Are hotels upgrading their customer service during this downturn?

marriottConventional wisdom says that during a recession, you cut, cut, cut your way back to profitability. And that includes slashing resources devoted to customer service.

But some hotels are going against the grain, according to reader Doreen Friel — despite what I discovered in a recent column. Her story gives all of us hope at a time when record numbers of properties are going into foreclosure.

Last weekend, we had the pleasure of staying at the Courtyard Orlando Lake Buena Vista in the Marriott Village in Orlando.

In any case, they turned a stay that could have been unpleasant into one that was very pleasant. The first evening, our sleep was disrupted several times by inconsiderate guests shouting in the hallway as they were walking to the elevator. (These were not children and it was not limited to one set of guests.) Unfortunately, our room was not far from the elevator, so we couldn’t help but be disturbed by their antics.

The next morning, at 8 a.m., I approached the front desk and nicely asked for a room change, to a low-traffic area.

At a time like this, you would image the hotel wouldn’t give away anything. So if it moved Friel, it would be to one in the same room class.

Not so.

Not only did they honor my request, but they upgraded us to a much nicer room, and also granted our request for a late check-out the next day (2 p.m. instead of noon).

They could have easily turned us down on both counts. Their desire to assist us turned a weekend that could have gone south into one that wound up on a very high note.

Is the Courtyard Orlando Lake Buena Vista an exception to the rule? Probably.

The hotel industry is in a state of panic. And every time you turn around, seems there’s someone saying the worst isn’t over yet.

I think other hotels can learn a lot from the actions of this particular Marriott property. This is exactly the right time to be upgrading your customer service — when you have nothing to lose, and when your customers will appreciate it the most.

  • Amy

    This kind of service is great for the guest. And as a benefit, it may be free for the hotel, also.

    Free upgrade? No problem when occupancy is low. Late checkout? Again, no issue when numbers are down.

    Any hotel with half a brain would do exactly as this one has. Turn low occupancy into a chance to surprise your guests, at almost no cost to you.

  • Gerry

    I’ve been traveling on business about 50% time for the last 10 years. I’ve seen the travel experience decay so badly that this past year I’ve increasingly substituted web conferencing for face-to-face meetings. This wasn’t a recession-driven travel cutback. This was a choice to free myself from spurious charges for hotel sundries I never used, from attempts by sleazy rental car companies to get me to pay for damage I never caused, and for indifferent service from an airline that cancelled my flight home and then acted like they could not possibly care less. The underlying attitude I found everywhere was “we know you’re mad and you won’t be back, but we don’t care, because there are a thousand more where you came from.” Over the years I’ve talked to many other business travelers who met with the same attitude. Marriott wasn’t immune, but even in the boom years, they avoided the worst behaviors I found in other hotels. Their rooms were cleaned regularly and thoroughly, as were common areas, and their employees seemed to have been treated with sufficient respect that they were able to pass that on to the guests. The mid-range hotels weren’t on the unbundling bandwagon, and every stay did not bring a new, unwanted surprise change in the terms. They also took the principled, long-overdue, but risky action of banning all smoking in their hotels before almost anyone else did.

    Now, when I go on the road, the bad hotels have gotten worse. The ones who pared maid service to the bone to pad profits have bedbugs and are peddling themselves on Priceline for cut rates or going into bankruptcy, like the Extended Stay chain. Twenty-four or 48 hour notice of cancellation is everywhere. Marriott? Has kept their cancellation policy of 6 pm on the day of arrival, and has straightened up the hotels that were sliding. I liked Marriott most of the time before the recession. Now I like them so much that I walked out of a customer-paid hotel in San Francisco two days into my stay, and moved to a Marriott at my own expense – their 6 pm day-of-arrival cancellation policy made that possible, as did the good, no-strings-attached value they offered. When I took my husband with me on a combined business trip to Hong Kong, I stayed at the Marriott for the vacation portion of the trip. As long as they keep it up, and don’t take a lesson from the other hotels, I’ll be using them consistently.

  • http://management.curiouscatblog.net/ John Hunter

    That sounds more like bare minimum customer service not like some great action to be copied. When you have tons of empty rooms why put someone in a room that is not adequately sound proofed to be quiet with activity in the hallway. I would think it is the absolute least you can do to move people to an empty room that is less noisy.

