We are currently in a moment where everything is the biggest and the most it's ever been.
Artificial intelligence is supposed to be the biggest tech and lifestyle change we've seen in modern history.
The current FIFA World Cup is the biggest iteration of that soccer tournament in the event's long and storied history.
But both of those things have been, in one way or another, disappointments for different people.
I've already written about the World Cup piece of that recently so I won't delve too much deeper on that subject, but it does remind me of something that is a simple yet elegant and effective piece of advice that we should all hold nearly and dearly: "Under promise and over deliver."
As I've noted before, the mathematical equation behind disappointment is the difference between hope and reality. But the inverse of that — when reality exceeds your hope — well that's the key to the ever elusive and always needed hospitality concept of surprise and delight.
Now the tricky part here is overpromising is a great way to get attention. Grand, sweeping pronouncements and proclamations that you're the best of all time and offer an experience untold of in the history of hotels is one way to get people through your door. Meanwhile, modesty is rarely rewarded with attention.
But with that in mind, attention and experience are not the same thing and don't have the same requirements.
So figuring out ways to garner attention while being truthful, and maybe just a little bit understated, might be the move to both getting guests on property and capturing their hearts and minds.
I know this is all theoretical and kind of amorphous, but I genuinely believe my day-to-day is improved immensely by the concept of under promise, over deliver.
After all, we'd all rather be surprisingly good than surprisingly bad.
Let me know what you think on LinkedIn or via email.
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