De Keukenhof: a colorful experience with a lot of potential!

Keukenhof tulips

One of the great benefits working for Madame Tussauds in Amsterdam were the free tickets to other attractions in The Netherlands. There is a special membership pass which allows employees from one attraction to visit the other attraction or theme park.

On a Saturday morning we decided to go to one of the most popular attraction near Amsterdam: De Keukenhof. A seasonal outdoor attraction with over 7 million flowers and bulbs. If you want you can spend the complete day walking around the tulip fields. De Keukenhof is extremely popular with tourists from Asia so expect dozens of touring cars filled with Asian tourist on a single day.

Anyway, after parking the car we headed to the main entrance. Usually with the membership pass you need to collect the tickets at the Guest Service desk before you can enter the attraction. I entered the Guest Service office and saw 2 employees talking to each other. I wanted to wait until they were finished but suddenly there was an ice cold silence. I looked up and saw 4 annoyed eyes staring at me with the look: “what are you doing here…? You are disturbing our conversation!” Without saying a word. I said Hello and asked where I could collect the tickets. The reaction did not surprised me. “You need to buy tickets at the entrance!” I mentioned the membership card and the response was far from friendly pointing to the entrance and telling me that I could walk through. Continue reading De Keukenhof: a colorful experience with a lot of potential!

Upsell in the air!

Free discount - Retailcoaster.comAmsterdam Airport: time to leave the country! This time not for work but for a once in a life time experience: travelling the world for the next 9 to 12 months together with my wife. Exploring culture, nature and the theme park industry on the other side of the world.

We are heading to the KLM lounge to get some drinks prior boarding. Nothing special to post about the lounge since all services are complementary. Once on 33.000 feet after our breakfast KLM started to increase the Average Transaction Value with their inflight shopping program: Sky High Collection. I fly frequently with KLM and used to see the shopping cart being pushed through the isle after the announcement via the speakers. I always wondered what the average spend onboard was. Actually I still do since I have never seen any passenger purchasing a Mont Blanc watch or KLM merchandise. Of course I have seen passengers on flights like Ryan Air or Air Asia spending on board but that was on food. Continue reading Upsell in the air!

Beat the competition on Customer Service not by discounts!

A personal Customer Journey experience: During the planning of my Asia-Pacific trip I decided to buy a real back pack. The last 10 years I have travelled with a trolley to all parts of the world from Seattle to Hong Kong and from all-in resorts to cozy hostels in the jungle of Indonesia. Last year we travelled to Koh Lipe, a real cast away but to get to this bounty island we had to face heavy storms of the Andaman Sea during the monsoon season. Long story short: my trolley drowned on deck and the salty water did the rest of the work afterwards. So time to shop online for a new travel buddy. And there is where my customer journey began. Continue reading Beat the competition on Customer Service not by discounts!