Trip Advisor, Customer Service and the future of our railways

Yes I would agree. Let's face it most heritage railways have evolved from a group of like-minded hobbyists rolling their sleeves up and getting stuck in. I doubt whether the concept of service delivery was foremost in their minds in the 70s or 80s as it needs to be now.

The comparison with NT is interesting but here I would expect much of the better refreshment facilities to be run as franchises or as a formal business in their own right rather than from a highly valued volunteer happy to spend their weekends serving tea on a Mk1 over a festive weekend.

 

This observation hits the nail on the head ..... when it comes to deciding the worth of information on offer, issues of perception (and baggage) aren't exactly limited to Trip Advisor reviews!

 

I quite agree. Speaking for myself, I'm happy to pay for something on a Heritage Railway that I wouldn't put up with from say a theme park, visitor attraction etc. This is simply that I want to support something that is still evolving, struggling to survive or growing into an even better railway to visit. I would say that there are lines that I wouldn't take my wife and family along to simply because they wouldn't be impressed. The toilets in the Mk1 on yesterday's morning train were not acceptable to compare with another visitor attraction and I would not expect any woman to use them let alone a parent try to change their young child.

I have been careful not to name the good, the less than good and the ugly here on a public forum. There are good examples others simply need to learn from and there is no room for deniers in the business of improving CS.

 

Couldn't you have renamed and numbered your best engine on the day?

 

Good point, but the non-volunteer approach will necessarily have higher prices, which may be a factor - although apparently many people are willing to pay.

Noel

 

I wonder if it might be helpful for many railways to invite some sort of community group (WI?) to inspect & report back on an occasional basis?

 

Indeed so. I have a volunteers pass for "my" railway which is honoured by other lines. Thus I think I should spend some money on food when visiting them. Only one place comes into the "never eat anything from that kitchen" category although most qualify as "nothing special". The meal referred to in an earlier post was comparable in quality to truffled eggs enjoyed in a Caen brasserie (Michelin recommended). Neither was dirt cheap but that sort of quality cannot be. Good to know this can be achieved in a cafeteria on a British tourist railway.

 

I agree, but would point out the discussion here about stock lists, loco rosters etc. stemmed from a TripAdvisor review as well.

 

We have a representative from VisitEngland every now and then to allow us to continue displaying their logo who performs a similar function, and feedback forms are distributed to all passengers with their timetable and tickets. I presume other railways do similar? I know I've filled in something for the SVR when visiting for one of their ASGs, a chap came round with a pile of forms and some pens.

 

Visit England is professional and IMHO preferable.

 

No one body has a monopoly on what matters most to visitors, it's perfectly possible these sorts of schemes can pick out criteria to rate an attraction on that aren't actually that important to most visitors, just to whoever is devising it.

 

Personally my experience of the catering on the GCR is pretty good. I've had a couple of nice snacks and some excellent perry from the griddle car, and a good breakfast at the Butler Henderson cafe at Quorn.

 

Part of the problem is surely that different visitors not only have differing expectations, but they have differing needs.

Personally if I go out for a day trip anywhere, I would normally take with me some kind of packed lunch or snacks plus a flask of tea or bottle of squash depending on the weather. Thus for me a hot basic meal to a good (old fashioned transport cafe) standard is what I need as a bonus on top of my packed food.

Others like to enjoy fine dining which obviously comes at a higher price, and is more than I want or need.

For some who bring no food of their own with them, even a cup of tea and a bun is adequate.

Unless a railway has multiple outlets offering differing levels of catering, I don't see how they can adequately satisfy everyone's requirements.

It's a similar situation to the way that some people used to decry the hot meals available at Motorway Service Stations. Efforts have been made over the years to improve the offerings, but this in my opinion has removed the basic hot nourishment provision, and replaced it with overpriced cakes and quiches. The wheel has now turned the other way and in some places the only hot options are McD/KFC or their like.

 

No professional would look up an attraction online but get the opening days wrong and arrive (in the shoulder season) on a day when it is shut, Lastly, give one star out of five for each heading despite not being able actually to see what he is assessing, through his own failure. Or the individual notorious for never giving any attraction in a holiday area more then two stars, and rarely that many.

Of course such people are a minority but are only found in an amateur based system. All I am saying is don't treat Tripadvisor as Gospel, it is far from it, although it has some use.

 

I entirely agree with that, but then I think most people are capable of filtering out the 1 star reviews because they turned up and it was shut when it said it was meant to be shut. All I'm saying is don't treat Visit England as gospel either.

 

By coincidence there is a Q&A with Helen Smith, the SVR’s new General Manager, in the latest edition of Branch Lines which includes a relevant comment.

Q: “One of the first things you've done is initiate a visitor survey.  Why, and what have you found out?”

HS: “Coming from a visitor attraction background I think it is important that the decisions we make are fully informed.  At the Tank Museum we monitored all social media and used Survey Monkey to find out what our visitors thought about what we were doing so we could learn and improve. 

The visitors are the means and the ends to everything that we do, without them there wouldn’t be a Railway.  I see every visitor as a potential volunteer, donor, shareholder or advocate to tell their friends and family to visit.  Fundamentally we need to know that we are fulfilling their expectations when they visit and that they are receiving the messages about how much it costs and how important it is to preserve the Railway for future generations to enjoy.  With better intelligence on what people think about what we do, we can focus our efforts on what will make the biggest improvements for the visitor in the future. I have found out lots of things and will be distributing a presentation in due course so everyone can see the results so far!”

https://www.svrlive.com/bljan20

 

Most places will sell you pasties, sausage and chips or sandwiches (the latter often rather good nowadays) Don't expect bargain basement prices as catering is a major money earner for railway preservation and cheapening the ingredients will bring its own complaints. Was it Sir Henry Royce who said the quality will remain after the price is forgotten?

 

Exactly.
I am perfectly happy with pies or pasties, sausage and chips even better. Because I am not keen on butter or other substitute spreads in sandwiches, my personal choice is to avoid pre-made sandwiches. I am perfectly happy to pay what it costs, or a bit more as I am supporting a deserving cause.
However as I said above, many of today's visitors have higher expectations for dining during a visit to a tourist attraction.

On a visit to Mangapps which is less than an hour from home, I am happy with tea and a cake of some kind.

Catering is often a mixture of paid staff and volunteers. eg. KESR refreshment room (former bus station waiting room) at Tenterden seems mainly staffed by paid staff, with volunteer support. On busy days a secondary catering outlet is opened nearer the platform, serving mainly burgers and sausage in a bun plus the inevitable ice-cream and pop. That secondary outlet is normally volunteer run. The small shop/catering outlet at Northiam is normally volunteer run, so opening depends on volunteer availability.

 

And can accordingly be discounted.

 

All fair, but there are many railway establishments that have lost the sale of a cup of coffee because they still use instant. That usually leads to further loss of business as I judge that if they are going to serve me that rubbish, what else they serve may not bear inspection either.