Consumer Experience – The Good to Phenomenal Impact

“To create something exceptional, your mindset must be relentlessly focused on the smallest detail.” – Giorgio Armani, Italian fashion designer

Recently I stayed at one of my favourite hotels – the Kahala Hotel and Resort just outside downtown Honolulu, Hawaii. The property is beautiful, the service is excellent, and the staff friendly – all impressive, but the best part is what happens when the service doesn’t go right.

When I checked in, something wasn’t working properly in my room, so as I left in the morning, I let the front desk know, and went on with my day. And completely forgot about it.

When I returned, I found this card in my room. Not only was it a nice gesture that they had confirmed the problem was fixed, they also showed the time it was fixed. I had left the hotel at 5 minutes to 7, and it was fixed at 7:10. On top of that, they left me a little gift, which made me smile…a chocolate wrench.

When you look at it from a customer experience – they take an issue, and turn it into a delightful experience.

So there are many ways to create service experiences:

• Good – Do what the customer wants and fix it
• Appreciated – Do what the customer wants, fix it and confirm it was done
• Phenomenal – Do what the customer wants, confirm it, and use it to create an additional impact.

In this case, they made me smile.

Now flip this around, and look at it from the employee’s view: I’ll probably never see or meet the technician who fixed my problem, but that person is going to feel very good about their work.

They know I’ll smile when I see the note and the chocolate wrench – and will want to do even more.

It’s a wonderful circle. It’s unique and special – and the evidence is this blog: a special story I want to tell, in a world where sometimes just getting something done is an accomplishment!

I stay in hotels a lot and, surprisingly, these exceptional experiences are rare. You get basic and sometimes appreciated, but not this phenomenal opportunity to win a customer over.

Now, if someone asks me where to stay in Honolulu, my only recommendation is the Kahala – and they’ve provided me with a compelling story to tell about them.

The other good hotels I have stayed at in Hawaii have faded into the back of my mind…