How much frustration (or satisfaction) do your policies create?

[Mel Kleiman]

The Westin La Cantera Resort San Antonio, Texas empowers their employees by telling them to do whatever it takes to satisfy a guest. Management not only says the words, but backs them up with their actions.

When I had a problem there a few months back, the bellman (a bright young college student employed there only two months) used that empowerment to do his job and he did it well. I was so impressed with the actions he took and the way management backed him up that I have told this story at least 20 times in recent presentations to over 5,000 people.

They did not know I was a speaker when they took the action on my behalf. They just did what they needed to do to turn a problem customer into an "apostle." If you would like to hear the whole story, give me a call or drop me a note.

The Rio Hotel in Las Vegas talks customer service and if anyone needs to work at keeping customers happy it has to be the hotels and casinos in Las Vegas. No they don't need to worry about their employees, they aren't leaving right now because they have no place to go. But their customers have lots of places to go and unengaged employees create disengaged customers. Management talks about the need for great customer service, but the front desk person has no authority, the front desk supervisor has no authority, and the person at the corporate office has no authority. The answers I got were: "I don't have the authority;" "We have to check;" "We need to get approval;" and "I will get back with you next week." Well, next week I will be gone, but the memory will linger on. Since I have three speeches in the next two months in Las Vegas, I am going to have a great story to tell. Where would you want to work and stay, the Rio in Las Vegas or the Westin in San Antonio? (I am going back to the Westin.)