Arriving early in the morning on route to another meeting I didn't expect to be able to check in to my room and instead just wanted to leave a bag so I didn't need to carry it around with me all day. I was pleasantly surprised that my room was available so I went through the check-in process. As a nice extra touch I was given a warm cookie and can vouch for the fact that it was delicious, albeit that I didn't eat it until later that afternoon and by that time it certainly wasn't warm any longer! As I left the hotel to go to my meeting I was left with a very positive initial impression of the process and the people who had delivered it.
On returning later that afternoon I needed to make two or three calls and as I'd just realised that my mobile phone wasn't working I tried to dial out from the landline in my room. I followed the instructions on how to access an outside line but couldn't complete the call. After several attempts I rang reception who explained that in order to make calls they needed credit card details - which they'd omitted to take when I checked in. I asked them to enable the line and that I'd call down later for them to register my card. They agreed and said I'd be able to make calls in just 5 minutes. Time passed, and I tried again - unsuccessfully. I had a shower and then tried again - still not working. After 25 minutes I rang reception again and reminded them. They apologised and said it would be done in 5 mninutes. I reminded them they'd said that previously and they assured me it would happen this time. And it did, but I was left feeling frustrated and a little annoyed that they hadn't delivered effectively first time.
Subsequently I realised that the television in my room wasn't working. The problem seemed to be with the remote control and it didn't seem possible to operate it manually so prior to going out to dinner a little later and when registering my card for the calls, I asked at reception for another remote to be delivered to my room. I returned 3 or 4 hours later only to find that this hadn't been done. To be honest I didn't pursue it - I read a little instead. BUT my sense of frustration had grown and I felt almost disrespected, certainly not valued.
I checked out the next morning following breakfast.
Two conclusions from the overall experience:
- Get the basics right AND THEN build on the extras. This isn't new by any means but it's worth reiterating because many companies are still making the same mistakes. hs Getting the basics wrong outweighs all the benefits of the extras.
- People are critical. I'm sure that a process was in place to enable the telephone and to sort out the television problem - but people failed to deliver it. Again, this isn't new but when we get busy, it fails.
Delivering a consistently great customer experience isn't complex, but it does require constant focus....
LinkedIn: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/timhadfield
Blog: http://everythingengagement.blogspot.com/
Twitter: @accordengage
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