Working Anywhere

A Man Wakes Up in A Room Without WiFi

We've all become so used to hotel WiFi being there, that when it's not we might go bonkers. But that doesn't always have to happen. At least not when you bring your own broadband.....I'm telling you this because this morning I woke up here in Seattle at the Coutryard by Marriott and the WiFi was connecting, but there wasn't any IP connectivity. I was too tired to care, didn't feel like being the IT guy for the hotel because thankfully I packed my AT&T LTE pocketspot! 

A few hours later, it's all back working. Someone must have called and gotten it fixed, but in the meantime, I wasn't disconnected. Besides, it's Saturday and time to go out and smell the coffee.

Let's Face It, You Get Hungry

Working on the road often means room service. Sometime, working on the road has you staying in extended stay hotels like Homewood Suites by Hilton or Staybridge by IHG. Those offer small kitchens but shopping for food isn't always convenient. Thankfully, today we have options that solve both the "I'm hungry now" and "I need some food in the fridge" for many of us.

For the hungry now crowd, there are now new services like GrubHub, Delivery.com and Doorstep Delivery, all of whom make it easy to have hot, or cold food, salads and beverages delivered usually within an hour.

For those who feel the need food to cook, or simply need things like shaving cream, mouthwash, toothpaste, deodorant, soaps and more, there's now Amazon Fresh in more cities. With Amazon Fresh you can order what you need, in advance or even in some cases, same day, and have it waiting for you. Just make sure there's a way to receive it, where you are staying as some AirBnB or VRBO locations may pose challenges for delivery.

Options on the road for the road warrior are changing, and getting better for us. All it takes is a little knowledged and some planning.

Wi-Fi-For Marriott It's All Hacking For Profit. This Is How You Hack Back

Marriott wants your business. Directly. And to get it they're offering free Wi-Fi to lure you, like a fish. The catch? You have to book via their website, using the mobile app, the call center or the property directly. But, if you're a business traveler, who has a corporate travel agency working on your behalf, you better have them negotiate the free Wi-Fi option or you'll find yourself paying.

This is in Marriott's mind, about loyalty programs, or in their case, Marriott Rewards. For the business traveler who has racked up thousand of miles, nights and bonuses, turning in a bill for Wi-Fi is sometimes aggravating, especially when the promotion about "free" Wi-Fi has attracted so much attention will cause grief.

This means that corporate travel buyer has choices. They can negotiate the rate directly with Marriott, or they can work with a Corporate Travel agency, but what's clear is Marriott is working to leverage their loyalty program, and put the power back into the hands of the traveler to let them do their own booking.

The way this can be done is with the business traveler using the rate code vs. booking it through the travel agency. The rate code insures the negotiated rate is applied, but there's no comission back to the agency. For agencies, they need to work on a fee basis, vs. the commission basis. That means negotiating for their clients vs. buying for their clients. They have to manage, not just sell.

For in house travel departments this isn't a problem. The travel manager can establish a direct relationship with Marriott vs. going through their agency. For the agencies, they see this as one more effort by the travel industry to catch up and flatten the business model, squeezing out more profits vs. paying commissions.

What Marriott is doing is hacking the travel purchase model, doing pretty much what Uber is doing with transportation and Amazon is with shopping. They are breaking down the model to change what the middleman does and how they make their money.  At the end of the day, this all means the traveler needs to establish better relationships at the properties they stay at. Here are some tips on how to do that:

1. If you're a one time only guest, don't bother. Use your status and ask for as much as you can get in perks.

2. If you're a guest who will be regularly staying at a property, take the time to meet the hotel GM, Rooms Manager. When you know you're returning, given them a heads up as soon as you make your reservation, or better yet, let them book it directly.

3. When you are on property, ask to meet them for a coffee or a drink. Spend time, let them know what's going right, and wrong with your stay. Share other hotel experiences, both good and bad.

4. Become their favorite guest. As you visit other cities and if you stay in the same brand or family of brands properties ask them to give their peer a heads up for you, and let them share what you like, and don't like. The idea is to get you treated as well in the one time property the same way you do in your home away from home.

5. Be nice and be helpful. If you have some way of returning the favor do it. If you learn of someone's birthday, send them a note, or a small gift. By taking care of the people who take care of you, you'll win.

The key to all this is about what I call property loyalty. It goes well beyond brand loyalty because people in the hotel industry move around, and as they move around, you're reach and benefits of personal relationships will benefit you, and your business.

Retailers-Wake Up and Smell the Coffee

Image via Wikipedia

I'll admit, that I love to go to Starbucks as my "get away" from the home office office.  Meeting are easy to arrange at their locations, as most people in the technology world know where one is. So of late, after returning from my exhaustive 6 week European business trip and mini-vacation, I found my Starbucks card in my USA wallet, not my EU/UK version. And guess what, I've yet to switch back.

But after a week of using "cash" I remembered I had the Starbucks Mobile Card app on my iPhone (it also works on the iPad and iPod touch) so between that app, and my drivers license, a headset with mic and an Amex card, who needs more? I mean, you can do just about everything you need to do away from the office on the iPhone, iPod touch or iPad that's work related. I can check email, surf the web, make VoIP and Skype calls over the AT&T WiFI  and of course get caffinated to go back to the home office and do more work.

With apps like GoToMeeting, Calliflower and WebEx, even virtual meetings are possible in what I've dubbed Conference Room S for many years.

So while you can only have the Starbucks Mobile Card active on one iOS device, it does mean my wallets a lot thinner. Digital...if you're not.. Wake up and smell the coffee.

