Has COVID Changed Athens Businesses?
Athens was in lock-down from sometime in November 2020 until early May 2021. The country of Greece was closed to tourists. The famous attractions, restaurants and bars were for the most part, locked shut, with only supermarkets and shops that could provide take-away options able to serve their customers.
In the good times, even with competition, there is enough demand from tourists for most businesses to be busy. Busy enough not to have to care about negative reviews on social media. Busy enough to try the little tricks on unwary visitors – like charging 2 euros for bottled water when tap water is available.
Now Athens is open again, and the tourists are starting to come back. The chairs are out, the tables are set with hand sanitizer and the touts are working their trade to get people to sit down and spend money. But with travel bans still in place, many of the tables and chairs are empty. Hospitality businesses have a few choices – revert back to old bad habits, or be grateful for every customer and deliver great service to all. Perhaps work out a way to attract local residents and turn them into regular customers.
I’ve seen both in the last couple of weeks. I’ve been out for lunch and charged 3 euros for two pieces of stale bread and had to fight to get it removed from the bill. I’ve also been touched by people are happy to be back at work and throwing in free desserts or drinks. I will probably never go back to the place where they tried the bread-trick. I’ve been back to the other place twice – and tagged them in my Instagram.
It’s a mindset change for some businesses that are used to relying on tourists. It’s perhaps easy to assume that Athens is the type of venue that someone might only visit once in a lifetime – especially if they are travelling from the US or Australia. And if someone is only going to visit once, what does it matter if they have a less than perfect experience?
Well the difference now is the power of social media reviews, whether they be public – on a site like Tripadvisor or private – in a WhataApp message. Recommendation is the new currency, and a single non-perfect experience could have a big impact.
Some businesses will never change, which is a shame because it hurts the reputation of the city and the more forward thinking venues who are adapting to the new normal.