Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
I've been in the hotel marketing and public relations business for years, which is why I had to stop and re-read a recent article I saw.
According to the BBC, the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Copenhagen is offering a meal voucher worth about US$36 for any guest who hops on one of the hotel's exercise bikes - which is attached to a generator - and produces electricity for the hotel. This hotel, by the way, also produces electricity with solar panels on its facade.
"Interesting promotion," I thought.
A hotel spokesperson says the program is the first of it's kind in the world. If it's successful after a one-year test run, Crowne Plaza expects to launch it in all of their hotels in the UK.
This is just the type of thinking that's destined to save our world or, at the very least, stop the Danes from pawning the Little Mermaid to pay their electric bills.
Unfortunately, though, it doesn't go far enough. If Crowne Plaza was really serious about being green they'd be thinking bigger. Much bigger.
For example, why not also use the hotel's revolving doors to augment the building's air conditioning? As a parent I can guarantee you there will be no lack of adults willing to donate three-year-old children to the effort for a minimum of 12 hours every day. Perhaps even 20 hours.
And what about all that plumbing? Couldn't swimmers in the hotel pool generate enough water current to flush the hotel's toilets? Just tie their ankles to a bungee cord or something at the end of the pool.
And let's not forget about those sex-crazed Scandinavians - why not put special springs in their beds to siphon off all that body heat and send it to someplace where it's needed. Like Sweden.
Anyway, you'll need to peddle about 15 minutes to generate the required 10 watt hours to get your voucher. That comes out to about $144 for an hour's work which shows just how expensive it is to generate electricity or make beer in Denmark.
So enough about saving the whales. They've had their chance.
Do some good and go save a mermaid.
Jim Ferri
1 Comment »
Most of us over the age of five know that in Walt Disney World many things are carefully staged to provide the best customer experience. The reality, though, is that everything you hear, touch or smell at WDW is carefully controlled. Everything.
For example, Fantasyland's Main Street, probably the most-visited optical illusion in the world, has been constructed on a scale to make Cinderella's Castle look a considerable distance away. But the distance really isn't all that far -- it's just that every building on Main St. gets progressively smaller, providing the illusion of distance.
The same with the castle itself -- its building blocks diminish in size as they rise up, giving an illusion of greater height. That little railing at the top is actually a foot shorter than you think.
But it's not just illusion at work here. Disney spent years researching everything imaginable to give parents the feeling that in the Magic Kingdom their children are in safest place in the world. That's the reason everything is so clean and sanitized.
This research, for example, showed that if people have to walk more than about 40 feet to find a garbage can, they tend to drop their refuse on the ground. That's why no two garbage cans in WDW are more than 27 paces apart. Take my word for it, I checked it out several times.
The entire complex is also built 16 feet above ground -- atop 8.5 million cubic yards of imported dirt -- with tunnels connecting all areas of the Magic Kingdom. Down here is where the park's 60,000 "cast members" (who enter via one of three dozen hidden access points) keep everything humming -- utilities running, 9 acres of warehouses stocked with foods and merchandise, people in offices who plan your magic moments.
It's also where you see large vacuum pipes hung from the ceiling, whisking garbage out to a landfill at 65mph. And the "Air Smellitizer," a small machine wafting the smell of baking cookies up onto the street outside the cookie shop above.
Down here all of the music is decidedly non-Disney. "After all," my guide told me, "how many hours can you listen to It's a Small World?" He also told me "absolutely no photos."
But on those nights when WDW closes early for mega-corporate events -- such as the US Travel Association's Pow Wow party I recently attended there -- more than just It's a Small World disappears.
Disney's daytime persona metamorphoses into a great party atmosphere with another world of characters which, it's safe to guess, Walt never imagined. When you see them -- a snippet of the Pow Wow party is at the end of the video (or click here) -- at times it's hard to imagine you're actually still in Disney World.
Jim Ferri
No Comments »
I arrived at the airport in St. Louis about an hour ago, making a connecting flight on Southwest from Denver, and something embarrassing just happened to me.
As we landed and were taxing to the terminal the pilot came on the PA with the usual announcements about keeping your seatbelt buckled until we reached the terminal, etc.
Then he added "and this Memorial Day weekend let's keep in mind the real reason for the holiday and think of the service and sacrifices made by the men and women in the Armed Forces, some of whom have made the supreme sacrifice."
A minute later, as we approached the gate the lead flight attendant came on the PA and also asked that we pay honor to those who had served. She then asked that as a small token of appreciation would everyone on the plane please remain seated and allow anyone who presently serves or had ever served in the military to deplane first.
The woman in the aisle seat to my left turned and said "did you serve?" When I said yes she stood up and said "come on, you get off first."
I arose along with probably two dozen other men and women of all ages and quietly and embarrassingly took my carry-ons and headed up the aisle to the applause of those still seated. Along the way several older people looked up and and said "thank you" to each of us, as did the crew as we exited.
I was embarrassed as I walked up that aisle and could feel a tear in my eye.
I wish I could go back and thank those on that plane for their kindness.
Jim Ferri
10 Comments »
