How a Marriott hotel uses and responds to customer feedback
A frequent staycation and conference destination, Sheraton Grand at Wild Horse Pass is a 500-room resort with views of Sonoran Desert in Arizona’s Gila River Indian Community. As part of the Marriott brand, the hotel is also required to uphold Marriott brand standards for customer service.
To maintain this high level of service, Mariott regularly sends surveys that gauge a guest’s likelihood of recommending the hotel, in addition to checking review platforms like Yelp. According to Director of Sales and Marketing Bill Hunter, feedback helps the team stay in a service mindset.
“When you get into a day-to-day routine, it’s easy to want to say ‘no’ because it’s human nature that you’re trying to survive and today’s just a Tuesday to you,” he said. “But to the customer, this is a big deal. What you have to do is think, ‘Okay, maybe we can’t do something a certain way, but here’s what we can do,’ and you start brainstorming with the customer. That’s really what hospitality is about: that can-do spirit.”
The more you understand your customer, the better service you can provide. Bill shares three ways the team at Sheraton Grand at Wild Horse Pass—experts in hospitality—use feedback to improve their service.
1. Embodying the customer perspective
As a business owner, you know every detail of how your business operates—but you rarely experience it for yourself. Analyzing customer reviews can help you see the customer experience with fresh eyes and identify places to improve that you might have missed.
From Bill: “We try to look for common threads and trends because how we see the property as associate versus how a guest sees the property don’t always align. Sometimes we miss something. When you work here every single day, you just get comfortable. It’s just like in your own house. But a guest may have a perspective that was an ‘aha moment’ for you or an area of opportunity that we can look at [to improve].”
2. Inspiring and motivating staff
Reviews can also serve as a morale boost, especially when customers thank team members by name. Consider sharing customer feedback in a staff meeting or team email update to recognize and motivate your staff.
From Bill: “We send out all the [customer] comments. We encapsulate them into a document on a daily basis and send them out so our associates can read them. The associates that don’t have email, they get them reviewed with them in their daily lineup meetings.
“If the review comes across as somebody just having a cranky bad day, it may not hold as much weight for us, as if we’re like: ‘Wait a second, this person really is giving you thoughtful feedback, and there’s something here. We really need to dig into this and see where we can improve.’”
3. Acknowledging feedback and delivering on your promise
Deep down, even the most critical of customers just want to be heard. Responding to reviews—both positive and critical—builds trust with reviewers and shows potential customers your commitment to quality service.
From Bill: “Sometimes a guest has a bad experience, and we want to recognize that. We’ll reach out to those guests, and we try to connect with them personally and see what we can do to right the ship or at least acknowledge them. In a lot of cases, people just want to be heard and want to be acknowledged.
“If somebody takes the time to tell you, ‘Hey, you’re doing this well, but here’s an area that maybe you missed on,’ that really speaks to me personally. The truth is, you’re never going to be perfect. You can strive for perfection. You can strive to make the resort great and every associate have a perfect day and connect with everyone, but there are going to be times where you fall short on that promise. And that’s where we try to fix it to the best of our abilities.”
Did you know? 86% of survey respondents say they’re more likely to look past a business’s critical reviews if they demonstrate their commitment to customer service by responding and adequately addressing the issue.*
*Material Survey 2023
These lessons come from an episode of Behind the Review, Yelp & Entrepreneur Media’s weekly podcast. Listen below to hear from Bill, or visit the episode page to read more, subscribe to the show, and explore other episodes.