“For every guest that rates their stay as VERY SATISFIED, we will issue 20,000 points to your priority club card”

The reader asked the manager who said that his intent was to thank people for completing the survey.  Consumer reports adds ‘but not, it seems, for completing it honestly.’

What are you doing to bribe your guests?

Our take:  We agree with the travel industry analyst who said ‘it is the absolutely the wrong decision to make at a time when hotel demand is down from corporate business, conferences and leisure.”  It will save cash, but the timing is very poor.

In a follow up post, found here, three other brands seemed to distance themselves from Hilton’s strategy. 

Our favorite comment was from IHG’s Jim Abrahamson who said that rewards members are twice as profitable and elite-level members are 12 times as profitable.  He goes on to say “if one platinum-level member leaves us, we’d have to go out and find 12 new customers just to replace that one.”

Market Metrix and TripAdvisor did a recent study and found that “85 percent of hotels have no guidelines for monitoring, responding to or acting on guest reviews.”  85 percent!  They also state that “only 4 percent of negative reviews are responded to!”  The entire article can be read here.

The article suggests many of the same techniques that we do for mainting your hotel’s internet reputation.  You wouldn’t ignore a bad comment card, right?  Then why would you ignore a bad internet review of your hotel?  Get a plan in place today!

Back in the spring of 2008, a musician named Dave Carroll was on a United Airlines flight and witnessed the baggage handlers throw his guitar case.  When he arrived at his destination, his $3500 guitar was severely damaged.  He spent 9 months trying to get reimbursement for the damaged guitar and was treated poorly by United Airlines’ customer service department.  After getting the runaround for 9 months, he promised the last customer service representative that he spoke to that he would write and produce 3 songs about his experience with United Airlines and post online. 

He posted his first song and funny video on July 6, 2009.  Check out the video here:

The video called ‘United Breaks Guitars’ has already been watched by over 3.2 MILLION PEOPLE in only a week.  The story has also been picked up by many major news networks such as CNN. 

It just goes to show the power of the internet and why every single guest complaint must be resolved.

You can also check out Dave’s story on his website here.

Should you be adding fees like these to make up for a loss in room revenues?  Absolutely not. 

First off, mandatory fees are often illegal.  The article describes how Wyndham Worldwide and Marriott were sued and settled with the Florida’s Attorney General over adding mandatory surcharges.  The Florida AG aslo has six ongoing investigations.  Undisclosed energy surcharges (we all remember those) and in-room safe fees are among the issues being investigated. 

Second, it is a pretty short sighted plan to increase revenues by upsetting guests… or should we say soon to be former guests.  Check out the comment section on the article.  One commenter says that ‘I have been a loyal Marriott customer but this disgusts me’.  Another commenter says ‘I do not really understand why hotels do this.  How many guests leave thinking to themselves I will never stay here again’.  Another commenter says ‘I’ve been successfully fighting these hotel surcharges for years’.  Finally, another  commenter cracks everyone up with ‘last week I had a phone charge for calling room service.’  Ok, that is pretty funny.

What ‘fees’ make sure that we never become a repeat guest?

Mandatory gratuities or service charges – Hey, if I want to give a tip I will give a tip. 

Fees for internet access – Those of us with cell phones with built in Wi-Fi know that free internet access is everywhere.  There is no way that I would ever pay $12.95 a day for it unless my company reimbursed me and I didn’t like my company.

Resort fees – $30 bucks a day for local phone calls and use of the fitness center?  I have a cell phone and I am on vacation.  There is no way that I am using the fitness center.

Any fee that comes with poor service – In room dining and valet parking are the top two for us.  The service is often poor in those areas and the fees are incredible.

We really believe that these ‘hidden fees’ are really short sighted and bad for your future business.  Stay away from them if you can!

The article talks about how guests are finding much better deals on hotel rooms now then ever before, especially at luxury hotels.  But the most important part of the article is the section titled ‘Guests Notice Cutbacks’.  From the article:Hotels cannot hide all the cutbacks. Some frequent travelers say they’re starting to notice little things.  From the article:

Some amenities — such as a bottle of water in the room or a newspaper delivered to the door — are gone. The quality of complimentary food and beverages has diminished in some club rooms or lobbies, or at hotel managers’ guest receptions, they say.

Because many hotels have cut their staffs, frequent travelers say they’re waiting longer to check in and out, have rooms made up and have cars retrieved by valets.

“There are fewer people to provide basic services, answer questions and make suggestions for restaurants and activities,” says Howard Knoff, an education consultant in Little Rock.

 

Our Mystery Shoppers have also noticed the cutbacks.  In fact, many hotels have already cut back too far.  Our shoppers have waited in lines to check in and check out where there used to never be lines.  The phone calls that used to always be answered within 3 rings are now being placed on hold by the automated attendant.  Many outlets are now closed or are operating at reduced staffing levels and reduced hours.

What should you be doing now?  We understand the need to make cuts to maintain a profit level, however, don’t take it to far that the guest experience today is different than the guest experience in the past.  Keep in mind that hotel revenues and profits come and go.  You cannot keep cutting to maintain the same pre-recession profits.  Most hotels have made great profits prior to the recession.  Hopefully, some of those profits were saved to get your hotel past these rainy days.The main focus should be on keeping guest service at the same level.  Your competition is.  Guests are more price sensitive then ever before.  Any slight decrease in guest service will have your guests looking for better options.

Maybe it is just a sign of the weakening economy, but the major news outlets are attacking hotel hidden charges this summer.Just last week, I saw two different morning news channels run pieces on how to avoid hidden hotel fees.  This article has appeared in the main section on MSN as well. 

Hotels have been notorious for high fees since the beginning of time.  Who doesn’t know that picking up a phone in the hotel room is disastrous for your wallet?  I remember once staying at a resort and calling to reserve a time to go horseback riding.  The hotel charged over $18 for the 2 minute phone call…. and the horse stable was on the resort’s property!

How badly do these ‘hidden fees’ impact your guest service?  More than you can imagine.  The $18 phone call was almost 10 years ago and I am still a bit bitter today.  The real reason for my anger was that not only was I taken for $18 but then I was insulted when I asked about the fee at check out.  The snobby GSA responded with ‘phone calls come at a real premium at the resort.’ 

Charges for parking, internet access, phone calls and resort fees are part of hotel life.  How can your hotel charge the fees without hurting guest service?

1. Be sure to inform guests in advance of the fees.  If your hotel charges resort fees or parking fees, be sure that your website and email confirmation notifies the guest of these fees.  For in room fees such as internet and phone calls be sure the charges are stated in the guest directory.
2. Don’t rub the fees in your guest’s face.  Having a guest initial and sign that they know about the parking charge is poor service.  The guest already saw the fee on the website, on their email confirmation, and on the giant sign when they arrived at the hotel.  Anything more than that is just rubbing it in.
3. When a guest complains about the fees, just remove them.  If the guest already paid $219 for the room charge and is really that upset about the parking fee, just remove it.  Make sure that all GSAs are trained in how to handle complaints by listening, empathizing, apologizing, and providing a solution.
4. Make sure the service that you provide matches the amount of the hidden fee.  Hotels typically charge a $4 delivery charge and an automatic 20 percent gratuity on room service.  However, room service is typically one of the largest areas of dissatisfaction in a hotel.  Hotels often charge around $20 for valet parking but they do not provide anymore service than the free valet parking at most restaurants. 

For more guest service improvement ideas, be sure to check out our ‘Articles and Downloads’ section.