No, I’m not going to name the brand. That’s not the point of this article. This isn’t the right place to complain. What I want to do here is set out a real-life example of a brand getting CX entirely wrong, together with some of the reasons. It’s an important corrective, I think, to the big and highly positive claims made about CX by so many of the vendors selling the software which — in theory — should make CX work.
As should be clear by now, even the best CX software can be defeated by entrenched silos, poor communications, and inaccessible data. We’re about to see how that works. I will just say that I’m shining a light on a household name hotel brand, owned by one of the biggest hotel chains in the world. And I have no doubt they’ve made some significant software investments.
My case
I have a three day stay booked at one of this brand’s properties. There’s a five day cancellation policy. I discover I need to leave a day early, so seven days in advance, I call to cancel the last night of my stay. Sounds easy? Let’s see how much friction siloed teams and inaccessible data can create.
Touchpoint one
I call the number of the website. After hearing about how “bold and innovative” the hotel is, I get an automated menu; first option, Reservations. Great. I get put through to a representative and explain what I need to do. She says something about not being able to access the relevant system, and puts me on hold. After ten minutes of silence, I hang up.
Touchpoint two
This time my call is answered by a man who understands my request, but says that in order to deal with it, he will need to email the property. I realize this is not the hotel, but a call center. I ask if he can copy me on the email. No, but he offers me a case number, and says I should look out for a confirmation email from the hotel. I wait 48 hours; the email doesn’t come.
Touchpoint three
I call again, armed with my case number. At first, the representative doesn’t seem to want the case number, just all kinds of other information. Eventually she accepts it, and finds my case. She tells me it can take up to five working days for the hotel to send the confirmation email. I don’t really care about that; what I need is for someone to confirm that I have cancelled within the required cancellation period. She tells me that hotels in the chain have different periods (two days, three days, five days). I tell her I know the period for my cancellation is five days, and I want to know that I am not going to be charged for that last night. This gets no traction.
Touchpoint four
I ask to speak to a supervisor. When she comes on the line, we review the situation. She tells me I should try calling the hotel direct. I would love to, please give me the number. She gives me the number I have been calling all along. “That’s your number,” I say. She tells me I need to press zero when I get through. Not one for Reservations. Who knew?
Touchpoint five
I do as instructed. Pressing zero takes me to a phone extension that rings. And rings. And rings. I hang up.
Touchpoint six
I call again, and once again am told by a recorded voice that the hotel is “bold and innovative.” There are three menu options (and no suggestion that I press zero). I now know Reservations will take me to a call center which can only communicate with the hotel by email, with a five day turn around. I dismiss the option of booking a table at the hotel restaurant. The only other option tells me that “brilliant hosts” are standing by to “personalize” my experience. Yes, personalize. Nothing to lose, I press it.
Touchpoint seven
Someone at the hotel’s front desk picks up. Glory, I am saved. Well, actually not. I offer him my case number, but he says he can’t use it. So I explain the situation. He tells me that because my booking is a corporate booking (for a block of rooms reserved for conference attendees), he cannot make the change himself. But the person who manages those bookings can, and he will connect me. Saved this time? My call goes through to a voicemail. I leave a message, which I confess was a little snippy.
Touchpoint eight
On my last day in the office before traveling, I finally receive the confirmation email (addressed to Ms. Davis, but that does happen). That’s how I altered my reservation at a major hotel chain.
Lessons
Let’s summarize some easily identifiable problems:
- The call center data is not accessible to the hotels within the chain. Cases are opened and closed within the call center, but the front desk (it seems) cannot see the cases. Seamless CX requires that when someone at the hotel takes my call, they can rapidly identify me and understand the problem I have already explained (several times)
- The call center and hotels in the chain are communicating by email. That makes anything approaching real-time CX absolutely impossible
- When discussing a cancellation, the call center rep doesn’t have my hotel’s cancellation policy at her fingertips; I have to tell her what it is
- Within the hotel, there are siloed systems for different kinds of bookings
- Marketing to someone who has opened a service case is rarely a good idea. When I can’t get a simple change made to a reservation, telling me that the hotel is “bold and innovative” strikes the wrong note
- Similarly, offering to “personalize” my experience rings hollow when the experience I am having is not personalized at all.
Sadly, a classic case of how not to do CX. It could have been an airline, it could have been a retail outlet, it could have been a sports franchise. Some brands we know are getting it right; many are still not getting it at all. In this case, there can be no barrier to investing in software. There seems to be some kind of internal barrier to figuring out a system which can use it right.
The hotel itself was excellent.
By the way: Comments always very welcome, and we’re interested in any similar experiences. See the comments field below.
