Customer Experience

Employee Engagement Can Make or Break Customer Experience

Great weather means it’s prime time for travel, but is the travel industry showing hospitality to its customers and its employees?   On a recent trip, I decided to economize by staying at a budget-friendly hotel. I had no illusions about how it would compare to premium hotels I’d stayed in, but the place fell short of even my low expectations.   I checked in, collected my access card from a grouchy clerk, and made my way to my room. Opening the door, I found a faint smell, ants in the bathtub, and (a later realization) bugs in the bedspread.   The sulky duty manager grudgingly agreed to send in the housekeeping team in the morning.   Imagine my surprise when I received an email from the hotel the next morning asking that critical NPS question: “How likely are you to recommend us?” Seriously? I decided to hold off on responding.   Instead, over the next few days, I engaged the junior staff in conversation. They all had something to say about their experience there: low pay, exploitative hours, racial bias, etc. The problem seemed to be that the hotel had no formal channel through which to listen to employee issues, let alone engage with or resolve the problems.   Consequently, every interaction with these unhappy staff members nudged guests to give a lower Net Promoter Score.   Employee Engagement: The Silver Bullet?   Because of the work we do at SoGoSurvey, I’m very aware of the connection between employee […]