This is not necessarily an online user experience story, but it does describe an important lesson in building trust with your customers. On a recent trip to Atlanta I stayed at a Wyndham for 5 nights. During my stay I arrived in the hotel pretty late on several nights (i.e. past 12am). At that time of night the store (if that was what you could call it) was not staffed. The cashier that managed this kiosk of water, juice and chips from the dining room was not around so your items had to be paid for at the hotel front desk. On 3 separate nights I bought a bottled water and bag of chips to take to my room. On the first 2 nights the hotel desk clerk simply asked for my room number (and only my room number) and I proceeded upstairs. This would show on my hotel bill at checkout. On the 3rd night, there was no one immediately available at the front desk. After waiting a few minutes someone appeared and I asked to add my bag of chips and water to my hotel room. I politely gave my number and she said thank you and I proceeded to walk off. As I was two steps away from the desk, she called out, "What's the name on the room?" I immediately suspected that she thought I gave her a random room number so as to not have to pay for the items. I was slightly offended, but gave her my last name without any fuss. The number matched the last name I gave her and I proceeded upstairs.
While this incident is not big deal, it is a perfect example of little things making a big difference. Observation 1: the first two clerks (who were different each night) both trusted me and did not ask for my last name. Whether it was lack of training or trust is hard to tell, but a consistent experience is what customers want. If I had been asked for my name and number all 3 nights I wouldn't be writing this blog. Observation 2: the clerk on the 3rd night second-guessed me. Saying okay, then stopping me as I began to walk off, did not leave a good impression which was not worth the $2.25 they would have lost if I had been lying. I am not ready to boycott Wyndham just yet, but unfortunately, the experience is now noted in my head.
What Goes Around...
Wyndham ended up losing $2.25 anyway. During checkout I noticed that the clerk had mistakenly put a parking fee of $2.25 on my bill even though I took a taxi to the hotel. Now obviously this was the water and chips from the first night and he must have hit the wrong key. I could have paid it and went on my merry way, but instead I told them to remove the charge because it was filed incorrectly. They promptly did and that was that. Between the bottled water incident and their internet access being down for a day and a half, I didn't feel bad.
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