Disaster
I went to a 4-star hotel yesterday for a business meeting. I was hoping to do a deal – turn a prospect into a new client. We were checking each other out – to see if there was a good fit between our businesses.
We met in a hotel I didn’t know well – but I expected to get 4-star customer service. This is what happened – the lessons I’ve taken from the experience.
The story from customer’s view:
We wanted to sit outside & drink coffee. That part of the hotel turned out to be “not open yet” – we were ushered inside. That was a bad start because the weather was good.
I asked for croissants – they had none. I asked for toast – I was told that wasn’t possible because the person serving couldn’t go get toast from the kitchen. I didn’t want scones. So I settled for coffee only.
Ten minutes later, I changed my mind. I asked again for toast – this time I asked the member of staff to use the phone and tell the hotel manager there was a customer who wanted toast. I also said, nicely, that I expected the toast to be delivered within five minutes. I’d decided to put myself out, test the quality of customer service systems – but I was already thinking “the management here doesn’t empower the staff to deliver what the customer wants.”
The toast came in about three minutes. It was put on the table. A sideplate was delivered – unclean. I decided to say nothing. But I photographed it on my iPhone. We had a meeting to get on with – by this time, we were deep in discussion about how poorly the hotel was being led.
Later, I asked for another coffee. The person I asked forget my order. This was now a 4-star Fawlty Towers. I repeated the order to a different person. The coffee was fairly good.
My potential client & I began to look closely round the space. There were loads of cigarette butts in view: the cleanliness was a disgrace. We became completely distracted & discussed how long the hotel would stay in business. There had been a big investment in the physical appearance of the hotel recently. But it looked as if the culture of the place was deeply flawed.
Unexpected benefits of poor customer service:
The customer service issues gave us an opportunity to deepen rapport – the unexpected benefit of lousy service was that we formed an alliance to do something to improve customer service in Ireland. We also agreed to do business.
I made notes of all the issues. I thought of leaving the hotel, saying nothing, and writing about how bad it was – how poorly I’d been served. I felt like going, never returning. But I had a bigger interest. I went to the reception desk & met the duty manager. I offered feedback which was taken ["all feedback is good" - was the cliché used]. It was a relief the manager listened to me. He seemed to take it in. He thanked me – and I went off about my business.
What wasn’t done to recover the damage
The manager didn’t seem to realise I would never return to the hotel. He didn’t seem to realise my lifetime custom was at stake. He did nothing to make it up to me. I don’t think it crossed his mind to refund me all the money we’d spent. I bet he didn’t think of inviting me to stay free in the hotel overnight.
The manager would have had to do something extraordinary in order to prevent the hotel losing a customer for life. I’ll never agree to meet anyone there again. I’ll tell many people about my experience. The marginal cost of offering me a free overnight stay in the hotel is about €14 – the cost of cleaning the room. The loss of my custom for life is certainly many times that.
This is only an example of what goes on all the time. The customer is not given the service that the brand promises. If the customer brings this to the attention of the business – the business doesn’t know what’s at stake – or even how to invest in repairing the damage.
Overall take-away:
There is a serious need for business education.
PS Here’s a lovely blogpost about positive customer service : it came to me via Twitter: http://twitter.com/Ali_Davies
7 Comments
Talk about making a bad first impression! A 4-star hotel that couldn’t provide croissants or toast without making a fuss doesn’t deserve the designation.
Excellent customer service is about going beyond the customer’s expectations. We all of us have preconceived notions about what we might expect when dealing with particular companies and organisations.
My expectation of service at the Four Seasons for instance is higher than that at a 2-star motel. Nevertheless, I might be delighted at the service at the latter even though it would almost certainly fall short of what I would get at the former..which might disappoint my expectations.
And yes, it’s about empowerment and good staff selection and training. Employ people who like dealing with people. If they don’t measure up, get rid of them. The damage a poor front of house person can cause to your business can be huge.
If staff have to break the in-house rules or procedures to satisfy a customer they should feel free to do so. How many managers have the courage to instruct their staff *in writing* accordingly? The best managers do.
As a trainee duty manager and a graduate of hospitality management I think it should be my place to apologise on behalf of this hotel(although I do hope it is not my own hotel).
