June 2006

The Archives

• personal, tourism bc

  More about Tokyo

  06.12.06 | Permalink | 2 Comments

  I’ve been back from Tokyo for about a week now but things have been very busy. I spend most of last week on Vancouver Island without a proper internet connection.

  
  From the left, myself, Mayu, Yuka, Cindy (from Vancouver) and Tomoko

  It was very nice to meet our staff in Tokyo and our web contractor. They are doing a great job with out HelloBC.jp website. Especially their blog is very interesting. They invite people from the industry who visited BC to write an entry. The comments are used for consumers to ask questions and results in direct business if the blog was written by a tour operator.

  Tokyo is a nice city and the food is amazing. My co-workers took me to this magic club (I think it’s called 8 o’clock) and it was really cool. I had a day to wonder around the city, take in all the sights and absorb some of the culture. They weather was hot and humid but further than that, I’m looking forward to go back.

• personal

  The User Experience of hotel alarm clocks

  06.11.06 | Permalink | 5 Comments

  I travel a fair bit for work and one of the things that frustrate me are the hotel alarm clocks. They’re usually these big multifunctional radio/CD/alarm monsters with 100 buttons and switches. Getting up on time is the most important thing. The last thing you want to be is late on a business trip. And I don’t trust wake-up calls ever since a hotel messed it up. I always have to test the alarm-clock first and to be sure, I also set the alarm on my Blackberry.
  
  So it was very nice to see the following device next to my bed in Tokyo. Very simple. The buttons on the left controlled all the lighting in my room. Three buttons to set the alarm; on/off and time up and down. Easy. Another light button on the right plus an airco on/off. Thank you Odakyu Hotel Century Southern Tower.

William Bakker's Destination Marketing blog