Originally Posted by
HumbleBee
I think it was a small cake. Never really notice welcome gifts, although hotels should be smarter about this and give you a branded memento. Some good examples are a cash tray from Kempinski Nairobi, garment bag from Hotel Du Cap, and a box of 100 postcards from Amanzoe.
Maybe the same person who was supposed to place a toothbrush in my room, or the one who supposed to make sure the shower had body wash and not body oil.
I was hoping for an apology when I complained about the toothbrush, but instead got the front desk guy repteadly arguing with me that it was in fact in the room. That killed the little appetite I had to complain.
All said and done, I would probably still stay there again.
While these things are in fact small details, the real problem I see is the response of the individual to whom you mentioned these issues.
It’s actually not the point whether or not the toothbrush or amenities were correctly placed in the room or not. Simply that you commented that something was misplaced should have resulted in housekeeping immediately placing amenities in the room, or even additional ones if they were there to begin with and you perhaps had not seen them.
The reason that all comments, even the smallest ones, need to be looked into in my view are twofold. First of all, at this price level, one is paying for a perfect stay. Not simply to have an acceptable room and service rendered at a four star level, but a perfect stay. That means hotel employees in all departments must demonstrate that they care about the guest experience.
The second reason, is that even small mishaps and service lapses can psychologically affect a guest’s perception of the overall hotel experience, especially if even after bringing these issues to the hotel’s attention, the response is inadequate. This can get the stay off on the wrong foot, and then subsequent small issues are “magnified” and everything snowballs into a less than satisfactory experience.