I’m at a work conference staying in a resort in the Blue Mountains in New South Wales, Australia.

I’ve heard some great speakers today and there are more lined up tomorrow so over the next few weeks I’ll blog about some of the things I’ve learnt.  But today, I want to blog about my experience at the resort.

I’ve blogged before about how delivering service is like putting on a performance – if it’s not rehearsed well, it can go badly.  Well, there have been a few elements to this hotel stay that haven’t gone too well that possibly could have been avoided.  Here are some examples, and some ideas to stop them happening in your business.

You need good staff to deliver on your promise

There’s two aspects to this point – having good staff and having enough staff.

Here’s some interesting events:

• When we initially arrived, we went straight into our sessions until 5.00pm.  We then went to check in to discover the hotel only had one staff member working at reception – there were over 50 of us.  So checking in took a little longer than it should have.  And the hotel didn’t create a good first impression.
• At breakfast they had insufficient staff to clear the tables.  At one stage it looked like over 60% of the tables were empty, but hadn’t been cleared.  I had no option but to sit at a table with someone else’s dirty plates.
• During the breaks in our sessions, there were a couple of times that no staff came into the room to clear the rubbish, top up the water etc.

Sorry if I’m stating the obvious, but they know in advance how many guests they have staying there so you’d think they could get the staffing right.

Check the premises

In our meeting room I looked up at the light shade and saw a ‘Happy Birthday’ balloon sitting on top of it, right up by the ceiling.  It was obviously left behind from a previous function and the room wasn’t cleaned properly.  I’m a big believer in using checklists for delivering services.  If someone had a list of things to check off, they would have been reminded to check the light shade.

In the room

My room doesn’t have a clock radio, or any kind of clock.  Strange for a hotel room.  It also doesn’t have a list of internal phone numbers, so if I wanted to phone reception to enquire about getting a clock or a wakeup call, I don’t know what number to call.

I’m also a little frustrated with the room cleaner.  There’s a sign that tells me to leave in the bath any towels I want cleaned and to hang up any ones I want to re-use.  This morning I’ve hung my towel up on the towel rail together with my bath mat so I can use them again tomorrow.  I come back to the room tonight and they’ve been replaced with new ones!

Don’t tell me you’re going to do one thing, but then do the opposite.  One of the key elements of delivering good service is being reliable and doing what you say you’re going to do, not saying one thing and doing another.

Deliver on your promise

When you look at this resort on the web, it looks great.  And it is.  It’s in a great location and has great facilities.  But good service isn’t just about looking good; it’s about delivering on your promise.  And this place hasn’t delivered on its promise.

Reflection

Have a think about the areas I’ve highlighted her and think about the equivalents in your business.  Are there areas involving staff that you can improve on, or processes or service delivery?

Leave a comment and let me know what you think.  And if you’re reading on Twitter and like this article, could you re-Tweet it please?

Photo credit The Edinburgh Blog