One of the best advocacy campaigns ever: Il Giglio d’Oro Bed & Breakfast in Firenze.

Last summer, my girlfriend and I went for a short break to Italy. We travelled to different cities and stayed a while in Il Giglio d’Oro, a small bed & breakfast just outside the Firenze city center.
Il Giglio d’Oro is a pretty normal bed & breakfast. Not the best I have seen and certainly not the worst. It has 4 rooms, has a kitsch design feel and a matching flash intro on their website.

The owner (an extremely friendly Italian ex-ski instructor) and his wife showed us around town, helped us when we needed it and made us feel very welcome. When we eventually left, the owner asked me if I liked the Bed & Breakfast. I replied I did. He gave me a small piece of paper (see picture) and asked me: “Can you do me a favor? If you like it this much, can you go to tripadvisor.com and write a nice review? That would really, really help me.”

As it turned out, he did this with every single person that stayed at his bed & breakfast. The result? Il Giglio d’Oro was the #8 bed & breakfast in Europe last year (and #1 in Italy) on TripAdvisor and is currently ranked #4 of 373 bed & breakfasts in Firenze. The occupancy rate? Over 90%.

Sometimes advocacy is just so simple.

Written in 2011, left as it was.

Original: One of the best advocacy campaigns ever: Il Giglio d’Oro Bed & Breakfast in Firenze, 24 May 2011. Historical links may no longer work.