People Who Forget The Power of the Media

In the course of writing an article for a national hotel magazine recently, I was tasked to speak with a very specific list of people. They were on the "MUST CONTACT" list for the piece, which was about trends in beds and bedding. (Quick summary: mattresses should be fluffyplush; sheets should be hurt-your-eyes white; blankets are filthy and unacceptable to most guests, so you should only use duvets. Got that?)

So, being a good rule-follower, I dutifully called all the people on the MUST CONTACT list (plus a few hoteliers for good measure). There were about nine names on the must-call list. People from Serta, Sealy and Simmons, sure, but also national textile manufacturers and smaller regional distributors.

And wouldn't you know it? It's the funniest thing:
at the biggest companies, I was able to speak with either the head of the company or someone very close to the top. These Presidents, CEOs, Heads, Big Kahunas, Chiefs and Big Cheeses are only too happy to talk to someone who's in the magazine business. And they're generally very pleasant to talk to. Point: they understand that magazine articles reach a very broad audience. And they also understand that the audience of this very trade magazine consists of exactly the people who own and manage the same hotels to whom they try to sell their products. So they're really happy to speak with me about what's new and interesting in bedding trends. These people are what we know as media savvy.

But inevitably, there are the avoiders. For whatever reason, these people – who are probably completely great people –  just don't want to speak with me. They abhor the idea. They dance around me. Sometimes they'll pass me along the chain of command, but more often than not, they just don't return my (unfailingly polite) calls and emails. These are the people who, once I manage to track them down on the phone, deliver some feeble words about needing to call me back later... and don't. Maybe they think I'm an investigative journalist, dying to blow the cover off their scandalous lives on The Fifth Estate.

In writing a profile for another hotel magazine this week, I interviewed the owner of a hotel in Trail, BC. (Hint: it's part of a big, famous international hotel chain. At this point in the story, you should know: I didn't just pick his name out of a hat. My publisher told me he had agreed to be profiled for the winter issue of the magazine.) Well. He was probably – no, he was for sure – the rudest guy I've ever spoken with for an article. Didn't listen to my questions (and so therefore didn't answer them). Shouted at me. Treated me like a seven-year-old. Went on at length about completely irrelevant topics like when the provincial government had its arm twisted hard enough to agree to recognize tourism as an important part of the BC economy. Back in, like, the 1970s. Repeated meaningless information. Repeated meaningless information. And then – get this – forbade me to speak with any other employees at his hotel. The same people he'd just raved about as being absolutely the best, most excellent staff.

Yep. What a charmer, eh? Let me tell you, I was just so excited to hang up the phone and write a thousand words about what a wonderful property this pleasant fellow operates.

As if. But although my feelings are hurt, he's the one who loses in the long run. Had he spoken calmly and practised good listening skills I'd have a whole lot of good things to say about why his management style has taken him this far. But as it stands, I didn't end up with much to say at all. His colleagues and competitors will never find out what a great guy he is to do business with (maybe), or how his staff looks up to him as a mentor and friend (maybe again), or how he manages to stay ahead in a quickly shifting marketplace (quite likely, since the magazine generally steers clear of profiling people who suck at running hotels).

Sometimes I think these people have an inflated sense of self-worth: Why should I stoop so low as to dish my trade secrets to a mere freelancer? But sometimes, I dunno, I think maybe they're just too dumb to realize that, if they speak frankly and treat me with the respect I show to them, the article I'm writing could be their ticket to a solid boost in sales or, better yet, a more polished professional reputation.