When interstate recently, I booked a hotel that markets itself under the name of a group of international luxury hotels. Normally I’ve been very impressed with the level of service at these hotels that operate under this luxury banner and that’s why I chose this particular place.

They’re a bit more expensive, but when the service is great, I don’t mind paying for it.

What follows is an example of how not to treat customers and also how one bad experience can do damage to a brand name. And from a consumer’s point of view it shows you to be careful of judging a hotel by its website.

This hotel’s website claimed there was a great view of a river that could be seen from the hotel window and how it’s a great place to sit back and relax.

We arrived at the hotel around 1pm, two hours after the time I’d mentioned in the booking process. Ideally I’d like to have checked in early and explored the town. On arrival, we were informed, via an intercom, that we couldn’t check-in our luggage, as no one was at the hotel until 3pm.

Why bother asking our arrival time in the first place if they can’t provide the service?

We told the person on the other end of the intercom that we couldn’t just haul our bags around everywhere for a few hours. After a while, the guy (who was an employee and well mannered) succumbed and let us in.

I’ve mentioned before that business owners should check the presentation of the entrance to their office, as this will create the first impression customers will have of the operation. Just inside the doorway, on a table, was a bowl with a couple of cherries and apricots to decorate it and the fruit wasn’t looking too good, so you can imagine the impression it left on me.

After completing the forms, we were shown to our rooms on what can only be described as the scenic route. We walked through a maze of hallways until we arrived at a sign that said “TOILET” and just to the right of that (on another door thankfully) was a sign with “The Switzer Party”.

We entered the room. It was nothing like what had been described on the website and the river was there, but it was on the other side of a four lane highway with trucks booming up and down it.

Although booked in for two nights, it was obvious that this wasn’t going to do. On calling the front desk I explained my wife was feeling ill (she was in shock!) and that we’d have to cut our trip short. I asked whether we could just pay for the one night and we would leave in the morning.

I was told that as the booking had been made for two nights, there was no way of amending it and no refunds applied.

So I explained that I’d tried to be nice about it, but the truth was that this room and the view were not up to the standard we were led to expect from the information on the website.

To cut a long story short, we stayed the one night, and went elsewhere the next night. When we got the credit card bill a month later, we found that we had been charged for the two nights.

My financial controller called the hotel, and the owner, rather than being apologetic, started raising his voice, telling her to try and take him to court.

I won’t be staying at this hotel again, but the lesson here is the damage that has been done to the brand to which the hotel belongs. With the brand comes some expectations of service, but now on seeing the brand, I’ll think twice about staying with them. I wrote to the head office of this brand in London but I am not sure if I’m feeling satisfied with their response.

One bad experience can be detrimental to the whole name of your brand. This is something to be wary of if you’re planning to open more branches, stores or offices.

The most difficult part is winning the customer back. With my experience above, they haven’t even tried.

Tom O’Toole, the famous Beechworth baker, argues that he grew his business by putting up a notice board and asking customers for suggestions and complaints!

O’Toole reckons it’s not good kidding yourself that you have a great business when even 10% of your customers think you’re an ordinary performer. The experts on customer service argue that a customer you win back can often become your greatest advocate. It can be hard work, but it also can be worth it.

I’m hoping this was just a one-off for this particular hotel brand. But in their desire to bring hotels under their umbrella they need to watch out for those businesses that kick up such a storm when customers complain that it blows the umbrella inside out.

By Peter Switzer, published on 3/03/2009

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