I was having lunch with a hotelier this week when our conversation turned to social media and tools such as Local Measure which allows businesses like hotels to pick up location-based chatter among guests. The idea is then to surprise customers with something unexpected or to pre-empt complaints. (We wrote about it here)
“Why would I need that?” he said. “I am out in the lobby watching guests and I can see what they’re doing.” He’s one of those old-fashioned general managers who believe in standing in lobbies and greeting guests personally. And no, he’s not in his dotage, he’s in his early 40s. He’s young enough to get technology and old enough to remember why he became a hotelier.
“The whole idea of hospitality is to be visible and to make people feel welcome and comfortable. It’s not to sit behind your desk looking at dashboards to tell you what your customers are saying about you at the time,” he said. “I can stand in the lobby and know when a customer is happy or when he needs something.”
Of course, he doesn’t dismiss the whole notion of customer reviews and he knows how important they are now in influencing customer decisions and the rates they pay. “We have to pay attention to those and respond in an appropriate manner. But at the end of the day, it comes down to fundamentals – getting our product and service right and keeping customers happy.”
He worries that tools that pick up instant, local conversations will give “unreasonable” customers another outlet to complain with the expectation of getting something in return. “Whether we like it or not, there are unreasonable customers. I have a friend who complains about everything because he knows he will always get something in return because businesses just want him off their backs.”
The concern too is that you could end up paying a disproportionate amount of attention to a vocal minority – the 20/80 rule also applies to social media – and neglecting the bulk of your silently happy customers. And you know what they say, eavesdroppers seldom hear anything good about themselves.
Said another hotelier, “I hope that Local Measure does not become a complaining mechanism. Social gives people a very angry outlet. In face to face, people are usually reasonable but somehow on social, people can get disrespectful, angry and agitated.”
I think there is also a tendency for people to become insensitive on social media. This week, I visited a girlfriend in hospital. Being sick is a very personal thing, you are at your most vulnerable.
Yet I’ve seen photos in my news feed of “friends” visiting their friends in hospital and posting photos of themselves smiling over the patient in his sick bed. Perhaps their intention is good but if it was you in that sick bed, how would you feel? Assuming you are even aware they’ve done so … I know I certainly wouldn’t want photos of me sick plastered all over the Internet for people to “like”.
Pool with a view
Anyway, back to hotels – sorry had to let off steam there – I went to check out the new Hotel Jen Orchard Gateway and I like the little touches this new brand under the Shangri-La Hotels group has introduced to appeal to a new “jeneration” of guests.
In the lobby is a giant iPad-like screen called Monscierge which allows you to post photos of the hotel directly on your social networks. It also acts as a local concierge giving you information on where to eat and what to do. For those in a hurry, there’s a To-Go breakfast counter for those grab items.
There are “Power Me Up” charging stations for those devices that constantly need powering up. No mini-bar in rooms, there’s a vending machine on every floor. For $40 more, all guests can have access to the Club Lounge.
The swimming pools (there are three) on the roof are the best selling point of the 502-room hotel though. Let’s just say it has “Brag Plus Factor” and I predict it will become the most Instagrammed location in Singapore, displacing the swimming pool at the top of Marina Bay Sands. Heck, it may even displace the Siam Paragon as the world’s most Instagrammed location.
And if the hotel implements Local Measure, well, then the general manager will be very busy “surprising” guests at the rooftop bar because you know what, the kind of customers Jen is going for, you can bet they will be highly social and they will all want to brag about being there.
Quick, let me take a selfie with a martini in hand … maybe I’ll get a free lychee-infused vodka martini if I tell them that’s my favourite drink.
I rather like this view of Orchard Road from Jen
