Me? Not nice? I just want to the toilet to work!

As I mentioned in my last note to you, my family and I decided to boycott turkey and our relatives and head off on a 2 day vacation at a nearby resort.

For the price and location, I would have expected more from the resort. I even created a Facebook post while I waited 30 minutes in line just to check in. 

Yep! 30 minutes just to check in!

They only had 4 employees checking in guests. There were 8 open stations with no one working.

The wait was so long, I had my wife go get me a beer while I waited in line.

You would think that a company as large as the Gaylord would know that the day before a holiday would be busy.

We even over heard an employee say “we didn’t think it would be this busy“.

Evidently, my post touched a nerve in a few of my FB followers, suggesting that I be “nice” to the workers. Of course I was going to be nice! But if I ran into a manager, I am afraid my snarkiness would come out.

By the way we never did see a member of management the whole time we were there.

At some point during our stay, one of my kids clogged the toilet in the room and water went everywhere. I went an found a house keeper who said they would call engineering immediately. Evidently, a clogged toilet in a guest room with water flowing on the floor is not a top priority.

Three hours later we still had water all over the floor.

I then called the front desk who said they would be “right there”.

Nuthin!

It would be easy to blame the employees. It would be easy to blame the line level managers. But, I am afraid, the problem runs deeper.

I suspect there is no direction or vision from the top of the organization explaining the expectations of the resort.

What does this have to do with your business? EVERYTHING!

Let’s start at the top!

The 30 minute wait to check in… Maybe they had a lot of employees call out sick. It happens. But what was their contingency plan? Evidently, they did not have one. What could they have done?

• A manager could have been walking the line talking to guests.
• A manager could have alerted the Food & Beverage department who could have sent a server over with a tray of champagne, brownies or something.
• A manager could have asked the entertainment department to have the little musical trio move to the front desk area.
• Management could have handed out a coupon for a free drink or dessert. Better yet, management could have empowered the employees to do so.

How about that clogged toilet?

• Again, it was a holiday weekend and they knew it would be busy. Having extra engineers on staff would have helped.
• Trusting the housekeepers with a toilet plunger would have immediately solved that issue.

Are my expectations too high? I think not.

It is criminal that they management of this resort was in hiding. Do you or your team “hide” when there is an issue? Do you have a contingency plan for when things go wrong?

When I was at Disney, the management team was in the trenches with the line level cast members, especially when things were not going well. We took responsibility and we turned what could be a bad experience into a good one.

Remember, you won’t profit unless you implement,

Vance “I am nice” Morris

P.S. Many of you have asked me about doing a masterclass on newsletters. If this is something that interests you, shoot me an email with “Yes, newsletter masterclass” in the subject line. If there is enough interest, I will dust off my masterclass and present it to you all.