Hotel Satisfaction - A Satisfaction Management Strategy
Measuring customer satisfaction in the hotel industry has never been easy.
First, the key obstacle to valid data gathering in any hotel based satisfaction feedback initiative is customer participation. Response rates are famously low in hotels; when was the last time you filled out the survey card in your hotel room? Traditional paper based surveys in hotel rooms are notorious for producing statistically insignificant sample sizes.
Unfortunately, alternative methods like web based surveys and email surveys are almost as ineffective as paper surveys. Typically, only the most unsatisfied customers are moved to participating.
The second most difficult aspect of measuring hotel satisfaction is the very nature of the service being rendered. A hotel guest's perception of quality depends on an extremely broad variety of factors ranging from a receptionist's smile to the type of pillows on the bed or even the selection of items in the breakfast buffet. Very few industries need to measure such a wide spectrum of different variables, all of which contribute significantly to overall customer satisfaction.
Finally, the most significant challenge hotel administrative staffs is the difficulties associated with geographical disparity of hotel companies. With hotels usually spread out over large areas (often worldwide) the ability to collect and process surveys only adds further complexities to the mission. Given that this task often falls on the hotel staff that is being evaluated, most corporate offices reasonably doubt if all the opinions reach the home office. If incentives and variable compensation depend on satisfaction scores these doubts multiply substantially.
Fortunately for hotel operators, Gustometria solves all three of these management c hallenges.
Following our proven methodologies, hotels will achieve extremely high participation levels. Instead of a few surveys per week, a typical hotel will achieve hundreds of monthly surveys using Gustometria. This enormous amount of data is collected instantly by the Gustometria servers and is processed and tabulated in real time.
The second important advantage Gustometria brings to the table is the ability to measure a large variety of factors without inconveniencing the customer. Gustometria surveys can be divided into fixed and variable pages, thus management can efficiently track hundreds of important indicators while guaranteeing high participation levels. Completion of the survey generally takes less than 90 seconds and is usually completed at checkout while waiting for the invoice and receipt. Consequently, no single customer has to answer a large number of questions. The high participation levels assure that the number of responses to each question is statistically significant.
Finally, Gustometria eliminates the need to collect surveys and send them to a central point for data entry and report processing. Customers use their fingers to answer the survey on the Gustometer touch screen and our innovative technology does the rest.
Gustometria's online analysis system, based on leading edge business intelligence reporting tools, automatically allows managers to study all the varied aspects of customer satisfaction in the context of their own custom profile questions. Consequently, the hotel administration can decide which measures should be taken to improve satisfaction in the most important customer segments. The corporate office can benchmark results from different hotels and identify best practices which should be deployed throughout the organization.
However, for a hotel company, Gustometria also provides two additional and very important benefits.
Gustometria also enables the customer to provide direct and personal feedback to the organization via submission of suggestions, complaints or testimonials providing a direct line of communication between administration and customers in any location. Gustometria is like having eyes located in each and every department of every hotel.
Finally, once put into place, the Gustometria infrastructure can be used not only for essential customer satisfaction measurement, but also to add value to other parts of the hospitality business.
In hotel companies where food and beverage services are a key contributor to revenue, wait staff engages the customer with a handheld gustometer at the table at the end of the meal. Again, the compnay receives detailed feedback on their food services initiatives and can analyze in real time.
In companies which do a large amount of business organizing and hosting special events, Gustometria can be an added service which can be "resold" to the end customer. As events are concluded, or at the end of each conference session, participants answer a brief survey in a Gustometer, always placed in high traffic areas. Immediately after the event's closing, the hotel can deliver a detailed and sophisticated business intelligence report regarding event participant's satisfaction.
Effectively evaluating customer perceptions of the hotel experience requires powerful and sophisticated management tools. Until now, the hotel industry has been void of any truly innovative customer feedback management system. Gustometria has raised the bar for companies all over the world.
Not only can you measure and track customer and employee satisfaction, but you can do so in real time and adapt quickly to the changing needs of your entire customer base.
Gustometria is easy to use, affordable and does not require any complicated IT integration project by the company's internal staff. In fact, you can be up and running in less than a week.
Pick up the phone today, and give us a call toll free at 1-877-448-7865.
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