I have just returned from a weeks holiday skiing with my family in the French Alps. I have to say it was one of the best holidays we have ever experienced. Apart from some fantastic skiing and great scenery (Lake Annecy certainly can give Windermere a run for its money) I have to say the levels of service with a smile from the French were an unexpected surprise. It started at the first service station on the way down (we drove via the Eurotunnel) when refuelling with the staff being really friendly and helpful. It continued with the ski hire shop which was still open at 8-00 pm Saturday when we arrived with four very helpful staff members to get us sorted with the equipment. The staff helping people on and off the ski lifts always greeted you with "bonjour" and a smile. The staff in the local supermarket were helpful and friendly. Now I know that all these folks are after my money, but a smile goes a long way to making parting with it less painful and being helpful does make you believe you are getting value for money.
Of course, the interesting thing about all of this is the fact that most of the time I had no choice in which service I purchased. I had to stop for fuel, there was only one supermarket in town and there was a monopoly on the ski lifts. Despite these monopolies, I did not feel I was being ripped off, and the smiles and friendly service helped.
Now contrast and compare to South Lakeland Parks. I genuinely believe most of the front line staff are nice friendly people who care about looking after their customers. They get paid a pittance and have their hands tied by SLP in terms of delivering quality customer service. Eventually, the lack of support from management in any organisation results in poor morale.
In my humble opinion, the new owners of South Lakeland Parks have only short term profit as their goal. They have no long term view of their investment, just extract as much value as they can, and then probably sell on at a profit. This does lead me to question if we will ever get our issues of overpricing and poor service really addressed under the current owners. Of course I could be proved wrong, but I am not holding my breath waiting.
Kevin