Last week I received an email wishing us a Happy Thanksgiving from one of the B&Bs we stayed at in Ireland this past summer. Thinking back to my discussions about developing emotional relationships with customers over the last few weeks, I thought that was a particularly clever gesture.
A lot of social media software tracks your friend’s birthdays and anniversaries, so I wouldn’t be surprised to receive an email for that occasion. These folks are apparently paying attention to holidays that have some significance in the country of their former guests. I received plenty of domestic Thanksgiving greetings and wishes, but it is the one from Ireland that sticks in my mind because you don’t often receive acknowledgment of an occurrence which holds little significance to another.
I have no plans to return to Ireland in the next year, but there is a pretty good chance that should I do so in the next five years, I will remember this gesture as I recall my last visit and make plans to return.