Marc took me to Block House, a German chain of steak restaurants. It's quite common for me to be amazed about the customer service quality and the general friendliness of people when I leave my Eastern territories and go to Germany or Switzerland or France or about wherever for that matter, so sometimes I'm a bit too easily satisfied - you would be, too, if you see a waitress smile approximately once every second month.
(I'm exaggerating. I actually think waitresses like me, or they're so afraid of me that they smile, but what do I care, main thing I get the smiles)
But this Block House thing was pretty fabulous. Amazingly friendly staff, and nothing of it felt anyhow artificial. They create a mood in which you can see that all the people around you are also getting into a better and better mood, making the room a better place. Lots of little details that I'll spare you, but overall, that place seems amazingly well-managed, and simply seems to have an excellent customer service policy.
The last thing you see from them? The hand-written thank you message on your bill. And note how the name of your waiter is not mentioned like "You were served by xyz" or "Service: xyz", but in a phrase that translates as "Thank you says xyz".
Attention to detail is the fundament of civilization.
(I'm exaggerating. I actually think waitresses like me, or they're so afraid of me that they smile, but what do I care, main thing I get the smiles)
But this Block House thing was pretty fabulous. Amazingly friendly staff, and nothing of it felt anyhow artificial. They create a mood in which you can see that all the people around you are also getting into a better and better mood, making the room a better place. Lots of little details that I'll spare you, but overall, that place seems amazingly well-managed, and simply seems to have an excellent customer service policy.
The last thing you see from them? The hand-written thank you message on your bill. And note how the name of your waiter is not mentioned like "You were served by xyz" or "Service: xyz", but in a phrase that translates as "Thank you says xyz".
Attention to detail is the fundament of civilization.
Not that I'm a big AC/DC enthusiast at all. But making a music video in Microsoft Excel is Rock'n'Roll. For sure.
Incredible news: Tanya (who stays in Latvia until Wednesday, earning her the "longest-lasting guest of the week" award) and me went to my favorite Double Coffee branch, the one just around the corner, where they usually have friendly staff, and they're open 24/7.
We got free drinks at the end of the evening. By that always-friendly fun waiter guy, and the cute-smile-friendly waitress girl. At 1:30am, approximately.
Double Coffee. Still up for a surprise, after all these years.
We got free drinks at the end of the evening. By that always-friendly fun waiter guy, and the cute-smile-friendly waitress girl. At 1:30am, approximately.
Double Coffee. Still up for a surprise, after all these years.
Lovely little detail: One http://en.euro2008.uefa.com/tournament/matches/index.html, you can download an iCalendar file with all the matches. Import it into your Outlook, or compatible calendar, and - all the scheduled matches are in your calendar.
How nice is that...!
How nice is that...!
With this cute little curtain add-on, Eurolines (or the previous owners of that bus) mark which number is the window seat. Very nice.
A small detail that I found smart today. I'm using a Swisscom prepaid card (such things are called "Natel Easy" in that odd country that calls mobile phones either "handies" or "natels").
It's normal that the operator warns you if the amount of money on your prepaid card falls below a certain level; in their case, they send you a warning SMS if you have less than CHF 10 on your account. But then, the really smart thing happened when I had less than CHF 3: The operator sent a text message saying that you can get a sort of 'loan' of a certain amount right away should you need it, and you pay it back with your next recharge, plus a fee of CHF 0.50 for this service.
So if you're somewhere, you need to call people, but there's no kiosk nearby to buy a top-up or recharge card, you can get a loan from your mobile operator right away, by simply sending a text message. Nice thought, really. I hadn't seen it before.
It's normal that the operator warns you if the amount of money on your prepaid card falls below a certain level; in their case, they send you a warning SMS if you have less than CHF 10 on your account. But then, the really smart thing happened when I had less than CHF 3: The operator sent a text message saying that you can get a sort of 'loan' of a certain amount right away should you need it, and you pay it back with your next recharge, plus a fee of CHF 0.50 for this service.
So if you're somewhere, you need to call people, but there's no kiosk nearby to buy a top-up or recharge card, you can get a loan from your mobile operator right away, by simply sending a text message. Nice thought, really. I hadn't seen it before.
My world's favorite airline, Latvian airBaltic, impresses me again.
