The BBC has reported that a luxury country hotel, heavily criticised for doubling the price of booked weddings has now backtracked, saying it will honour the original agreements.
It raised its minimum customer spend to £20,000 – an increase of about £10,000 for most events. The new owners of the business had previously stated that the current pricing for events was ‘unsustainable’. It was apparently the intense negative social media pressure that led them to do the U-turn.
In a broader sense, we live in times where there seems to be an almost permanent state of flux. People must contend with making revised decisions about price, volume, time etc., which against the backdrop of the pressures we’ve all had to live with, can be extremely challenging.
Nevertheless, in these high-pressure moments it’s highly beneficial to pressure test the ‘absolute’ minimum we could accept to meet our individual goals, the sum total of which constitutes a particular agreement. Imagine the worst-case scenario – the social/political/financial/time pressures which could be brought to bear if you were to continue with your chosen course of action. Your answers to this question should help to inform you on what to say next when faced with a proposal which is not attractive.
What the hotel could have done is assessed the size of the problem, i.e. the number of bookings the change could affect, determine what the damage might be (e.g. on social media) and decide what would be the right approach. Should it be a blanket approach or assessment on an individual basis? The net result of the action they took in the end was negative publicity and a lot of bad feeling to boot.
If you are at all unsure, take some time out, reassess the situation and come back with a considered response. It might just save you time, effort and your integrity going forwards!
Sam Macbeth, 16th September 2021
Comments