Almost every hotel these days posts some form of a “green” policy in its rooms – a statement that the hotel is committed to doing its part to support the environment. It usually sounds something like this: “We’ll only change your bed linens every other day unless you specify otherwise. If you hang a towel on the rack, it means you’ll use it again. If the towel is on the floor or counter, we’ll replace it.”
I’m sure somewhere in recent history hotels got pressure from environmental groups or environmentally conscious people to institute these policies. I think it’s a good idea to reduce the thousands of gallons of water used by hotel laundry services.
But I don’t think the policies are working, and here’s why I think that. When I see the signs with these policies, I consciously support them by hanging my towel on a rack after I use it. But every hotel I’ve stayed in for more than one day this year – from the Hawthorne Suites in Vernon Hills (outside Chicago) to the Homewood Suites in Boise to the Sheraton Frontenac in St. Louis – has taken my towel off the rack and replaced it with a fresh one each day.
In public relations, we talk a lot about reputation management. Two of the key principles of reputation management can be summed up as: 1) do the right thing; and 2) do what you say you’re going to do. These hotels seem to think that posting a “green friendly” policy in each room is sufficient – they don’t really need to DO what the policy states. I wonder if the time will come when environmental activists will pick up on this inconsistency and publicly call out the hotels on it. If so, the hotels will then have a “public relations problem,” which those of you who have had a class from me know is code for “we made a bad decision.”
The hotels’ green policies are right and a good idea. But if they aren’t training employees to follow the policies, it does no good and sets the hotel up for potential embarrassment. Anyone else out there observed this inconsistency?
Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays. I was talking to a client on the phone this week who expressed the same sentiment. His reasons were what he termed “the three F’s: food, family and football.” I’m always a little disturbed by the continuing trend of the commercialized side of Christmas overshadowing Thanksgiving. Nowadays, as soon as Halloween is over, the Christmas sales push begins – including full-time Christmas music on the radio starting Nov. 1. Don’t get me wrong, I love Christmas music (I’ve already got a blog post planned on that topic), but I’m concerned with the use of Christmas music as a push to buy, buy, buy for the holidays.
Thanksgiving, on the other hand, is really all about gathering with family and giving thanks. No one gets disappointed because someone got more presents or because their toy broke after playing with it for one hour. The only contention on Thanksgiving can be what kind of pie – which is easily resolved by making every flavor of pie anyone could want!
Enjoy your Thanksgiving holiday … and hold off on the Christmas music for just a couple of days longer this year. Take some time to remember THIS holiday first.
Yep, here I go on another language rant. This one is prompted by an e-mail message I got today from the organizer of a trade show. The greeting was, “Dear Perspective Exhibitor.” It’s good to know that this person, whom I’ve never met before, understands that I have good perspective — but her greeting will keep me from being a “prospective exhibitor.”
I also find it mildly amusing and somewhat annoying when people misuse colloquialisms. One I hear a lot is, “I could care less.” What people really mean is “I couldn’t care less.” When I’m feeling somewhat obnoxious, I tell people who make this mistake, “I’m glad you care so much about that issue.” They look surprised and say, “No, I don’t care.” I respond with, “But you must care some because you just told me that you could care less than you do.” Yes, I can be rather annoying at times! 
One more that I saw in two e-mail messages this week. I’m not sure where this one originated, but I hear and see it a lot. Here are a couple of examples: “Let’s try and meet sometime next week.” “We’re going to try and go to lunch together.” I don’t get the “try and” combination. You’ll either “try to meet” and “try to go” or you’ll just “meet” and “go.” The “and” doesn’t work there. Now that I’ve pointed this out, you’ll start seeing it everywhere!
By the way, I’d love to hear any good malapropisms you come across.
