Customer Loyalty Blog: The Wyndham Customer Experience and the Challenge of Service Recovery

The Wyndham Customer Experience and the Challenge of Service Recovery

April 28, 2005
Greg Robinson, Customer Loyalty Blog

Over Easter weekend, my family and I traveled to Orlando and stayed at the Wyndham Orlando Resort. After driving through a mini-monsoon that made the trip twice as long as it should have been, I thought that the most stressful part of the trip was over. I hoped that my family and I would be able to quickly check into our two rooms and ease into our long weekend. Not so fast my friend! That’s when the Wyndham Customer Experience took over.

The details of what went wrong with the reservation, the room change that we had to make (even though I had asked not to be checked in if it meant that we would have to move rooms later!), and the not quite ready for prime time hallway that greeted us upon arrival at are new rooms are documented in detail in a previous article that you can access from our website. This article is about what transpired after the fact and the importance of getting service recovery right in the moment.

A few more facts may be helpful here to understand the service recovery challenge. Problem 1: The front desk had our reservation but it was for only one room, not two. Let’s hold Hotels.com responsible for that one. Problem 2: The front desk staff checked us into one room with the assurances that we would not have to move when second room was ready—this turned out not to be the case which is not fun when you are schlepping stuff for three kids! Problem 3: New rooms were next to each other, but not adjoining as we had requested at the front desk. Problem 4: The hallway in front of the new rooms had a garbage bin, a portable refrigerator and a crib filled with left over room service items directly in front of our doors. (Don’t believe me? See the pictures in the previous article.) Not sure this is the type of crib that I want my 4 month old sleeping in. Problem 5: The manager on duty was an excellent listener, but used the rain as an excuse for the crib full of leftovers and the garbage bin that were left in front of my room—but he did hope that my stay would get better. This did not exactly make me feel like a valued customer. Got the picture?

At the end of my stay, I looked for the ubiquitous customer survey cards that are typically found in hotel rooms so that I could share my experience with the company. The survey was nowhere to be found. At checkout, no one even asked, “How was your stay?” So I decided to send an email CEO of Wyndham. This was his reply 24 hours later:

"Allow me to seize the day—and the moment, for that matter—to apologize for anything less than a most enjoyable stay in Orlando. You were kind to share your thoughts with me. I, too, believe that recovery is most important when we fail to meet our customers' expectations.

The cognitive side of me wants to first to share with you that had you made your reservations through Wyndham.com; where we guarantee the best Wyndham rate on the internet, your reservation would have been in perfect order on arrival. In addition to this, all members of Wyndham by Request (our loyalty program) who make their reservations though Wyndham.com avail themselves to free unlimited domestic Long Distance calls, free local phone calls, free high speed internet access, copying and fax service as well as guaranteed personalized accommodations to your specification.

HOWEVER, the service side of me compels me to first tell you how upset I was to see the crib and debris that greeted you on arrival to your accommodation. There is quite simply no excuse for this lack of preparedness, I have grand children myself and would not want to see them offered the crib in the pictorial you have shared with me. I also share your views as to the need for immediate empathy when it comes to customer feedback as well as the ability to give feedback! I have asked our senior officer, area manager and general manager to take the necessary and immediate steps to see that we remove these obstacles to proper service and satisfaction, forever. I know you will also be hearing directly from our resort team.

Your continued use of our Wyndham Hotels and Resorts, Wyndham Luxury Resorts, and Summerfield Suites by Wyndham is very importance to all of us. I can assure you every courtesy should we be so favored."

Regards,

Fred J. Kleisner
Chairman, President and CEO
Wyndham International, Inc.

In addition to Mr. Kleisner’s response, I received a call from the SVP of Eastern Operations and three calls from the Resort Manager. A number of things struck me about their response that I would like to share with you.

1. Speed of Response. I was amazed at how quickly the organization responded to my email. Perhaps the story or the pictures struck a nerve with the CEO. What was particularly surprising about the response was that I was not a member of their loyalty program or a frequent guest at Wyndham properties. My hope is that they treat all customer complaints with this level of attention, but my guess is that given the number of customers it would be virtually impossible to respond with this speed to all customers.

2. Timing of Recovery Offer. During my conversation with the Resort Manager, he asked me what Wyndham could do to make this situation right. After some consideration, I told him that there was nothing that could be done at this time because taking advantage of any offer that they would reasonable make now that I am no longer on the property would create an additional inconvenience for me. While I considered asking for an all expense paid week in Hawaii (An inconvenience I am prepared to accept!), it did not seem appropriate to ask for it or, frankly, would it have made good business sense for them to give.

3. An Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound of Cure. What struck me about the follow up call from the Resort Manager was the importance of service recovery in the moment. As I reflect on the situation, I would have been happy to with a drink in the bar while my reservation was being sorted out or a sincere apology after the room/crib incident with a bottle of wine and a cheese plate (or something to that effect) while I was on the property. Whatever the cost of the above, it is considerably less than the cost of doing something after the fact.

Poll Closed

There are a couple of lessons that I take away from this situation that I would like to share with you:

1. Train and empower you employees to handle problems in the moment because the recovery cost gets greater the longer the timeframe between incident and recovery. Doing something relatively small in the moment is significantly better than doing something large after the fact.

2. A quick response to a customer complaint after the fact is critical in your service recovery efforts, but it will only be successful if you have something of value (from the customer’s perspective) to offer.

3. In businesses where the customer has to travel to experience the product/service, companies need to consider the cost and inconvenience to the customer of accepting a service recovery offer that is done after the customer leaves the place of business and have alternatives that are valuable and convenient for the customer.

4. Build in quality from the start. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Make sure you are “customer ready” before you open your doors to your customers.