It is great to see that a customer can be so detailed in a review and that a blog like this should be a lesson to people working in the industry everywhere.
I do agree that a common enemy such as bad service can unite two people. I would love to know the identity of this hotel, for fear it is my current workplace.
I always believe that you should visit a place a second time for them to win you back or even confirm your original thoughts.
JD
Top class comment John – or so I think. The idea of staff being authorised to break in-house rules or procedures to satisfy a customer is truly radical. Just the kind of thinking we need to encourage.
I’ve already had people tweet me saying that they simply leave, walk away and don’t return. The customer always has that power – and that right. But if staff were clear that their business was to hold on to the customer by taking initiative, customers would be much more inclined to offer feedback.
I like the point you make about expectations being set in advance by the brand – 4-star hotels promise a lot.
I managed staff for many years. Spent huge amounts of time attending to customer service performance. I’ve hardly ever met a member of staff unable to deliver good service – when the leadership is there. As soon as staff know what’s expected of them – and what’ll happen if they don’t deliver superb customer customer service – they give customers good service – provided the business is sound.
It’s great to meet a trainee duty manager who’s able to accept such fierce comments in the generous way you have John.
Is it your hotel? I don’t know – and see no advantage to anyone in naming this particular 4-star hotel. As soon as the hotel is named, all other hotels can breathe a sign of relief?
I’m really keen to improve customer service across the board because my experience is that too many businesses haven’t a clue. They’ve grown fat and unskilled during easy trading times – now they struggle & simply haven’t the instincts your need to do business in a fiercely competitive marketplace.
Will I go back to this hotel? Maybe. But I owe the hotel nothing. What I’ll do is email the owner of the hotel the link to this blogpost and comments and see what happens. If I owned the hotel, I’d ring, thank the person for the feedback, invite them & their family/friend over for a really good meal on the house and see what I could do to help their business. I would do my best to turn a disaster into a story of how the tide of a flawed culture can be turned.
sadly Paul this is all too common – customer service is bottom of the pile in many businesses list of priorities.
Only the other day I booked a guesthouse in Killarney for the bank holiday weekend. My husband and I are going down to volunteer for the Make A Wish Foundation at the Irish Open so we’re going to be busy for the weekend and didn’t want to spend a crazy amount of money.
I found a fairly new guesthouse in the centre of town advertising €55 B&B – fair enough for a bank holiday. Booked the guesthouse, received a receipt by e mail stating clearly the price and that availability would be confirmed by the premises. A short time later an e mail arrived saying the price should be €85 B&B – a 55% increase because it was a bank holiday weekend. This was not mentioned on my receipt so brought it to their attention and they refused to do anything about it but they hoped they could accommodate me on another occasion – well the answer to that was a flat no!
They have lost my custom and I’m a regular visitor to Killarney. I’ve told everyone I know that also frequents Killarney not to book there. Perhaps my lack of business won’t make any difference to them but I prefer to give my money to someone that knows what “customer service” should actually mean.
I know many people leave things and say nothing but that’s what has caused the problem in the first place! We need to speak up
Hi Paul I was curious since I bumped into you on Ali’s blog post on ‘customer service’, so I popped over to your post. I have to say that I really smiled at this and have to share with you what happend to me as well. Up here in the North West I have visited the same hotel twice in the last month with a business client & team. The meet up’s were in the hotel coffee area and about 2 weeks apart. The hotel failed on customer service on both visits on exactly the same thing – we ordered coffee and asked for some biscuits and we were told, sorry we have no biscuits. A hotel with no biscuits – holiday season – not able to nip to the shop which is only over the road – and get a few packets of biscuits between one visit and another, what is that all about. Shame they are in the hospitality business. But I suppose I also failed, I left on both visits without bringing it to the hotel manager’s attention.
To close I so agree with you ‘customer service’ is sadly lacking on these shores – I still think being consistent in a business is what helps – reviewing what you are doing, how you (your staff) are doing it and refining it as is needed. What ever happended to ‘customer satisfacton survey cards’ to be filled in and popped in the ‘managers box at receptions’ etc.
Sharon