Brand image is very important to most of us, especially those who work at companies and organizations vitally dependent on direct customer loyalty. Last week I realized, again, just how important the little things can contribute to that brand image.
I'm not a hotel snob, and when I travel I generally don't bother to pay the extra for full-service hotels with fancy restaurants and extravagant lounges. But I do value a nice comfortable bed. Westin is my first choice, but usually more than I want to pay, therefore I tend to frequent Marriott's Courtyards and Hilton's Hampton Inns. The same bed as their high-end hotels but without all the fluff downstairs. They are also incredibly consistent, no matter which city I'm in. Occasionally I also try a Sheraton, and up until recently I had considered them a small step below a Marriott.
But Sheraton needs to put some focus into quality and consistency as two of my recent stays, one in Palo Alto, CA and one in Newton just outside Boston have been seriously below their norm. Or at least I hope their norm hasn't fallen so low.
The Newton Sheraton is an interesting creature, literally built on an overpass over the Massachusetts Turnpike. I applaud the creativity of using otherwise unused vertical space without having to destroy more trees, and they did a fairly good job of muffling the noise from one of the most-traveled highways in the state. Before I begin my rant, I would suggest that the following two statements on their home page are just a little incongruous.
Whether you’re searching for the perfect wedding venue…
Ah yes, a scenic wedding over the Turnpike… But I digress. Although the bed was fairly comfortable, and
because of that sole point I would usually rate the hotel fundamentally acceptable, there were several small problem areas. Let's start with the jumbled and even scribbled numbers on the elevator buttons. Then you're met with frayed carpet as you walk into the room.
The doors are seriously dinged up, there are stains on the hallway carpet, and wall molding doesn't exactly look flush.
Does any of this directly affect the comfort of the bed, my primary concern? No. But I have to wonder if they pay such little attention to the cleanliness and upkeep of the hotel itself, how much attention do they pay to cleaning the sheets? Ick. This is a Sheraton, not a Super 8.
Little things do matter, and even if they are unrelated to the primary decision-driver, they can still have considerable impact on that decision. Frayed carpet, dings in doors, and jumbled elevator buttons will mean I probably won't consider a Sheraton again, especially if there are other choices.
I excercised my consumer power, checked out early, went a couple miles down the Charles and finished my stay at the Marriott Courtyard in Cambridge… clean, comfortable, with a great view of downtown Boston. For the same price.
Scott Sorheim says
As difficult as it may be for companies to stay on top of all the “details”, all of those details add up to the sum of your experience (with the brand).
Reminds me of David Armano’s concept of “micro-interactions”. He states this:
“We live in a world where the little things really do matter. Each encounter no matter how brief is a micro interaction which makes a deposit or withdrawal from our rational and emotional subconscious. The sum of these interactions and encounters adds up to how we feel about a particular product, brand or service. Little things. Feelings. They influence our everyday behaviors more than we realize.”
http://darmano.typepad.com/logic_emotion/2008/07/micro-interacti.html
http://darmano.typepad.com/logic_emotion/2008/04/micro-interacti.html
Mark Graban says
It kills me that these chains jeopardize their brand through franchising and licensing their name. The variation in quality amongst these chains is horrible (I normally point to Hilton and their namesake properties). The Hilton Garden Inns are scarily consistent. But, say, the Albuquerque Hilton is about the worst big name hotel I’ve ever suffered through.
Is it lack of leadership of lack of “quality assurance”???
LukeG says
Great call on the Newton Sheraton. My brother and his fam live in Newton, and my parents stayed at the Sheraton last year. As my mother – not a fussy lady by any stretch – put it, she “wouldn’t walk around barefoot in that hotel room.”
Not a good sign…