In my last post I had been transferred to the Manager because I had been told by the person at the desk that all they could do was pass my complaint on to the department that I had the issue with. You will recall the transfer to the Manager was prompted by my request for the email of the President so I could send them a personal note.

The manager was really quite nice. She empathized with my situation all the while assuring me that my concerns were important to them. However, she did not contradict the assertion by the front desk that the process was simply to send comments to “another department” and pray.

In fact, she assured me that when I returned home, I would receive a survey that solicited my honest feedback and would be read by senior management as part of their ongoing desire to understand their customer expectations. Resultant, there was no need for me to have the email of the President. (Ohh, the red flags are waving now.) So I left without the email address.

The next day, we returned to our room to find a very nice basket of nuts and water with a note from the Manager (but still no email address).

Overall, I thought the Manager handled the issue very well, but clearly they were not empowered to actually do anything.

What seemed crystal clear to me was that someone had tried to implement a customer-focus in this organization, but fundamentally the senior team didn’t buy in. Resultant, the promise was not delivered. In fact, it would have been better not to make such lofty promises and raise expectations to a level that ensured disappointment.

So sometimes, customer focus language can do more harm than good. Be sure that your organization can and will support this initiative across the full organization before communicating these higher expectations to your customers.

Oh, in case you are wondering — I received an email survey for my feedback the day after we arrived home. I will let you know if I get a response.