A Beginner's Guide to Pinterest for Restaurants and Hotels
By Martin Kubler

Pinterest, the online pin-board, turned out to be one of the rising stars of the 2012 social media landscape and is, perhaps, proof that - very often - the simple ideas are the best.

We all have pin-boards in our offices and homes, which we'll stick things on we'd like to remember or want to keep - Pinterest takes this concept online and lets you build ‘virtual' pin-boards. The advantages are obvious: You'll never run out of pins or pin-board space, and you can share your boards with friends.

In January 2012, Pinterest had 11.7 million users and became the fastest website in history to exceed the 10 million users mark. In August last year, Pinterest recorded just under 25 million monthly visitors and was said to refer more business to companies' websites than Facebook or Twitter.

Initially, Pinterest only offered accounts for individuals, but a little while ago, they started offering business accounts and suddenly things got a lot more interesting for companies.

Hotels and restaurants should be particularly interested in getting to know Pinterest better, because some of the website's most popular categories are closely related to our industries, such as food and drink, holidays, or travel.

So how do you get started on Pinterest? Begin by going to business.pinterest.com and setting up a new account or converting your existing account into a business account.

Make sure you'll link your account to your hotel's or restaurant's Twitter account, so you can share your pins on this popular service, too. Once you are all set up and your Pinterest business profile is fully completed, you can create your first boards.

I usually start off with a board about a hotel's rooms and suites or about its bars and restaurants. You can upload pictures directly to your Pinterest boards or you can enter the url of pictures you want to pin if they are already available online.

Pinterest allows you a generous 500 characters to describe each pin and you should make the most of this, because every time somebody shares your pin ("re-pinning"), the text you entered to describe the pin gets shared with it.

You can (and should!) include links in your descriptions, e.g. to your restaurant's Facebook page or your hotel's blog or website.

Popular pinsWhat else can you pin? The most popular pins tend to be of the "I wish I was here" or "I want to do that, too" variety, i.e. pins that evoke emotions and inspire other Pinterest users to share them on their pin-boards. Food photography makes great content for a Pinterest board, as do shots of your beach or local attractions.

You can also create a Pinterest board for your current special offers and promotions - it's a neat way to keep it all in one place and users can follow your board and will get notified every time you upload a new pin.

There's more… continue reading the full article "A Beginner's Guide to Pinterest for Restaurants and Hotels" on Skift.com

For all of us in the service industry - giving exceptional service is vital. I loved Bryan's fresh take on giving 5 star service with what you have. Be inspired - Wilna 

Give What You Can With What You Have 
By Bryan K. Williams

There is so much to be said for attentiveness, warmth, and competency. Those three elements have the potential to turn any experience into a 5-star event. As I've noted previously, a 5-star experience is not necessarily about having luxurious surroundings. I have experienced world-class service in some of the most unlikely places. That, to me, is the most inspiring part of all. Anyone, in any setting, in any industry CAN provide a memorable service experience (if they really want to).

The Grand Bazaar
During a trip to Istanbul, Turkey I had an opportunity to visit the famous Grand Bazaar. The Grand Bazaar is one of the largest and oldest covered markets in the world. It contains over 3000 small shops, and some of the shops are so small that it's hard to turn around without bumping into something. One clothing store that I entered was similarly small. The store owner gave me a warm welcome, invited me to have a seat (on a box), and offered a complimentary cup of green tea. We had not even discussed me buying clothes yet! I ended up purchasing a leather jacket and a few other items. Give what you can...with what you have.

Gypsy Taxi
Something major happened to me when I was still living on St. Thomas, and it helped shape my entire outlook on service. I was a junior in high school, and ended up missing the 6:30AM school bus. Fortunately, I had a few dollars with me, so I walked a few miles to a nearby shopping center, where I knew that "gypsy" taxis would be. Years ago in St. Thomas, we referred to gypsy taxis as any cab that didn't belong to an official taxi company; basically, anyone with a car who wanted to make a little extra money could be a gypsy taxi. As I approached the shopping center, there was only one driver available. We walked to his car, and I noticed that it looked broken down, with peeling paint. Plus, a headlight was loosened. Then something remarkable happened.

He opened the car door for me (back seat), had a newspaper on the backseatand was very polished (yet warm) in his conversation with me as we drove. He even referred to me as, "Mr. Bryan". Keep in mind that I was 16 years old at the time. I am now in my mid-thirties and have been chauffeured many times in towncars and other luxury vehicles around the globe. With a few exceptions over the years, I have not come across anyone who is on the caliber of that gypsy taxi driver. Some of the most memorable service is what you deliver from your heart, regardless of the resources you have.

Gratitude
Ultimately, providing great service is a conscious decision. It's not something that can or should be begrudgingly done. Genuinely engaging service should be heartfelt. It should make the customer feel like you are interested in his/her well-being. No matter how brief the service experience is, customers should feel like their well-being is important to whoever is serving them.

So, how can this all be translated into action steps? We can go through the usual list that contains things like "smile, anticipate needs, follow-up on customer complaints, etc, etc". Truthfully, a quick Google search can reveal a similar list. Even attentiveness, warmth and competency are fairly common action items. One thing that I've noticed that separates some of the best service from the rest is gratitude. Often times, the best service comes from people who exude a strong sense of gratitude. These are appreciative for not only having a job, but also are happy for the opportunity to serve others. It's unmistakable. There seems to be an inner-joy that may or not be reflective of their socio-economic place in the world. But the joy that they infuse into their service makes them seem abundantly wealthy. You almost look at them in awe. Even more beautiful, is how they manage to make EVERY customer feel like he/she is the only one being served at the moment.

One of the best things you can do is to acknowledge and celebrate those service superstars when you see them. Chances are that they don't nearly the type of recognition that you might expect. If the world had more taxi drivers and Bazaar shop owners like I described, I can't help but think that the overall level of service worldwide would improve as well.

About Bryan K. Williams
Dr. Bryan K. Williams is the Chief Service Officer of B.Williams Enterprise, and the author of Work Like You Own It! 20 Ways to Go From Meeting to Exceeding Your Customers' Expectations and Engaging Service: 22 Ways to Become a Service Superstar. 

I  have recently been in the USA and Canada on a Namibian Tourism Roadshow. If you are expecting some deep and profound insights on the travel industry and my observations of trends - think again. Here is a collection of thoughts (and a stunning view of Vancouver) - Wilna 


Some random observations from my three weeks of travel ....

• All USA airports smell of Cinnabon restaurants. Nauseating sweet....
• The city with the most vagrants... old, young and all sexes...?  SEATTLE. Man... more than any city I have been to. And they all talk to themselves.
• The city with the most pizza slice shops per block...? VANCOUVER.  At least two per city block if not three. More than burger places or coffee shops!
• Most polite drivers...? Vancouver. They let you into traffic the moment you indicate... or even before you think of indicating!
• And pedestrians don't jaywalk in Vancouver! On a cold and wet Saturday morning in downtown Vancouver, with zero traffic... everybody waits in the rain and don't cross unless the little man is lit! Unbelievable!
  
• One struggles to find a coffee shop where you can get a cup of coffee in a ceramic mug. Most of my coffee consumption was in a paper cup, sucking through a plastic cover!
• Las Vegas has slot machines right at the boarding gates, taking every possible opportunity to relieve you of your money.