Small but essential hoteliers’ sins

Strategy is made up of little things

Foresight-inspired strategy

Strategy is made up of little things

As a consultant and a lecturer, I have to travel a lot. I spend many nights in hotels in different cities and countries every year, and I have noticed that most of them, regardless of the number of stars a hotel has, make the same simple mistakes bringing some discomfort in guests’ life — minor ones, at first glance. But as a person who has helped some hotel chains with strategy, I know that there are no minor mistakes in the hospitality business. Every insignificant detail (and, moreover, rather a bad detail than a good one) may be noticed by a guest and mentioned in an online review or a social media post and, thus, influence a hotel’s rates. And rates are crucial in this industry.

As a frequent hotel guest, I have built my own list of small, easy-to-fix, but significant inconveniences that most hoteliers make to their guests. They are annoying, and annoyance is the last thing a hotel’s managers would like to see as their guests’ reaction to the stay. If a room is clean and quiet, the water is warm, and breakfast is good — chances are that guests will take it for granted and won’t mention it in their reviews. But every trouble they had while staying in a hotel will be noticed, described in detail, and, sometimes, blown out of proportion.

Service is made up of little things

Strategy is made up of little things

So, here is my list. If you have your own list of what many hoteliers do wrong, do not hesitate to comment on this article.

1. Even if the bottles with shampoo and shower gel are relatively large, their tags are always too small. I don’t have a habit of putting my reading glasses on while taking a shower, so I am always in trouble trying to tell one liquid from another. Of course, I am not that naïve, and I know that both liquids are pretty much the same, but it feels more comfortable when I wash my hair with shampoo.

2. Thousands of hotels use shower bar baskets for shampoo and shower gel bottles. But the distance between the bars is always too large for small bottles, so it is impossible to set them upright.

3. Almost every hotel asks me to be “green” and to hang up a used towel if I don’t want it to get washed and throw it to the floor if I do. I usually have short stays, I don’t want to damage the environment and to get towels washed every day, so I always hang them up. And they always replace them with new ones — daily.

4. They love to install sophisticated water taps in the rooms — it always takes me some time to figure out how to get some warm water.

5. There are always red and blue tags on the faucet indicating hot and cold water, but in most cases (I even tried to calculate but gave up), red means cold, and blue means hot. I swear. Of course, staying under a cold shower in the morning and trying to find a position of the tap that can bring warm water helps to cheer up, but I prefer doing it with a cup of tea.

6. I always try to check in to my flight online. In some airports, I must have a printed copy of the boarding pass, so I reach out to a reception desk with the issue. They are always ready to help and give me a hotel business card with an email address where I can forward a message from an air company. But, once again, they always use such small fonts that I have to take my glasses out of my backpack. Is it that expensive to print bigger cards?

7. I love boiled eggs for breakfast. And since my childhood, I have known that there is a life hack — if you don’t want to have difficulties peeling the eggs, put them into cold water for a short time just after boiling them. So please, reveal this secret to the hotels’ chief cooks.

COVID-19 hit the hospitality industry severely, and many companies are searching for new strategies. But a company’s strategy is about finding new ways to satisfy its clients. And customers’ satisfaction is made up of little things.

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