Client choice
a mixed experience. The first hotel in Venice was a delight, overlooking a quiet canal, private balcony, helpful staff, and décor which made you feel like you had stepped into a scene from a Room with a View (yes I know that was Florence but it’s as close as I can get). Service was friendly, attentive and yet non-intrusive. The Rome hotel, chosen largely because it was central, had a swimming pool, had good reviews and looked as if it should be a “special treat” but had less of the wow factor in reality. The main problem appeared to be our choice of room. This was, certainly by our standards, an expensive hotel. I won’t go into details on the price but let’s just say it was considerably more than the walkers’ hostel I stayed in in Snowdonia a few weekends earlier. We had chosen a Deluxe Room. That sounds grand enough, but in truth (as we found out) it was the most basic room they offered and, it seemed to us, affected the way that the hotel staff dealt with us. I don’t think we imagined it. That slight intake of breath by the swimming pool attendant when we gave our room number, the suggestion when we arrived that we may want to pay an additional 200 euros per night for a slightly better view of the surrounding rooftops, the lack of interest from the concierge staff, all contributed to a feeling that we were ever so slightly outside their customer focus. We did have a good time though; they did give us an anniversary bottle of Prosecco, the breakfasts were amazing, and the pool was a wonderful antidote to several hours of queuing at tourist hotspots. Third, what feedback was asked for and what message did we give, (and how did the hotels respond?) The first hotel gave us a questionnaire when we checked out, which we completed there and then. The site we used for the booking sent e-mail reminders requesting feedback on our experience. They arrived with many other e-mails and, as is the way with these things, life took over and (as things currently stand) only one has been completed, and that was on the Rome hotel, where we had things to say which were mixed in terms of positive and negative views. The Venice hotel hasn’t had our positive feedback as yet. So, what lessons are there to learn in all of this for a law firm like Mayo Wynne Baxter? To celebrate our silver wedding anniversary my wife and I went to Venice and Rome. We did the usual sightseeing and experienced the different ways of doing things that being in a different culture provides the opportunity for. It’s interesting to reflect on how we made choices about what we did, where we stayed and what could have been done better by those we came across during our brief sojourn to Italy; particularly from the standpoint of a business that is in a sector which is rapidly adapting to meet changing customer need.
1. Do people use us because they have found us on the web?
It remains the case that most people use us either because they have used us before or because they know someone
First, why did we choose the hotels we stayed in?
Obviously price and location were important, but the biggest single influential factor was their rating (and the reviews) on the websites we consulted to deal with the bookings. All successful holiday companies and their suppliers are acutely aware of the clear link that now exists between customer feedback and the future success of their venture. Sites like Trip Advisor now command huge respect. Second, did the hotels live up to the reviews? As you would expect, it was
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