So, we recently went on a trip and we stayed in two different places while we were gone–one night at a kind of cheap motel and two nights in a resort. Now I realize that these are two radically different places, but I think that they both could have been good experiences if they were managed correctly.
First place we stayed was the hotel. It didn’t impress us a lot when we drove up, but it had decent reviews when I booked it. We got to the room and the fridge smelled bad–really bad. There was water dripping and stains on the floor in the bathroom. There were three of us staying in the room and usually they provide four pillows per bed, but this one only had 2 per bed. I started looking around for a phone number to call down to the desk, but couldn’t find a number until I found my reservation paperwork and used my cell. When I asked for more pillows they said that they could give us one more if I came down and picked it up.
When I got back up I saw not one, but TWO cockroaches which totally grossed me out. By that time people were tucked in bed and I just wanted to make it through the night. I used my own internet to check my mail before trying to sleep (because they never bothered to give me a WIFI password and I didn’t have the energy to try and find the phone number for the front desk again) and gave them a poor review on the site that I booked the room through.
Next morning we checked out at 6:30AM and were questioned my review and why I didn’t call down–they would have moved us to another room. I was annoyed at being questioned–I mean providing directions on how to call down to the desk would have been helpful in that situation anyway, wouldn’t it??
The resort was a completely different story. When I checked in they gave me all the information I needed to have a nice stay. Maps, WIFI passwords, their name and extension if I had any problems, and more. When we got to the suite, the sofa bed wasn’t made up for my daughter to sleep in. So I called down to the office (directions on how to was beside both phone extensions!) and they apologized for the inconvenience and said they would send bed linens right away. They called later that evening to make sure they were delivered, and made several other calls to make sure we were happy. They had the number to the local pizza place when my husband called to ask about it.
So the difference between the two places (besides obviously actually cleaning!)? I really think it was the communication–the hotel just assumed everything was fine and expected me to track them down to complain if I needed to. The resort went out of their way to make sure I didn’t have any complaints or if I did they got taken care of almost immediately. I didn’t even have to figure out how to make a complaint! Wouldn’t it be amazing if everyone approached customer service that way? Trying to make sure you enjoyed yourself/were happy with your product that you didn’t even have to wonder how to complain?