So, I recently went on vacation. I was staying at what appeared to be a fairly nice hotel/timeshare. The website was professional, the pictures were beautiful, the listed attractions and activities were titillating and the overall reviews were quite good. I couldn’t wait to get there.

Now, don’t get me wrong, the experience wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t great. And it definitely wasn’t an experience that wowed.

Upon my arrival, the lobby was overflowing; I was rushed through, told to come back in a ½ hour because my room wasn’t ready, sent on my way without any resort map or information and, upon my return, a set of keys that didn’t work. My shower didn’t drain properly, two requests for a repair resulted in nothing. The garbage disposal wasn’t working and my screen door, which was barely on the track, went whipping across my patio and woke me up at 3 am during a wind storm. As I lounged by the pool in the sunshine, the bartender on duty stayed in his shaded bar cage, never once coming by to offer me a nice cool beverage—and I would have gladly ordered one. And, when the concierge found out I wasn’t inclined to purchase a timeshare, well, helping me book activities wasn’t really worth his time. In short, my expectations, needs and wants weren’t fully met.

Now, I know it’s challenging to keep everyone happy—myself included. But, it’s also why I believe customer feedback (and by customer feedback I mean truly understanding what your experience looks like through your customers’ eyes), is key if you want your business to achieve continued success.

But, it seems like many of today’s feedback mechanisms—like the online survey I completed after my vacation—aren’t designed with the customer in mind and seem like little more than a default gesture. As I chronicled my visit, I found that there wasn’t enough room to type; the questions were generic and didn’t really get to the heart of my experience; and, aside from the “thanks for completing our survey” email, I am left with no idea as to what happens to all this rich feedback I took the time to share? If I go back, will my experience actually be any better?

Do they analyze this data? Will they apply this information in ways that help improve their brand experience? Will they use it to redesign the customer flow during check-in so it’s less chaotic?  Will they consider changing how concierges are incented so booking activities becomes a more rewarding and enjoyable experience for both the staff and the customers? Will they create training programs that help staff identify sales opportunities, like selling a tray full of margaritas to a pool full of thirsty people? Will they develop staff reward programs for keeping the grounds well-maintained and addressing customer issues efficiently?  Well, they should, but who knows!

My advice:  whether you’re a big corporation or a small business, as you develop your voice of the customer program, make sure it too is a rich and rewarding experience for customers AND that your truly listening and integrating your customers’ great feedback and ideas into the experience. Because it’s the experiences that we remember and that keep us coming back for more.

- Rachel Olmsted

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