The Change Dude’s Blog

Doubletree Hotel – Surprise & Delight

Professional consultants do a tad bit of traveling, somewhere on the order of 160-200 days annually to clients throughout the world helping with sticky issues.  Every day is a new opportunity for service providers to either brighten or darken our day.  In most cases the latter is the case.  From airlines that stuff us into their highly efficient aircraft like foam peanuts in a packing box to hotels that seem to find endless methods of charging you for items that should be bundled in the room rate.

Every so often a service provider actually delights and surprises the weary road warrior, after a service failure.   This is one of those stories.

Just last week one of my colleagues had flown into John Wayne Airport for a session with our client the next day.  Doing appropriate due diligence to reduce the cost of travel he found that the hotel he was booked into provided free shuttle service from the airport to the hotel, marvelous.  Upon arrival he contacted the hotel via phone, unfortunately when someone did answer after dozens of rings he was put on hold then requested a shuttle.  After waiting patiently for 30 minutes or so he realized the transport wasn’t coming.

Being a resourceful traveler he popped into a taxi and was whisked away to the lobby of the hotel.  Finally. 

Immediately after entering the lobby and approaching the front desk he was asked by the hotelier, “are you the gentleman that requested a shuttle earlier?”.  The response was a resounding “yes”.  An apology was quickly offered with an additional request for the cost of the cab ride.  Our stalwart desk attendant then promptly reimbursed my partner for the unnecessary expense.  WOW!  Now that’s a service recovery.

It’s apparent that Doubletree empowers their associates to “make things right” when a service failure occurs.  Bravo!  Our compliments and appreciation to Doubletree for their commitment to guest service.

Recovery is the most significant loyalty builder in the service toolkit.  My colleague and I were shocked and amazed by the immediate recovery putting us in a position to provide positive advocacy for both the brand and that property.

Working every day with clients that look for ways of building customer engagement we bang the drum of associate empowerment.  Allow the front line do the right thing without bureaucratic restriction and loyalty will follow.

On this Thanksgiving week all road warriors are thankful to those that strive to make our travels more tolerable with an easy smile, a helping hand or a delightful service recovery.

November 25, 2009 - Posted by thechangedude | Thinking About Customers