How to be #1 on Trip Advisor

In this rough economy, there aren't many businesses expanding by 100%. Mustafa Demirci is getting ready to double the size of the 6-room Aydinli Cave Hotel in Goreme Turkey. It is ranked #1 on Trip Advisor and this is no small feat in a town where countless establishments are competing for tourism business.

From the moment you check in, this is clearly more than a hotel. Mustafa welcomes guests over fresh orange juice and homemade sweet bread in the breakfast room with its splendid view of the town's fairy chimeys. See that one over there? It belonged to his grandfather, the imam of the local mosque. Mustafa was born in Room#1 of the hotel and says he has a 30 minute story about each room. We stayed in #6, which used to be a grape storage room. The terrace has a splendid view. We're enouraged to take refreshments from the kitchen on the honor system. Mustafa -- and everyone who works for him -- wants you to feel at home. See more on the hotel's website, www.thecavehotel.com.

I booked this hotel after reading the rave reviews on Trip Advisor. Other guests, including a young doctor from Singapore, did the same. So have people from all over: Japanese, Australians, French. Some businesses here give out cards asking guests to review them on Trip Advisor. Not here. I asked Mustafa if he had a strategy for promoting his business through social networking. His answer was no. His only strategy is to deliver a quality product and hope the customers will rave about it. If you need a ride to a good hiking trail, they'll drop you off and pick you up at no charge. Want to see the best local sights in a small tour group? Mustafa suggests the local "Green Tour" which includes transportation, a guide, a memorable lunch in the Ihlara Valley and all admission fees to an underground city and a stone cathedral, quite a value at 70 Turkish lira per person.


After three days here, we are reluctant to leave. Mustafa is 51 and hopes to retire in a few years, leaving the business to his son Cem. Relatives and family friends seem well prepared to carry on his tradition of hospitality, but it will be hard to replace this master storyteller. Driving by a field of grapevines, we learn about the families who have passed down this land and divvied up the plots between the fairy chimneys. Cherry jam for breakfast? He tells you how his wife pressed the fruit with her own feet. He'll tell you about how their marriage was arranged when she was only 16 and he was 25. We were fortunate to arrive on the one day of the week when Mrs. Demirci cooks a homestyle Turkish meal for guests.
Guests rave about this hotel because it offers both hospitality and history. I have just co-authored a book called "Power Performance: Multimedia Storytelling for Journalism and Public Relations, " and Chapter 6 discusses the importance of storytelling in public relations. That's why the Aydinli Cave House lives up to the promise on its brochure as "a hotel you won't forget." Mustafa has filled it with stories that guests can't wait to share.

Pigeon Power

You've seen them in every big city: annoying pigeons and their poop. However, in the amazing Turkish town of Goreme, pigeon droppings are valuable. They have been providing much needed fertilizer in local vegetable gardens for centuries, so the birds are invited to live in the "fairy chimney" rock formations, which also draw tourists from all over the world.

The rock formations also provided refuge for early Christians as they hid from Roman persecution. Not much is left of their rock churches and frescoes in a country that is said to be nearly 100% Muslim. UNESCO has taken over, but it seems that much of the restoration is being done by local people looking to turn cave homes into boutique hotels. More on that later.

The ancient Christian landmarks draw foreign tourists, but not so many Turks. An army of archelologists and art restoriation experts could find plenty of work here, but at the moment the local guides do the best they can to interpret what little is known. The occasional sign tells you that certain rooms might have been a kitchen or a church, but little history other than the broad outlines of what happened here.

Priceless frescoes are fading away in the imposing Seline Cathedral. Nearby are underground cities built by early Christians, where visitors can crawl through a maze of rooms and tunnels eight stories deep... and less than 10% of the actual underground complex where up to 1,000 people could hide from their enemies for months at a time.
The land of the fairy chimneys is an enchanting landscape, but it needs to do a better job of telling the stories inside the rocks. The best story I've heard so far is that when the locals heard the city of Paris was spending $3 million to get rid of its pigeons, their reaction was, "Please send them here!"

Touring in Turkey

Istanbul has long been the place where east meets west, the junction of Europe and Asia. The same is true of the crowds at the main tourist attractions: the Blue Mosque, the Hagia Sofia Museum and the Topkapi Palace.

After a while, you get used to taking off your shoes to enter the many mosques that dot the city. Women need to pack a scarf to cover their heads. This city was the centerpiece of the Christian world for many centuries before becoming the Muslim capital of the far-flung Ottoman Empire in 1453.

Many visitors come in large tour groups, but if you are alone or with a small, family-sized group, prepare to be hassled constantly by people selling everything from water bottles to maps to guided tours. We were followed around the Blue Mosque by a guy who insisted we visit his carpet store. He finally got the message that we weren't interested, but as soon as he left, we were set upon by another carpet guy and another. It is impossible to walk past a restaurant in the tourist zone without someone getting in your face to explain why this is the best place to eat and you should come inside. I know these are just hardworking small business people trying to make it in a tough economy, but I couldn't help but think of all the advice I've given and received about social networking to sell a product; if you get in the customer's face too much, it's a turnoff.