They are running a promotion in all three Baltic States, in cooperation with a major shop chain called Rimi. In the shops, they sell vouchers for 29 Latvian Lats respectively the equivalent price in Estonia and Lithuania, which equals about 45 Euro. Each voucher equals a one-way ticket, including all taxes. Vouchers can be bought during a period of about 2 weeks in the beginning of November, tickets have to be booked before November 15th, and the vouchers are valid for flights from now until December 19th, and for the period between January 7th and March 10th or something like that.
So you go to their website, look for your flights, see at what days the normal price is cheap (it often is with airBaltic), and where you can't find a low price, you use a voucher: By simply adding the voucher's code on the site. As simple and fun as that - needless to say I bought some 10 or more of these vouchers right away, and spent a good afternoon with Roman sitting in a hotel lobby booking one flight after the other.
There are various reasons why this whole activity is ingenious. One is that it's so nicely customer-friendly and simple. One is the idea itself. The third is that it helps them get people to use the online booking who don't have credit cards (those aren't many, but sure there are some left also in the modern Baltic States).
Then, of course, this activity helps the Latvian carrier to increase its power in the two other Baltic States. The Lithuanian national carrier, flyLAL, is already under heavy pressure from airBaltic, particularly since the Latvian airline made Vilnius its second hub, offering dozens of direct flights from Vilnius. The free market will eventually win: I'm sorry to say that when you compare airBaltic with flyLAL, the Lithuanians don't look good. And if you compare the provincial shit-hole airport of Vilnius with Riga's efficient, comfortable, and well-organized terminal, Vilnius starts looking like some village far away from the centers of civilization.
But there's Estonia, too, with a relatively fine national carrier called Estonian Air, which happens to be co-owned by SAS, just as airBaltic is. I don't know what that means, but for me personally, every sense of logic tells that sooner or later, airBaltic will inevitably become the Baltic carrier, rather than the Latvian one. This promotion might be a further step on precisely this way. Frankly, I'd love this development to happen. airBaltic is by far my most loved airline, offering a unique combination of great connections between East and West, flexibility, good prices and regular smart promotions, nice side-products like their mobile card that I mentioned earlier, and sufficient service. It's sure not the best quality airline there is, but for people like me who usually fly on short to middle distances and who only want to get from A to B, the airline is perfect. Even more so if you travel the CIS region frequently from Europe, or vice versa.
One more goodie is that the communication for the mentioned vouchers was, to my opinion, brilliant in its simplicity and its well-targeted placement. One image from a Riga city Rimi shop is here; basically, they placed these small ads on shelfs near the appropriate products. On the chocolate shelf, for instance, it says "Want fresh chocolate?", and points out the voucher offer that allows you to get to Zurich for 29 Lats. The same was, as far as I saw, executed in other parts of the shop, for instance at the wine shelf (France or Italy or Spain, I assume), and so on. You can argue about the copy, which isn't that imaginative, and obviously tries to avoid implying any quality statement about the beloved local chocolate, in the given example. But it's to the point, and was nice to see.
They are running a promotion in all three Baltic States, in cooperation with a major shop chain called Rimi. In the shops, they sell vouchers for 29 Latvian Lats respectively the equivalent price in Estonia and Lithuania, which equals about 45 Euro. Each voucher equals a one-way ticket, including all taxes. Vouchers can be bought during a period of about 2 weeks in the beginning of November, tickets have to be booked before November 15th, and the vouchers are valid for flights from now until December 19th, and for the period between January 7th and March 10th or something like that.
So you go to their website, look for your flights, see at what days the normal price is cheap (it often is with airBaltic), and where you can't find a low price, you use a voucher: By simply adding the voucher's code on the site. As simple and fun as that - needless to say I bought some 10 or more of these vouchers right away, and spent a good afternoon with Roman sitting in a hotel lobby booking one flight after the other.
There are various reasons why this whole activity is ingenious. One is that it's so nicely customer-friendly and simple. One is the idea itself. The third is that it helps them get people to use the online booking who don't have credit cards (those aren't many, but sure there are some left also in the modern Baltic States).
Then, of course, this activity helps the Latvian carrier to increase its power in the two other Baltic States. The Lithuanian national carrier, flyLAL, is already under heavy pressure from airBaltic, particularly since the Latvian airline made Vilnius its second hub, offering dozens of direct flights from Vilnius. The free market will eventually win: I'm sorry to say that when you compare airBaltic with flyLAL, the Lithuanians don't look good. And if you compare the provincial shit-hole airport of Vilnius with Riga's efficient, comfortable, and well-organized terminal, Vilnius starts looking like some village far away from the centers of civilization.
