The Anise restaurant at The Felbridge Hotel

Why customer feedback is crucial to the hospitality industry

15th March 2010, 10:02am

Any company can tune in to the voice of the customer by putting a few simple measures in place and with minimal effort, but the impact on the business can be remarkable. Andrew Aldred, marketing manager at managemycomplaints.com, reports.

When it comes to measuring customer satisfaction, it's widely accepted that  relying on guests to complete surveys is common practice in the hotel and restaurant industry – but what about all that unstructured feedback as well - in other words, all those verbal comments that go un-captured everyday? Harness the 'true' voice of the customer and it can really pay off. 

Research shows that over 90% of customer feedback is never actually captured which is why many successful enterprise organisations invest in systems and processes to ensure that they capture as much as they can. They know that putting customer feedback at the forefront of their business will help them make informed decisions to constantly improve their performance.

However, you don't need to be a big business or even a customer service professional to benefit too. One organisation that has seen some impressive benefits from adopting an enterprise approach to managing guest feedback is the award winning Felbridge Spa Hotel in East Sussex. 

Matthew Drinkwater, who is the operations manager at the Felbridge, is a big believer in capturing and using customer feedback. 

"Capturing customer feedback is critical for any business and provides us with actionable business intelligence that allows us to constantly improve the guest experience and the quality of our facilities including the spa and restaurant."

Drinkwater implemented an on-line service called managemycomplaints.com that made it easy for all staff to quickly and simply capture guest feedback at every opportunity and in every department.

But unlike the name suggests, it's not about managing complaints, it's about managing all customer feedback – good and bad.

Since using the service Drinkwater has been able to identify areas in the business that they are doing well and areas they need to improve which has led to increased customer satisfaction, more customer recommendations and reducing waste and inefficiency in the catering departments.

He adds: "It's a great benefit to the business and helps us maintain our customer focused approach to our business."

Five simple steps to get started

Andrew Aldred at managemycomplaints.com says: "The hospitality and service sector has an amazing opportunity to tune in to the voice of the customer on a daily basis because their businesses are customer facing.

"Just by asking one simple question at the end of each customer's visit can really open a business's eyes to what they're doing well and what they can improve on: 'Would you recommend our business to a friend or family?'

"Consider this as free business advice from the people who know you best – your customers and then make sure you're ready to use it."

Aldred advocates five simple steps for businesses to start benefiting from capturing and using customer feedback.

1. Make sure all staff are ready and willing to receive feedback.

2. Ensure all staff know what details to capture and where to direct feedback within the organisation.

3. Have a central way of capturing and storing feedback.

4. Report on customer feedback.

5. Act on customer feedback.

For further information and free advice on how to turn customer feedback into actionable business intelligence visit managemycomplaints.com.

About managemycomplaints.com

managemycomplaints.com allows small and medium sized organisations receiving around 30 pieces of customer feedback per month to implement a dedicated approach to capturing, managing and using customer feedback.

Related Articles:

• 23 Oct 2009 - Felbridge rated one of top five hotels in UK

Click here to submit a comment!

Penelope Tsaldari

01 April 2010 at 8:21am

I am a fan follower of Ann Corrigan on Linkedin. I believe that success or failure "hinges" on customer feedback and it has become an "essential" for those who understand that culling the rich harvest of customer opinions and perceptions is the best way to avoid the pot holes. Everyone wins including the most important person - the guest! Be that feedback positive or negative it is undervalued in the trade. My professional focus is at this juncture. Enjoyed your wonderful article.

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