As most readers will probably recall, Delta Airlines created what some might call a “PR Nightmare” earlier this year when it changed the qualifications for achieving premier status on its SkyMiles loyalty program and also restricted the number of free visits to Sky Club lounges provided by the American Express affiliate program. Right away, JetBlue saw this as an opening to grab some loyal Delta passengers and offered a one-year “status match,” which I took.
I do like JetBlue and, due to routing, I often fly with that airline anyway. But honestly, I doubt the effort will win many road warriors over for the long term. Why? Because it’s Delta’s people that make the difference for me, not their points and not their perks.
There are too many examples to share of the heroic efforts that Delta colleagues have made to either get me to a training or conference speaking engagement or get me home to my wife and dog. But really, it’s the everyday hospitality that Delta’s people deliver with near-zero defects that truly brings me back. They seem to understand the difference between “hospitality,” which is all about how guests are made to feel during encounters, and “customer service,” which is more demonstrative and about politeness and efficiency, and their people excel at both.
Taking this concept into the hotel space, it just amazes me that so many hoteliers still seem to buy in to the idea that they can win market share by offering perks or points. Sorry Marriott and Hilton, but the bottle of water I get for being a Silver loyalty member won’t bring me back. It won’t be your tech either, because you can’t “out-tech” the competition. It takes humans to deliver heartfelt hospitality.
Yet just about every article I read these days in hotel journals that has a headline about “delivering hospitality experiences” is written by a tech company ghostwriter, talking about how a new app or data-driven feature will make guests feel welcomed.
My 24-year-old son and his wife were pretty impressed when, on their recent honeymoon to a Disney World hotel, they walked in to see their name displayed on the TV. But I seriously doubt whether that will ever impress them when it happens next time in the many years of travel awaiting their young lives.
Maybe I’ve become cynical, but all this tech-driven personalization is about as exciting as the generic “happy birthday” emails I get from my car dealership and doctor’s office.
With branded hotels that mimic each other’s sub-brands these days, the product likely looks the same. With all the automated revenue and pricing tools being driven by the same data feeds, chances are the price will also be the same as what the comp-set is charging. Place? These hotels are being built literally next door or across the street from one another. What “P” is left? People!
Certainly, there are far fewer conversations taking place these days between guests and staff, due to the automation of tasks such as booking, wake-up calls, and questions about directions and the local area. Therefore, each one that’s left is exponentially that much more important.
Those conversations are what keep guests coming back. Here are a couple of examples from my own travels.
We often visit the Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, area on our drive back from our annual July 4th trip to my hometown of Lexington, Kentucky. Based on my experience this past summer, I will never stay with anyone other than Auntie Belham’s Cabin Rentals. As nice as it was, it’s not because of the cabin we got either, because there are well over a dozen professional property management companies there offering the same or maybe even fancier cabins. But I’ll never rent from anyone else because of Lauren. We never met and never even spoke on the phone, yet her authentic hospitality rang through every email and text exchange. Best of all, the personalized handwritten note she had waiting on the dining room table sealed the deal.
When my wife and I visit Key West, Florida, again one day soon, we will never stay anywhere other than The Garden House. This is certainly NOT because of their rooms! Cathy and I had a room that was laughably small, the tiniest room ever. Basically, just enough space for a queen bed, with about 18 inches on either side and about 24 inches in front, plus a tiny bathroom. It wasn’t the cooked-to-order breakfast either, although that was nice, or the location steps away from Duval Street, because there’s an overwhelming number of small inns and hotels right there. It was Sammy, the front-desk host. What a personality! He got all of us guests interacting in pleasant conversations over breakfast and happy hour each day, but the best part was how he fussed over our senior dog Maxie, who little did we know was in his final months of life.
Each year for Thanksgiving, we return to my wife’s small town of Drums, Pennsylvania, to visit her family’s farm. Having only about 500 people, there’s actually no hotel in Drums, so we stay in the nearby small city of Hazelton. There are no luxury hotels there, but choices include just about every focused-service brand, including several that are upper midscale where I could earn points and get that free bottle of water at check-in. Yet we continue to stay at a property built in the 1950s which is now a Red Roof Inn. Not fancy, not even the best location, but they have Sonny! She always welcomes us with a warm smile and hugs. Sonny blocks our special room, which although the same as all the others in that wing, feels like home to us. Sonny remembers to ask about our kids who are now grown and don’t come to visit with us much anymore, and always remembered Maxie by name.
Now I am sure there are other travelers for whom those points are important, but when I talk to them in airport lounges and breakfast bars, I find out that most are members of multiple brand programs. When it comes down to choice of where to return, most have stories to tell that are much like mine. The front-desk clerk who stores their work boots or her winter coat. The housekeeper who always remembers the extra towels. The maintenance tech who proactively offers luggage assistance in the absence of a bell person or who once jumped a car or fished a valet parking stub out of the trash bin.
To real-world travelers like us, it truly is the people who make the difference.
Doug Kennedy is president of the Kennedy Training Network, Inc. Contact him at doug@kennedytrainingnetwork.com.
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