Last week I blogged about a disappointing experience at the Desert Springs Marriott. I did talk to a guest relations manager before I left, and appreciated his concern. Literally while I was speaking with him on the phone, room service arrived and the food was disappointing (which I relayed to the manager on the phone). I asked the room service employee to please post my charge within the next thirty minutes as I would be checking out and heading for the airport.

Thirty minutes later I tried to check out. It took quite some time to retrieve my bill and guess what? The charge had not been posted. Then it took quite some time longer to get it posted.  I wrote a note for the General Manager of the property: “Please call me about my experience at your hotel. You’ll be interested….”, signed my name and provided my phone number.

Second “guess what?” Never heard from him or her or anybody.

The irony is that I’ve always liked that property and was genuinely interested in providing feedback. I wasn’t looking for anything more than concern, didn’t ask for anything (like not paying for my disappointing meal), and I wasn’t offered anything.

When a customer or client specifically attempts to give you feedback, at least listen. I’ll get an email survey about my experience at the Desert Springs Marriott, and I’ll figure why bother to fill it out? I tried to talk to the GM and my request was ignored.

Nobody enjoys negative feedback, but it is often the antidote to service delivery failure in the future. My friend Janelle Barlow wrote a terrific book whose title says it all, “A Complaint is a Gift.”

Evidently the GM wasn’t accepting gifts that day.

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