Monday 19 November 2007

It's all about the experience

It is a while since I have posted something here and for a while I have been thinking of what I could possibly say about the world of data which isn't already being said.

And then last weekend happened.

When I booked the "De-Stress" hotel weekend package for last weekend a few months ago, I booked 2 rooms for a friend and I. Very efficiently 2 days later the confirmation letter arrived in the post and had us both in the same room. I immediately phoned them back and explained that the rate we were paying was a special on their website and was for 2 separate rooms.

When checking in on Friday they had again booked us into one room. After 45 minutes of 'discussion' we were separated once again and in two rooms. We were also each given a list of 'de-stressing' activities for the weekend with times.

Glancing at the list, my friend's first activity was on our first day (16th of November) and mine was the 17th so I went off to my room to get sorted and she got stuck in.

We enjoyed a great dinner together and afterwards I went back to my room. Given my first activity was on the following morning I thought I would check out how my entire day was panning out. Instead of packing my activities into the Saturday and Sunday, I had one on Saturday, one on Sunday (scheduled after I should have checked out), and two on Monday (when I was back at work).

I called reception. The lady who managed the appointments had gone home for the night and there was no one else there to help. The receptionist suggested I sit in reception from 9am and wait for the lady in the morning to get everything rescheduled.

Instead, at 8am I spoke to the duty manager and explained the situation and asked him to work a plan to fix everything appropriately. This he - and the rest of the team - did superbly.

It's a shame that I had to say something to get things fixed, but it occurred to me that the problems I experienced were all caused by data. Not connecting the data dots between my booking for a website package, my phone call to sort the booking, and my activity appointments caused a customer experience far less than 100%, and it so easily could have been superb.

The late check-out and free wine we received as an apology were excellent, but it cost the hotel money. As a customer I didn't really need the wine or the late check out - I'd far rather they had it right from the start.

Connecting the data reference points means joined up thinking and a better customer experience.


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