Welcome to Canada Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince William and Princess Catherine

Prince William and Princess Kate arrive in Canada today.  Will you be able to see them in person?  According to the CBC, these are the itinerary highlights:

• June 30 —Their first official function is laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the National War Memorial. They will then head to Rideau Hall where they will be greeted by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Governor General and receive full military honours including a 21-gun salute.There will be a youth barbecue and reception in the garden of Government House.

• July 1 — They will attend a citizenship ceremony at the Museum of Civilization and then it's off to Parliament Hill for Canada Day celebrations, where William will briefly address the crowd.

• July 2 — After a tree planting at Rideau Hall and a reception for war veterans and war brides, the couple depart for Montreal. There, they will visit Saint-Justine Hospital, a facility for young cancer patients, and go to the Institut de tourism et d'hotelerie where they will participate in a class of chefs in training. The students will then serve them a private dinner. Amid a fireworks competition in the harbour, the couple board HMCS Montreal for the overnight journey to Quebec City.

• July 3 — The couple will meet the Royal 22nd Regiment, the Van Doos, who have just returned from Afghanistan. Expect an inspection of the guard and a walkabout. They then head to the Citadel and after some down time depart for Levi Fort to participate in a fair. They depart by plane to Charlottetown where they will stay at Government House.

• July 4 — In the morning, they will tour Province House, and be greeted by the Fathers of Confederation on the steps. There will be a welcome by Premier Robert Ghiz and then a walkabout on George Street. Then they will head to Dalvay by the Sea. After a brief rest, they attend an outdoor reception complete with BBQ, dragon boat race and music. They will be greeted by Anne of Green Gables and do a walkabout. They depart for Summerside by helicopter where they will see a search and rescue demonstration and attend a reception for fishermen rescued by such teams. They leave for Yellowknife.

• July 5 — At Somba Ke Civic Plaza, the couple will be welcomed by the premier and aboriginal leaders in a ceremony that includes prayer and drum songs. They will do a walkabout with aboriginal athletic events. At a Territorial Legislature for Youth Parliament event, young people from different ridings will come to the legislature and try to solve a problem of their choosing and report their results to William. The couple then travel by sea plane to Blatchford Lodge to meet with Canadian Rangers. After walking to Dechinta Centre, which tries to recapture the aboriginal language and culture for young people, they return to Yellowknife and retire for the night.

• July 6 —The couple depart for Calgary and have the day to themselves in a private location.

• July 7 — After visiting Foothills Hospital, they head to the BMO Centre for a reception hosted by Harper and his wife. There will be a gift presentation from the government of Canada to the couple and a speech by Harper.

• July 8 — The couple will attend the launch of the Calgary Stampede parade and watch part of the parade. Then they visit ENMAX Conservatory at the Calgary Zoo. Their final stop is Challenger Rotary Park where William will do an inspection of the guard with full military honours.

Full coverage of the Royal visit on CBC.ca

A Twitter customer care experience from a brand that cares about its customers - IHG again

In my previous post I wrote about the great experience I had at the InterContinental Le Grand Paris. Speaking of IHG brands, on our last night in Paris we stayed at the Holiday Inn Express Charles de Gaulle Airport in order to be at our departures gate with plenty of time to check in the next day. As I mentioned in the previous post, I usually look for IHG hotels whenever I travel, but especially when I am not very familiar with the destination. And so we booked a room at this Holiday Inn Express. But this experience did not meet my expectations. It felt short. However, the post-stay-Twitter-customer-care experience made up for it and it's a great example of how a global brand in hospitality is looking after the brand and its customers.

We arrived in the afternoon and checked in. The front desk attendant was very friendly, polite and professional and she gave us an upgrade to an executive room because of my loyalty card status, which was great. Only thing was, this executive room's bed is awful. I was not surprised that the room is very small (as they tend to be in many hotels in Europe), but my wife and I were surprised that the bed in this executive room is a Murphy bed (wall bed). The bed has two metal feet jutting out on either side which one can keep bumping into on account of very little space between the bed and the wall. But we took that in stride and even thought it was a funny thing since we kept bumping into them (as long as we didn't hit a toe, it would be alright). 

But then we tried the bed and this bed is very uncomfortable – uneven – like Murphy beds and pull out couches can be.  We decided to ask for a different room and – coincidentally at that point – there was a blackout at the hotel. All electricity went out. We went to the front desk and waited for Rommie, the front desk manager, to have a minute since she was really trying to do something about the blackout (she was on the mobile phone speaking to someone about it).  Once we were able to talk to her, she understandably told us that she couldn't tell if she had another room to do the switch because her computer was down.  Being close to dinner time – and not knowing if the electricity was coming back any time soon – we decided to go to Paris for supper and deal with the room upon our return to the hotel.  When we returned Rommie had gone home and we told the front desk person in charge about the bed and that we would like another room.  Unfortunately by then all he could offer was a regular smoking room. My wife thought that room could be worse than the exec room (because the smoking room might smell of smoking, which we don’t like at all).  So we kept the exec room and slept there as best we could.  When we checked out and the attendant asked us how our stay was, we said – ok, “but the bed in that room is terrible, really bad.” She did not know how to react and just gave us the bill for € 221.20. 

