On one of our first Smart Cookie retreats we learned the VALUE of expressing our feedback to a hotel manager. We had found a great deal on a room in cozy mountain hotel ( and we are not ones to pass up a fabulous deal in a fabulous hotel!). We were looking forward to getting down to business while cozening up the fire places we were told were featured in all the rooms. So we were disappointed when we settled in and discovered that our fire place didn’t work. We immediately called down to have it fixed but after hours passed without a knock from the maintenance crew, Katie ventured down to speak to he manager. After she politely described our frustraion, he offered to upgrade our room to a luxurious suite and to give us a gift certificate to dinner.
In her blog with the New York Times, Jennifer Saranow Schultz shares a similar story and explains why as Smart Cookies we should be sure to make our opinions heard and fill out the hotel survey after our hotel stays. As hotels strive to capture your loyalty, they will often extend you some sweet perks for taking the time to provide your feedback. Cha ching!
In her story Jennifer mentions that “only about 7 percent of guests complete the feedback surveys each month. But the data from the surveys is very important to the hotel and helps it figure out what kind of upgrades to make, helps it to properly allocate the marketing budget and allows the hotel to update its detailed histories about each guest’s needs.”
After her husband completed a survey at the Omni hotel after a stay that wasn’t to his satisfaction. Jennifer learned that, “the hotel staff at the Omni meets each morning to go over the feedback and personally responds to particularly bad or good reviews. For guests, who give bad reviews, often the hotel will offer them a free upgrade the next time they come if a nicer room is available or will at least make sure that whatever room they get doesn’t have the same problems they complained about last time.
Have you recieved a perk after filling ou a hotel survey? Share your story!
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