Aren’t you all lucky people. 2 blogs from me in one day!
After the Temples this morning I spent time with the senior staff at Rosy’s going through some key points in regards SEO, the new website and how it will work in regards the structure and hopeful increase in business through it. We also chatted through some of the advertising possibilities for them, particularly Facebook advertising, and Google Adwords. The guys picked it up really quickly and we discussed all the different possibilities with these tools and how it could really help the off season by being ahead of the game with these tools. We also chatted through rate strategies again, and how some immediate changes we made on Friday had a positive affect on filling rooms tonight so that the guest house is now completely full tonight. The guys picked it up really quickly and are really eager. We also sat down and discussed the Budget and how the figures were achieved and how we can hit the targets set… everyone seemed really up for getting changes made and implementing various things asap.
After a quick bite to eat (yes I eat a lot!) I sat down for the first time with the local Khmer Bar and Restaurant staff. Very much like the morning, but to a slightly more basic level i went through our new site, the benefits of Google SEO and also ideas about the new website. We also explained the internet a little and went through why there maybe some more “dynamic” / varying prices in the future as opposed to the static rates that there are currently. Although pretty new to the staff, they genuinely seemed really interested and asked quite a few questions which were great. I think some seeds of interest were sown and really hope they ask some more questions in the next few days so that I can help them in their quest for knowledge.
After this chat, I had a sit down with Rachel to have a look at the current publications they are in , offline and online, to think of a strategy to go forward. During that chat I agreed to offer two night with Breakfast in Bed at umi London for a raffle the guys are hosting at Rosy Guesthouse on Friday in aid of one of their partner charities Trailblazer ( http://www.thetrailblazerfoundation.org/ ) and hoping the prize will generate some good money for the guys . We also chatted about what we do at umi for Charity and although we do run events and do a bit, we could definitely do more, and seeing some of the charities live in action here, I think we should support good causes like the ones here more. One of the many things I have learnt as part of the skills exchange, is how the money raised even at a small place like Rosy’s can really make a difference to these charities and we can definitely do more in the developed world in terms of helping other less fortunate than ourselves.
Tomorrow is more training in the morning, followed by a visit to a Hotel school (I dream of opening one myself one day!) called Sala Bai (http://www.salabai.com) which has been setup to help under privileged kids in Siem Reap,to gain the skills to gain employment in the Hotel and Tourism industry.
Hope you have enjoyed the posts from today and will be in touch tomorrow .
Leah Hai (goodbye in Khmer)