Brooklyn Bridge -- Wikipedia image
We’re on a brief visit to the New York City area. Actually, we’re in the Bronx. Our travels took us on a three hour drive through the U.S./Canada border at the Thousand Islands and to Syracuse Airport, for a Jet Blue flight to JFK. Cost-wise, the taxi trip from the airport to the hotel and parking at Syracuse cost about the same as a return ticket (but the economics make sense because three of us are sharing the car/taxi.)
Last night, we walked down the gentrified Margurette Street to view the Manhattan skyline, seeing the Brooklyn Bridge and the Statue of Liberty from an entirely different perspective. We are staying in an upgraded suite, paying an extra $129 a night through the e-upgrade program (which allows you to request an upgrade on a space available basis ahead of time). By Ottawa standards, the hotel is expensive, but of course we a stone’s throw (or more accurately, a bridge) away from Manhattan and the luxury of two full rooms and a walk-out balcony is worth the extra fee.
Of course, there are trade-offs and frustrations; no free Internet in the room, way overpriced hotel breakfasts (though we can go out into the nearby community for food if we wish), and the natural stress of extreme urban environments means this is not a “relaxing” vacation (actually a family wedding).
Travel invites decisions based on relationships, price, experience, and lots of marketing. We chose our airline (and airport) by searching expedia and knowing that air fares from Syracuse can be much lower than from any Canadian airport. We chose the hotel because the family had booked a block of rooms here for the wedding. We took the upgrade because of hotel’s online marketing/upgrade system. We decided what neighbourhood streets to visit on recommendation of the hotel concierge. We are generally familiar with New York (though not the Bronx) so could validate recommendations with our own perspectives and experience.
So, if you are on the other end of the marketing framework — on the marketer rather than client side — it is helpful to see how your potential clients may make their decisions through a variety of different and sometimes obscure sources. I’m sure you can see some of the marketing methods which led to our decisions — and they are important.
Maybe we won’t choose to visit the Bronx again any time soon but we certainly can choose our hotel, airline and which advice to recommend and remember. What counts the most in the end: The actual experience. That continues as I type this blog entry from the public hotel lobby WIFI, remembering how the same sort of public WIFI caused me so much stress and havoc last year when someone in California attacked my Google account. Thankfully, that experience taught me another lesson (which certainly can apply to you). You cannot always control your “experience”, but you can certainly decide how to respond.
Marketing, indeed, is complex, challenging and sometimes a lot of fun.