We’ve had an exciting few months at MTD! We’ve worked tirelessly to complete the suite of Four Pillars Hotels websites and now, at last, they’re finished, live and looking fabulous!

Because the sites are so extensive and we’ve been involved throughout the whole process, from the initial planning meeting to the launch of the final site, it’s given us the opportunity to bring all our web-know how and best practice together to create a suite of really comprehensive websites.

The sites have also enabled us to implement some nifty new bespoke technology, such as being able to share particular types of content across multiple sites with just a couple of mouse clicks.

As well as the fabulous back-end (excuse the pun!) the front-end is also slick, well thought-out and very user-friendly. See for yourself. Go to www.four-pillars.co.uk, check out the website and bag yourself a bargain summer break!

If you’ve ever fantasized about staying inside a dog or a concrete pipe, then here is a list of fifteen crazy hotels for you to indulge yourself. I’ve included 3 of my favourites…

The ASA recently confirmed that the atheist campaign, proclaiming “There is probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life” received complaints that it broke advertising code on the grounds of substantiation and truthfulness. With some of the complaints being that “It is given as a statement of fact and that means it must be capable of substantiation if it is not to break the rules.

So, although the ASA has not yet decided whether a formal investigation to see if the campaign has broken the ad code, we are left with a few morsels of food for thought:-

Firstly, substantiation and truthfulness. In the current economic dirge, we all, hopefully, appreciate the importance of brand and product differentiation to ensure we stand above the competition. With better service and better value being all too familiar claims. The heat of the spotlight is never as warm as it is now on brands to ensure they practice what they preach, if you’ll pardon the biblical reference.

Only last week, we heard Christopher Rodrigues of Visit Britain emphasising this point with the claim that the hotel sector could expect 50,000 job losses this year.

Raising service levels and quality of that service is the bed-rock for winning business in tourism. Not forgetting the current state of the sterling with its appeal to our Euro-hoppers, this is a time of great value that we need to embrace.

The outcome is quite simple – those who go the extra mile and get it right will reap the rewards. Ask and listen to what customer’s needs and motivations are and get a true understanding of the value they want and deliver some substantiation. Hang on, that sounds familiar….

And the second food morsel is whether the ASA take the plunge to cast judgement on the probability of God existing or not. Best of luck with that one.