Commze

New York City is more than the most populated city in the United States, it is, by many accounts, the greatest city in the world. It’s at the forefront of art and culture, and has a long reputation for being at the very cutting edge for hospitality. For luxury hotels, New York City sets the standard. New York City is the Rome of modern times, as many artists have noted. It is and has always been at the forefront of design, cuisine, and ideas.

There are more artists of all disciplines who have passed through here than could be accounted for, but one of the most famous immigrants here was John Lennon, who emigrated from London in the 60s and became a legal resident in the early 70s. He was attracted by the energy of the place, and of course, by the energy of his wife, Yoko Ono. Yoko Ono’s recent exhibit in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Annex in NYC is an amazing collection of her memorabilia of John Lennon. Here you’ll find fascinating ephemera such as production notes, hand-written lyrics to the song “Imagine,” and a haunting display of the package containing the clothes he was wearing when he was shot. She has arranged the items in the collection to make political comments, in carrying on the tradition she and John both began when they were together.

Also on display are his green card, eviction notices, and the famous New York City t-shirt that he wore in many notable photographs. There are also objects that stand as haunting shadows with weight and gravity: the instruments that he played. Guitars, and of course, the piano upon which he composed so many famous songs. All the proceeds from the exhibit, which is also traveling outside of New York City, go to one of Yoko and Lennon‘s charitable organizations.

Customer complaints are often difficult for businesses to handle. The important thing is to not take them personally. They key is to not be defensive about the complaint. It is not about failure on your behalf, rather it is about finding ways to improve you offering.

So listen to the complaint with an objective viewpoint and make them understand that their view is being listened to and understood. Always apologize as this is what the customer wants to hear. Remember that it’s a great way to build customer satisfaction. This can result in repeat sales and customer loyalty.

So deal with complaint handling in a productive way. Address the problem, and don’t take it out on the individual who brings the news. Be as objective as possible – try to get to the root of the problem and how it can be handled. Also determine what you can do to satisfy the customer and help bring about resolution. Let them know how important their satisfaction is to your company.

New customers are important to a business – but often repeat business is the backbone that holds everything together. Word of mouth marketing and referrals come from this. Therefore keeping clients satisfied is of ultra importance.

By analyzing the types of complaints that your receive you may be able to identify recurring problems that may be costing your company. Therefore productive customer complaint tracking can lead to improved quality levels within your business.

First check out the following article from NECN:

Companies turn to Twitter for Customer service

Companies are now using Twitter as a means of speeding up their customer service.  Also using MySpace and Facebook as well. It remains to be seen if customers will take advantage of the new type of services.

The article notes that Bank of America and Wells Fargo are staffing Twitter accounts to offer help to customers, and others, like Citigroup and American Express have Facebook or MySpace presences. It’s not perfection – Bank of America and Wells Fargo have only one person monitoring their account.

Twitter as a customer service tool could be helpful, but it will not replace individuals who have customer service training and business training. Customers still enjoy meeting with people face to face it allows for questions to be answered that come up after initial information is given. Twitter is an interesting animal, who knows if it will just become another internet wasteland full of so many people the information is useless. Also, Twitter could use a better search function, because as of yet, it is very difficult to find an individual on Twitter.

How this could help the customer service industry is that it could get simple questions answered quickly. It would be interesting for these companies to add how long it takes these reps to answer a question. If every company did this there would be a need to train employees under a new type of customer service training model, or it could have the potential for job creation. All the good it would do only helps if people actually seek it out. So would you use Twitter for customer service?It could be used as a vaild way to multi-task perhaps while at work. But other than that there is nothing better than a little human contact. Leadership skills cannot be relayed via a computer screen.

Next Day Blinds is an environmentally-conscious company (the majority of their vehicle fleet will go hybrid by the end of 2009), and aims for absolute customer satisfaction in every aspect of their business. Shop Next Day Blinds online and discover a stylish, classy line of blinds, shades, top-notch service and more! See for yourself why people are raving about this company.

Next Day Blinds sells high-quality window treatments, utilizing only the highest-quality goods for their wide range of home decorating/design products. All of their products are custom made in their own factory in Jessup, MD. They have 35 stores throughout the Washington, DC metropolitan area, showcasing a wide variety of window blinds, shades, shutters, and cornices. Their web site is a phenomenal showcase of window treatment items, which are available at discount rates. They have also dedicated themselves to top-notch customer service, including free in-home consultations.

Next Day Blinds offers low-price guarantees on most of their products, which include premium wood blinds, premium plantation shutters, pleated shades, roller shades, Roman shades, wood blinds, aluminum blinds, vertical blinds, vinyl shutters and more.