This makes me wonder sometime why others like Wal-Mart, BestBuy, Target, Vons and other so called forward thinking retailers haven't gone to the digital bar code app, that ties together the frequent buyer club data, with a digital wallet. Forget the emerging idea of NFC (near field communications) the implementation of the digital bar code by Starbucks inside an iPhone app and it's ties to their loyalty program and balance recharge program is just plain dumb, simple. It works, and it works very well. As a matter of fact between that and the Mobil/Exxon SpeedPass the whole idea of going cashless without a "credit card" seems a lot more personalized.

 

Related articles

• Daily Drive: Pay for Starbucks on your phone (thedailydues.wordpress.com)
• Starbucks to announce that shoppers can pay for coffee with cell phones (venturebeat.com)
• Paying For Starbucks With Your Smartphone - Now in 6800+ Locations! (singularityhub.com)

Hip Work Spot Opens in London-No More Need For Starbucks

Cameron Sinclair pens a piece about a new hipster style work spot called the "Hub Pavilion" that has opened in London this week, over on the Huffington Post.

I think we are seeing the rise of the temporary office, networking "hub" and candidly think Starbucks really missed it.

For many a year I referred to Starbucks as Conference Room "S" to many. You could head over to one, and then organize a meeting. They had chairs, tables you could rearrange, couches, work desks, all that you wanted, and of course, amazing broadband from T-Mobile.

Then somewhere along the way, as their success overcame them, they lost their way. First they turned up the music. Then they turned down the temperature. Next came less and less tables. And then the final blow. Bye Bye T-Mobile and the amazing bandwidth. Hello AT&T and usually a DSL line. A slow DSL line.

These new Hub Spots though are the wave of the future in my book. Already Regus/HQ has opened a similar spot, dubbed the Business Lounge in Cupertino, CA not far from Apple's HQ. While they haven't added all the glitz and "social" components of Hub and Hub Culture, what they have both done is given the road warrior, and the "no need for an office" type of worker, a series of quiet, well decked out and useful locations to get down to work in environments that are serene and very functional.

Plus, they serve better coffee than Starbucks.

What A Global Nomad Wants In A Hotel To Work Anywhere

I admit I'm a bit more towards the side of high maintenance when it comes to what I want in a business grade hotel but as a person who is spending more days a month on the road than in my own house I've pretty much nailed down what I want and need in order to be a road warrior/global nomad beyond a very well informed front desk and a "we'll get it done right concierge."

So here's my list:

1. Real Broadband--1.5 megs or more to my room symmetrically. Anything less and its no fun.

2. Wired and Wireless in Room Access- The ability to plug my travel router in so I can use multiple devices over the Internet connection such as a WiFi phone, dual mode phone, Nokia N800 Internet Tablet or a second PC when traveling with my wife to be.

3. Power Outlets near the bed and extra power outlets in the room to charge things like cell phones, digital cameras, iPods, GPS, etc.

4. Lights Over the Bed I like to read the morning paper in bed with my morning coffee and croissant.

5. In Room Safe-that's big enough for a laptop and more. I really don't like the idea of lugging my Mac everywhere I go and hotels are notorious for where they seem to grow legs. I recently stayed in a $325 a night hotel in Santa Barbara and the in room safe was big enough for a wallet and cigars, but not a laptop. The hotel front desk refused to hold the laptop in the hotel safe or manager's office and a baggage room is about as secure as my room.

6.Relaxing and Inviting Lobbies and Bars with Outlets Honestly, getting out of the room, sipping a Martini and watching some jerk try to pick up on a hottie is still fun now that I'm getting married, but even more so, ideas and inspiration comes from stimulation. But so many bars and lobbies are cold, sterile and just no fun. Maybe that's why I love TabletHotels and Kimpton Hotel properties so much these days.

7. 24 Hour Room Service WITH a 24 hour menu--some of us can be in multiple time zones in the same day and span ten overnight. We need to keep our bodies in tune and that means eating what we need not by what the clock says.

8. A Hot Restaurant With A Killer Chef--okay so I'm a foodie and a wine lover, and a coffee/espresso and tea junkie. I like food from Artisan bakeries, locally grown produce and fruits and farm raised beef, poultry and fresh fish. But why should I have to leave the hotel?

9. Seven Day A Week Laundry-we all don't pack heavy and there are a few things we like to keep fresh and clean.

10. Early Check-In- 11 AM is fine...but come in off a red eye and having to wait until 3 is tough. I know you can reserve the extra night (and I sometimes do if its a weekday and I have an important meeting first thing) but at 250-300 a night for a room I never slept in...I'll gamble and hope they can get something for me by 11 AM.

11. A Fluffy and Warm Bathrobe--yes those of us who work in our rooms don't want to be naked all the time, nor dressed in our go to meeting clothing.

12. Flat Screen Wide Screen TV That's 23" or larger Size Matters. Watching CNN on the small screen we can do on a laptop. Besides, give me a wide screen with HD and I'll but a movie more often.

13. A Larder Hotel De Anza in San Jose lets you raid the larder throughout the day/night. So do other cool hotels. That way, if room service is more than you need, you can find a snack at anytime.

14. High Quality Bottled Water Again, our health on the road is always a challenge. Having better grades of mineral water on hand (at fair prices) keeps us going, and going.

15. Sound Proof Windows Nothing is worse than hearing the trash truck's claxon at 3 AM. As a matter of fact, why is the hotel even thinking that a 3 AM pick up even makes any sense. People stay in hotels to sleep, not to make trash.