Posts tagged recommendations
Market Research – Our Trip to the Bay Area
02 years ago
I’ve been catching up on things that stacked up during our trip to San Francisco and Palo Alto last week and once again I’d like to jot down a few things about the trip and some recommendations (just sticking with SF for this post).
I have to give serious kudos to the Omni Hotel in San Francisco for making our three day stay there an absolute dream. It was so nice that I didn’t just post a review to one review site, I posted two (well, it will be two if Trip Advisor gets my review up at some point in the near future)! In any case, you could tell that they “got it” at this hotel and hired, trained and kept a fantastic staff that is genuinely friendly and do their jobs better than any hotel I’ve stayed at. I don’t know how they do it, but they should bottle it and sell it!
On the other side, BART needs to put in a ticketing system (at least at the airport) that tells their customers how much they need to pay to ride from where they’re at to the station they want to go to. It’s stupid to ask a tourist to try to figure out how to use the system to print a ticket worth a fare that is written on a piece of paper on the kiosk. Mind you, I was able to get our tickets without trouble (I’ve ridden BART before), but everyone else at the airport kiosks was standing and staring…FAIL! Interestingly, our only other bad customer service situation, was at the airport again. As we were waiting at the gate for our plane to board, the Delta gate agent got on the PA and went through a several minute discourse about how the plane was coming in for a quick turnaround and how we all needed to hurry on, obey the carry-on restrictions and that (oh, the horror) the biz class passengers wouldn’t even be able to get a pre-flight drink because she was in such a hurry to turn the plane. Well, I noticed she didn’t check on anyone’s carry-on, she rushed everyone so quickly that after she scanned out boarding passes we only walked 10 feet before we ran into the line stacked back up the jet way and I think I even saw the biz cabin folks sipping on drinks as we shuffled past. Since the flight was stuck at the gate for at least another 10 minutes after everyone finally boarded, I have to say that the gate agent essentially did a fantastic job of setting low expectations that she managed to deliver impeccably – wish she had taken a lesson from the Omni! BTW, the flight crew might have, as they were polite and the pilots kept us well informed through out the flight.
Sorry, for rambling on about those couple of negatives, here are some recommendations from our delightful trip to San Francisco:
- Lodging – Omni San Francisco – great service, great property, great location.
- Dining – Perbacco – we went here on a recommendation from friends. Another great service experience, we highly recommend their Salumi and Pastas – delish!
- Dining – Aqua – this is actually just a suggestion to stop in, have a drink at the bar and rub shoulders with the movers and shakers of San Francisco. We took an aperitivo here before heading next door to Perbacco and it was a perfect start to our evening!
- Activity – MUNI – best way to get around San Francisco, buy a multi-day pass for the most convenience, and you still get to ride the cable cars (little K’s favorite part of the entire trip).
- Activity – Yerba Buena Gardens - this was certainly on of the other top highlights of San Francisco for little K, she loved the playground, the grass and particularly the fact that the carousel had a bunny that she could ride!
Oh, one last tip for those traveling to San Francisco in July, the old saying “the coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco” is definitely true, thank goodness we packed enough warm clothes and we didn’t have to purchase sweatshirts like many we saw!
Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/grope4mac/ / CC BY 2.0
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Market Research – AKA our trip to Hawaii.
32 years ago
Sometime you have to get away from your desk and do some ‘market research’. I like to think that I did some good research as I just got back home this past Monday after a two week vacation to Hawaii. We’ve been to the “Gold Coast” area on the Big Island several times already, but this was one of the best yet, with my wife, our 2 year old daughter, my wife’s mother and my parents.
We stayed at a comfortable home just steps from a gorgeous beach (see the sunset photo that I took just steps from the house). We spent almost every morning at a beach, sometimes just walking out the door and sometimes driving a bit. I think the consensus was that the ‘best beach’ on this trip was Kua Bay, but we also visited Kauna’oa Beach (Mauna Kea) multiple times in addition to Hapuna Beach and of course Waialea Bay – where we were staying.
In between beaching it, we got out for some shopping and dining and that’s where I found myself doing my ‘research’. I must say, that I felt the most Aloha that I ever have on this trip, wherever we went, people were incredibly friendly, helpful and accommodating. However, it was a bit disconcerting to see the number of empty store fronts in the resort areas along with the decrease in inventory in many stores.
Here’s a quick list of my recommendation on where to go and what to do from this trip:
- Lodging – 2 Papayas – Mary, the owner/manager was great and the properties they represent are in my absolute favorite part of the Big Island.
- Dining – Blue Dragon Coastal Cuisine & Musiquariam - The interesting name says it all, but this is great ‘supper club without a roof’. Great local foods with local music…I knew we would be eating great when I saw a fellow carrying a huge, whole, fresh from the ocean across the street, fish into the kitchen.
- Music – John Keawe – He played the night we went to the Blue Dragon, and we were lucky enough to have his wife, Hope, perform her Hula with him. He’s a great Hawaiian slack-key guitar guru.
- Dining – Sushi Rock (Google maps link as I can’t see that they have a website) – Hidden way up on the Northern end of the Big Island in Hawi this little coffee house feeling sushi joint is awesome. With local ingredients (sense a theme here) and unique integration of those ingredients into their rolls, this place may not thrill traditional sushi aficionados, but it sure converted me, I’ll be back.
- Shopping – Hilo Farmers Market – Not what most people probably call the best shopping on the Big Island, but I certainly get a kick out of all the funky foods along with the spread of local artisans displaying their wares. Also, since we went on the day after we arrived, we had fantastic local produce for our whole vacation – yummm…
- Dining – Bamboo – Located just a block or two down the road from Sushi Rock, this restaurant seems a bit odd at first, but I found myself quickly sinking into the atmosphere of Hawaii-ana that it conveys so well and enjoying the evening (lunch here is great too). Fun gifts at the shop here too.
- Beaches – Kua Bay, Hapuna and Kauna’oa (Mauna Kea) Beaches – Each of these is wonderful in their own right, Kua Bay has perhaps the most gorgeous azure blue color to the water, while Hapuna and Kauna’oa are both fantastic in terms of being huge sandy stretches of beautiful beach with great spring swimming and snorkeling. Caveat – while I haven’t been to any of these beaches aside from May/June, I’ve been told that they can all be tricky at times, in terms of surf, particularly during the winter.
- Research – the Tripadvisor Hawaii Forum is a fine way to dial yourself in for a trip to the Big Island. Use the search function as a ton of topics are usually in discussion, but always feel free to post asking for recommendations. Be aware that while some of the local experts can seem a bit short at times, they are very helpful.
- Research – Twitter – Another great research resource, I got a number of timely recommendations from @nathankam.
Well, it’s back to “reality” tomorrow – first day back in the office after three weeks off – cheers!