The company has taken interior decorating into interesting and exciting places with their stylish and attractive line of shades, blinds, shutters and cornices. Their web site offers a helpful “idea gallery”, which helps give home decorators appealing design options. Their “tips and tricks” page is similarly engaging for the interior designer at any level of ability. The bottom line is, if you are a home decorating aficionado with an eye for tasteful and appealing window treatments, then look no further – Next Day Blinds has the goods – and service – you’ve been searching for.

The Purcell Tire & Rubber Co. has acquired the assets of Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.’s Wingfoot OTR Retread Business. The two Wingfoot plants, located in Minnesota and North Carolina, manufacture a combined 40 OTR retreads a day, according to Modern Tire Dealer’s “Top 100 Retreaders” list.

The acquisition of the OTR Retread Business is a key step in Purcell’s strategic business plan, says the company, and will increase the size of one of its core business segments from 120 OTR retreads per day to 160 per day.

Purcell already was the largest OTR tire retreader in the U.S.; the acquisition jumps the company from number three on the “Top 100 Retreaders” list (which includes truck and light truck tire retreads as well) to number two, behind Goodyear and ahead of Bridgestone Bandag Tire Solutions. Purcell also produces an average of 1,300 medium truck tire retreads per day.

“This acquisition is a win for new and existing customers,” says Keith Butcher, executive president of Purcell Tire. “This is a core business for Purcell Tire and we are committed to investing and growing this business. We continue to invest in retreading as a cost-effective and environmentally friendly product class for our OTR customers.

“Our customers have felt the effects of a challenging economic cycle — as we have — and it is our responsibility as good partners to do anything we can to help them optimize their operations.”

“We’ve made a significant investment in helping our customers recycle tires and save money,” says Purcell Tire founder Bob Purcell. “Recycling tires, especially large OTR tires, reduces costs and saves resources. By helping our customers to reduce operating costs, we are also helping them reduce their carbon footprint,” he adds.

Purcell Tire will operate the business out of its centrally located, state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Potosi, Mo. The addition gives Purcell seven retread plants in the United States. They feature Goodyear’s Unicircle, precure, mold cure and Flexcure processes.

A retread is a previously-worn tire which has gone through a remanufacturing process designed to extend its useful service life. Ask your tire specialist about your wheel and tire package options if this process is right for your service truck tires.

While the island of Ibiza is primarily known for its nightlife clubbing scene, water sports and natural adventures are a major attraction. Due to their location in the Mediterranean Sea, all of the Balearic Islands have beautiful views and are excellent places to enjoy beach activities such as diving and sailing. The Sea Horse Sub-Aqua Centre is one of Ibiza’s most prominent scuba diving centers. It was founded in 1995 and has been serving locals and tourists since. The best Ibiza hotels are excellent resources for information on the Sea Horse and can usually help to arrange for transportation.

The Sea Horse Sub-Aqua Centre offers year round water activities that are mostly centered around diving for all levels of experience. The crystal waters of the Mediterranean are the perfect location to jump in and view the diverse and amazing marine life just under the surface. Depending on weather conditions, the water is typically clear and transparent offering visibility for 25 to 30 meters. This provides for a once in a lifetime beautiful diving opportunity. The Sea Horse base is on the coast of Ibiza and many of the dives are within a few nautical miles of shore.

The dive boats offered by Sea Horse are fully licensed and safety equipped. The skipper is a professional with over 14 years of experience in the designated waters. There are many dive locations available with this company and one of the more popular places is Cala Olivera. This amazingly scenic spot provides an easy and clear dive with a big cavern to explore just 18 meters down. One of the more recent sites added to the dive list is Isla Redonda Este on the outer edges of the Bledas. The 15 meter decent is filled with rocky crevices and an abundant population of crabs and octopi. On a rare lucky day, divers may even have the opportunity to encounter a dolphin.

We are all aware of the rising costs of health care. With the economy in crisis, it is more crucial than ever to find alternatives to our conventional thinking. In this regard, medical tourism has become a rising industry, allowing more and more people who are searching for responsible medical care to look beyond the borders of the United States.

There are many countries offering high quality health care at more than reasonable rates. Countries such as India and Mexico offer some of the most excellent medical facilities, often with liaisons to important hospitals in the United States such as Harvard Medical and Johns Hopkins. Procedures such as knee replacement surgery and lap band surgery have become increasingly prominent outside of the United States, where costs can be cut by over 50% in most cases. The cost of knee surgery in Mexico is an attractive incentive to use a doctor in Mexico.

Additionally, traveling to another country to receive medical care yields other benefits, such as the ability to tour the area and learn about another culture. With the money saved on medical care, one can enjoy a small vacation that otherwise might be impossible. Excellent hospitals and clinics abound in India and Mexico, where surrounding areas can provide a glimpse of other customs and delights not necessarily experienced in one’s own land.

