I just returned from 1 week in Orlando Florida where I was spending time with my wife and youngest daughter on March Break vacation. What a pleasure to sit by the pool, catch up on some reading and not think about business except in broad terms.

Overall we had a great time, but staying at a resort forced me to contemplate what they are doing well, or could be improved on — particularly since they set the bar high with the following promise, “In just 25 years, we’ve exceeded the expectations of more than 110,000 owners worldwide by empowering our team of dedicated individuals who work hard to ensure a wonderful experience.”

So I thought I would use the next few posts to share what I thought went well, what could be improved and some lessons learned.

Let me start by saying that the check-in was very friendly and positive. Short efficient line-up, because they had lots of people on hand to manage the crowds (3:00 pm check-in). Our check-in person was very friendly, asked some questions about where we were from, had we been to Orlando before, etc. that made us feel welcome. They completed the registration by promising that we were going to have a great time and our expectations would be exceeded. (There’s that phrase again — someone has been doing some internal training about consistent messaging).

In very short order we arrived at our room (1 bedroom with pull-out queen size couch) and were pleased with the cleanliness, size, facilities, location relative to pool and parking, etc. Satisfied, but so far nothing exceeded my expectations. After all, this is supposed to a first class resort. Shouldn’t we have a right to expect this?

After dinner and a stop to pick up some groceries, we settled in for the night and discovered that the pull-out bed only came with 1 sheet – no second sheet and no blankets. The rooms are advertised as sleeping up to 4 people, but there was no bedding for the second bed (pull-out). A quick call to housekeeping resulted in a 90 minute wait and a second sheet with 2 thin blankets. Hmmm, things are not quite so exceptional.

The next morning, my wife went in search of a morning coffee (Starbucks is advertised in the brochures) only to disciver that the restaurant in our area of the resort is only open from 11 – 4 and is really a snack bar.

Resultant, to get a coffee, required getting dressed, driving to a separate section of the resort where “Starbucks” consisted of 2 canisters (regular and decaf) that you poured yourself and had the ability to add a couple “shots” in addition to cream or sugar. At this point we are not feeling very “first class”.

But I am encouraged because on the front page of their monthly newsletter provided to all guests at check-in, they have published the following;

Delighting Our Guests
Resort Services has transformed into a “Customer Care” department. All team members are provided with extensive empowerment training, which includes taking ownership of any opportunity to delight our guests. For information, questions, or concerns you may have while staying at the resort or between vacations, call Resort Services at ext. 6100.

So it looks like someone has the right idea, but will the idea come to life?

I’ll talk more about that in my next post, but in the interim, see if you can spot the problem with the communication in the above message, and what seems to be the issue that is beginning to present itself.