A while back I had the privilege of staying at three palm springs wedding venues: The Sands, Holiday Hotel and Villa Royal.  Through my stay I learned valuable lessons in customer service that greatly impacted my own customer service.  Listed below are the biggest lessons I learned.

Night Auditors:

I made it a point to talk with a lot of the staff through casual conversation.  I was surprised when I noticed the person I was continually impressed by was the night auditor at each hotel.  As I am an early riser I commonly will get up before any other guests and every morning I found myself engaging in good conversations with the night auditor.  My surprise came from how enthusiastic and engaged they were throughout our conversations.

Surprise and Delight:

While I’ve make it a habit to try to go above and beyond for my clients something can definitely be learned through staying at boutique hotels as they are killing it in this realm.  At every hotel I was surprised.  These surprises included cocktails and tequila shots upon arrival, branded cookies at checkout, and the generous upgrade of my room.  And with all these unexpected surprises I was absolutely delighted and felt taken care of.   And it got me to thinking of how easy it is for these hotels to do something like this and how far that small effort really goes.  Of course, I started to do a cost/benefit analysis and found that all of these small gestures probably cost the hotels $5-$10(maybe) yet the return is exponential.   The benefits far outweigh the cost.

Be Extra:

It’s not enough to just provide goods and services.  To succeed in business I must Be Extra, be myself and go the extra mile.  And this isn’t just to succeed financially but to find fulfillment in what I do.  I got into this industry because I cared.  I care about my clients and want to make sure that they are well taken care of beyond what they initially inquired about.  And I care about creating lasting relationships with my clients and to do so I must be myself.  Even if that means being Extra. These hotels do this so naturally, embracing their brand and culture as an establishment while taking great care of their guests needs before they even know that they have such need.  These hotels are Extra.