USA TODAY International Edition
Hotels try to make your stay personal
They hope you come back again and again
Tales abound of hotels going to extremes to cater to celebrity guests’ whims. But, increasingly, hotels are giving business travelers the kind of personal attention and recognition once afforded only to the rich and famous.
With competition keen these days, managers are making it their business to get to knowtheir guests on a personal basis. They know that special attention keeps them coming back.
Business traveler Tom Johnson, a renewable energy research engineer from Birmingham, Ala., says it’s the personal touch that keeps him coming back to InterContinental’s Hotel Indigo in Atlanta.
On a recent trip, he recalls, the hotel bartender served up his favorite drink — Absolut vodka and tonic with lime — even before he could place his order. And she provided more personal favorites: special bottled water from Norway and a basket of blue chips with blue-cheese dip. The bartender “ was new and I had never met her!” he says.
Other special touches, Johnson says, have included a soothing CD in his room after a particularly stressful day, M&Ms and handwritten notes welcoming him back. One day, he rushed into the lobby to escape an impending rainstorm and later found his favorite bottled water with a personal note. “ It turned a bad day into a good one,” he says. Software tracks preferences
It’s not just a matter of hotel staffs being more attuned to the preferences of their frequent guests, though that’s part of it. Some hotels — Ritz-Carlton and Marriott, for example — are using or planning to use sophisticated software that tracks guest preferences, making the information available to workers throughout the chain.
Ed Mady, general manager for Ritz-Carlton, San Francisco, says his staff is like cub reporters, gathering information on guests’ likes and dislikes. Before a visit, the hotel contacts the guests, their assistants or travel agents to ask about favorites, Mady says.
Once at the hotel, housekeepers note favorite toothpastes or shaving creams. Doormen pay attention to when and where a traveler wants to go. Preferences are entered into the chain’s Customer Loyalty Anticipation and Satisfaction System ( CLASS), which is linked to all Ritz hotels.
“ We learned from our ‘ investigative’ pre-calling that one repeat guest worked for the stock exchange,” says Mady. After learning from the hotel valet that the guest was taking cabs to the ; nancial district as early as 3 a. m., the hotel each morning provided a free chauffeured Special touches: Tom Johnson of Birmingham, Ala., is a frequent guest at Hotel Indigo in Atlanta. During one stay, he arrived at the hotel bar and a bartender he’d never met served him his favorite drink before he even ordered. Like Hotel Indigo, other hotels are trying to win guests’ loyalty by personalizing their stays. car stocked with coffee and favorite newspapers.
Even infrequent guests can get the personal touch. “ One guest shared that when her husband ; rst proposed 20 years earlier, he had prepared a picnic lunch on the beach,” says Mady. So hotel staffers put a picnic basket in their room and buckets of sand and seashells to recapture the moment.
This fall, Marriott will roll out its Rewarding Welcome software program. Marriott customer relationship executive Ed French says guests enter information online, such as favorite pillow and bed types, whether they prefer extra towels and whether they like rooms on upper or lower ? oors. Hotel staff can add to it as they learn more.
Radisson Hotels ask guests to share preferences online before checking in. Thatway, “ Every guest is treated as a ‘ regular,’ ” says Kris Lambrecht, program director for Radisson Express Yourself.
Not all hotels are as enamored of such data
“ Some guests think the personalization can get a little creepy,” says Jim Anhut, an executive at InterContinental Hotels, owner of Tom Johnson’s favorite Atlanta hotel. “ When a total stranger at a strange front desk says, ‘ I see you like feather pillows and champagne,’ it’s like, ‘ And who are you?’ ”
Anhut says his group favors old- fashioned methods.
“ You cannot substitute technology for genuine hospitality. It’ll come across as contrived,” he says.
The chain’s Hotel Indigo innkeeper, Gabriele Webster, says she doesn’t need a computer to keep track of guests’ special needs. Her of ; ce is near the elevators, separated only by glass, allowing her to see everyone coming and going. Personalized trend lters down collection.
High-end hotel chains such as Ritz-Carlton and Four Seasons led the way in offering personalized service to their repeat customers more than a decade ago, consumer travel expert Rudy Maxa says.
In the past few years, the trend has begun to ; lter down to less-expensive lodgings. Increasingly, hotels are offering guests their choice of down or foam pillow, Select Comfort Sleep Number and other specialized beds, and favorite snacks.
With discountwebsites, “ Hotel rooms are in danger of becoming a commodity like airline seats,” says Maxa. So hoteliers are trying to entice travelers to become loyal, returning guests, by customizing their visits, he says. Hotels are trying hard to create “ a bond with guests,” he says.
Each time Gloria Austin arrives at the Ritz-Carlton, San Francisco, she says it feels like her home away from home. “ The Ritz staff knows me, and they greet me by name,” she says.
Austin, a medical group CEO, commutes weekly to her corporation’s Bay Area headquarters from her home in Salt Lake City. Because she lives at the Ritz from Monday through Thursday, she says, “ It is very important for me to receive personalized service.”
For Austin, there’s no check- in at the front desk. A staff member hands her the room key when she gets out of her car. Fresh fruit, cookies and her favorite magazines are already in her room. And each week, a room service attendant calls to ask if she has any special requests.
The Ritz notes Austin’s anniversaries. On her 50th and 100th stays, the hotel lavished her with gifts and food baskets.
Personal attention is also what keeps Camille Abboud, a Denver- based manager at an electric utility, coming back to the Radisson Minneapolis when visiting his company’s corporate headquarters. He once tried another hotel at a higher price but didn’t stick with it.
“ I felt more at home at the Radisson,” he says. “ They know my preferences for a non- smoking king, conciergelevel corner room with a street view.”