that can accommodate you and your needs/request and that nothing is too much to ask off.
When you ask us to recommend a restaurant, we are catering to your requirement, Irish, Italian, Steak, Seafood, whatever may suit your palate or pocket, we have the connections in these establishments, it is these connections that can reserve a table for us if they are overbooked, to help us if you have a specific request that you would like to pass on to the restaurant, this is where all the review sites like Yelp, Tripadvisor and Google fail, they cannot interact directly with the restaurant on your behalf. So if you see a restaurant that maybe no 10 on Yelp, it may be number 1 with us as it is our guests that this restaurants care for the most.
So indeed please use Google to search for a hotel where you wish to visit and once you find your desired hotel then contact that hotel and ask if they provide a Concierge service, ask for the Concierge contact details and let us help you make the most of your time. We are here for you.
About the Author
Paul Fitzsimons 20 years working as a Concierge and currently Head Concierge in one of Dublin’s well known hotels, I’m President of Les Clefs d’Or Ireland, a Concierge Society of over 4000 members worldwide approaching 50 countries with origins dating back to 6th Oct 1929, officially the Society was founded on April 25th 1952 with Ireland being one of the founding members. Follow @Paul_LCD
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