This past weekend we stayed at a Holiday Inn Express, which had recently been remodeled and was a very nice hotel for the price. Though, they dropped the ball when it came to how they serviced their customers. I can’t really blame this on the gentleman working behind the front desk because he was certainly follow procedure, though these procedures kept the hotel assistant from really “wowing” the customers with some simple services like hassle-free check in or allowing people to check in a bit early to get ready for the wedding they were attending.
The hotel assistant’s only response to some of these simple requests was that they could not be done and then he would go back to whatever he was working on. If the hotel had empowered him to look beyond the policy of a 3pm check-in and offer up some suggestions or other ideas on how they could help us, then we would have walked away with a better taste in our mouth. Instead, he was able to hide behind the hotel procedures, which in theory would make his job easier because he didn’t have to do anymore work, though in the long run will cost the reputation of the hotel and eventually lead to lost business or loss of his job.
Everyone is busy and it’s hard to understand what exactly is going on in their shoes, though using “procedures” to prevent yourself from doing extra work is never an answer….