TheGM Society Manifesto

Belong to the community that YOU created.

This document is a projection of TheGM’s Society principals. This is a pilot version, involving the elements of debating with the links leading to the discussion pages. Send your comments below using the hashtag #thegmsocietyhost (or guest, hotel) at the end of your comment

The Golden Moon Society: a Society of New Travellers

Rules of conduct

The rules of TheGM come from understanding that all members of the society have their rights and obligations and TheGM gives all the power and control in shaping rules to its members and the conscious willingness of the members to follow these rules makes our society an overall happier and better place.

In the heart of our vision is the view that TheGM, as a truly public company, is a part of the free market that regulates itself with little or no regulation from authority.

To develop this thought further, the definition of ‘little or no regulations’ might need some clarification. Little or no regulation does not mean the absence of rules. As with any civilised society TheGM adheres to the principles of morality, ethics, and goodwill. These are:

• Mutual Respect. Not the respect to power or someone who can penalties you financially but based on ability respect and Listen to the opinion of others.
• That lead to creating a Dialog
• Coming in dialogue brings Negotiation and Agreement to each other
• That, finally come to establishing of Trust.

Having the “golden rule” in place can suggest, the main rules of conduct among all the members of society. They are formulated by TheGM but are not fixed, remain open for discussion and change. The change comes around from the members of the society and when sufficiently supported should be implemented by TheGM. This is what is meant by “free market with little or no regulations”.

In practice the rules apply for: 

Hotels

Less than anything hotels needed to be regulated by TheGM. They have some long-established practices of conduct and the fact that hotels survive in the highly competitive world means that their practices are efficient and acceptable by customers. Send your comments below using the hashtag #thegmsocietyhotels at the end of your comment

While this one is fully established the other two Hosts/Guest might need more attention.

Guests

As the guests, we expect some key features to be in place: a clear description of what we are paying for, fast and safe booking/communication system, a welcoming smile from the host upon arrival, cleanly prepared room (to hotel-like standards), and responsiveness to our needs during the stay. While the demands can vary dependent on the price we paid, this, in fact, is what every guest wants and expects to be provided within the hospitality industry. It might look like not a lot but it also might be not so straightforward when it comes to local host. They are not hotels. And to a lesser or bigger extent, they need to be treated as room service. “This is my house, you are a guest in my house, thus make yourself home but do not forget you are a guest”. This mindset is often employed by hosts and needs to be understood by guests. Again, hosts are not quite the hotels, the hotel price was not paid here so yes, this needs to be remembered.

Secondly, the perception of the price-quality relationship can hugely vary. For somebody coming to Europe from South America, the price of £25 for a cheapest London room might look like an equivalent of the 5-star room in their home country. Thus, expected service is also a 5-star. The key here is understanding that the price-quality relationship is varied around the globe and should be clearly understood. This shapes guest’s expectations making them more realistic and finally the satisfaction allying it with realistic expectations. The pragmatic rule here is – if you paid 4 times less than the average London hotel room the expectations should be about the same.

Thirdly, it needs to be understood that actual levels of satisfaction can in large be regulated by you. If you think something can be done better by a host during your stay – build a dialogue between you and the host. Often guest’s discomfort is due to a background or cultural difference and misunderstanding rather than the host’s unwillingness to perform. It can be changed easily. The dialogue can significantly improve your stay rather than waiting for the moment when we can submit a negative review. Using the review as a weapon is not a choice and not how we do it on TheGM. Any dissatisfaction is the point when the golden rules come to the scene and should be followed.

The key here is in understanding the hosts are those who sacrifice some of their comfort and privacy in doing so. Of course, this is not for free but what is important here is the balance between the realistic expectation of the first and willingness of the second in reaching the acceptable compromise between both sides. This is a sort of sacrifice from both, so it would be useful to bear in mind: “Make yourself home but do not forget you are a guest”. Send your comments below using the hashtag #thegmsocietyguests at the end of your comment

Being realistic does not imply lesser expectations. Not at all. Mutual respect means respect on both sides and here is how the respect looks for the hosts.

Hosts

“Your House- Your Rules”. This is the unquestionable right of every host on TheGM. We never ask you why you have or have not accepted a booking request or penalise you for doing so. We consider the statements false and not acceptable within TheGM Society. We have no doubt that TheGM hosts are decent, honest, and reliable members of TheGM Society who are directed by goodwill and put all the efforts into achieving highest possible guest satisfaction.

Professional manner of TheGM’s hosts is their distinctive features. Knowing how to reach satisfaction levels is the distinctive feature of TheGM’s hosts. The understanding requires further clarification: any business relationship typically involves the relationship between three sides: buyer (guest), sellers (host), and intermediates (TheGM). How successful the last two are in satisfying the needs and desires of the first one will determine the overall success of the business enterprise. Thus, the success of hosts and TheGM ultimately depends on the satisfaction of the end consumer-the guest.

Thus, the efforts should be directed toward this one single objective. Part of the effort is a conscious willingness of a host to perform its role or employing the right attitude in the equation and perform it at the highest possible level. Often, the role comes quite close to the role of “room service”. Bearing in mind the involved financial incentive for the hosts this should be accepted consciously and willingly in a professional manner.

The key here is in the understanding the guests are those who trusted you with possibly the most treasurable time of their lives – their holidays, seeing in you the hosts who can be trusted. We are sure that all of us in this society are wise enough to bear this obligation proudly and carefully allowing for mutual benefits.

Thus, “Your House- Your Rules” Policy should be seen and interpreted within the wider context of rights and obligations of each member of TheGM Society. The satisfaction of the final customer is the key and should be understood and accepted as another cornerstone of TheGM Society.

While it might be easy to formulate in theoretical postulates, achieving them might not always be so straightforward. Often, commercial interest does not go in line with moral ones. For this point, we believe that all the members will benefit more from the harmonious long-term relationship rather than reaping the short-term benefits. A sense of belonging, of being accepted and surrounded by likeminded people is the added benefit of the harmonious relationship adding even more value to the financial benefits. Send your comments below using the hashtag #thegmsocietyhosts at the end of your comment

Also, often it is not easy to align our everyday activities and life obligations with sufficient performance on your host’s site. TheGM is here to help, and this is how we see it. 

Thegoldenmoon.com 

Shared economy is a newly emerging economy with relationships often unclear or unestablished.  While putting all efforts to make them transparent, honest and ethical, TheGM undertakes the responsibility to ensure that the society members are the ones who are involved in the building of the societal rules benefiting all rather than few.

To underline the value of every society member we undertake an effort to provide every guest with 5-star service and each hotel or host with VIP treatment. We are making this effort consciously, intentionally and with a strong belief that doing so will benefit all members of TheGM Society. We believe that the limitations of old standards do not fit and should be left in the past. The big corporations are too big to take real care of their clients. They are sure that they will be buying from them anyway. This is not to say that we are not going to become big. We are healthy profit oriented and we are going to grow our business. However, we are going to grow it with you and our promise to you is that we will not be caring about you any less than we are now. Send your comments  using the hashtag #thegmsocietythegm at the end of your comment

More discussions on the “Shaping Your Rules” at www.thegoldenmoon/blog/ Please, suggest/comment/critique the points you think are important for you. Do not forget to use the hashtags the end of your comments.