Delight Customers With Your Humanity

Delight Customers With Your Humanity
JB I was very pleased to read down to the last few paragraphs to see this is what we do. And I agree, while maintaining professionalism as to not cross the line to "home-stay" we can be very personable and real. The same reason I am banging the drum about photos of the "real" owners/innkeepers on the website.
Great article.
Excerpt:
As Bill Price and David Jaffe say in their book Your Customer Rules!,
"What makes surprises so alluring isn't necessarily their content or grandiosity. Even a small kindness, when it's unexpected and freely offered, can change the course of a customer's day. Somehow the unexpected aspect, the surprise, is much more important than the thing itself. Being taken unaware changes the emotional response. The customer is suddenly aware that there are real people on the other side of the transaction, thinking about how to make the day just a little bit better."
Never overlook the human element in a customer experience.
Last comment by JB - we lost an innmate recently who excelled at this. If the little boy guest like trucks she would have a little matchbox truck on his pillow as a turn down surprise. She made the guest experience wonderful.

Over and over again... guests are looking for a morsel that is just for them. It takes us mere seconds to create that for them and we gain far more than we give, which compels us to give more.

Joey Bloggs said:

Last comment by JB - we lost an innmate recently who excelled at this. If the little boy guest like trucks she would have a little matchbox truck on his pillow as a turn down surprise. She made the guest experience wonderful.

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i miss her .... she was an inspiration. she kept her enthusiasm, always. i'll try to remember that.

And oftentimes it is such a small thing that we did, without even thinking about it, that makes the difference. I try to remember to take a cold bottle of water with me when escorting horse guests in the summer. I once took one on an extremely hot day. When I finally found her where she was getting a tire fixed (blew a trailer tire after calling me to meet her, called here, and msg relayed), I got out of the car and handed her the bottle of water. She actually remarked about that in her review on TA - as well as the fact I called around to find a new tire for her.

happykeeper said:

Over and over again... guests are looking for a morsel that is just for them. It takes us mere seconds to create that for them and we gain far more than we give, which compels us to give more..

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happykeeper said:

Over and over again... guests are looking for a morsel that is just for them. It takes us mere seconds to create that for them and we gain far more than we give, which compels us to give more.

Click to expand...

Well said. The personal experience is definitely what sets us apart from any other lodging in the area. It is so much fun to put a smile on a guest's face, I couldn't not do it because it benefits us too.

Asking a question here. We work with a wonderful shop in town to have their products, free, in our rooms. Guests can take them or leave them. We explain them so the guest understands they are free (even tho there is a large card with them explaining that) .
Guests love this.
Here's the question:
Should I change up my spiel slightly to imply WE went to the effort to get this for the guest rather than what I say now which is that the shop brings them in?
I'm thinking it's more of a surprise, in the sense we talk about it here, if I change the spiel. That we are taking the extra step to make the guest's stay more fun.
(BTW, in case you're wondering, the marketing director says more of our guests than any other place bring in the card to the store when they shop there and mention where they're staying. The store keeps track for their own marketing purposes.)

Morticia said:

Asking a question here. We work with a wonderful shop in town to have their products, free, in our rooms. Guests can take them or leave them. We explain them so the guest understands they are free (even tho there is a large card with them explaining that) .
Guests love this.
Here's the question:
Should I change up my spiel slightly to imply WE went to the effort to get this for the guest rather than what I say now which is that the shop brings them in?
I'm thinking it's more of a surprise, in the sense we talk about it here, if I change the spiel. That we are taking the extra step to make the guest's stay more fun.
(BTW, in case you're wondering, the marketing director says more of our guests than any other place bring in the card to the store when they shop there and mention where they're staying. The store keeps track for their own marketing purposes.).

Click to expand...

Morticia said:

Asking a question here. We work with a wonderful shop in town to have their products, free, in our rooms. Guests can take them or leave them. We explain them so the guest understands they are free (even tho there is a large card with them explaining that) .
Guests love this.
Here's the question:
Should I change up my spiel slightly to imply WE went to the effort to get this for the guest rather than what I say now which is that the shop brings them in?
I'm thinking it's more of a surprise, in the sense we talk about it here, if I change the spiel. That we are taking the extra step to make the guest's stay more fun.
(BTW, in case you're wondering, the marketing director says more of our guests than any other place bring in the card to the store when they shop there and mention where they're staying. The store keeps track for their own marketing purposes.)

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Maybe you could say you do it in conjunction with the shop in town.

I love this article. It really is the small things that make a huge difference. Everyone wants to feel special and when it's unexpected, the results are even greater.