Do we really know what our guests think?

Do we really know what our guests think? Do significant blind spots exist?

Our industry has always looked for and deployed various tools for taking the pulse of our guests. We know it is beneficial to our business to know as much as possible about what they think of the service and offerings we provide. Were we memorable? In a good way? More concerning perhaps is, were we forgettable? Thus, we continue to seek ways to acquire feedback about our performance.

Guest experience acquisition tools, usually surveys, provide minimal feedback and are too late to act upon. By too late I mean we find out how we may have failed to meet expectations after they are gone, and they post a negative review on social media or Trip Adviser. The opportunity to address the issue is lost and may not be resolvable by then. In other words, our brand reputation in the market is damaged, possibly without our knowledge.

Speaking of surveys, survey fatigue is real. Asking “How did we do?” is either a guest’s favorite thing to ignore or is only used to angrily rant if they had a very bad experience. Our guests deserve to know when we have failed them, but we know there is more to learn than just incidents like a lack of hot water in the shower. Another reason for the broad disapproval of the survey companies we use is the concern for their need to invade our guests’ personal privacy.

Would it really help to know a guest's name, address, birth date, dog's name, etc., if he or she takes the time to scroll through page after page and then is unable to submit the answers without sharing all that information? No, it does not.

Is there a better solution available to learn what we really want to know about the guest experience? Fortunately, today there are much-improved options, and the one I am most impressed with is Tapyness. This amazing guest experience capture solution provides exactly what I need to know, and the guest maintains total anonymity. Even more remarkable, the guest can provide me with their feedback in a hassle-free fashion in seconds. You read that correctly. Only seconds! As a result, I have access to more useful data than I've ever seen anywhere else.

I can totally customize what our guests are asked to share, so the questions they answer are precisely relevant to my property. There are no generalities here, just facts about how I can improve what I provide to my guests.

Tapyness is not my company or platform, but I believe I am doing the hospitality business a huge favor by informing people who truly care about their guests' experience. Please open www.tapyness.com and then let me know what you think!