Knowledge is Power—profit power. I believe the biggest reason most firms are not customer driven is because they do not understand the financial impact of great service. According to this study, when ratings rose by one star, demand increased by 25% and prices grew by 9%.
To increase a review by one star means the entire hotel has to focus on a customer experience and every employee must be trained on customer service with something new and fresh every 4-6 months.
“Quality of service is more important than price. Price will bring shoppers but not customers… (But), give the customer something worthwhile and she or he will pay what its worth.†–Tom peters and Nancy Austin, A Passion for Excellence
Every day a hotel cleans the rooms and lobby. Very few hotels provide consistent awesome customer service. Very few are willing to spend the time and money on their staff.
As part of this article, Dr. Luca from Harvard Business School studies the impact of Yelp reviews with restaurants. His findings found an impact particularly for independent restaurants, whose sales rose by 5% when average ratings increased by one star.
Service should be part of everyone’s job description. Service should be the umbrella over your corporate organization’s plan for service delivery.
