Not to Complain, But…

by Dr. Michael Hudson
Filed under: Build Business, Get Results, Lead People, Take Action

It’s 4 am and I am in a hotel room in Pleasanton, California packing and preparing to head back home after a quick two-day trip to facilitate a planning session for a client. And though I promised myself to never let my blog become a place where my personal complaints were vented, my promise to you to be on the lookout for lessons that impact business growth must override this morning.

That said, let me share a few experiences from my time at this particular hotel property that reveal some important challenges and opportunities faced by any business serving the public.

Here’s a chronology of my interactions with the hotel staff during the past two days.

Day One, 1:00 pm…I arrived and was greeted with smiles by the front desk team, provided with a quiet room, directed to the restaurant for a quick lunch, and told about the Happy Hour snacks each evening.

Day One, 1:30 pm…Walked by the fitness center where I planned to workout later in the day and discovered that they were removing the equipment; a sign on the door indicated it was closed for renovations and that the front desk had passes to a nearby club where I could work out.

Day One, 1:40 pm…Waited for about 5 minutes while the hostess in the nearly empty restaurant finished a phone call, then was seated and received great service and excellent food.

Day One, 2:30 pm…Stopped by the front desk to pick up passes for the nearby health club. Waited for 3-4 minutes while two woman behind the desk finished their conversation (and ignored my presence), then was curtly informed they did not have an onsite fitness center. When I asked about the passes the curt young lady dragged out a notebook and gave me a map that showed the 2.2 mile route to the facility. The other woman left to go check with the manager about the passes.

Day One, 2:40 pm…The woman returned from the manager and looked in a drawer for the pass information. More maps were located and the manager appeared in the background. When asked about the passes mentioned on the sign, she asked me what sign I was talking about and in response to my clarifying that it was the one on the fitness center door, she indicated that they did not have that set up yet as they were waiting on a return call from the off-site facility for which I now had two maps.

Day One, 3:55 pm…While taking a nap I was awakened by the hotel phone. It was the front desk calling to ask me how everything was in my room. Now that I was awake I reviewed the services book about the fitness center and found a statement that indicated they offered passes to a different local club for those wanting more equipment…I guess no one ever asks for those, or the book is just seriously out of date.

Day One, 7:30 pm…After responding to e-mails I turned on the TV and discovered that the picture spanned the width of the screen as expected, but it was just over 4 inches high. A call to the front desk brought a quick response…within 10 minutes the friendly maintenance guy was at the door with a new TV, telling me that they have no clue why this happens, but it does frequently so they just swap them out and send them out for repair.

Day Two, 4:00 am…After smelling cigarette smoke in my non-smoking room (in what is supposed to be a smoke free hotel) for the better part of an hour I got up to start my day, opting to remain on east coast time for my short visit here. I walked into the bathroom and turned on the shower to discover that there was no hot water. I let the shower run for 10 minutes to make sure and surrendered to call the front desk.

Day Two, 4:10 am…Explained to the front desk person that there was no hot water in my room in building 300 and was informed that there was no hot water problem in building 300, that problem was in building 600. After my assuring her that there indeed was no hot water in building 300 she said she would attempt to leave a note for the maintenance people who came in between 6 am and 7 am. I requested that she move me to a room where I could shower and prepare for my day, and was told the property was fully booked. She did not apoogize for the problem and seemed a bit annoyed that I actually expected her to do something to fix it.

Day Two, 6:05 am…After testing for hot water every 15 minutes since my last call, I again called the front desk and inquired about the status of the problem. The young woman indicated that she had left a note for maintenance and when they came in they should find it and work on the problem. I asked her if she had a number to call them since this would soon be an emergency for everyone else in the building when they awoke to find no hot water, and she assured me that she now knew it was a problem because she had received several other calls confirming what I had told her two hours earlier. I suggested she call the manager or someone who could take action, and she responded that she did not have any emergency contact numbers and was the only one here.

Day Two, 6:45 am…The breakfast that I ordered using the little card you hang on the door arrived. Not surprisingly, it was not what I ordered.

Day Two, 7:25 am…As I walked out the door after my cold water cleansing and shaving experience, I tested the water and there was now hot water. Apparently the maintenance people had arrived, found the note, and fixed the problem, but the only way I knew was by checking it myself…there was no call to let me know it was back on and still no apology for the inconvenience.

Day Two, 4:10 pm…Returned to the hotel after a day on-site with my clients and found the tray from my breakfast still sitting outside of my door (as were several other trays in the building). Also found an open shampoo bottle from one of the rooms lying in the middle of the hallway.

Day Two, 4:55 pm…Returned the restaurant, was seated immediately, and enjoyed another very good dining experience.

Day Two, 6 pm…Stopped by the front desk to inquire about a cab to the airport for 4 am tomorrow morning. The young woman at the front desk gladly helped me by making arrangements for a cab to take me back to the airport.

So there you have it. A rather detailed play by play that demonstrates how many little things can go wrong in a period of about 30 hours. By themselves none of these are really that terrible to deal with, though the lack of hot water for a morning clean-up session would be a more significant problem for those who still have hair atop their domes, they add up to a very frustrating experience.

It is the kind of experience that will have an impact on the brand in general and the hotel in particular. For one thing, my client booked me here and they regularly send people to this hotel, but that is not likely to continue after hearing of my experience. Additionally, I will now be much less likely to choose this brand of hotel in the future based on this experience, and I may or may not waste my energy telling them about my experience (though I am quite sure my client will).

A quick look at the underlying causes suggests:

1. A lack of training and preparation of the staff…they do not know what to do when unexpected things happen, and they are not well prepared to take action;

2. No shared commitment to quality, except in the restaurant…too many little details are being missed and compromising the image of the property and the experience of the guest; and

3. Leadership is lacking in several areas and especially at the top…my brief interaction with the hotel manager made this obvious, though my contact with maintenance suggests that department may be well led, and there were interactions wih three people at the front desk on two different occasions who definitely do get it.

ACTION STEP: Think about this situation in the context of your business and your interactions with your customers. Whether they are on-site, online, or via the telephone, any or all of these kinds of things can, do, and will happen from time to time. How well is your team prepared to handle them? Are your leaders leading? Are you training people to rise to the occasion and deal with the problems that occur, or simply to do the routine things and hope it works out? Are your customers committed to supporting you because you care, or do they feel undervalued as I do after this series of incidents? Take action now to fix the problems and prepare for the realities so that your business will not lose customers because of bad 30 hours!

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