Two of our first travelers staying with us in Kathmandu just after our opening[/caption]

You can’t book our hotel rooms in Lisbon on OTA’s because we like communicating with our guests.

Don’t know what OTA’s are?  Don’t worry – neither did we a few months ago. OTA stands for Online Travel Agencies – which again stands for Agoda, Booking.com, Expedia, Tripadvisor and similar online communities and services. When we opened our first hotel in Kathmandu we decided not to make our rooms available on these online platforms. As we didn’t like them ourselves, it just didn’t make sense to use these services. There must be other travelers like us, who felt the same.

Travelers are different

[caption id="attachment_26451" align="alignright" width="213"] An expensive 4 Star Hotel in Istanbul[/caption] Based on our vast experience as travelers we know one thing: Travelers are different. Your purpose of coming to Lisbon are most probably different from others. So are your needs, interest-s and your taste. Isn’t it then strange that almost all rooms in a hotel are the same? As travelers we never understood that. And the places we enjoyed staying all had character. So when we made the business plan for our hotel, we followed the advice we have been preaching for years as Marketing & Business Strategists. We defined the core values for a certain group of guests: The Free Individual Travelers (travelers like ourselves), and made all rooms different! Of course all our rooms in Lisbon have private bathrooms, quality beds, places to put your clothes and all the other things you expect from a hotel room. But when it comes to visual design & ambiance all our rooms are as different as our guests. With different sizes, different shapes, different bathrooms, different colors, different beds, different location in the house and more important different light from double glass doors facing the garden, windows, French balconies and private terraces. We even have original art in all rooms. And of course our rooms have different different prices. This is impossible to communicate on OTA’s. [caption id="attachment_media-6" align="alignleft" width="362"] Our out door office at Tings Kathmandu where our business guests work. Some business traveller prefer a traditional Business Hotel like Radisson, Hyatt etc.[/caption] Sometimes we get bookings from travelers who only book based on our high rankings on Tripadvisor – travelers who would hate to stay with us because the really want the conveniences and services from Radisson 500 meter from us. Most of the times we manage to uncover this mistake and recommend them another good hotel, and to come by for a tea and a chat when they arrive. When they come by they love our place, but agree that place we ‘moved’ them to better suited their needs. So instead of having a disappointed guest staying spreading negative karma, we get a new friend who like Tings because of our services and advice. This is only possible because of our direct communication related to the bookings. And that is why the only way to book rooms at Tings Lisbon is by contacting us directly. So send us a mail (or call us) us if there is anything you want to know – before or after your booking. And also if you don’t stay with us. Annette & Thomas]]>