Page 12 - aruba-today-20220707

A12 business
Thursday 7 July 2022

How a hotel satisfaction promise has

led to more discontent

By SALLY FRENCH
of NerdWallet
In the 1990s and early
2000s, the "100% Satisfac-
tion Guarantee" was all
the rage among many
hotels. The gist was simple:
Encounter a problem and
receive your money back.
In theory, this approach
addressed fairly serious is-
sues such as early-morn-
ing pool renovations that
made the jackhammer an
unwelcome alarm clock. In this Sept. 5, 2018, file photo guests stand at the front desk at
Bed bugs. No hot water. the Embassy Suites by Hilton hotel in Seattle's Pioneer Square
But some hospitality experts neighborhood in Seattle.
say that promise — a 100% Associated Press
refund if customers weren't Andrea Stokes, hospitality its introduction "was instru-
100% happy — might've practice lead at J.D. Pow- mental in providing guests
made things worse for er. "Now, consumers want confidence that they
both the customer and to get back to normal, but would have a seamless and
the hotel."A toddler spilling the hotel industry isn't back problem-free stay. If their
yogurt may take staff lon- to normal — especially in expectations weren't met,
ger to clean up, evolving terms of staffing." we would refund their mon-
into a bad review about a While pandemic-related is- ey, no questions asked."
dirty lobby and a request sues like a pause on break- But some travel experts sus-
for refund," says Bijoy Shah, fast buffets are partially to pect this trained guests to
an Indiana-based travel blame, the ongoing slump believe that complaining
advisor. "The 'customer-is- has been agitated — not equals compensation.
always-right' mindset cre- driven — by the pandemic. "This benefit may have
ated these guarantees, In fact, ACSI's numerical even magnified negative
but it seems the customer scores have been trend- naysayers who are always
learned to abuse it, as well." ing downward over the looking for something bad
These days, travelers are past decade, from a peak to point out, often in a very
unlikely to find such confi- score of 77 in 2012 to just 71 disrespectful manner," says
dent promises. Meanwhile, in 2022. Carswell.
satisfaction rates are lower THE PROBLEM WITH THE Gandhi Buckley maintains
than ever. But it's not be- 100% SATISFACTION GUAR- that abuse wasn't actu-
cause the guarantee is ANTEE ally the problem, adding
gone. It's because it was Some hotel experts blame that while "guests would
there in the first place. the lingering effects of the sometimes have unusual
HOTEL SATISFACTION IS 100% Satisfaction Guaran- rationale against invoking
WORSE THAN EVER tee for low customer sat- the guarantee," fewer than
According to the Ameri- isfaction. Beyond eating 1% of guests actually tried
can Customer Satisfaction into hotel profits (and de- claiming refunds.
Index's Travel Study 2021- creasing money to invest Yet Hilton reevaluated the
2022, which interviewed elsewhere), it may have in- offer after more than a de-
6,000 travelers between advertently adjusted con- cade. Now, it's still a "100%
from 2021 to 2022, satisfac- sumer demands. Hampton Guarantee," but
tion fell 2.7% during that "Try as hard as you might — the outright refund lan-
time period. Meanwhile, and most hotel staff bend guage is gone.
many hospitality workers over backwards — you "We also found the origi-
say complaints are soaring. can't manage everyone's nal language signaled to a
Things got so rough in unique and often-unre- guest that something could
2021 that the Rhode Is- alistic expectations," says go wrong," Gandhi Buckley
land Hospitality Association hospitality consultant Col- says.
launched a "Please Be Kind leen Carswell. "You cannot Plus, Gandhi Buckley says
Toolkit" containing mental please everyone." that most business travel-
health resources and infor- Hampton by Hilton is gen- ers didn't care about re-
mation regarding handling erally credited with creat- funds anyway (since stays
unruly customers. Some at- ing the first-ever hotel 100% were generally on their em-
tribute this year's especially Satisfaction Guarantee ployer's dime), and leisure
high dissatisfaction rates (the guarantee was estab- travelers just wanted prob-
to differences of opinions lished before its former-par- lems fixed. Hampton's new
about whether the pan- ent company, Promus, was promise shifts away from
demic is over. "At the be- acquired by Hilton in 1999). refunds to empowering
ginning of the pandemic, Shruti Gandhi Buckley, employees across all levels
guests were sympathetic global brand head for and departments to actu-
to frontline workers," says Hampton by Hilton, says ally execute those fixes.q