I love living in the U.K and I love the seasons, especially autumn. I love nothing more than coming home after a long day at work, getting cosy with the heating on and having a relaxing night in, however there is one thing that can top this, if you have a spa break booked and last week I was lucky enough to go on one with my girlfriend.
After I managed to get an early finish on the Saturday, off we went, very excited and looking forward to having an amazing time at the delightful hotel and to sweeten the deal my girlfriend had got the whole thing for under a £100 courtesy of a groupon voucher! When we arrived at the hotel I was delighted with the service, the receptionist was very knowledgeable about the hotel and the services that were offered. I even managed to order a late checkout (an extra 2 hours the next day) and a morning paper just by asking the question. Neither of us could wait to get up to the room and it all seemed extra special as it was a very cold day and was just about to get dark so we couldn’t wait to sample the delights of the brand new outdoor Scandinavian style sauna and steam rooms. So the mood was set and as we opened the door to the sauna it turned into a…………….freezing cold wooden room which after a minute or so just felt like we were sat in someone’s garden shed.
Disappointed wasn’t the word, so we then decided to jump straight into the hot tub, which turned out to be, a COLD tub! That’s right, instead of bubbling away like a chip pan it was more like an involuntary ice bucket challenge. O.K. so rant over and now to the important bit, what did I do next? Well the morning after this car crash of a night out (to be fair the only part that ruined it was fact that the hot tub and sauna was cold, everything else was great) we were informed, by a letter popped under our door, that reception would be super busy so please would we check out by popping our door access key into the vase in reception which we did and left. Now, I am a great believer that we the Great British public are great at moaning.
If only it was an Olympic sport we would be the best in the world, although we are so so awful at complaining! What is the difference some might say? Well instead of moaning to my friends, family, via Facebook and twitter, which would do nothing other than make me look like a bitter angry attention seeker, I decided to COMPLAIN instead of moan. Better still I decided to complain to the right person, someone who could do something about it, so I wrote an email to the managing director of the hotel to give him a chance to make things right. Of course I laid it on thick and told him that it was our anniversary etc. and he came back straight away with the offer of Sunday lunch and a day at the spa for free. I replied that this was very kind but to really make it right I asked for a treatment too and after thinking about it, he accepted, so I bagged myself about £160 of treats absolutely free! So what can we learn from this?
Well it all boils down to the difference between moaning and complaining with a solution in mind to the problem you experienced. A way of putting things right and making sure that you go away a happy customer with a positive experience and the relationship is good. I’m sure that you will agree that complaining, not moaning, is the best road to go down and will always achieve the best results all round for everyone involved. Even if you are not “the type of person that complains” switch positions for a minute with the person you are unhappy with, wouldn’t you love an opportunity to put things right? We all need to complain more when something isn’t right and apart from it making us happier and more content, we can usually bag some freebies along the way As traders we need to open up communication channels and make it easier for staff and customers to feel, if the need arises, that they can complain and more importantly, we value them and something will get done to put things right and continue the relationship. Good business is built on good relationships and the key to all good relationships is communication, keep in touch @theadamcorbally www.adamcorbally.co.uk