48. Time is Precious...

...especially for guests on holidays, who detest any unnecessary waste of time.


Take for example, the recent incident at Kaamala resort in Bali where the couple's complimentary photography session was delayed by 40 minutes. While it is easy to dismiss them as petulant kids making a fuss over a short wait for a free service offering, let's take a moment to understand their perspectives.


They were asked to meet the photographer at the breakfast restaurant at 10.15am. In fact, the guests had initially arranged for 10.30am, but was informed by Front Desk that 10.15am would be more ideal. Fine, thought the guests, so they could get to an earlier start of the day. So the couple had set their alarm - which they usually don't do during holidays - and planned their morning schedule in such a way that they would have time to swim in their villa pool, shower up, enjoy in-room breakfast, get dressed for the shoot and be all ready at the meeting spot by 10.15am.


After waiting for ten minutes, the guests asked the outlet employee to call the Front Desk to check, who simply informed them to "wait a while longer". So, as the minutes ticked past while the couple waited in front of the outlet, they thought about all the things they could have done with the extra time - e.g. woke up later, swam longer, enjoyed breakfast at slower pace, head out sooner to explore the streets, etc...


Finally, the photographer came along and apologised as he had been informed to wait outside the villa instead...
Still, it was a 40 minutes' wait in total, and it wouldn't have taken 3 minutes to walk from the villa to the restaurant to check.


Service Bank: Minus 3



Reflective thoughts: Look back at the situation above - how many opportunities were missed in terms of informing/updating guests about the delay? What could have been done to make the communication seamless and to avoid such situation from recurring?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

1. The Service Bank Concept

Put simply, it is an analogy of how a service interaction makes you – the guest, client or customer – feel.  Just like your bank account, the feelings experienced can be negative (a withdrawal or minus), neutral (status quo  or zero), or positive (a deposit or plus).  In each and every service interaction, whether a hotel stay or flight experience, a retail or house viewing encounter, a phone reservation or bar experience, there is the bland and disappointing (minus), or the thoughtful and extraordinary (plus). Expected service – even if good, garners a zero in the Service Bank. (e.g. Getting a clean room upon check-in or the restaurant hostess extending a standard   welcome doesn’t count as a service deposit. However, should there be a strand of hair on the bed or if the greeting was done half heartedly without eye contact, these would amount to a withdrawal in the service bank.) To illustrate further, each plus is represented by a heart 💖. The more hearts, the mor...
Read more

132. Post-Stay Surprises

What are some mention-worthy post-stay surprise you have received from a hotel after you have returned home? Here are some of examples: The mailman arrived with a rather large package from this Bangkok hotel: packets of tom yum paste presented in a woven pouch with recipes of the signature tom yam soup. (The guest had ordered this dish on two occasions during the hotel stay.)  Front office manager at a Japanese property emailed the guest to ask if she was feeling better. The guest had a high fever the day prior to checking out and had requested for a doctor. Email greeting from a Thai resort, with a photo of the butlers standing in front of the villa (in which the guest had stayed), holding several hand-drawn signages with messages such as   "We miss you (guest name)",   "Please come back soon", and "Have a lovely day in (country)!" A handwritten thank-you card, signed by various departments. A personalised email greeting on guest's birthday six months...
Read more

134. Small Gesture, Big Impact

At NH Leidseplein Hotel in Amsterdam, guests are offered a coupon for a hot beverage or small glass of wine/cocktail should they decide to skip Housekeeping services for the day.  During the morning check-out, I returned the 3 unused coupons to the receptionist, who then asked if I would like to use it to have some coffee or tea. I thanked him, but informed I just had my cappuccino from the hotel restaurant.  Evan the receptionist then asked, pointing to the coupons:  "Is there anything you'd like with these?" , to which I replied, "What could you offer?"   He then asked what I would like and he would see what he could do. So I told him I was over at the lounge area writing some postcards with my niece and enquired if he could arrange for a plain croissant for her. He smiled and said he would give it a try.  After quickly informing his colleague he was stepping away for a minute, Evan walked to the breakfast restaurant which was just adjacent to t...
Read more