We hosted a county health inspector conference at a property where I used to work. We knew our county health inspector well as he often stopped by to check the breakfast area, pool, guest rooms, etc at least once a quarter.
Well wouldn't you know it, during the conference an inspector found one of the worst things: bed bugs.
That's right, at the County Health Inspector State Conference they found bed bugs at the host hotel. How embarrassing!
But do you know what they were most upset about? The service in response to the situation. Worse yet, the person affected by the bed bugs wasn't even the most vocal about her predicament; it was her colleague that was the loudest. I've provided her review below. Consider what could have been done differently.
Dear Hotel Manager,
After reading all of my comments, please understand, I am not looking for a free handout. My family always chooses [our hotel name] when we travel. Last month I stayed at one for 5 days for a wedding. I chose this hotel to stay at for my conference instead of the [competitor hotel name], across the street.
What I want you to understand is that I will make new choices in the future. I was so appalled at what I saw in my co-workers hotel room, how it was handled and how it was nonchalantly mentioned that room had been treated for bed bugs before, it has ruined my confidence in this chain. I won't be able to not see the bugs running all over the bed and coming out of the headboard. The chain should also know the conference I was there for was an OHA conference. Oregon Health Authority....you know an entire hotel full of REHS (Health Inspectors).
Yes that is right. I am an REHS in the state and I inspect hotels as part of my job. I know about bed bugs and I see them frequently, so to have me be grossed out by the room is saying a lot. Wearing my inspector hat, I was very disappointed on how the manager was more concerned about us being quiet so other guests could not hear what we were saying. I understand that but I also understand that taking care of this issue should be #1.
Of course he took care of my co-workers room but really she gets nothing from that as our county pays for the rooms. She threw away all of her clothes, I was in the room and I threw away my shoes and the clothes I was wearing as a precaution. I could tell all the manager wanted was for us to leave and keep quiet. As a customer, I checked out of my room early to get out of my room since I know how bed bugs travel and wasn't convinced my headboards were clean. The hotel benefitted from that since they were full and got a room back very early in the am.
The way the hotel took care of my co-worker was very upsetting. The night manager should have had a procedure on how to help customers as many are not in the know of what to do. They should know how to help people get their laundry done and use hot water and a hot dryer to protect themselves from transferring to their cars or homes. Money or cards should be given to the customer to do the laundry for free. Having to have night staff "loan" $3.00 to do laundry is a slap in the face itself. Staff should be giving customers information on how to protect themselves, what to do, what to look for. Not shoving them off to sit in the lobby and hope they will figure it out for themselves.
I understand that these things happen. I lost sleep over it and ended up having to treat all of my belongings and throw a few away. I entered the room and saw the bed bugs and was in no way going to continue to stay in mine. My co-worker woke up to them crawling all over her. The headboard was infested. They were under the sheets. The manager seemed so indifferent to it. I honestly wanted to tell him to lay on the bed and get a good dose of reality of what it felt like. He stayed as far from the bed as he could. He knew. He also knew the room had been treated. He said over treated but it makes me wonder. If there is a full hotel and you need that one room......
Out of all of this I would like to see a procedure put in place. It doesn't matter if I won't stay at this chain if I don't have to anymore. That's not looking at the big picture. That picture is public health and customer confidence. Bed bugs happen, all the time. This was just a good reminder that having a procedure in place could help the customer and alleviate the transference of bed bugs to their homes, cars and throughout the hotel.
What a great example of Customer Coaching. Sometimes your coach may be really hard on you so you can learn and grow as a result. Sometimes your coach will yell at you or make ridiculous requests but it is all in an effort to see their point of view.
After reviewing the above example, you might see just how providing something like this to your staff can be a great learning experience. A good place to keep these stories is in your Survival Guide.
