RESOURCE GUIDE |
| MSNBC Home » Travel » Business Travel |
Most Popular |
| |||||
MSN Travel Central |
Have you ever had a business trip where everything — and I mean everything — went perfectly? Me neither. Yet while paging through a periodical that targets business travelers, I noticed that the people in the ads all appear to be on trips that couldn’t be more pleasant.
What gives?
I fly with the same airline as the pictured passenger who is sitting next to an elegant seatmate while being tended by attractive and cheery flight attendants. I rent from the same rental car agency as the driver who is standing in the sun in his perfectly pressed suit next to his flawlessly detailed, shiny new vehicle. I stay in the same hotels as the guest who is shown checking in with the help of a smiling and eager desk clerk.
Well, none of this happens to me. My experiences are typically different — much different — than those depicted. Where are the crying kids I often find sharing my airplane? Where is the beater that I sometimes get stuck with at the rental car agency? Where is the apathetic clerk that I must cajole into letting me check in to the hotel? Where are the delays, the rain, the lines — the aggravation?
Having more than a few travel miles under my belt, I find these ads do not make me keen to pack up and get on the road. If anything, they make me feel that I’m being gypped: No elegant seatmate, no shiny new car, no eager desk clerk.
I understand that marketing is all about showing products and services in their best light, but by monkeying around with my expectations, aren’t these travel providers setting me up for disappointment? According to Dr. Anthony Pratkanis, they are doing just that, and they will pay the consequences.
Subscribe to Tripso's Newsletter |
Dr. Pratkanis, a psychology professor at the University of California at Santa Cruz and an expert in the field of persuasion, says, “Marketing travel services (any services for that matter) is a double-edged sword. In order to sell the service, you have to raise expectations. But if — and when — that service turns out not to meet those expectations, it is perceived as poorer than if the person hadn’t had his expectations raised in the first place.”
Moreover, the greater the difference between one’s high expectations and one’s perception of poor delivery, the greater the negative feeling associated with the provider of that service. For instance, departing 10 minutes late is one thing; having your flight canceled is another thing altogether. Being switched from a Ford to a Chevy is one thing; moving from a full-size sedan to a subcompact is also another thing altogether. Being assigned a hotel room in the east wing instead of the west wing is one thing; shuffled from a suite to a standard room … well, you get the idea.
High
MORE FROM BUSINESS TRAVEL |
 Business Travel Section Front |
