Total Immersion Marketing
I recently promised readers of my newsletter, I would look for ways the Decameron marketed to me during my stay there. Here’s what I can report: The resort is beautiful and operates like clockwork. The location is spectactular. The experience exceptional and relaxing. The marketing, however, left a lot to be desired.
When we first arrived, it was unclear where we should check-in. There are three lobbies spread along the beach, but check-in happens in the conference center on opposite the lobbies and we had to ask several times where check-in would occur for us. Worse, the check-in process was a cattle-call with dozens of guests corralled into a windowless room, given a number and forced to watch bad music videos while waiting to be given a wrist bracelet and room access.
The Decameron faces Playa Blanca and consists of a line of buildings along the beach, more buildings above those and a complex of villas wedged between a casino, the conference center and a golf course. We requested a ground floor room at beach level, but were told those were not available, so were given a ground level room in the complex above the beach at the far end of the complex. We were OK with that because we expected it to be quieter and it was, mostly.
Once we had made it through the check-in process and arrived at our room, we were able to start relaxing and settled into a routine. That included an early morning walk to get coffee, a breakfast buffet and a morning swimming at one of the dozen or so pools or hanging out on the long stretch of white-sandy beach.
After lunch, we’d hang out in the room then go back to the beach before dinner at one of several restaurants. Did I mention there is all-you-can drink alcohol at the bars and all-you-can-eat food at the restaurants?
Not too long ago, Playa Blanca was just a beach with a thatched roof over a concrete slab, one of those sites you see all over Panama – a place to throw parties and listen to musica tipica panameña. The Decameron arrived in the early 2000s and the Columbian team that owns the corporation brought with it the all-inclusive model. They are great at keeping the resort full and I’ve met people from all over Latin America, Canada and Europe staying there. I would argue Decameron changed the hospitality business in Panama for the better.
That said, I never felt like I was being marketed to, even by the people who’s job it is to push Multivacaciones Decameron – the Decameron’s equivalent of a time-share. I was approached twice by one of the salespeople but they didn’t make an effort to “close” me.
I took away a couple of marketing lessons. First, make it easy for your customers to do business with you – the check-in process was exactly the opposite of that. Second, if you have a captive audience, market to them – continuously. You might never get that opportunity again. We were a captive audience for nearly a week, from the moment we arrived at check in, at every meal and every time we stepped up to the bar for a drink. The Decameron staff could be trained to subtly (or not so subtly) remind us that they cared about us and that there would be no business without us or they checked whether we had participated in the Multivaciones presentation.
My Verdict? I’d already been to the Decameron several times so the place has already exerted its charms on me. It’s an easy place to relax with your family and I know I’ll go back. I’m glad they don’t market as well as they could because when I get away, I like to get away from people always trying to sell me something. On the other hand, there are things you have to put up with like a confusing check-in process, but I’m willing to live with that too. What are you willing to put up with marketing-wise on a vacation? Email me or comment on the blog.
