I Am Not A Travellin’ Man

I like to travel. Except when I get hung up traveling. I got hung up in New Orleans. Admittedly, there are worse places to get hung up. But, thousands of people just came in for a convention, so there were no hotel rooms. I was lucky, when my flight was cancelled due to ~~global warming~~ the ice storm, I used an app on my phone called “Hotel Tonight” and booked a room. It’s not the greatest room. It’s in the Lower Garden District, and near where my buddies and I stayed back in 1986 when the Bears dominated the Super Bowl.

I don’t travel a lot-and this is the first time that I have ever been stranded. I have never been left out on the tarmac in a plane, never experienced this before. I cannot imagine what road warriors go through. For 25 yrs, my job was in a trading pit. When I left on vacation, I had an opportunity cost of income. My “travel” was a train ride or a walk.

I was never really envious of people that travelled for a living. But, I was intrigued. With the TSA, I am not intrigued anymore. The obstructions to travel that have been put up since 9/11 will cause more virtual meeting, as time becomes more important than money. It will take my generation to retire-but it will happen.

Once my flight was cancelled, I tried to book a new one. Couldn’t get out until 6PM tomorrow. I decided to rent a car and drive to where I need to go. It’s a 12 hour drive down the Redneck Riviera. Then to south Florida.

First thing I did was book my room. Then I tried to go to the counter as fast as I could to get a car. I need an SUV, because in south Florida I need to drive some stuff 20 hours back up to Chicago. At the counter, they told me ZERO SUVs. I called my wife on my cell phone, and she booked an SUV. I told the counter people, “give me any car you like-but when I get to south Florida I will just exchange it for an SUV and pay the difference.”

Corporate policy and thinking wouldn’t let them do that.

If they really wanted to satisfy their customer, they would have. If a company like Amazon were in the car rental business, they would have empowered their employee to make that decision on the spot. I have had some other problems in air travel. After I told them my wife had booked one on the internet, an employee went behind the scenes to shut down their internet and leave a message up that no cars were available.

One thing I have noticed-companies engaged in the travel logistics business (air, car rental etc) don’t service their customers. The market is highly competitive, and because they measure themselves based on what their competitors are doing-they have turned the business from what could be a service business to a commoditized business. Price competition leads to lower service quality and lower product quality in the long run.

Imagine what would have happened had the employee really tried to do all they could to meet the needs of the customer. Customer would have raved about them and told their friends. It would become a feeding frenzy.

Nordstrom really understands this in retail. Amazing customer service and it permeates the culture of the shopping experience there. They have loyal customers. In the travel industry, the only way to get a loyal customer is a gimmick. Miles, friends fly free, free this-free that. It’s bullshit.

Maybe if the travel industry concentrated on servicing the needs of the customer, they’d build real loyalty and not phoney imprisoned loyalty. Instead, I drove my car to the place I am staying. The lady recommended a restaurant, ZEA down the street. Meal was pretty good. Finished with a Sweet Potato Bread pudding that I had never had before but highly recommend.

I met some really nice people and we talked about the Sherman incident with the Seahawks. We laughed, agreed on it-and then agreed to root for Peyton in the Super Bowl.

Looking forward to my 12 hour drive tomorrow down the Redneck Riviera. Never been in Mobile, AL before. Hope my friends in the north are surviving the freezing temps. I don’t think I will put the pedal to the metal to get back.