Want a free night in a hotel?

We prove that there's no better way to get a free night in a hotel....




To celebrate the launch of HotelConnect's fabulous Summer of Free Nights I went along to the Ambassadors Bloomsbury hotel to see if it was possible to sneak into a hotel to get a free night's stay. I took along my friend Michelle from our sales department, and Natalie and Sarah - our mates from Flight Centre - to see if they were able to spot me.

First of all I tried hiding in a laundry basket. I have to confess it's not the first time I've tried this, but that's a different story that's best told over a drink or three. However, our intrepid seekers, Natalie and Sarah were holding no prisoners, and soon sniffed me out - might have been my socks, which, on reflection, should have stayed in that laundry basket.

Next was the failsafe-behind-the-bed-looking-sheepish technique, which again, failed miserably as Natalie, Sarah and Michelle all found me within minutes. It was quite cosy sandwiched between 3 lovely ladies, but I digress....

By that point I was exhausted, but had scientifically* proven that the best way of getting a free night in a great hotel in top destinations is to visit HotelConnect's ...

There are great free night offers in destinations such as Barcelona, Amsterdam, Milan, Dublin, Berlin, Bruges, Paris, Prague, Rome, Venice... There are bargain breaks and city breaks. Oodles of bargains to be snapped up. You can stay in a gorgeous 4* hotel in the beautiful city of Ghent for 3 nights just £96pp!

click here for more





Many thanks to Carolin and the great staff at the Ambassadors Bloomsbury hotel for letting us run amok in their gorgeous establishment. We had a look around the rooms, which are lovely, and the triple glazing is like some magical sound-stopper - the busy street below is completely blocked out. I for one was very impressed. I like gadgets. But please, no more kitchen gadgets for Christmas - that avocado slicer almost took my fingers off!

And for all my loyal fans out there, here's a quick peek at me in the shower at the Ambassadors Bloomsbury! Naughty!







*ish!

Paying for your pillow? Not in my room...

You know when someone in your office is having a bit of a rant about something? I usually choose to block it out, unless it's crazy office gossip, or I hear my name - and ESPECIALLY if the two occur together.

Anyway, my ears did really prick up this time and for neither of the above reasons. It was Ian (Ackland, our Commercial Manager - see the picture below) who was doing the talking.

I haven't seen him this passionate about a subject since games night at the pub.

Anyway, Ian went to a travel conference in Ireland the other week, and heard some crazy stuff about customer service. So let me paint the picture...

He walks in, with his luggage, and starts telling the story to a few of us

"At the conference there were some of the major players in the travel industry – airlines, hotels, car hire companies, travel insurance companies, transfer companies and companies that organise car-parking at departure airports.

I heard some fascinating ideas and insight into what all these companies are planning to do to give the customer choice. Some of it was amazing, but some of it quite depressing..."

a few more people gather around, Ian puts his bag down, takes a swig of MY water, and continues...

"One technology company told us all about what they’re doing to help airlines “unbundle” – which is industry jargon for breaking down everything about a flight to show you the cheapest price possible.

This is why you now see a cheap price, and then add on everything else: airport check-in, baggage check-in, priority boarding.

This company even joked - I hope! - about charging people to use the toilet on board!..."

'ooooh' the crowd groan at this one

"It seems that while flights become a simple commodity that is no more glamorous than taking a bus into town, the only thing left to fight on is price.

I sat there scared and depressed: scared that, at some point, hoteliers may adopt this approach and start charging us for a duvet in the room (with an additional charge if you want a pillow!), and depressed that the industry is failing to “sell the experience” of travel. Shouldn’t travel make you feel warm and fuzzy, a little bit excited and , in all cases, relaxed, rather than make you have to work out if your bag will be too big to take on board and, God forbid, if that bottle of water you had in the departure lounge is going to make you need a wee on board?!... "

Ian was REALLY loud at this point! Those who hadn't gathered around, now did. The stairs were busy full of people pushing their way upstairs to listen to what was going on. People were shaking their heads at the thought, and all was quiet as he took a breath and stepped up onto his chair:

"So, I did breathe a slight sigh of relief when a bigwig from Starwood hotels told us of their plans: sell the experience, show the customer the type of views they can expect if, for example, they upgrade from a standard room to a superior, Eiffel Tower-view room at the Westin, Paris. They stressed the concept of making the customer feel comfortable and reassured by your brand, and always seeking to offer the customer something more..."

people nod, there's a bit of pushing and shoving in the audience. I wonder if Ian's going to crowd surf

"At this point, I decided I’m in the right part of our industry – or at least, as long as hotels don’t start this trend of “unbundling” rather than provide decent service exceeding expectations.

At HotelConnect, we’ll keep trying and fighting to ensure that customers are inspired and excited by their travel experience, not stressed and bombarded with extra charges for something you should just expect to receive. We’ll always include taxes, we’ll always show the total, final price right at the beginning, and we’ll always try to make you feel warm and fuzzy about booking your hotel stay, because we’re passionate about what we do well! "

By this point, Ian's standing on the table and we've all got our credit cards out, wanting to book hotels with our own company. There's whooping, cheering and he's pumping the air with his fist. Couples in the crowd embrace and that girl from our Hotel Experts team kisses that bloke from Accounts.... Ian starts singing 'danke schoen' and waves to the crowd.... then he goes back to Camerons place and the car goes in the pool and ooh - hang on - I might have confused SOME of that with Ferris Bueller's day off. Sorry.

We love customer service - it really is important to us. We love it when our customers email us with their comments - good and bad (hardly any of those mind you - the last one we had was someone complaining about the colour of their curtains in their hotel room. but we did not snigger about that. No we did not).

Finally, I should pass on Ian's thanks to the Temple Bar hotel in Dublin for letting him stay with them – an excellent welcome from the front desk, a really good quality hotel and in a great (if a bit lively!) location. He gave us one small tip though – unless you want a serious intake of salt in your diet, steer clear of the scrambled eggs at breakfast! Absolutely nothing wrong with the eggs, but they’re just very, very salty!

Until next time...

Secret Agent