Still in Kingston, Jamaica, and still making observations about business travel.
Lesson #4 – You can charge big with a captive market
One of the odd things about lesser developed countries is that everything is expensive. Prices seem to begin at what you’d expect to pay in a major US city downtown, and go up from there. And if you are staying in a big hotel, by definition you are wealthy, and can therefore pay a lot for everything.
Wireless internet, which is cumbersome to set up, and somewhat patchy, costs $12.00 USD daily or $143 USD weekly. You could buy the router for less than that. Still, after fighting with dial-up yesterday, I bit the bullet and signed up.
Printing a page in the business centre is roughly $5 USD per page. [That one is still a stunner.]
Oddly – or perhaps not – you can get a one page letter typed for less than that, about $2 USD. Paper may be extra, I’m not sure.
No doubt there are cheaper business services somewhere nearby, but with no car, they pretty much have you. [Trust me on this, only the locals drive themselves here.] And all the business centres have the same prices.
The trick seems to be charging just below the rage point. At least that’s how it feels.
I hit the rage point once -- I wanted to order a room service salad as a light meal. Wwhen I realized it was going to cost $ 25 USD, I said forget it, and dragged my exhausted butt down to the deli.
Lesson #5 -- Timing is everything where price is concerned
I have paid big to print handouts for workshops -- that's what you have to do when you are racing against the clock.
Here's another example, perhaps more familiar:
When I was boarding the flight here, I was offered the opportunity to upgrade for $185. A very good idea for the airline to do this. I wavered, but decided to brave economy class. Fortunately, it was half empty. If I had found myself sitting in the midst of screaming kids, I would have gladly paid the $185, but by then I would be stuck. Once you board, no more upgrades.
The foregoing is a good example of letting your process drive the experience, and losing opportunities. Because airlines don't want to load extra meals, they don't offer on-board upgrades.
They should figure this out, because lots of people would go for it.
