Using a decision matrix to decide between the Tenerife apartments or villas that have made your holiday short list is a brilliant way to decide where to stay. So if you want every family member or friend to be happy with your choice of accommodation this summer, read on!
High expectations…
Deciding where to stay can be a complete nightmare.
You’ve read loads of brochures, you’ve browsed loads of websites, the youngest family member has insisted on a large swimming pool and the teenagers want to be near the Tenerife nightlife. In truth, pleasing everyone is going to be very hard but you can at least get everyone to buy into the decision which can stop griping and finger pointing when the reality doesn’t quite meet up with expectation.
Holiday brochures and websites are trying to sell you the dream. It never rains in a brochure and photos can be manipulated to show you what you want to see. You don’t get to see the high rise hotel next to your villa in a close up right!
Taking control…
You know what makes a good apartment or villa. It’s different for every family or group of friends but will likely include the level of luxury, the extras such as satellite TV and Wi-Fi, the size of the swimming pool and the location of the accommodation itself. If you don’t get seduced by the brochure you should be able to reach conclusions about each of these factors and use them to help you make a decision.
It can be at this point that emotion creeps in and a decision is made based on a gut feel or the quality of the photos you’ve looked at. STOP! This is the point at which you need to get more objective, weigh up all the factors and make sure everyone’s views are taken into account, unless of course you’re prepared for unhappy people once you get there!
Using a decision matrix…
Here’s an example of a decision matrix. It will organise your thoughts and help you make the correct decision for everyone.
Using a simple spread sheet or an online version you simply populate the decision matrix with the options you are choosing between and the factors that you are taking into account. In this example we’ve used Cost, Location, Size of pool etc. The next job is to decide on the importance of each factor which you do by weighting them. In this example,
Nightlife is considered the most important factor and has a weighting of five. The cost is the least important (unlikely I admit!) and is weighted with a one. Each option is then given a score between one and five for each of the factors. The result is reached by multiplying the score for each option by the weighting for each option and totalling each of the columns. Option four with a score of 66 wins in this example and a decision is reached.
Advantages of the decision matrix…
You have to get all interested parties involved to make this work but if you do then you start to create harmony and understanding straight away. The people favouring the nightclubs for example have to concede that in reality the cost of the accommodation is more important than being near the nightlife. Everyone has to hear everyone else’s priorities so everyone has a voice in the decision. This matrix only uses five factors but you could have as many as you like.
Go away and try it. You might save yourselves lots of holiday arguments! Let us know how you get on in the comments section.
