I travel a lot. In fact, this year I received Christmas cards from two hotels. A pilot stopped me as I boarded recently and asked if I had flown with him the week before. Cab drivers recognize me and wait staff in restaurants ask about my family. So I know something about the good, the bad, and the indifferent of customer service.
Yesterday, when I checked into the Marriott Hotel in San Francisco, the front desk clerk handed me the key card to my room and said, "Oh! That's a great room. You'll enjoy it."
I didn't think anything about the comment until I got to the room. It was okay, but nothing special. The room was tucked into an interior corner so I could look right into the room across the corner to the left. I looked down on a load commercial construction site. And the room was located right across from the elevators, guaranteeing lots of noise and traffic outside the room. I've been in the hotel before, so I also noticed that this room was not updated or renovated like other rooms that I've been in. I wasn't complaining. I wasn't going to be in the room much. But I wouldn't say that it was great.
As I thought about the comment, a few thoughts floated across the slipstream of my brainwaves. First, I don't think the front desk clerk had been in the room, so he couldn't possibly be able to say from experience that the room was great. Second, I've heard the same line used in most all Marriott Hotel properties, so I know that it is a part of the trained patter that they give to everyone who checks in. The comment is designed to set positive expectations for the guest.
The problem is that on both accounts it is not authentic but staged, maybe even manipulative. Right away, I knew I wasn't in a "great room." It won't stop me from being a customer, but it will make me even more aware of the lack of authenticity in the customer experience.
In our relationships to customers, let's strive for genuineness and authenticity. These are the foundations for great customer experiences.
Comment: (One)
Authenticity in ‘baby steps’
Dan, I think you make some really important points here.
The word authentic has always been a challenge for me. I like it and I value the concept deeply, but I find myself to be unintentionally shallow like the hotel clerk you described.
I value what it means to be positive in an often negative world, and so at face value, I would say the clerk was trying to be positive.
If I was that clerk, I would be tempted to say exactly what he did, but the inner journey to congruity in my own mind-heart connection would coach me over time to find new words such as "I hope you enjoy your stay," which is positive and truthful and sort of a ‘blessing’ to the hearer … AND, it
totally avoids making a promise or a statement that may not be perceived to be true by the customer.
For me, the quest toward authenticity is one of moving from superficiality to congruity … almost regardless of what anyone else thinks. I guess what I am saying is that authenticity is more about how I view myself, than the perception of others.
I see this in the life of Jesus. He was rejected by men as a blasphemer. How he was ‘perceived’ by many around him had consequences for him. They would say he was inauthentic … he distorted the Scriptures of old, he upset the religious authorities of the day and would not acknowledge the supreme authority of a Caesar. Yet, he would heal on the Sabbath … fulfilling the spirit of true religion … being true and congruous to himself as the God-Man, regardless of what anyone thought of him.
You have me thining, Dan!
Sincerely,
Ross
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