This post is going to be a little different....
It's the type of post I used to make in my entrepreneurial days when I would observe every day life, and try to find a lesson for my business within it. And I was shown something over the last week on the road that I had to share.
I'm not going to say the name of the brand I had this experience with, but the message to me was clear....When a business / business person says something and gives you their word...If they don't follow up, you essentially lose trust in that person or business.
O.K., let's dive in....
So on my journey last week, I made a stop in Winnipeg. I actually love staying in Winnipeg. The food is fantastic and the hotel I usually stay at is just great. I've stayed there quite a few times, and just had a fantastic experience every time I stay there.
So coming into the city, I gave them a call and tried to book a room.
Fully booked!
Urgh, serves me right....So I knew of another hotel very close to where I usually stay, gave them a call and booked a room.
As I pull up to the hotel, it's literally....Being renovated.
The front of it doesn't have siding on it, and there are contractors everywhere. First thing I thought to myself was that it was odd that no one told me when I booked the room that they were renovating. No problem, it happens....Maybe they will give a discounted rate for the rooms because of the massive amount of construction going on.
I check it and interesting to me, no discount. Whatever....
Unlock the door, get into my room after a full day on the road and I'm immediately greeted with the stench of paint and chemicals from the construction. I am so tired from driving and plus, having a truck it isn't as easy as just finding a new place to stay. I need the large parking lot they had for my truck so I bit the bullet there and just collapsed on the bed.
At midnight, I wake up to the sounds of...Get this...A hotel party by some other guests. Mind you, this is a Monday night, but here are a bunch of people screaming, running around the halls, slamming doors and being extremely loud.
The front desk didn't seem to care either....By now, I'm upset and decide to look at the reviews for this hotel and here's where my 'business lesson' was found.
Since October of 2024, this hotel had been renovating. The reviews from other guests, literally expressed the same experience I was having. Loud guests, running around, smell of paint and chemicals and no mention of the hotel being renovated.
Under each complaint, you see a representative of the hotel giving you their 'speech' and it went like this...
"We're sorry for your experience, we will do everything to make sure this is corrected. We take your review very seriously."
Rinse and repeat since October. Every reply was a cut and paste response and it was clear they seemed to have no intention to fix these issues.
I'm sitting here thinking....Why even tell people that you value them? Why bother saying you are going to fix things when you are clearly in no rush to fix a thing? I get it renovations happen but the way they handled everything else was just weird.
So the advice I would have for any business or brand out there is.....When you say something, mean it. When you apologize, mean it. When you say you are going to do something to improve....Do it!
I know I can understand when issues rise. But when you sy you are going to fix issues and that you value your customers and clearly don't follow up....That hurts your brand, big time.
As for me, I'll never stay at this hotel again. And the response I got from their customer service was...You guessed it...Copy and paste!
