Don’t "Nickel and Dime" Me!

Recently, I stayed at a hotel that I had thought was a good value for the dollar. That was until
I checked in and found out about the “add-ons.” Warning: I’m about to “rant” on this hotel—
but I have a point!

First, I always ask if the hotel has charges for toll-free or “800” numbers. Yes they did, and it
was higher than a local call! And, if I stayed on the call for more than ten minutes, I would be
charged 15 cents per minute. Their explanation was that people get on the Internet and stay
on for long periods of time. Unfortunately that penalizes the person who wants to use their
toll free access or direct phone numbers to call their office, home, etc. I guess I’m getting
used to this, but I appreciate the hotels that don’t charge for toll-free numbers and, given a
choice, I will stay with them.

Second, I asked about their workout facility. I was informed that there was a $15 charge for
daily use of the facility. Most hotels don’t charge for this. Their excuse was that it was run
by an outside management company and they had to charge. So what? When hotels are
competing for business, this is the type of amenity that almost all hotels don’t charge for.
While I disagree with the charge, the hotels that practice charging for this amenity usually
have facilities that are very nice.

Third -and this took the “add-on’s” to a higher level- this same hotel that “nickel and dimed”
me for phone calls and use of their gym charged me an extra dollar for using a towel in their
gym. Come on! They already were charging me $15! Just charge me $16 and throw in the
towel. I told the gentleman that was “bilking” me out of $15 to use his gym to keep the
towel. He asked, “How do you plan to wipe the sweat off the equipment that you use?” I
flippantly answered, “That is your problem.” He informed me that I had to have the towel or I
couldn’t use the equipment. AGGH!

Am I going back to this hotel? Not unless I have to. And, to anyone that asks my opinion of
this hotel, I will pass on a less than favorable review. I don’t think that is what the hotel
wants me to do.

Here is another example. I recently hired a consultant to help me. He charged me by the hour
as well as all related expenses. He got a parking ticket and it showed up on my bill. I was
shocked.

One final example… My father used to complain about the architect he hired that charged him
drive time. The guy got lost going to the job site and charged my father for the extra time.
Whenever he and my father had a meeting, they would have a few minutes (fifteen or twenty)
of pleasantries before getting down to business. It was always on the bill. One day they went
to lunch and all they did was talk about baseball. It showed up on the bill. My father was
infuriated and never used or recommend him again.

Here is my point. Are we easy and reasonable to do business with? Do we “nickel and dime”
our customers and clients? Do our clients ever feel like they are being taken advantage of?
Think of the above examples and take a look at your business. Do you do anything that
resembles the hotel, consultant or architect? Remember what the customer or client wants.
They want your product or service to do what it is supposed to do – and they will gladly pay
for it. They will even pay more if they feel they are getting good value for their money.
“Nickel and diming,” however, could potentially diminish the perception of good value as it did
for the hotel in the above example.

On the “flip side,” one of the more expensive stores to buy clothes and accessories is Gucci.
One thing they don’t do is nickel and dime you. They just charge a lot of money for their
merchandise. But that is okay, because you get what you pay for. You get excellent service
and a high quality product. They are a success story. So it seems fitting that we close with a
quote from the great Aldo Gucci. He once said…

“Quality is remembered long after price is forgotten.”