Evil Erik is having a ball, he loves all the present crises!

As a man from hell, he is not afraid of hot ashes and has firmly told his Front Office Manager to have no mercy with the guests stuck in his hotel because of a flight ban in Europe and a " demo-crazy " elsewhere.

" This is the time to make money ! ", he proclaimed proudly and told his accountant to make sure the present crisis is turned into a financial opportunity, that will shine in the books forever.

With the first few months of 2010 being very good, the occupancy stabilizing and the marketing efforts revitalized and the booking pace picking up, Erik's business life looked very promising.

But then crisis after crisis occurred and without peace ( in nature or by man-kind ) suddenly the mantra that every crisis has its opportunity, was triggered again.

But Erik doesn't realize that " making hay when the sun shines " or in this case " ashes block travel " is a stupid way to achieve ( momentary ) gain.

Since people like him are too short sighted to understand the impact of loss of goodwill, and reputation, and since such effects are unidentifiable for the bean counters in head-office, nobody is willing to take ( financial ) responsibility for the well being of guests in distress !

The challenge is that in the bigger hospitality ( or should I perhaps say real-estate ? ) organizations " compassion for guests " is seen as a weakness because only the bottom line counts.

Customer-loyalty is a " dirty " word for many " career-horny " hotel executives, who think that being important is the way to go and consequently consider guests as a minor detail

Isn't that why they employ supervisors and managers in the public areas ..........

Hence Erik is now charging rack rate to guests stuck in his destination and to guests who extended their stay to avoid political unrest elsewhere.

He knows that some insurance companies will claim " acts of god ", that a number of travel companies will refuse liabilities and that several airlines will hide behind their policies and procedures and conventions that cover reservations, with the result that he has those guests " by the balls " ......

In Erik's hotel Mr. & Mrs. Sauer have just explained to the Front Office that they cannot afford the 200 US $ rate any longer and that their credit card is now maxed out.

And although the customer contact staff is very sympathetic and would like to help, Erik is totally indifferent.

He has never met Mr. & Mrs. Sauer, and has no intention to do so either, so it is nothing " personal, " pure business !

And after all, he is the General Manager !

He doesn't comprehend why guests are thunderstruck about how hotels justify outrageous rate increases just because demand exceeds supply during any unprecedented travel crisis.

Just when hoteliers are trying to improve customer loyalty as a way to increase market share after last year's financial crisis, the Evil Erik's of this industry are showing the unfortunate travelers that yield management has no compassion and short term gain is preferable to long term gain.

What Evil Erik doesn't realize that Mr. Sauer is very computer savvy and, through the internet, now has already written a damning commentary on the hotel and its management on the website where he made the original booking.

Mr. Sauer also told his friends, through Twitter, to be aware of this greedy hotel and, last but not least, he plans to upload a complaint video on You Tube, having lately seen the very successful " broken guitar " video about luggage mishandling by an airline.

By being so inflexible Erik has made sure that the Sauer family, as well as all their friends and acquaintances will avoid his hotel ( and perhaps even the destination ) in the future like the plague, " just " because they were faced with the sudden rate increases at their time of despair.

A cleverer hotelier would have thought that a little compassion and fair pricing could create long term customer loyalty and goodwill and thus generate more business in the future.

The real question is : where have the " old " values of customer relation and loyalty gone, is it just brand recognition or loyalty programs that count today ?

Well Erik, and all your revenue-driven colleagues, guess what ?

In the next months the present crises will be turned by the real smart hotel operators into marketing opportunities and today's poor Mr. Sauer's will become their biggest enemy of tomorrow !

Some small and/or independent hotels have already recognized that their chance to compete with the " Brands " is to go back to being " human " and now charging US $ 20 or 30 " emergency rates " thereby turning these special guests into friends forever !

Interestingly, most of the " Brands " seem not to have realized yet, as they are too busy opening the xxx-th hotel in Asia, and probably they will grasp too late that out of the ashes of the various crises, there will be rising a new kind of hospitality industry !

Perhaps we should change the name, refocus and, in future, call the General Manager's occupation " Guest - Host engineering " ?

And, as result, bring back the philosophy of " guests come first " !

Hoteliers must learn that those who fight fire with fire usually end up with ashes, and that those ashes normally fly back into the face of those who threw them.

And Erik, also remember that when making a fire some of your peers are likely to join you, but when you have to clean the ashes of a burnt reputation, you are most likely alone.

Therefore now go and meet Mrs. & Mr. Sauer and make them your friends for life !

PS :

May I please remind all readers that any resemblance of Evil Erik's expertise and behavior to existing Hospitality Executives is purely coincidental and that described situations and circumstances are (more or less) imaginary .......

Bert "Bow-Thai" van Walbeek | Bert "Bow-Thai" van Walbeek has been an Hotelier for 45 years and Marketer of Tourism for 35 years, a Motivator for 20 years, a Master of Disaster for 15 and a Lecturer for 15 years.

He is the Founder and the Managing Director of The Winning Edge, ( ) a boutique consulting company, offering marketing audit, sales and service training and consultancy services mainly to the Hospitality & Tourism industries.

His entertaining and " outside of the nine dots " presentation on " Hotel General Manager, can anybody, everybody, somebody or nobody do this job ? " makes audiences laugh and cry at the same time !

He can be reached at [email protected]