But there's Estonia, too, with a relatively fine national carrier called Estonian Air, which happens to be co-owned by SAS, just as airBaltic is. I don't know what that means, but for me personally, every sense of logic tells that sooner or later, airBaltic will inevitably become the Baltic carrier, rather than the Latvian one. This promotion might be a further step on precisely this way. Frankly, I'd love this development to happen. airBaltic is by far my most loved airline, offering a unique combination of great connections between East and West, flexibility, good prices and regular smart promotions, nice side-products like their mobile card that I mentioned earlier, and sufficient service. It's sure not the best quality airline there is, but for people like me who usually fly on short to middle distances and who only want to get from A to B, the airline is perfect. Even more so if you travel the CIS region frequently from Europe, or vice versa.
One more goodie is that the communication for the mentioned vouchers was, to my opinion, brilliant in its simplicity and its well-targeted placement. One image from a Riga city Rimi shop is here; basically, they placed these small ads on shelfs near the appropriate products. On the chocolate shelf, for instance, it says "Want fresh chocolate?", and points out the voucher offer that allows you to get to Zurich for 29 Lats. The same was, as far as I saw, executed in other parts of the shop, for instance at the wine shelf (France or Italy or Spain, I assume), and so on. You can argue about the copy, which isn't that imaginative, and obviously tries to avoid implying any quality statement about the beloved local chocolate, in the given example. But it's to the point, and was nice to see.
If you're traveling a lot, the "push" and "pull" signs on doors can be quite confusing; during the first day(s) of a stay in a new country you often don't quite get them and look like a fool five times a day. I must admit that I look like a fool even more often even in countries where I understand the words for "push" and "pull" perfectly fine, as my eyes that see the signs fail to tell my brain in time what the arms should do with the door. Nevertheless, I enjoy these two pictogram solutions for that known problem - found on the doors of the Occupation Museum in Riga, Latvia. Nice combination of visual clarity and a hint of humor:
I've always admired Airbaltic's website that I find very simple and well-done (honestly speaking, if I remember right it was us doing the concept for it some years ago). But now I found one feature on norwegian.no that I found even better - that's how a booking engine for a low-fare airline should look like. No: Actually that's how any booking engine for any airline should look like. A full-month overview including prices, right here on the screen, so you don't need to jump back and forth trying to get a good price/date ratio. Perfect. I'm not planning to fly to Bergen, in fact, but I might, now that I discovered this.
I am a gadget freak and a fan of all things electronic, particularly if they make "beep" and they have blinking lights, if they have buttons I can press, and so on. So I went to explore Mediamarkt, a German chain of big electronics stores that also operates in Switzerland, that is well-known for their vast assortment of goods, and for their low prices (sometimes). It's been a pleasure, of course, and I ended up buying lots of stuff (as I don't spend much money normally, since I never really go shopping, I then have quite some cash left to spend on such funny things).
The most interesting part was, though, that the shop is simply well-done. It's all little details, and plenty of smart copywriting, and simply the way how the shop is thought through. Say, you'd stand in front of the mobile phones, and of course the head-sets are placed right above the phones (not near, but above, on a separate shelf). Detail, but big detail. Then there are signs everywhere that hint you at things you might need as well, for example batteries. There are probably 10 places across the shop where batteries are sold, and if you find that inefficient, think again. You'd stand in front of the place where MP3 players are sold, and a small sign just tells: "Need some batteries?", and the most common battery types for this device are right there. The same near any battery-powered devices.
Lots of small examples more, but you get the point - it's really well-done. It's these small details that really make a difference, as usual (who was it who once said that the difference between a Neanderthal man and a cultured intellectual is in the details? Yeah - remember that for marketing).
The most interesting part was, though, that the shop is simply well-done. It's all little details, and plenty of smart copywriting, and simply the way how the shop is thought through. Say, you'd stand in front of the mobile phones, and of course the head-sets are placed right above the phones (not near, but above, on a separate shelf). Detail, but big detail. Then there are signs everywhere that hint you at things you might need as well, for example batteries. There are probably 10 places across the shop where batteries are sold, and if you find that inefficient, think again. You'd stand in front of the place where MP3 players are sold, and a small sign just tells: "Need some batteries?", and the most common battery types for this device are right there. The same near any battery-powered devices.
Lots of small examples more, but you get the point - it's really well-done. It's these small details that really make a difference, as usual (who was it who once said that the difference between a Neanderthal man and a cultured intellectual is in the details? Yeah - remember that for marketing).
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