We’ve all had crazy guest service experiences in recent months. My personal guest service experience at the Las Vegas Strip hotel that we stayed at was not what I expected. I responded to a marketing campaign in March and booked my rooms at a very low rate. I felt like I got a great deal, but in all actuality, I guess “great rate” translated into “crappy service”. Don’t make this same mistake. If you are driving business through price drop programs, you still have to keep the service up, or I think you can sell yourself out of business. I won’t go back to this hotel, and have stayed with them many times. They surveyed me. I took the survey and said it was OK to contact me . . and guess what? I have not been contacted! The service nightmare just keeps getting worse. I’m pretty sure they are past the point of earning back my business. With guest service, we like to teach managers and front line staff to not rush to refund money but rather to award a coupon or gift certificate in the same amount of dollars or more than the unhappy guest has spent. This strategy helps you get the guest service part right next time. The ONLY way I’m ever staying at this hotel again is if they award me a 4 or 5 night stay for free and the experience is a WHOLE lot better than 2 weeks ago.
You and this Vegas hotel have the opportunity to hire people with more work history and greater guest service ability because there are more people looking for jobs today. It’s time to stop expecting untrained or unskilled labor can or will put your best foot forward. Find the great guest service leaders in your group. Train, encourage, motivate, and reward them for their efforts and they’ll pass that good will on to the front line. Tom Peters says that, “the magic formula that successful businesses have discovered is to treat our customers like guests, and our employees like people”.
