Help with guest satisfaction
 

Hello Everyone. Thank you for reading this and having this forum. I'm a long time lurker and have learned a lot. I am a supervisor at the front desk of a Marriott. I really like the hotel I work for, but recently we have not been getting as high of scores on our guest satisfaction surveys as we are used to or would like. I have ideas on what we can do to be better, but I also wanted to check with all of you frequent travelers to see what you guys would like to see a hotel do. Any really good stories of great service? Anything you ever wanted to see a hotel do? Thank you all for your help. I hope everyone has a great holiday season.

Don't put all your efforts into getting good survey results. Many of them really don't do well in measuring guest satisfaction. Choices like "exceeded expectations" will be totally different from someone staying at at FS Marriott vs a Fairfield Inn just as much as someone at the property for the first time vs their 20th time. Once you get use to a high level of service, you can't get a high mark since I got great service as I expected.

Instead, I'd suggest promote guests to post reviews here on FT or TripAdvisor or some such site where they can verbalize their experience. Then great service can be earned every time.

Welcome to FT PaperMachete!

I'd be interested to hear what your ideas are. Then the legions of FT'ers can provide feedback on those, plus we can expand and branch out from there.

I think there are little things we can do better, such as doing better at making eye contact, etc. We are an extended stay hotel with a lot of repeat business, so I thought it would be nice to personalize a card with maybe a small food item for long-term guests or frequent guests. Something to let those guests know how much we value their business. Honestly, I think the front desk is really solid and there are only small things we need to tweak.

Smile big. Be genuine. Be friendly. Realize often when I am checking in I have been traveling for long times. A signed card was a nice gesture I received in Utah I believe. Short waits to check-in always help.

Smile, be friendly and welcoming. It shows the attitude the front desk has. I have came across some not so friendly attitudes and it shows the minute you walk to the desk.

I applaud you for caring enough about your business, and your guests, to start this thread.

My highest scores are given to those hotels who read my profile, and provide me with a room that matches. Greet me pleasantly, have my keys ready, and welcome me back if I am a prior customer. Do not assume that I want points as my amenity, please ask. Understand that I may have been traveling all day, am tired, and would like to get to my room quickly - a pleasant welcome does not have to be lengthy! If you do write a card? Be sure it is accurate...I do not feel welcomed if I am greeted as a Mr. and my name is spelled wrong.:p

insure your front desk is trained well and is enabled to act when and where needed.

I do not require all kinds of special treatment to feel appreciated! A clean room that meets my profile and a front desk staff that is responsive when needed insures my high scores and repeat stays.

IMO being an extended stay MR property puts you in a bit of a box. You don't have a lounge, and might not even have a restaurant or bar. The options for differentiating your property likely focus on the front desk staff and what you do for the mealtime services. For an extended stay property these are the things I tend to notice most since they have the greatest impact on each day of my stay.

Since you're an extended-stay property, upgrade or add a specialty or signature item to your breakfast (e.g., wider selection of fresh fruit, better donuts or pastry, low-fat chocolate milk, etc.).

All of this.

If you don't already have something like a managers reception, this are often appreciated during an extended stay. But honestly, as echoed above, it's just being made to feel like we matter to you.

as a long time lurker you already know what 90% of FTers want ---- a way to beat the system.......... manipulate the rules.............get something for nothing...........compensation bonus points for the slightest of problems.....

Extended stay properties should focus on getting the basics right: friendly and helpful employees, good housekeeping and not cutting corners in offering the bare minimum for breakfast and evening reception (Monday-Wednesday with chips and salsa is not being competitive for a Residence Inn when Homewood Suites and Hyatt House offer more hot food from Monday-Thursday for an evening reception). Let me emphasize that people who travel a lot can see what properties are making the effort and which ones are not, even extended stay ones. The little things do matter. If you put out a better breakfast spread, people will notice. I am not talking about steak and eggs but having one more hot entree, more fresh fruit and more toppings for oatmeal are appreciated by me. I am not a waffle guy, but I understand the need for having waffles at breakfast due to customer demand.

Every property will have challenges. No one is going to expect perfect service all the time. I do not usually stay at extended stay properties, but I will on occasion for a night. I had a memorable stay in May at a RI in the San Diego area. I used a category 1-4 award certificate. The evening reception was okay, and I went to Costco to get more food. After eating, I decided to throw away some trash and opened a door underneath the sink to get to the trash bin. That was when I found an overflowing trash bin that smelled real bad. I was tired and flying out the next morning, so I closed the door for the night. I opened it up before checking out so housekeeping would take out the trash so the next guest would have an empty trash bin. I normally would say something to the hotel about stuff like this.

I would suggest the possibility of offering free gym passes to a local gym for hotel guests. Some RIs do this, and they are on my short list if I need to stay at an extended property.

Upgrade me.

Big welcome to FT!
Nice to see a supervisor lurking and asking for advice.

I recently had a FD clerk at a FI offer to make a batch of choc. chip cookies and deliver them to my room.:eek:

She actually did and arrivedd at the front door with a plate full of nice warm fresh baked choc. chip cookies and a few cartons of milk.:)

That was an extremely nice gesture and going above and beyond.

Of course this is not something I expect on visit, but it is a great example of terrific service and a FD clerk trying to make our day.

Each morning when leaving the hotel, the FD clerks were extremely nice and and personable, using 'have a great day' or 'we will see you upon your return'.
Again, just a simple, but very friendly and nice gesture.

Smiling friendly faces at the front counter always help, even when returning from a tough day or long travel.

Sometimes it's the simple things that matter.^
Also, when a MR member ask a program question, it's nice to see the FD clerk actually know the answer or be familiar with the program rules. If they are not, it's better to just say they don't know the answer but offer to get the correct answer instead of making up a rule or guessing. If members ask, they likely don't know the answer and are depending on the FD person to provide accurate info. (it's simple, but too often the FD clerk has no clue).

Forgive me for belaboring the obvious, but did you (or someone) actually READ the surveys? Surely the deficient areas would be noted.

Do you read the tripadvisor reviews of your property? Sure, there will be the occasional whacko review, but when you start seeing the same complaint(s) from different guests, the problem(s) should be obvious.

Finally, are you meeting the brand standard for your property, not only for content, but for quality as well. Put yourself in the guests' shoes. Would you actually enjoy eating the breakfast, would you enjoy staying in any one of your rooms?

If you do all of the above, I'm sure it will be a relatively easy task to identify and resolve your customer satisfaction issues.