Running a hotel is one of the best examples of proper customer service in action because everything is immediate – people arrive, they’ll notice if it’s all okay right away, and they’ll for opinions very quickly, usually before they’ve even unpacked.
And even if you’ve never worked in hospitality, there’s a lot to learn from it because hotels are basically built around one question – what’s going to make someone feel comfortable here? And that’s what customer experience is in any industry really, so keep reading to find out more about what running a hotel can teach you about customer experience.
Table of Contents
People Notice Basics First
Hotels are a good reminder that the basics matter more than all the impressive extras. The fact is, guests want things to be clean, easy, and comfortable before they care about anything else. For example, if check-in is stressful, if the room feels messy, if the bed isn’t right, and so on, nothing else really makes up for it.
The same is true in business – if your foundation isn’t good, the little bonus features won’t do the job you want them to do.
Comfort Is Invisible Until It’s Missing
The best customer experience feels smooth, and although people won’t always notice what’s being done well, they will notice when they’re being looked after, which is something they definitely want.
In hotels, comfort comes from things like lighting, noise levels, temperature, and of course bedding. Something as simple as good hotel duvets can completely change how someone sleeps, and that changes how they feel about the whole stay. That’s a great little reminder that the small details are more important than you might think.
Be Consistent To Be Trusted
A hotel can’t afford to be great one day and disappointing the next.
Guests are going to expect consistency, and businesses do too. Customers want to know what they’re getting, whether it’s a room, a service, or a product, and reliable experiences are the ones that are going to create trust, and trust is what brings people back.
Problems Matter But So Does The Response
Things go wrong in hotels sometimes – perhaps a room isn’t ready, something breaks, or a guest has an issue, for example.
That’s going to happen, but what matters is how it’s all handled, and good hospitality teaches that a quick, kind response can turn a problem into a positive memory, as strange as that might seem. And as ever, the same applies in any business.
Final Thoughts
Running a hotel teaches you that customer experience isn’t one big thing, it’s lots of little things, like comfort, care, consistency, and attention to detail from the first interaction to the last.
Guess what? Those exact things can be the same for pretty much any business, and using a hotel and what it offers its customers is a great template for anything you want to do, even if it’s not in hospitality. The point is, if you take good care of your customers, they’ll take good care of you.
