By: John Cane

Recently I went out of town on business.  I stayed at a very well known franchise hotel, one I am sure just about everyone has seen a commercial for.  I would have to say for the most part the appearance and tidiness was in order—it was as it should be for the reputation it advertises.

The company I work with spends over $200 a week at this hotel.  This company has been doing this for over three months.  To say the least, the hotel employees know the representative of this company when he walks in the door.  The thing they may not realize is, he’s also one of the owners.

While I was staying as a guest of this company, a couple of incidents transpired.  I asked for a wake-up call and never received it and there was no hot water one night when I took a shower (not good when you’re dirty and tired to boot).  These I brought to the attention of the staff along with the lukewarm coffee (actually the coffee matched their attitude) and the room key not working and then another taking several swipes to open the door.

Each time I mentioned a discrepancy; these are the responses I got:

Me: “This key doesn’t work.”

Desk Clerk (tosses on counter): “This should work.”

Me: “The coffee is lukewarm.”

Manager: “Oh, it shouldn’t be.”

Me: “I never got my wake-up call.”

Desk Clerk: “I checked my records, it rang three times.” (Which it didn’t)

Me: “My shower was cold last night.”

Manager: “Oh yes I know.  I took a shower too this morning and it was cold.  They’re working on it.”

Do you find anything missing in any of these responses?  “I’m sorry”.  Not once was there an “I’m sorry”—nothing even close.  Not an “I apologize for the inconvenience”, “Sorry that happened to you”—nada, zip, none.   Actually I felt like I was inconveniencing them by bringing up what was wrong.

In all fairness, after giving my Customer Service 101 speech, the manager finally gave in and asked me what I thought should be done.  I said take a night off the bill (by the way this is one of their hotel polices—I guess they just needed a reminder).  Surprisingly enough they did!  I applaud this company, even though it took some prodding, for actually taking action and doing the responsible thing.

Aside from the above it should be mentioned that the hotel was going through some renovations.  So the room I was staying in didn’t have the amenities it use to when I stayed there in the past; microwave and refrigerator.  It wasn’t because they were omitting them from the rooms; it was because they hadn’t gotten to putting them back in yet.  However, amazingly enough although they reduced the amenities from the room, there was no reduced rate on the bill—same room charge as it’s always been.  I mean if the amenities are a bonus for the original price of the room, tell me that so I’m not feeling taken advantage of when they’re gone, or give me some reasonable discount for their disappearance.  (Let it be noted I never mentioned the missing amenities to the staff—I let that one slide).

So…for those of you in Customer Service please remember you represent the company.  We are all in this together.  Or as they say, “We may not have all come over on the same ship, but we’re all in the same boat”.

Tips to Excellent Customer Service

Here are 10 very important things to remember in providing outstanding customer service. These are your foundation so you continuously do what is best for the cus­tomer. If you’d like, add a couple of your own in the comments section.

1. Customers are valuable and very important people, whether in person, on the phone, by email or mail.

2. Customers deserve excellent service. It is our responsibility to provide service in a manner that is equally beneficial and with pleasing results.

3. Customers are not interruptions to our work. They are the reasons for our jobs.

4. Customers must not feel as though they are dependent on us. We are dependent on them.

5. Customers are people just like us, not a number or a statistic.

6. Customers are not people to be argued with, challenged, humiliated, or embarrassed. They are to be treated with respect and consideration.

7. Customers have a right to receive timely and polite service, regardless of their behaviors.

8. Customers are part of the world we live in, not people on the outside who are an inconvenience.

9. Customers provide us with opportunities to service them to better business and new prospects. These opportunities are great ways for each of us to stand out and our organization.

10. Customers have the same optimism we do when we are in the role of the customer being serviced.

 About the Author

John Cane is owner and founder of Edge Advantage, Inc.  Edge Advantage is a personal development organization that specializes in research-based training. Our focus is on communication and personal performance. Our objective is to bring the latest developments from these areas to those who use them everyday. Our expertise lies in teaching these developments in a form that is useable and practical.  Edge Advantage offers a wide variety of Corporate Training programs tailored to fit customer needs.