Fans Advisory Board Meeting - 16th September

[5-1]

Most people won't care about this but can you ask why you can't get the goalkeeper shirt in a women fit? This has never been available and after all the coverage with the Mary Earp England shirt, i really hope the club can now follow suit and produce them. Mens shirt don't fit out bodies the same before anyone says just buy the mens one. 

[Marka Ragnos]

More friendlies in America, please!  Seriously, one of the greatest opportunities of my life. Hope Villa make a habit of coming to the USA ...

[OutByEaster?]

We do now have a date for this meeting which will take place on 16th September before the Palace game.

[Feidhlim]

Pet peev

Can the club stop limiting competitions to UK residents only. If not, can they stop accepting all countries when a user enters details. It's disingenuous

 

 

Edited August 26, 2023 by Feidhlim

[Villatillidie95]

Please can you ask the club why there seems to be problems with people getting through the turnstiles efficiently? I’ve only noticed this since the first game of the season, but it was the same last night aswell, causing me to miss the first 10 minutes of the game. This simply can’t continue, we are a team who often score early and we can’t all be expected to que 45 mins beforehand. 
 

it would be great if you could find out the reasons why this has been happening and hopefully what the club are doing to remedy this so that it Dosent blight the season 

[MarkLillis]

last night i attended with my wife .....it doesn't happen often.

I was surprised to see that she was sent to the back of the queue because the steward couldn't check her as he was a man... she was told to join a queue with a women steward.

It wasn't a big deal....but i didn't know it was even a thing?

This will surely slow things down even more!

[HanoiVillan]

I know this is going to come up anyway, but yesterday was a fascinating look at the refreshments situation in the Upper Doug. My friend and I arrived onto the concourse 20 minutes (ie, longer than the length of half-time) before kick-off. We promptly joined a queue to buy a beer, a queue of about 7 or 8 people. The gentleman serving, along with colleagues, looked very dapper in a pressed black shirt - very professional - and proceeded to pour beers from the tap, taking extreme care not to get a disproportionate head on each one, and fair enough he seemed to be very good at this. Unfortunately each customer took ages, and by the time I reached the front of the queue the whistle went for kick-off so I abandoned and didn't purchase anything. As has become customary, I also stayed in my seat and didn't bother trying at half time. 

Just a fascinating example of completely misplaced priorities. 

[ender4]

20 minutes ago, MarkLillis said:

last night i attended with my wife .....it doesn't happen often.

I was surprised to see that she was sent to the back of the queue because the steward couldn't check her as he was a man... she was told to join a queue with a women steward.

It wasn't a big deal....but i didn't know it was even a thing?

Did she want a good patting down by a strange bloke

Seriously though, it makes sense that women are checked by women stewards, it’s been that case for a long time now. 

[Mic09]

3 minutes ago, HanoiVillan said:

I know this is going to come up anyway, but yesterday was a fascinating look at the refreshments situation in the Upper Doug. My friend and I arrived onto the concourse 20 minutes (ie, longer than the length of half-time) before kick-off. We promptly joined a queue to buy a beer, a queue of about 7 or 8 people. The gentleman serving, along with colleagues, looked very dapper in a pressed black shirt - very professional - and proceeded to pour beers from the tap, taking extreme care not to get a disproportionate head on each one, and fair enough he seemed to be very good at this. Unfortunately each customer took ages, and by the time I reached the front of the queue the whistle went for kick-off so I abandoned and didn't purchase anything. As has become customary, I also stayed in my seat and didn't bother trying at half time. 

Just a fascinating example of completely misplaced priorities. 

I've worked in hospitality for many years, and the problem is as straightforward as the solution.

The staff is employed by an agency - they got a call about the job at VP and without skills or drive to sell as many pints as possible (or experience of fast service) they are simply not going to provide a good service.

The solution is to have an Aston Villa employee (from a bartending background) train them 2 hours before the game in quick SOS (Speed of Service). They also need to be incentivised - £50 to each bartender for most pints sold etc. I guarantee the club would make up that money in 10 minutes if the agency staff actually cared about quick service.

The situation is so frustrating I even considered writing to Villa about this. 

[cheltenham_villa]

20 minutes ago, Mic09 said:

I've worked in hospitality for many years, and the problem is as straightforward as the solution.

