Last week at this time I was at a national convention in Chicago. It was for this healthcare organization I belong to,
and, as I was representing my chapter, as the president of our chapter couldn't go, it means I had to leave a day earlier
so I could be present at the board meeting the next day.
Oftentimes, when I'm writing about customer service issues, I'm usually saying something that either indicates good or bad
customer service and how the experience was set by how good or bad it was. This is one time when one didn't necessarily
work in concert with the other, and I'm talking about the hotel I stayed at in this instance.
I'm not going to name the hotel, but I have to give it some props. It was beautiful. It was a two-tower hotel in downtown
Chicago, near either the lake or a river; I never quite figured out which, but at least there was a lot of water. I didn't
get to see the hotel until Thursday, as it was raining hard when I got there on Tuesday, then it rained all day Wednesday
also, finally clearing up enough Thursday afternoon for me to step out and take a look.
Having a two tower hotel means that you could go in either tower, which was nice. What was odd, however, is that in one
tower you're directed to go up the elevator to the second floor, walk across the sky bridge, and sign in at the registration
desk that's in the first tower. If you go in the first tower, you walk into a beautiful entry way, but once again you have
to go up to the second tower to register. That was somewhat different for me, but what was also intriguing is that if you
went into one tower with a bunch of bags you were pretty much stuck carting your bags around with you, whereas if you went in
the other tower, they had bellmen there to take your bags and bring them up the service elevator; guess which tower I came in.
Now, more nice things. Every single person I encountered who worked at the hotel was friendly. Most of them were smiling
most of the time, which was nice to see. Some people just aren't predisposed to that sort of thing, and I don't mind that
as long as they come across friendly. And they should be friendly; the price of the rooms were exorbitant, even though we
got a "deal" because we were holding our conference there. I ended up paying a bit more for my room because I was on a
higher floor, but it wasn't a big deal. My room was fantastic looking also, nice and roomy, and I even had a 42-inch flat
screen HDTV sitting there. The bathroom was also roomy and extravagant, and my view wasn't bad, even though I faced the
Chicago Tribune building. And my king sized bed looked and felt great, and had not only 7 regular pillows and 2, what I
call "couch" pillows on it, but it also had one of those 5 foot long pillows, which I also have at home; that felt pretty good.
Having said that, I still had some issues. The HDTV wasn't broadcasting in HDTV; that was disappointing. Also some of
the channels didn't come in clearly; I know hotels can block channels, so I was surprised they hadn't taken care of that
for channels they couldn't full get. For internet service, I had to pay an extra $13.63 a night; I was already paying
almost $300 a night, and no free internet service, and not really what I'd call high speed service? When I was staying at
a Comfort Inn this summer for less than $70 a day I had free internet service. It took a few hours to get a refrigerator in
my room so I could put my insulin in it (which I wish I wasn't on, but luckily one gets a free refrigerator if it's also
needed for medical reasons). It actually took two days for the heat to finally get up to what I needed for it to be
comfortable in the room, even though I kept hearing it running in the background. And there was no hot water for the first
three days I was there. Okay, that's not quite accurate; it was fairly warm both Wednesday and Thursday morning, but it
was cold after that. Having said that, the people working in the hotel, at least the ones I talked to, were very courteous
and friendly, so when I complained, I wasn't overly upset with them because, well, they were just so nice. But I had to
complain more than once; that shouldn't happen.
Once again, nice things to say. The meeting rooms were great and spacious. They were a little bit cool, but there were
almost 450 people at this conference, and the rooms are usually kept a little cooler to not only make sure people don't
get too hot, but to help keep them awake during presentations; I learned that one from David Letterman, who usually keeps
his studio at a "toasty" 58 degrees. Everything was really clean and staff was very attentive. The night of our big
banquet, the wait staff was superb and expedient, while also being non obtrusive. We basically had the run of most of the
meeting rooms in the hotel during this conference, and in those times everything ran like clockwork.
And then the negative. I didn't have one good meal while at the hotel, except for two I didn't eat in the hotel.
There was one good dessert, but overall the food wasn't good at all. I remember asking someone how meat cooked in liquid
could be dry; I was told they probably added the liquid after the fact. Now, I know meal choices aren't always the fault
of a hotel, as those who plan the events get to select what they want based on price, but what was selected wasn't
prepared properly, or just didn't taste right. Everyone complained about the food across the board, and I know the
evaluations for the meals are going to be stinging. At breakfast, you had a choice of either coffee or cold water, and the
cold water wasn't near the coffee, but tucked almost in one particular corner of this large meeting hall where the
exhibitors were; that was bad planning, and it wasn't appreciated by anyone.
And yet, we still come back to the people who worked at the hotel, who were nothing but supreme. And thus is the
dichotomy of good customer service versus less than optimum conditions. It's obvious that management worked hard and
long in training their staff, as well as in selecting the proper people to work with the public, or in front of the
public in some fashion. The woman who eventually brought my elevator and I had some very nice and friendly banter about
my initial experience, and I remember both of us laughing as she left. In two of the restaurants I went to while in the
hotel everyone was very friendly and engaging, even though I wasn't crazy about what I was eating. Every step of the way,
whether conditions were optimum or not, the staff did its job, and did it well; I almost felt guilty complaining about
anything because of how well people treated me.
But in the end, one has to take a stand somewhere, and I take the stand that an organization doesn't get a pass just
because customer service seems to go above and beyond. And in this case, it's not the employees who get the blame, but
it's management that gets the blame for some of their choices. Truthfully, I'd rather pay the $300 a night for a room
than have to pay extra for internet service. I'd rather pay an extra couple of dollars for better tasting food. I don't
fault anyone when equipment breaks down, but I do fault management for not making sure everything else is up to snuff by
making sure someone is doing spot inspections. I won't believe I'm the first person in that hotel room to complain about
no hot water, though I expect, since it had just recently gotten cold, that they hadn't heard that the heat didn't work for
a long while. Also, why couldn't they have had two registration desks in a hotel that large so people didn't have to drag
heavy luggage all over the place in one of the towers? For that matter, why couldn't registration have been on the main
level to begin with, while having it in both towers (they couldn't have one registration area on the main level because
both hotels were on different sides of this particular street)?
I ask these questions in light of the fact that diagonally from this hotel, presently under its last bit of construction,
is the super high, super fancy, and super beautiful, at least from the outside, brand new
Trump International Hotel and Tower, which was featured
on The Apprentice. The best thing about Trump properties is that they're always very well planned, because they know
that their clientele expects it for the money they're going to spend. You can bet that everything will be made easy for
the client, although, since it's downtown, I couldn't tell you for sure that you won't have to pay for internet service.
But I know this; Donald Trump will eat in his own hotel, and if the food isn't to his liking, the chefs will be released
and new ones will be brought in.
Because, in the long run, that's what customer service is all about. One doesn't get to skimp in one area because they're
superb in another. Great customer service will only save your business if your business is normally fine. If it's not, it
may buy you time, but it will catch up with you. And in these economic times, everyone needs to make sure that all aspects
are up to par in their business, no matter what it is.