Changing rooms
Hurrah for Ted’s tender touch! This was the consensus of feeling from both us and our female client who, after arriving in her hotel room in San Gimignano, decided she needed more space.
The client, travelling on a Kirker holiday, felt that her single room in the restored 16th-century convent wasn’t large enough for her. Perhaps it reminded her of boarding school days where only the essentials were allowed in and there was only room for the occupant and a visiting nun to bid her goodnight!
Kirker had not received any other complaints about the size of any of the rooms at La Collegiata; in fact, many of its visitors had positively raved about the magnificent restoration of the convent.
The rooms in the hotel are all air conditioned but our client felt the need to open the window anyway. Quick smart, in flew two mosquitoes who promptly set about feasting on her flesh. Thus an irritation to one thing led to irritation to everything and a general disgruntlement, resulting in a call to Sal at our office.
Fortunately, Sal was able to talk to Kirker’s knight in shining amour, Ted, who swung into action to remedy matters. He phoned the client at her hotel to find that her irritation had subsided a little – probably as a result of the application of calamine lotion. He smoothed things over, negotiated with the hotel management for a new room and resolved the problem to everyone’s satisfaction.
Sal made the point it is very gratifying to be able to contact a Ted directly in such cases; it makes the defusing of potential problems in resort easier and the possibility of post-holiday complaints less likely.
Compare this to the sort of treatment you can expect when a client, booked on a viewdata system, phones the agent from the resort with a problem.
Past experience has proved to me you can spend all day trying to reach the operator to find someone to deal with it. Hours spent on hold as you listen to the terrible muzac increases the frustration and when you do make it to a human voice, you are invariably told triumphantly that the department you’ve reached doesn’t deal with such problems, can you try another number! Long may Kirker and other independent operators continue to offer a truly professional service.
Multinational goes Scottish
I’m afraid that no-one won the competition to name Distant Dreams’ Philippa Goldie’s baby.
Regular readers may remember Philippa, whose husband is French, was looking for a name with an Anglo-French ring to it.
A very proud grandmother, Judy Goldie, rang to announce the arrival of her beautiful grandson who weighed in at 8lb 4oz last week.
Not wishing to recreate the battle of Waterloo over the naming of their son, the proud parents have opted for the Scottish name of Angus.
Congratulations to Mum and Dad who have made one Distant Dream come true.
Lost in the translation
I think it’s possible I am suffering mildly from one of the million flu-like viruses that are plaguing us at the moment – either that, or age is creeping up on me, for I am told that my hearing is not what it was.
I rang an operator to find a holiday for clients wishing to travel to Majorca. The reservations clerk offered a twin room in what I heard to be the ‘Ben Rip-off’ hotel. I asked her to repeat the name and laughed at the honesty of the hotel owners.
The reservations clerk seemed confused as to the source of my amusement. “Ben Rip-off”, I chuckled. “You’ve got to admit they’ve got guts!”
The reservations clerk remained unmoved.
“You did say the hotel was called Ben Rip-off didn’t you?” I queried.
“Yes,” she replied solemnly.
“How are you spelling it?”I asked.
“BONREPOS” she replied.
I reached for the Vicks…
Ex-boss scales new heights
It’s refreshing to hear that my former boss, Graham, in Southend has not lost his sense of humour since my departure, as this prank demonstrates.
An octogenarian client popped in to book a cruise for himself and his 75-year-old wife.
“Have a laugh with the missus, guv’nor,” he winked mischievously to Graham. “And tell her that we’ve got bunks in the cabin and hers is the top one!”
The couple live at the bottom of the high street, not far from the shop, so Graham, ever obliging and willing to go the extra mile for the client, carried his step-ladders around to the couple’s house.
The wife looked confused as she opened the door to be greeted by Graham with his ladders.
“You’ve not taken up window cleaning?” she asked. Graham replied that he hadn’t.
“So what do you want?”She added, with a look of growing puzzlement.
P&O want me to check that you can climb the steps alright!”
For a few minutes she actually believed him.
A tale of two villas
My thanks go to Doreen at Italia del Monde – Sicilia Experience for not making a mountain out of a molehill, or rather not making an apartment out of a villa.
Our clients, due to depart next week, were advised by the operator that the swimming pool at the villa they were renting would not be operational.
The initial brief for the holiday had been for a villa in an uncommercial area of Sicily for two couples. The private swimming pool had been a crucial element of the booking, so the news it was being rebuilt was obviously rather upsetting.
Doreen offered other villas but they were all quite close to one another, unlike the preferred and rather more secluded villa the clients had booked. However, it was a case of persuading them that this was the best option. We were doing well right up until one of the party asked: “Have the guests in the neighbouring villas got screaming children?” Doreen did try to find out, but to no avail. “Let it be a surprise!” I said.