I like this concept. Finding and assessing agents stinks. I've spent a bunch of time looking at places in the Truckee, CA area. Finding the good agent was the hardest part - I wish I had been able to look at their opinions on places, and how they compared to the consensus.
Care less about the social features with random people. But I suppose I do care about yelp reviews, and trip advisor reviews... so maybe my thinking is flawed.
I like the idea of helping people for free (as do many people in the thread). But I wonder quality of assistance would be better if people were getting paid. And I wonder if the app would reach more people if it were for profit.
The comments are all great. And I appreciate them. But I suppose I'm most curious about the last question: what would you have a personal assistant do, if you had one?
Sam,
Does saying "discuss on hn: link" at the bottom of a blog post violate your voting ring detector or any other terms of service? I couldn't find anything about that.
I think the hotel owner would be glad to know that this was going on. I've invested in this hotel front desk agent. If I come back to SF, I'll come back to the same hotel. Tip the same front desk agent. She'll get to know me. She'll help me out. I'll help her out. And in the end of the day 1.) I'm staying at the hotel. 2.) I'm booking through the hotel, not a discount site like hoteltonight or expedia
Interesting that this got flagged. It is about hacking something other that a computer. It's about my opinion that tipping is not a crime. It helps me, it helps the person at the desk, and it helps me create a connection (and loyalty with the hotel). Hotels DO NOT tell employees not to accept tips. Its part of the game.
And this is the intention. The best case scenario, would be for me to come back to the same hotel. And tip the same front desk person. And then we build a relationship.
-I benefit because I get free stuff.
-front desk benefits because they get cash.
-hotel benefits because I keep coming back to the hotel (because of relationship i form with front desk attendant).
I worked in customer service for four years. I treated nice people the best (as you suggest). But treated nice people who also tip even better. I don't think being nice, and tipping, are exclusive behaviors.
I'm not sure what that says about me... but. I think humans are reciprocal creatures.
I don't think this will work 100% of the time. But I think it will work enough that it's worth trying. In this case. I paid $20 for a service that typically costs $140. So even if this fails the next 5 times I try - I'll still be ahead.
I think it's quite old actually. So old that few in my generation do it.
It's seen as stogy, or awkward. A thing of Frank Sinatra did at restaurants (with a handshake). Or that you do at clubs or bars. But the point of this article is that you can do it in hotels. And you should.
And, that you should tip the front desk. Not the concierge.
Regardless of how you achieved it, it does sound interesting to me. And if you built it, I would be excited to try it. A MVP could just be a podcast. You could pick the best article from HN every day and read it yourself. See how that goes. Best of luck.
Yes. If honest was the following, then it would be easy: "Hey Jim, I happy to make the intro. But I don't think it makes sense now. My mentor is really busy and this project is still too young for him to be interested."
But what if being honest was this:
"Hey Jim, I have a ton of huge doubts about your project. To be honest, the idea seems silly and I don't know if you have the skills to execute it. If I suggested that my mentor spend time coaching you, it would reflect poorly on me. It would appear that I was wasting his time. That said, I know little about your project and industry. And I don't have the time required (right now) to intimately understand you and your startup." Is something like that too harsh?
Really interesting feedback. Thank you.
-Cards sent from Vermont. The postmark is small and bland.
-Stamps are USA stamps. Very plain, but elegant.
-With regards to your feature, I'd be happy to create that for you. If you send an email to [email protected] with a document containing: the letters, the addresses and the dates you want them sent - I could take care of that for you. Let me know.
Thanks, two way to handle payments.
1. You can click buy in bulk - from there you can buy any number of cards.
2. Or is you just send a note. Then we start writing the card and reply with a request for payment. We send the card when you pay.
TikTok/Insta/Snap => ...What's next?
I've talked to dozens of CEOs about the tools they'd use. Still not sure.