in the end. and from the start.

these last couple of days i saw some amazing examples of it, both positive and negative. that it’s all about marketing.

last year, after reina had gone with her fellow-students, she convinced me to go to the keukenhof with the four of us (with my girls). you know how you are somewhat reserved about those typical tourist kinds of places close to your residence? as you only associate them with japanese tourbusses and german tourists… but at the same time, being so close and not having been there is also kind of strange. so we packed a couple of blankets, made sandwiches, brought drinks and off we went. let me tell you, it was a beautiful day… the flowers were amazing, the girls were taking our cameras and clicking like crazy and we ended up laying in the grass on a couple of fatboys (also great marketing by the way!)… 

so what’s the deal?

well, this year, we felt like doing the same. so, without watching dates or checking the website (on which there wasn’t any information about this (what?… i’ll tell u right now!)), we went to lisse. on entering the park, where by the way, no information about this (what?… i’ll tell u right now!) was given and we payed full price. a price, which we last year where more than happy to pay, upon seeing so many beautiful flowers and colours. once we entered the park and looked around, we felt like the couple booking the oversized closet as a hotelroom through internet.

where were the flowers? we saw no flowers…

the only colours that could be seen were some trees with purple-like leaves and a lily-exhibit inside the willem-alexander pavillion. for that, we could have gone to a fancy flowerstore! other than that, all of the tulips were cut already and to recognise the different types of tulips required a great deal of imagination!

now, we understand that for the maintenance of the flowers you need to cut the tulips, but why the hell do you still charge full price?! and why don’t you communicate this?! i mean, we were dissapointed already (to say the least), let alone when you are here from germany or france…

now why is it all about marketing? it is the difference between understanding your visitors (customers) and wanting to make a buck; either you try to understand the needs of the market, which is coming to see the most amazing flowers and have a beautiful day or you just think of keeping your attraction open a couple of days more (it is a holiday weekend!) to make a couple of extra euros…

communicate! say, that the park is being maintained already and throw in some discount, or create some return visits by making the ticket valid for a discount next year! whatever you do, don’t treat your customers as stupid, because that is what they feel for visiting a flowerpark without flowers!

the closest we got to seeing tulips were the postcards in the parkshop…