Really Bad Customer Experience - Don't Give A Wit
Posted by Scott Bell on Thu, Jun 17, 2010 @ 11:18 PM
Being a member of the travel and hospitality business can be a blessing and a curse.
One of our good friends just moved to Chicago to take a senior position with a major publicly held travel company. To celebrate his success and mark his arrival we asked him to join us at the swanky new Wit Hotel rooftop bar in Chicago for some libations and conversation. Several of us have been but more recently it's become the place to be seen. Just last week the Blackhawks and the Stanley Cup made an appearance at the rooftop bar at the Wit. Imagine if you will team members and guests swigging out of the famed trophy - it's true it really happened.
Interestingly enough the Wit was our intended destination for the celebration even without knowing the Blackhawks slept here...
The Wit has developed a magnificent footprint in boutique hospitality. It is in fact a very special hotel/destination within a destination. So when we arrived in advance to our guest we were content to wait in line to get into the newly famous rooftop. These days waiting aint no big thing - While we waited we called home, booked airline tickets and researched hotels for an upcoming trip.
6:00 PM - Park car with Wit valet
6:04 - Instructed coldly by "Claudia Schiffer" - "you're out" and to stand in line for what would be no more than 30 minutes to get to the rooftop. Anointed (and affixed) with a Hollywoodish wristband - we wait
6:24 - Guest of honor arrives and stands in line with us...
We talked about family, the magnificence of Chicago and great restaurants and watering holes. The conversation was fluid even under the L tracks of Lake Street.
6:41 - We arrive at the end of the waiting line and are informed by "Claudia" that our guest of honor has not been anointed and must wait at the end of the line. Claudia did this with contempt and attitude akin to the demeanor of a cruel prison guard. It was embarrassing and ugly.
Luckily our guest of honor diplomatically rescued the moment and suggested we defect to the fabulous restaurant Mercadito. Our guest is like us - passionate about good food and loathsome of mediocre service. The night was a success. We shared personal stories of family and talked about all the really good things happening in the travel business. But we both had a hard time shaking what will here forth be known as "the Claudia incident".
Would we ever go back to the Wit? - No way not even to swig out of the Stanley Cup. So the point is that there are moments of truth that frontline employees can decide the outcome of. "Claudia", either on her own or on instruction of management decided to embarrass a customer and tarnish the Wit brand.
Footnote - At 8:40 we arrived back at the hotel to claim our car from valet - When we asked to speak with the GM. We were told that the GM doesn't really deal with guests. Uhh huhh....
Being a member of the Travel and Hospitality industry can be a blessing and a curse.