Every time I stay I fill out the electronic survey through the LodgeNet (or equivalent) thingy on the TV. Only once (at the now-defunct COS Marriott) did I ever get the least bit of indication that those results do anything but go into an instantly-emptied bit bucket. At that hotel, right after I filled out the survey, the GM called my room and said he just happened to be looking at the survey results and noticed I was dissatisfied with my room. He asked what was wrong and how he could make it right--in reality I LOVED my room and told him either I made a mistake or the survey did, and I also complimented him on taking those surveys seriously. He told me that it's really difficult to get good feedback from guests, so that he used all the tools at his disposal.

Do you use those TV surveys? If so, how? Is it just a long-term trending thing or do you actually look at individual results? And why are the questions asked the way they are (for instance the "How does price affect your decision in choosing a hotel?" seems irrelevant to me)?

Looking forward to MarriottGuys answer-but If I may?
Last year while staying at the Ren FLL I was given a couple of sheets of suggestions that were written on the back(classy )some printouts tallying the results of the TV surveys for the last month.
So not quite the circular file-but close !

I have filled out numerous online surveys following stays. NEVER, have I received ANY response- good or bad.

At least 50% of time it doesn't even work, so I just stopped doing so a few years ago. Of course IF there is a card in the room I'll almost always fill it out. For a time I was getting a follow-up e-mail (and by snail mail in the old days) from corporate, but alas not any in over a year.

I do the survey not on TV but the written kind whenever I have a BAD experience and a VERY GOOD experience. I suspect that all my inputs went into an empty buckets, because I never see any results published anywhere.

One time the experience was so bad that I wrote an addition letter directed to the GM of the property (some years ago at Tyson Corner Marriott where a pipe broke in my room while I was asleep). Never even received an apology. I have never returned to that place since.

Sorry for my delayed response to this thread - this week has been extremely bust for me at work.

Regarding the TV surveys, the systems for both Lodgenet and On Command are changing due to, I would like to think, customer feedback (the properties in this survey area). Currently they are trying to integrate my system to enable my guest's response's to this TV survey to be able to email all department heads instead of printing up on on a printer in some remote location. This is essential for following up on any guest comment - regardless of the tone - so that we can respond qucikly (hence, the point of the TV survey IMHO). This is a technological item that we are working through (at least at the majority of the props).

Regarding general comment cards and online surveys (I assume you are referring to the Marriott Guest Satisfaction Survey), all surveys are reviewed by my exec team weekly and forwarded to the appropriate person to follow up on. Since we receive upwards of 300 surveys per week, the surveys review process is ahred between the exec team - myself included. I do admit that I have not mandated that every survey, or written comment card be responded to. We respond to all negative comments (thankfully few), but I know that we need to at least thank everyone who takes the time to let us know their thoughts. My property (I) am guilty of this (not responding to all comments). Thanks for the feedback - I will bring this up and my next exec committee meeting and we will find a way to respond to all.

But to answer the root cause of the post (not trying to out words into DJ's mouth, but IMHO), guest feedback is essential to my operation and is reviewed daily - granted in a property view and with some TV/written surveys. Responses received from our formal Marriott GSS are reviewed weekly - we know what time they are available to us and my team (myself included) are reviewing them every Saturday.

Yes - your comments are extremely helpful and do not fall upon deaf ears. Thanks for letting me know that we (I) need to do a better job of following up with you, even if it is just a simple 'Thanks for taking the time to tell me' note.

I hope this answers your questions.

It does; thanks for taking the time out of a busy week to share your experience.

I'm sorry if my post came across like I was complaining--that's certainly not the case. This question was asked out of pure curiosity. While instant (or any) feedback on our feedback is nice, I do realize it's not always practical or necessary. FWIW, I've gotten the same proportion of replies from properties when making positive comments and negative ones (and the negative ones are pretty rare). My experience has taught me that written feedback, even on the in-room comment cards, gets a much higher response rate than the TV surveys.

I guess I was just wondering if it's worth taking the time to fill out the TV surveys at all, or if it was kind of like pushing the "walk" button at a big-city crosswalk or the "close door" button in most elevators. You know, just there to give you something to do and make you feel like you're making a difference, but in reality not connected to anything at all.