In the last 14 days, I have traveled through 4 states covering 4 airports, 2 airlines, and 3 different hotels. Over the course of these trips, I have noticed that how an organization treats its customers has even more impact than I thought.
Let’s start with the airlines.
Most of the travel was on Southwest Air. The last pair of trips was on Alaska. Having lived many years in Phoenix, Southwest used to be my “airline of last resort.” It is now my “airline of choice”. On all the flights, we were treated respectfully. We checked bags and boxes – no damage was done to any of it, nor were we charged for the bags. The seats were comfortable, even for my long legs. In fact, I even sat in a middle seat in a full row and still had room to move.
We volunteered on each flight. We were only taken up on it once. In exchange for that one flight, @mindlessfluff and I each got a certificate to repay for the cost of the flight, plus extra.
On my last pair of flights, I felt squished. The airplanes for Alaska didn’t seem to have as much leg room. It felt more like cattle car travel than Southwest did.The seats were closer together, the crew was not quite as nice, the atmosphere was just a bit less fun. I didn’t check a bag, since it would have cost me. Everyone was professional, but just a bit cold. While the Southwest crew always welcomed us coming and going, the Alaska crew was just a bit too rushed to do so.
Ok – what else did I notice?
The hotels for the trips had the same level of surprises in store for us…The expensive one didn’t treat us nearly as nicely as the reasonably priced one.
The biggest of the three was the Mandalay Bay in Vegas (the first stop). The hotel seemed to have their hands out for everything. Food was expensive. Snacks and drinks in the room were not marked as costing. (Luckily, we both knew they would cost). Internet would have cost, but we used our Sprint card instead. Good thing we had planned on that too. The internet at the Mandalay Bay was going to cost us each the daily fee!
Next up was our favorite of the three: Candlewood Suites in Tempe. This place was positive experience from the first moment. The room was huge and had a full kitchen. There was a small store where you could buy things and charge to your room – and the items were not over priced. Everything was on a trust basis. They had DVDs and videos you could check out if you desired. The front desk staff was helpful and courteous. In fact, one of the staff members went out of his way to find my old frequent stayer number and get our stay credited.
The final stay was a Residence Inn. The place was nice enough. Big room, breakfast included, internet included. But, it just felt stuffy. Much like Alaska’s impression: Fine that we were there, but not really interested in going too far out of their way to get things going for me.
The surprise
The surprise in all of this wasn’t just how we were treated.It was the connections that the companies made with us. Southwest Airlines and Candlewood Suites both made us feel welcome. The employees went out of their way to make sure that we were treated as people. They made us feel that we were important. That was very nice. Even more, both places recognized us and thanked us.
It didn’t take much effort on their part, but it made a big impact on both of us.
Tags: alaska air, candlewood suites, hotel, mandalay bay, residence inn, southwest airlines, thank you, Travel
This is what a lot of companies are forgetting. Either the customer is forgotten or barely tolerated. However, in the end the companies that will far surpass the market’s expectations will be those companies that put the customer first, primarily by being friendly and treating every customer with courtesy and respect. The best and cheapest marketing campaign is to train the employees of your company to go the extra mile.
The word of mouth alone is worth millions of dollars.
Likewise, when companies screw up the negative word of mouth can also cost a company millions of dollars in sales.
Kathy, I enjoyed your post.
Linda Moore