The staff is employed by an agency - they got a call about the job at VP and without skills or drive to sell as many pints as possible (or experience of fast service) they are simply not going to provide a good service.

The solution is to have an Aston Villa employee (from a bartending background) train them 2 hours before the game in quick SOS (Speed of Service). They also need to be incentivised - £50 to each bartender for most pints sold etc. I guarantee the club would make up that money in 10 minutes if the agency staff actually cared about quick service.

The situation is so frustrating I even considered writing to Villa about this. 

The answer is the efforts that have gone into the lower holte. Self serve, pre order, staff less service. Queues are eliminated. The main question really should be when will this the replicated in other areas

[ender4]

22 minutes ago, Mic09 said:

I've worked in hospitality for many years, and the problem is as straightforward as the solution.

The staff is employed by an agency - they got a call about the job at VP and without skills or drive to sell as many pints as possible (or experience of fast service) they are simply not going to provide a good service.

The solution is to have an Aston Villa employee (from a bartending background) train them 2 hours before the game in quick SOS (Speed of Service). They also need to be incentivised - £50 to each bartender for most pints sold etc. I guarantee the club would make up that money in 10 minutes if the agency staff actually cared about quick service.

The situation is so frustrating I even considered writing to Villa about this. 

Or just a make the beers self-service?  Tap your contactless card, grab a cup and press a button to dispense.  This then lowers the queues for food as half of that is iust people wanting a pint.

[Mic09]

24 minutes ago, cheltenham_villa said:

The answer is the efforts that have gone into the lower holte. Self serve, pre order, staff less service. Queues are eliminated. The main question really should be when will this the replicated in other areas

 

21 minutes ago, ender4 said:

Or just a make the beers self-service?  Tap your contactless card, grab a cup and press a button to dispense.  This then lowers the queues for food as half of that is iust people wanting a pint.

Sure. That is the even easier solution.

But, you still need some human service. Some machines will break. Some will run out. Sometimes you want to ask a question, or something happens. You might get an older person hesistant to use them. 

Even lower holte still has some element of human sales. In a well run bar, it can be as quick as machines. 

[mikeyp102]

1 hour ago, MarkLillis said:

last night i attended with my wife .....it doesn't happen often.

I was surprised to see that she was sent to the back of the queue because the steward couldn't check her as he was a man... she was told to join a queue with a women steward.

It wasn't a big deal....but i didn't know it was even a thing?

This will surely slow things down even more!

This happens everywhere not just VP

[cheltenham_villa]

3 minutes ago, Mic09 said:

 

Sure. That is the even easier solution.

But, you still need some human service. Some machines will break. Some will run out. Sometimes you want to ask a question, or something happens. You might get an older person hesistant to use them. 

Even lower holte still has some element of human sales. In a well run bar, it can be as quick as machines. 

Of course but reducing the reliance on agency type staff is key. They still need to pour all of the pints

[mikeyp102]

Service in upper Holte was terribly slow again yesterday. I even queued at one point, to get about 3 from front, only to be told that they were stopping serving in that queue and to join another one

I gave up and didn’t buy anything. I’m sure I’m not the only one who did. The club are missing out in so much money by not having this right. 

[Milfner]

Taps in the toilets at the entrance for K1/K2/K3 not working. Really nice to go for a piss and not to be able to wash your hands. 

[limpid]

Looks like OBE is going to be speaking for about 24 hours during this short meeting. Perhaps we could try and focus and not have conversations in this thread.

[Captain_Townsend]

They need to be asked about the fiasco of two badges and the awful way this was handled. 

[limpid]

1 minute ago, Captain_Townsend said:

They need to be asked about the fiasco of two badges and the awful way this was handled. 

What is the specific question and what kind of response are you expecting in this short meeting?

[rjw63]

Worth a read if you are an attendee of these meetings:

https://astonvilla.vitalfootball.co.uk/and-its-goodbye-from-him-12-000-articles-and-out-and-the-real-issues-communicated-with-our-beloved-club/?fbclid=IwAR0EnJNnmRjmGNG6QWwycWRgyl0IMd95hg9jKH-BPKPeLYhcOU-cmBQUEzc