Our hotel in the old historic district is small and friendly. Its secret selling point is the roof terrace where we can bring our own food and drink to enjoy the evening call to prayer as the full moon rises over the domes and minarets. Another highlight of the trip: relaxing in a Turkish bath that dates back to 1453. Serious competition for Burke Williams!

Feast your Eyes on Pub Grub

Pub food gets a bad rap and I don't understand why. Even as a semi-vegetarian, I find lots of great choices. And of course, it's all washed down with the local brew on tap.
On our first night in the theater district we chose the Angel and Crown pub at random and truly enjoyed the fare. The next night's meal at a French bistro was less memorable, but it was part of our theater reservation and got us to the opera on time.

We also stopped at a pub catering to the international residents of London in the Bayswater neighborhood. The friendly young woman behind the bar was from Zaragoza in Spain and  made us feel truly welcome.
Our favorite meal so far has been the one at the local pub in the little village near Hampton Court. The Albion was filled with locals and even their dogs on a sunny Saturday afternoon. The barkeeps were cheerful and we thoroughly enjoyed our lunch.

The Power of a Good Story

After spending the last two years writing a book about storytelling, I've found that the success of a tourist attraction largely depends on how well it communicates the story of a particular time and place. For example, the yeoman warders who conduct tour groups through the Tower of London narrate the drama of kings, queens and others who were tortured or executed there. They have a personal connection to the place, having earned their post through decades of tough military service all over the world. They also have a sense of humor, telling visiting Americans, "This history could have been yours." Result: throngs of paying tourists.

While the London Bridge exhibit was a fascinating display of engineering, it flunked in the storytelling department. Not even an audio guide. Tourists were left to wander and interpret the story all alone, and for those who don't read one of the major European languages or Japanese, there was little to do but admire the view. We met Romanians who were downright confused.

Entering the Churchill war rooms was like touring the set of a Broadway play without knowing the story. Seeing the telephone used in January 1940 isn't too interesting unless you know what was happening at that time.

The curators of the royal palaces understand very well that they must be storytellers. It's in the mission statement that was posted at Hampton Court, most famously the home of King HenryVIII. The audio guide added value to the kitchen exhibit by explaining the complexities of cooking for 600 people a day before the invention of modern conveniences. Another exhibit on "Young Henry" revealed the relationship between the king and his first wife. The roving actors were a highlight of the visit, especially a face to face interview with a portly old Henry VIII enthusiastically telling me he'd have sons with his new 19-year old queen, describing her as a "young sapling" who would bend to his will. Fans of the Tudors know how it turned out: no kids from this marriage and the queen was executed.

 The highlights of the trip so far were not tours of buildings, but rather the evenings spent at the theater hearing the powerful stories of Shakespeare: Macbeth as retold in operatic form by Verdi and the Royal Opera and All's Well that Ends Well performed at the Globe Theater to packed houses. Neither production tried to "update" the story as many contemporary directors now try to do. Through the extraordinary talent of the performers, the tragic and comic tales speak for themselves. We also saw "Love Never Dies," the show that attempts to continue the story of the characters in Andrew Lloyd Weber's Phantom of the Opera.

Storytelling is timeless. Newer exhibits are able to make use of new media to update the tales. More of my thoughts on storytelling in the introduction to "Power Performance: Storytelling for Multimedia Journalism and Public Relations," http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-1405198699.html available here at a 20% discount if you use the code VB237.

London between the Royal Wedding and the 2012 Olympics

London has recovered from the Royal Wedding of William and Kate just in time to celebrate the Queen's unofficial birthday and Prince Phillip's "retirement" from a lifetime of being the guy standing next to the Queen. There's a lot of construction going on in preparation for the 2012 Olympics, but it's not going to get in the way of a little sightseeing, beginning with the British Museum and continuing on to the Tower of London and London Bridge, where a new exhibit is a nice look at some nifty Victorian steam drawbridge engineering. Perhaps because of the Royal Wedding hangover, Westminster Abbey is so crowded that you can barely see who's buried where. St. Paul's, scene of the last wedding of the century (Charles and Diana) is much less popular. The Churchill War Rooms don't seem to be attracting many visitors these days, as World War II is a dim page in the history book for the younger generations. A hot tip for Americans: be prepared for the sky-high attraction prices and buy the London Pass before you come. Admission to just one attraction, such as Westminster, is a whopping 16 pounds, or about 25 dollars, but the pass includes almost all the major sights and can be purchased with a discount underground travel card. Highly recommended at http://www.londonpass.com/ if you're looking to stretch your weak American dollars. By far the strangest attraction we've seen is the "Enchanted Palace" at Kensington, the former home of Princess Diana. It's a bizarre art installation that attempts to remind visitors that Diana wasn't the only fascinating princess in British history. Of course, it wouldn't be London without Andrew Lloyd Weber, the Royal Opera and Shakespeare on the agenda. Tally ho! Time for some pub food and another pint.

Terry's Travel Blog

I'm relaunching this blog as a platform for my travel articles. Why? The new Terry Anzur Coaching services web site, http://www.terryanzur.com/, features my talent coaching blog on the home page, so I have to keep the coaching blog focused on issues related to Power Performance in TV and online journalism and public relations. If I write about pub food or a great hotel, you'll find it here. Happy reading and please feel free to comment!