I recently spent a week-end at the Ritz-Carlton in Dallas. It was a lovely week-end, the staff was fabulous, we had a great room, and the restaurant was superb. About a week after our stay I received an email from the hotel asking me to complete a survey about our stay. I completed the survey and told them about one problem we had at the hotel. I thought it was important for them to know, and I even filled out the section where it asked if I wanted someone to contact me so I could elaborate on the issue. This is where their customer service broke down. I never heard from anyone.
If constructed well, a customer survey can be very valuable to an establishment, especially one that prides themselves on their top quality service like the Ritz-Carlton. They especially need to know when their customers have had a problem so they can rectify the problem to maintain their top-notch rating. So now I am wondering if they even bother to tabulate the survey and read the comments that their guests took the time to complete. Furthermore, they left a bad taste in my mouth. We had a fabulous time and I easily would have forgotten about the one problem we had, but now the bad taste will linger much longer because of the lack of follow-thru, and I will question in my mind whether the Ritz-Carlton truly cares about their guests, or is it just an act.
So remember, customer service doesn’t end when the customer leaves. Don’t bother with customer surveys if you don’t want to hear what your customers have to say, or if you don’t have the desire or resources to follow through.
Until Next Time,
Stephen