    Upgrading them to a nicer room is much easier to do if the option is it will just be empty otherwise (like now when the vacancy rate is so high). If hotels are not already upgrading a ton of people that seems like a very silly action to me. Why not make people happy and potentially feel good about you for a very minimal marginal cost to you. Certainly if guests have been bothered give such things away today should be an obvious move.

  • Robert Carlton

    Having been platinum elite with Marriott’s Rewards program for more than 5 years I have obviuosly spent a lot of time in Marriott properties. I recall a couple years ago Marriott sent a letter informing its Rewards members that it had empowered its local managers to take whatever steps were necessary to fix a problem that a guest might have. Throughout my many stays at Marriott properties I have only had a couple of occations to test this promise. In both cases the staff went beyond my expectations to make a problem right. I think what Ms, Friel experienced at the Orlando property was this policy in action. It is nice to know it continues.

  • Kevin M

    There is one drawback (from the hotelier’s perspective) regarding upgrading during low occupancy periods. The hotel runs the risk of unreasonably raising customer expectations of what “normal” may be, and as things return to “actual normal”, a customer used to being pampered may resent “standard” rooms and service.

    Some years ago during a travel downturn, some friends and I booked rooms in DC for a long weekend getaway. For $99/night we each got a suite room and a bucketload of amenities. Two years ago my friends wanted to return to that property and were convinced they were being scammed because the same room was now $219 with a big advance booking lead, or $259 booked on a month or so’s notice. Nothing I said could convince them this was more typical of the market, and they refuse to patronize that hotel group (which has several excellent brands).

    My suggestion for hotels in that situation is to at least let the customer know up front: “We’re underbooked right now, and as a thank you for your business, we’re upgrading your room to [a suite, concierge floor, whatever] at no cost. We may not always be able to do this, but we appreciate your patronage and this is a small way we can show it.” Throw in something about joining our loyalty program to ensure the best benefits, and you’ve got a win-win situation.

  • http://dangph.si.polymtl.ca Dan

    I got Upgrades during my hotel stays in 2009 in Thailand and around the world. Hotels upgrade to keep you stay with them because the hotell across street or next door advertise cheap prices and additionnal amenities like free parking, massages, etc… Just the intention to stay more than 2 nights, hotels are willing to upgrade you. I got Upgrade to Business Class on Air Canada anytime there are seat available and 48 hrs ahead. Usually they collect the upgrade certificate but this year they ask me to keep my upgrade certificate to encourage me to travel more with them. On United they assign me the Economy Plus seat even I don’t ask. I think customer service is beginning to turn back to the days they know they need loyal customer.

  • Drew

    I travel extensively on business as well (about 150 nights a year), and have noticed a marked decline in all 3 legs of the triangle. Rental cars have gotten more expensive and older, rooms have gotten more expensive and lost amenities, and airlines have dropped routes and started using smaller aircraft for flights (a 757 from JFK to Frankfurt???)… I’ve been Marriott Platinum for 3 years now, and I’m starting to notice the little things happening with Marriott that caused me to stop patronizing the Hilton chain last year–rooms that aren’t clean, amenities that aren’t there or don’t work, nickle-and-dime charges, and more.

    Just this week, I checked into a Courtyard in Germany with a guaranteed reservation. From the beginning, the staff acted as though our being there was an imposition to them, and they didn’t want to help us. When they finally gave us our rooms, we checked, and they were both the wrong room type. When we asked about the beds (after standing in line _again_), we were told that they didn’t have any rooms with queen beds available. We mentioned our guaranteed reservations, and they said that they “didn’t guarantee room types.” It was only after I showed them the email of the guaranteed room type and mentioned invoking the Elite Benefits Guarantee (granted, only $100US in benefits, or about 70EUR) that they “magically” found two queen rooms available for me and my co-worker.

    It shouldn’t take that for good customer service.

  • David Z

    @Kevin M

    Exactly what I was thinking. If anything, it depends on what the hotel or so can really afford to give during that moment, and that some people tend to expect too much.

  • ed

    This past March, my wife and I spent a week on the Outer Banks in North Carolina. Through Hotels.com, we booked the week at the Ramada right on the beach. Not wanting to justify a premium room, we booked a room on the 2nd floor, just level with the dunes. Unfortunately, March turned out to be an exceptionally cold month this year, and the heat didn’t work in the room we were in. The hotel wasn’t empty by any means, but the front desk put us up in a premium room on the 4th floor with spectacular views of the ocean and beach. I didn’t expect this, so I was pleasantly suprised and will say that I will visit this hotel again in the future!
    Ed
    web/gadget guru