VisitScotland banishes some of its best friends

We said last month how much we were looking forward to VisitScotland’s Tourism Expo and how we’d never missed it in 10 years. Alas, in a classic example of petty short sightedness, for the first time VS has stopped specialist PR agencies like ours attending this year’s event in Glasgow by refusing admission tickets, (wrongly) claiming they were using it to tout for business. Expo is a great annual opportunity for us to meet exhibiting clients and contacts, keep up to date with hospitality business trends and find out what VisitScotland is doing. We’d arranged to meet overseas luxury tour operators at the show to promote our clients – and Scotland. VS has told us we now have to meet them ‘off-site’. A golden opportunity missed for specialists like Hotel PR to help VS do its job of attracting more visitors to Scotland.

CitizenM at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport

It’s rare that we promote a non-client but a recent stay at CitizenM at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport reminded me what too many hotels lack – fun and flexibility. Plenty of cheery, helpful, energetic and well informed staff who enjoy their jobs. Good nutritious food and drink available 24/7. In many ways air travellers’ needs are different but how marvellous to be in such a lively ‘Can Do’ atmosphere. Wide range of guests too. Others seemed between 5 and 80. Some slogans in public areas may be a little OTT but there was an overwhelming feeling that guests and not management call the shots, and that a hotel stay should be, well, fun. One of the coolest hotels on the planet? No doubt about it.