How My Stupid Mistake Paid Off
I work at a co-working space: you know, those big buildings filled with techies and coders (and, occasionally, hotel consultants) typing away on laptops. I go there when I really need to concentrate, particularly on writing. It's ten miles away from my house, which in Atlanta traffic means about 30 minutes -- close enough to go on the regular, too far to pop home when I forget something.
Luckily I never forget anything.
Except when I do.
One day last week, I left the house without a laptop cord. My laptop had no battery power left, but it wasn't convenient to go back and get it. Since I had made the drive, I decided to stay and work analog. So I pulled out a piece of paper and a pencil with the goal of writing a short article about TripAdvisor.
I'm pretty passionate about the way hotels interact with TripAdvisor and other online review sites. I've been helping hoteliers improve online reputation for a long time, and I was recently reminded of just how tough it is for hotels to launch the kind of program it takes to create a positive guest feedback culture.
I saw a great example of "what not to do" during a recent project and wanted to write a cautionary tale about it.
Thirteen pages later, my hand was gnarled around the pencil, and I had way more than a short article. I also moved far away from writing about my annoyance with that particular hotel's approach and forward to the big picture -- all the things a hotel needs to make TripAdvisor work for them.
The short article I planned turned into an eBook with more than 50 tips, tactics, and examples that real hotels can use to fix their TripAdvisor problem.
All because I made the stupid mistake of leaving the house without a laptop cord.
If you're interested in reading "Good Buzz: The TripAdvisor Cheat Sheet," you can get it here. (You'll also get several bonus materials, including a starter kit for creating your own TripAdvisor incentive game). Get Good Buzz.
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