Thanks Drury for helping me with material for my customer experience presentations. Below is a letter to my employees.
Good morning all. As you know, I am always observing my experiences with companies that I interact with and I like to share the good, bad and the ugly. Yesterday I arrived in Phx...had a productive meeting...dinner and then I checked into the Drury Inn where I have stayed multiple times before. The check in clerk had 0 personality but managed to get the 3 or so in line checked in. (Met expectations). I told him I needed an airport shuttle at 5:30 am and he said to be sure I was in the lobby by 5:25. (He amazed me by conducting this entire transaction without making any eye contact).
Next morning...I am in the lobby at 5:20. 5:25 rolls around and no shuttle or anyone working the desk. 5:30 still no shuttle and finally a clerk appears. I asked about the shuttle. He checks his "list" and I am not on the list. I said curiously if he could just see if he had me on any other day for pickup at 5:30 as I know I saw the clerk from the previous night write my name down. He actually did have me down for a pickup at 5:30 ON THURSDAY MORNING OF THE DAY I CHECKED IN!! (Failed to meet expectations). I'm not sure how they were going to manage that. So...I get on the shuttle and tell the driver that I have one more guest coming and should be here any second. The drivers reply was "We have to leave right now!". (Really pleasant). I looked at him and was about to say I would just call an Uber but the other rider appeared right then and off to the airport we went.
I can probably count a half dozen times in that short story where there was a breakdown in service and a few opportunities where the hotel staff could have created a positive experience but the decided I wasn't worth it. Please use this as an example of how you would NOT treat your customers. Remember to treat each customer like your best friend and look for any opportunity to overplease your guests.