Chapter 442: Delay Proclaiming Kingship
While Chen Jianhai and his employees were getting familiar with the new hotel,
news about a castle hotel opening next to the Magic Century Theme Park spread like wildfire.
Although the hotel had not yet officially opened to the public, tourists showed immense curiosity and enthusiasm for the castle.
They eagerly searched for the best angles within the park to take photos with the castle in the background.
One particular photo of Lion Lake Castle and the Wizard Castle standing side by side under a starry sunset sky went viral online.
The two castles, one luxurious and grand, the other mysterious and peculiar,
had completely different styles and atmospheres, yet they blended seamlessly together in the photo.
Once posted online, the image quickly climbed the local trending charts, attracting the attention of many netizens and tourists following the Magic Century Theme Park's developments.
Additionally, many customers who participated in the park's beta testing reported that the formaldehyde smell in the Colorful Holiday Resort Hotel was too strong, causing symptoms like dizziness, headaches, runny noses, and coughs the next day.
As a result, public curiosity and anticipation for the Lion Castle Hotel grew even stronger.
...
With daily search rankings constantly refreshing, and netizens' curiosity reaching new heights, the employees in the publicity department were overjoyed.
In the hotel's main building, on the 7th floor, Room 777, the boss's office.
"Boss, the online buzz about the Lion Castle Hotel is huge right now. It's almost all organic, word-of-mouth promotion,"
Lin Suyang stood in Chen Jianhai's office, holding an iPad, excitedly reporting on the hotel's online publicity.
"Many people online are paying attention to the Magic Century Theme Park,"
"In a Zaomen travel website's intentional voting poll, our hotel is currently leading the Colorful Holiday Resort Hotel by a narrow margin of 0.54%."
"Should we do more work in the comment sections and promotional efforts to add fuel to the current positive momentum?"
Lin Suyang's eyes sparkled with excitement,
as if he couldn't wait to roll up his sleeves and go all out right now!
Chen Jianhai took the materials and search popularity graph, briefly scanned the trending topics, and then focused on the beta testers' reviews of the Colorful Holiday Resort Hotel.
His experience was largely similar to what was being reported.
The hotel's low ceilings, cramped rooms, and strong odors were the top three complaints.
The issue of the bar lacking beverages seemed to have been promptly resolved, as few people mentioned it.
However, even so,
almost every online guide still recommended that tourists stay at the Colorful Holiday Resort Hotel within the park to enjoy the privilege of entering the park one hour early.
After all, the Magic Century Theme Park's strongest appeal lay in its park, not its hotels.
The experience of entering the park an hour early far outweighed the need for accommodation.
Chen Jianhai pondered for a while, his eyes showing hesitation, before finally shaking his head and saying,
"Let's not rush the promotion. We'll wait a bit longer."
"Actually, from the beginning, I didn't plan to put too much effort into promoting the Zaomen hotel."
Chen Jianhai continued, "The Zaomen hotel is right next to the Magic Century Theme Park. With the park there, our hotel's exposure won't be lacking."
"And now, we have a group of enthusiastic netizens helping us take photos and promote for free."
"We can use these resources to focus on other things."
Lin Suyang was puzzled, "Other things... like what?"
Chen Jianhai explained, "Your usual expertise—sending out invitations to other businesses and hotels in Zaomen, inviting them to our hotel's opening ceremony."
Hearing this, Lin Suyang's worries eased:
"Boss, you can rest assured about this!"
"I've already started preparing for this since before we came to Zaomen. I've even designed two or three styles for the invitations. Once the final product is ready, I'll bring it over for your approval."
"As soon as the invitation design and guest list are finalized, we can send them out immediately."
"Good, very proactive!" Chen Jianhai nodded satisfactorily, his eyes showing appreciation.
"By the way,"
"When sending out the invitations, prepare some small gifts to go along with them."
"They don't need to be expensive, just something that looks refined."
"After all, we're now a major hotel. We need to handle these external occasions with more grandeur. As long as it's within a reasonable price range, feel free to incorporate any good ideas you have."
At this point, Chen Jianhai paused, then added, "When sending out the invitations, go and coordinate with Xie Zhulongxiong."
"He has a few good friends in Zaomen. Make sure to prepare invitations for them as well."
"Got it, boss. I'll get it ready."
Lin Suyang noted this down, but still couldn't resist probing further:
"Boss, are we really not going to do any promotional work for the hotel?"
"No need," Chen Jianhai firmly decided. "At this stage, we don't need to. Just focus on monitoring public opinion. As long as no one is spreading negativity or blackening our name, we don't need to intervene."
Watching Lin Suyang's puzzled back as he left, Chen Jianhai stood up, his brow furrowed in thought.
Although he wasn't great at math, he remembered his history lessons well.
The story of Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang of the Ming Dynasty and his strategy of "accumulate resources, build strong walls, and delay proclaiming kingship" left a deep impression on him.
Right now, the hotel's publicity was already out there.
Whenever people mentioned the Magic Century Theme Park, they would naturally turn their attention to his Lion Castle Hotel.
At this stage, the most important thing wasn't to promote and spread the hotel's name further.
Instead, it was to frantically identify and fix any shortcomings, perfecting the hotel's facilities and details before the official opening.
In terms of hardware, the system had already taken the hotel's main building, garden landscaping, landscape design, and artistic statues to the pinnacle.
But in terms of software services, there were still many areas where employees needed to adapt and familiarize themselves with the new hotel.
Unlike the previous two hotels,
the service roles at the Lion Castle Hotel were more complex, and employees had to handle a wider variety of tasks.
In the past, it was enough for the doorman to drive a Benma sedan to pick up and drop off customers at the airport.
But in the new hotel's design,
Chen Jianhai boldly abandoned traditional transportation methods like cars, opting instead for "horse-drawn carriage check-in" and "boat check-in across the lake."
On the road between the Squirrel Secondhand Bookstore and the Dawn Corridor alone,
at least four bookstore receptionists and eight horse-drawn carriage drivers were needed to ensure that customers entering the hotel from the town's market bookstore would be promptly attended to.
On the Cream Road, facing the subway entrance, he prepared 20 banana boats to transport customers from Emerald Lake to the castle building.
This meant at least 30 boatmen were needed to meet daily operational needs.
Inside the hotel, Chen Jianhai also prepared an additional 30 horse-drawn carriages for customers' daily transportation.
All of these tasks required employees to adapt.
Beyond these,
the main reason for Langai Hotel's "delay proclaiming kingship" strategy also lay in the park's "amusement park".