7. Case Review: Disconnected Service at Front Office

Below encounters are from an arrival experience in an iconic luxury property in Malaysia: 

  1. At the airport, the airport rep asked the guest to verify the booking name from the arrival name list. The guest located her name and informed that her first name was spelt wrongly. For privacy and security reasons, the list should not have been shown to guests. (Minus 3)

  2. On arrival at the hotel an hour later, the front desk receptionist presented the registration card which also showed the incorrect name. The guest made the correction on the form itself. (Minus 1)

  3. As it was an early arrival, the guest settled down at the hotel restaurant to have an early lunch. Two hours later, another receptionist escorted the guest to her room and presented the key card, whose cover had the wrong name as well, despite all the time and reminders. (Minus 2)

  4. The hotel stay was for a total of three nights in two different room categories. This was not confirmed during check-in. The guest had asked the employee who was conducting the rooming about the upcoming room change, but she was not aware of it. Furthermore, she did not offer to check or follow-up on this. (Minus 2)

  5. Shortly after settling into the room, the guest was taking a nap when she was woken up by a call from the Concierge, asking about the car transfer to airport for the following day. This employee was not aware that there was a room change to the villa category the next day. (Minus 3)

  6. About two hours later, the guest received two emails from hotel's Reservations team to "Confirm My Stay". When asked about this, the Assistant Reservations Manager apologised and shared that "the system had automatically sent out the emails as they were updating guest details". The guest name was still spelt wrongly in both the emails. (Minus 3)

  7. Pre-arrival, the guest was sent a form to indicate one's food allergies or dietary restriction, preferred activities and other special requests. Guest had asked for Coke Zero to be placed in the mini bar. However, this common request was not followed through in both the room categories throughout the stay and there was no acknowledgement for the non-delivery. (Minus 3)

  8. Guest had requested in advance for a buggy at 8.20pm that evening to head for dinner. At 8.25pm, guest called the Operator to remind so. Eventually, it arrived at 8.30pm. (Minus 2)

  9. Late check-out was granted until 6pm on departure day. However, there was a knock on the door at around 11am for servicing by Housekeeping team. At 3pm, Room Service came by to stock up the mini bar. (Minus 1)


Service Bank: Withdrawal of 19 "hearts", minimum.

(Refer to first blogpost on Service Bank Concept: https://servicebankmoments.blogspot.com/2025/01/1-service-bank-concept.html)

(Note how the "minus" went from 1 to 3 for the same point regarding the guest's misspelt name. This means that the negative impact felt was greater in each occurence. Why do you think that is so?)


Reflective thoughts: If you were the guest, how would each of the above encounter make you feel? Focus on the emotions and describe accordingly. What are the implications of each? How does this impact on the sense of luxury?

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