‘Holiday from hell’, ‘Stay away’, ‘Never again’. Just three of the review titles for a hotel I had the misfortune to spend two hours at before running away. Good customer service can make or break your reputation and having just come back from a 12-day holiday staying in four different places along the Algarve, here are my top tips off the back of it.
Make it as easy as possible for your customers
I hired a car with minimal instructions on how to pick it up at the airport. I wandered around for ages lugging my suitcase and only found the place when I’d run out of car parks. If they’d included a map which clearly identified where they were it would have made life a whole lot easier and saved a lot of irritation.
Hold new customers’ hands when they are starting out with you to make it easy to engage. It takes away the stress of the unknown and smoothes the way for a great experience.
Deliver the best you can
Two hotels had put me in rooms I wasn’t happy with. The first had no balcony when I’d requested one and the second had a room overlooking a car park and building site. In both cases, they moved me to better rooms, but only once I asked. Why couldn’t they have just done that in the first place?
This is about delighting your customers from the outset not waiting for them to ask for better. The last hotel I went to couldn’t put me in an apartment with a sea view (on account of me booking only 30 minutes before I arrived) but offered, before I even saw the room, to move me to a deluxe room the following day if I wasn’t happy. The next morning, I moved to a garden apartment with terrace overlooking the pool and sea. Result – one happy camper. That’s how to do it.
If there are issues – resolve them as soon as possible
The car company immediately answered the phone when my oil light came on and one hotel replaced a broken toilet seat within half an hour.
Another took two days to fix a broken internet router in my room. The suggestion I work in reception as an alternative did not please me.
Check things before you give them to people to ensure they work as advertised. Don’t wait to fix issues only when people complain.
How not to do things
Don’t treat any customers like second-class citizens. I was hidden away in the back of a restaurant after reserving a table for one. My singledom is not contagious. I’m not saying give me the best table in the house, but do seat me amongst others, so I can at least exchange a nod or smile with my fellow diners if the opportunity arises. Honestly, a smile and a bit of attention are gold dust to the single traveller who may be a bit lonely from time to time. We don’t bite.
My penultimate stop was at a large hotel where they had put me in an apartment right at the end of a very long corridor which was poorly lit and looked like something out of a horror movie. The apartment was furnished with grim utilitarian furniture, had a view of the car park and main road and was in permanent shadow. The whole place was like a run-down Butlins. They couldn’t have cared less as I escaped (see last-minute booking above). (Hotel Paraiso in Albufeira if anyone is interested in avoiding it!). It was allegedly a four-star aparthotel. A four-star gulag maybe.
In both cases – they had little regard for their customer – as long as I paid the money. Neither will get repeat business and will get awful online reviews. Don’t be these businesses…
Image: Tumisu from Pixabay