Inside the Customer Experience

Hotels Listen: Changes For The Good Of Customers

The days of 11am check out at many hotels is starting to fade away, at the request and feedback provided by customers.

Last week, the Palms in Vegas announced that they will roll out a 24 hour check out at no additional charge. They are allowing guests to leave at the same time they arrived, meaning if you check in at 4pm on Friday, and are staying until Sunday, you won’t have to check out until 4pm on Sunday instead of the typical 11am or noon checkout.

Other hotels have adopted this new policy as well:

Westin Hotels & Resorts: “Make Monday Better” program allows for a free 3 p.m. checkout on Sunday

Hyatt Union Square New York: guests can stay for 24 hours from Thursday to Sunday

The Peninsula Beverly Hills: “Peninsula Time,” is a program that lets guests stay at the hotel for longer than 24 hours. Guests can check in and out at any hour of the day or night at no additional charge.

Why the change? Experts in the industry are citing that the standard 11am or noon checkout was created for the good of the hotels, specifically the housekeeping staff, and not the customers. With competition increasing, and customers making their needs and desires known more now that ever, hotels realized that they had to change their standards and make adjustments to keep their customers happy.

The “old way” of thinking was more of a benefit to the hotel and housekeeping staff. The early checkout allowed the staff to turn over rooms in time for the 3pm check in, and the majority of housekeeping staff may have been scheduled during these hours to accommodate the schedule. However, hotels are making changes to the way they do things in order to show their customers that they’re listening.

The late checkout policy is slowly being adopted and will certainly make hotels rethink what they do. Some have started rolling out a late checkout on Sundays, simply because it’s a slower traffic time and they can test the waters without becoming overwhelmed. Once it is implemented, hotels can re-evaluate and determine the next steps.

Actively listening and taking steps to make significant changes can be effective in terms of customer satisfaction and loyalty – not only are the changes customer centric, but they show guests that they really ARE listening to what they think about their experiences.

Improving the OmniChannel Experience

There have been a number of news stories in recent weeks about omnichannel marketing, and “getting it right” when it comes to mobile. Brick and mortar stores understand the importance of mobile sites, digital marketing and purchase abilities, and making it all seamless. But, that can be more difficult than people think.

Take, for example, American Eagle’s challenges that they recently shared at Etail West 2014 during “The Keys to Omnichannel Success at American Eagle Outfitters” segment.

A couple of their challenges are not unique to their business, and are good examples of considerations to make and test when rolling out omnichannel opportunities for customers:

1. Make sure online and mobile match: one challenge the retailer shared was ensuring that when customers clicked on email links from their mobile devices, that they had a landing place to reach. They found that customers were reaching a page that said, “Sorry, you can’t do this on mobile, but keep checking back.”

2. Honoring loyalty without frustration: another experience they shared revolved around customers who needed to sign in to continue on their online journey. They found that customers would stop where they were to sign in, and the site would reroute them to the home page, rather than the last page they were on before signing in, creating frustration and what experts refer to as “friction” in the customer journey.

On a similar note, also at ETail West 2014, 1-800 Flowers shared their experience with digital footprints – a way to track data across devices. One of their goals sheds light on another challenged faced with the omnichannel experience: pushing mobile browsers to purchases. According to the article, they are finding that consumers spend time browsing on their mobile device, but not making a purchase. The company is trying to find ways to encourage browsing on mobile, but somehow providing a seamless experience when they move to their desktop or tablet, presumably at the point where they have more time to sit down to make that purchase. Similarly, they are looking for ways to easily encourage those browsers on mobile to turn into buyers from the mobile experience.

While omnichannel experiences aren’t new, there are still stumbling blocks and challenges for companies. However, starting small, testing along the way, and gathering feedback from customers will help make the process as smooth as possible.

Who are the 2014 Customer Champions?

JD Power released their list of top 50 2014 Customer Champions. Who are these companies? JD Power looked at over 600 companies across nine industries, focusing on five factors that JD Powers refers to as the “Five P’s”: People, Presentation, Price, Process and Product.

These companies excel in providing outstanding customer service, according to its customers, not only in their industry, but overall. Finbarr O’Neil, President of JD Power, says that “”Not only does satisfaction encourage customer loyalty, but happy customers also become advocates of the brand to others. Particularly given the ability of today’s consumers to easily communicate their experiences far and wide through social media and online reviews, customer advocacy can be critical to a company’s bottom line.”

Companies who achieve this status find that it all starts with hiring – finding the right people to promote a customer centric environment, training the staff to be able to make decisions that allow them to solve customer issues quickly and independently, and providing an environment that promotes longevity in the workplace.

Another key aspect these companies share is listening – listening to both customer and employee feedback to find ways to improve the customer experience.

By employing these standards, companies create satisfied customers who are not only loyal in terms of repeat business, but also for being brand advocates through word of mouth. This is important for companies, especially when it comes to social media and its relevance when it comes to customer experiences. The chart below is from the JD Power study, and shows the percentage of consumers who will be likely to return to a business and recommend it – you can see the stark difference in percentages between those companies on the Champion list and those that are not:

Companies can mirror what the champions do in terms of careful planning from the ground up to ensure that their customer service is top notch. Taking a close look at what these companies do compared to your company’s procedures, making adjustments where needed, is a good first step in focusing on your customers’ overall experience and satisfaction.

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