Before we left for the airport, I tweeted that the bed in question was the worst I had ever slept in at any hotel. We flew back home and several hours later when I checked my Twitter account I saw a reply by IHGCare "We would like to assist w/ your exp..." inviting me to email IHGCare to explain. So I did. Very soon after I sent the email, I got a very nice response and apology for the inconvenience from Global IHG care indicating that they would forward my comments to the appropriate people at the CDG HIE. They also said they would credit my loyalty program account with a few thousand points.  

As I said in the first paragraph, this experience is a great example of using Twitter strategically to protect and enhance a brand's reputation and of showing customers that they are important to the business. IHG is out there listening and responding to customers concerns and doing it in a timely fashion. This ensures that customers remain engaged with the brand and hopefully satisfied.  However, having said all this, I do think that in cases such as this one, it would be much better to empower front line workers to deal with issues like these. The front desk person in charge should have been able to apologize on the spot and to offer me the loyalty program points. If I wasn't a loyalty program member then she should have been able to offer a discount on the rate right there. Many customers are not on Twitter and might not be inclined to try and escalate the issue. You would just lose those customers.  So the moral of the story is: yes, use Twitter to listen, engage, respond and promote, but you should also empower your front line workers to do the same in person and on the spot.

Happy travels.

Jaime

www.cactusrock.com 

The InterContinental Le Grand Paris, a destination unto itself.

I just came back from a vacation in Europe with my wife. 3 nights in Paris and 11 days in Tuscany. My wife had been wishing for this trip for a few years and we were finally able to do it. While I am very happy just travelling in Canada (you see my wife was born here and I wasn't so we see Canada very differently - I haven't had enough of it), I do love Paris and Italy...and so we went. It was a fantastic Holiday and one of the highlights was staying at the InterContinental Le Grand Paris hotel, a historical property across from the Paris Opera.  I have been a guest at many IHG hotels - Holiday Inns, Crowne Plazas, InterContinentals and Indigos.  Way before I started working in digital marketing - before the Internet -  when I was a kid, my family used to stay at Holiday Inns or Crowne Plazas when we vacationed in Mexico. Later on, when I moved to Canada and used to travel to Mexico City on business I always stayed at the Presidente InterContinental.  I like the IHGs because I always know what I'm going to get and, for the most part, they deliver the brand promise.  

Depending on my budget, whenever I go to a new city I look for a Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express or InterContinental (and sometimes a Crowne Plaza or an Indigo).  And since I joined their Priority Club loyalty program years ago, I tend to accumulate many points over time - which are an added bonus (points nights). In Canada I will also consider Delta Hotels (which I have come to know since I came to Canada and they have been clients on my websites for a few years). And so, when we planned our trip to Italy, I wanted to stop in Paris for a few days and I looked for an IHG property. The Paris Le Grand stood out because of it's pedigree and its location. Also, the IHG website does a very good job of introducing the hotel to potential guests. 

The InterContinental Le Grand Paris did not disappoint. The building alone is worth a visit, even if you don't stay there. Have a cafe au lait or dinner at the also historical Café de la Paix. Both the Le Grand and the Café are older than Canada, having been opened to the public in 1862, but age has only enhanced their beauty. We had a fantastic room with a balcony overlooking the Paris Opera House. The bed was fantastic, the decor elegant and the view spectacular. 

I don't have a picture of the Grand Ballroom at the hotel, but it is a remarkable space. Isabelle Bouvier - sales manager - showed it to me. The space is perfect for a Canadian Tourism function.  Unfortunately, I don't have  a picture of the space, but you'll have to take my word for it, it's fantastic.

And then there's the Café de la Paix right at the hotel. Exquisite decor and delicious food.  For lunch or dinner and some good people watching. The Café's guest book is a treasure of notes and doodles by great artists, musicians, designers and the like (from Salvador Dali to Jean Paul Gauthier, to Jerry Lewis to Liza Minelli to Charles Aznavour and more).

The Paris Le Grand, like other InterContinentals caters to the international business crowd (the executive lounge is a very inviting space - on the 5th floor - with plenty of space to have a meeting over coffee or spend some quiet time reviewing documents or reading the paper -  but Le Grand is also perfect for the high end leisure traveler. If you ever want to treat yourself when in Paris, stay a couple of nights at this architectural work of art.

A bientôt,

Jaime

Go Canucks. Vancouver close to the Stanley Cup

Electrifying atmosphere in Vancouver during last the June 10, 2011 Stanley Cup game between the Canucks and the Boston Bruins. It's like the Olympics all over again (but bigger for Hockey fans).