Known as the fashion capital of India, Bangalore blazes the trail for the newest trends. Famous for the nightlife, Bangalore has many young people who frequent nightclubs and discos. It also has a flourishing club culture. With all this partying, fashionable clothing is an absolute necessity. Lately something new is happening. There have been many resorts opening in five star hotels in Bangalore, creating an entirely new subculture, those who prefer a rest! Fortunately for the fashion industry, this demographic provides an opportunity for entirely new design challenge. Everyone wants to look trendy whether they’re playing hard or simply lounging. It seems as if the demand for clothing is endless. This also means that the demand for fashion designers and specialists in the garment industry is on the increase.

Given the longevity and the various manifestations of the industry, there have been great strides made in the areas of technology. For example, the very management of a factory is a time and motion engineering study. Knowing how to utilize energy (manmade and otherwise) to maximize quantities without sacrificing quality is a significant skill. Ergonomics, the usage of the body’s energy & motion, is a necessary skill in order to prevent injury. Nowadays computers do most of the actual pattern-making and cutting, that is, once the original pattern has been made by a technician. The area of textile design and manufacturing is very complicated, yet it all originates from a drawing done by a textile designer. According to the labor department in Bangalore, there is a shortage of trained professionals with the skills required to work in the more technical areas of fashion design and production. Efforts are being made to bridge the gap by preparing the manpower to do the job. As in many other Indian cities, Bangalore has schools with excellent programs of study. The Indian Institute of Fashion Technology (IIFT) in Bangalore offers educational programs to meet this need.

Barcelona is well-known and popular city in Spain. Its beautiful beaches and enticing cultural and entertainment aspects satisfy its many residents and continue to draw countless tourists. However, what is often overlooked about the city is its numerous parks and their relevance to the inhabitants and significance for visitors. The city of Barcelona has 68 municipal parks. This is an extremely large number particularly for such a heavily populated community. This is also, in part, what accounts for the great comfort and peacefulness surrounding the city and its urban area. Tourists often notice and enjoy the benefits of these parks, while also taking for granted their existence. Guests staying in the Barcelona Spain luxury hotels are encouraged to explore this wonderful and dynamic aspect of the city.

The 68 parks are divided by thematic orientation and size. Five of these are botanical, 45 are urban, 12 are historic and 6 are forest parks. The parks alone account for 10% of the city’s geography, which amounts to approximately 18.1 square meters of park per resident. Many of Barcelona’s residents get their daily exercise from running or walking through them, or participating in one of the available activities. Tourists also make good use of them in the same manner, or by simply enjoying a quiet picnic.

Montjuic, named after the mountain on which it is located, is the largest of Barcelona’s parks. The hill’s name is literally translated as hill of the Jews, though another possible interpretation is that it is named from the Roman Mons Jovicus, hill of Jupiter. The second largest park is Ciutadella Park, and is located at the site of the old military citadel. This is now the location of Parliament. It also has several museums and a zoo, which attracts many visitors. Labyrinth Park is another popular spot for locals and tourists alike. It is named after its famous garden maze, which continues to attract people.

Prior to the arrival of the Dutch, Cape Town, SA had a bad reputation as a hangout for sailors on leave. There were bars, gambling dens and brothels all competing with the respectable town folk for a piece of the local currency. After the Dutch settled in Cape Town, they made a sincere effort to establish a clean, respectable town. Eventually Cape Town came to resemble a pleasant Dutch Colonial town, complete with low white washed houses. The early houses in the Cape Town area were built in the Cape Dutch Architectural style and were organized in a neat grid with the borders of the mountain to the north and the bay to the south. The earliest houses were single-storied dwellings and purely utilitarian. They usually consisted of three rooms in a row and had steeply pitched roofs supported by rafters. They were built of local materials: walls consisted of clay or thick rubble (later of burnt brick), sea shells provided the basis for lime-mortar and wild reeds were used for thatch. At the beginning of the 18th century, with increasing prosperity in the towns and the development of wine farms, houses began to expand. They began to reflect the growing needs and individual taste of each owner. It was at this stage that the front gable began to make its appearance. The gables, largely in the hands of skilled craftsmen imported as slaves from the east, began to develop in a variety of styles and decorations. In time, the original floor plans took on new layouts. The evolution being the “U” shaped or “H” shaped plans. The “H” plan became the ultimate design in country houses and on which some of the Western Cape’s most elegant farmsteads were designed.

Nowadays country houses and farmsteads have been converted into the top Cape Town hotels. For examples of authentic Cape Dutch architecture, consider the Courtyard Hotel, Cape Town, Mowbry or The Greenways Hotel in Upper Claremont, SA.