Keren Solomon — 10 January 2007
How Can I Make Your Stay More Pleasant?
People say to write about what you know. I travel for work, so I know airlines and hotels. Recently I’ve been thinking about what makes a great hotel experience, and two things stick out in my mind – customer service and personality. When I think of hotels, two brands pop into my mind – Starwood and Kimpton.
I’m a Starwood fanatic. I really am (and many of my friends and colleagues are too). I’ve had a Starwood Amex for years, and will always stay at a Starwood property when I can. What engendered this passion? Well, I love the loyalty program and think it’s one of the best in the business. But just as importantly, Starwood is incredibly customer focused. They really believe in customer service. Most things go right the first time at Starwood hotels (an accomplishment in itself!), but when things don’t go right they fix the problem quickly, professionally and in a way that makes you forget about the problem and remember the great customer service you received.
From what I can tell, Starwood believes that creating a good customer experience means investing in learning about your customers in multiple ways. I regularly get surveys after I’ve stayed in a Starwood hotel. The company has an employee (a real person, named William) who actively participates in one of my frequent traveler websites. And from what I can tell they do quite a lot of qualitative and ethnographic research too. I think this makes them more empathetic and in tune with what their customers want.
I’m newer to Kimpton. In fact, I’ve only stayed at a Kimpton hotel once, and it was because my fiancé had to work overnight and his company has a corporate arrangement with the Cypress Hotel in Cupertino, CA. I have to say that the pictures on the Kimpton website don’t do this hotel justice. When we went upstairs to our room, the first thing I noticed in the hallway was the “do not disturb” signs – which actually said “please go away – I am relaxing in my leopard print robe.” (Hmmm. You don’t see that at many hotels.) When we got into the room, the second thing I noticed was the leopard print bathrobe in the closet. I guess I hadn't really expected a leopard print robe, so it was quite a surprise to find it. (Conveniently, the robes were available for purchase.) Now, I have never been tempted to spend $120 on a hotel bathrobe, but just wearing this robe was so much fun that I thought long and hard about buying it.
So, what’s Kimpton doing right? First, they made me laugh. We had checked in at 1 in the morning and at that point all I wanted was a bed and a pillow. But the do-not-disturb sign tipped me off that this hotel was “different,” with a sense of humor and play. Believe it or not, at 1am I found myself reading the welcome book, page by page, to see how else this hotel was going to entertain me. (My favorite: High-Speed Internet Access. “Come on, we’re in Silicon Valley…”) Second, they created a story – in this case, an animal theme. Kimpton’s tagline is “every hotel tells a story,” and after staying at the Cypress Hotel I want to stay at their other properties, just to see what they’ve cooked up. I tell my friends about the door sign and the bathrobe, and now I check out Kimpton properties too.
It’s very refreshing to find companies that clearly think about their customers, and then have the confidence to execute on a vision. The next time you have a bad experience somewhere, think about the companies that make you feel really good – about doing business with them and about yourself. Think about what these companies have done, and then think about what you can add to your business to create that same result in your customers. What emotions, values and meaning can you discover and tap into? How can you consistently meet your customers’ expectations? How can you exceed them? Is it by doing things consistently well? Is it by creating something new? Is it something else? It's a good question to sleep on.
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© 2008 Cheskin Added Value
Best way to spot the good hotel is to count the bed bugs, the more there is, the better the hotel i.e. regular supply of fresh food.
Posted by Jared Bothwell on January 29, 2007 07:51 PM | Permalink to Comment