A single room, booked for a single night last night, by someone who found us online and of whom we've not heard before, working for a company that's new to us.
What's the value of us serving that customer well? Multiple choice question:
(a) About £30.00
(b) £85.00
(c) £510.00
(d) more than £1000.00
The obvious and short-sighted answers are (a) (which is the sort of income after the cost of providing the room) and (b) which is the cost of the room. But I'm going with (c), based on an educated guess that we'll see this customer back again every couple of months - answer (c) is the cost of 6 individual single nights spread through a year. But it may be that answer (d) is the correct one - for colleagues tell colleagues, and in any case I've only looked 12 months ahead and made no allowance for 2014.
I'm proud of our team at Well House Manor - every customer is special to all of us. On a regular Thursday morning, we would have run like clockwork but staff holidays today meant alternative arrangements, and indeed we had a glitch in those alternative arrangements. But I'm proud of our systems too - it's all done online, it's all done behind the scenes ... and it means that when Mr X appears for breakfast at 07:00 sharp, it's ready for him, and one of our team's there with a sincere "thank you for being our customer" smile. We love our jobs. We love our customers. That's worth a thousand pounds.
(written 2012-11-01, updated 2012-11-03)
Associated topics are indexed as below, or enter http://melksh.am/nnnn for individual articles
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[884] Drive time - (2006-10-02)
[922] Staying at your own hotel - (2006-11-12)
[988] You should think you're first in a hotel room - (2006-12-15)
[1002] Meet the neighbours - (2006-12-20)
[1046] Bounce, bounce, bounce - (2007-01-20)
[1048] Getting rid of people - hotel techniques - (2007-01-21)
[1084] Writing terms and conditions for conferences and other events - (2007-02-17)
[1108] Express service - (2007-03-14)
[1122] Hotel - online feedback forms compared - (2007-03-30)
[1161] A contrast in room rates and facilities - (2007-04-25)
[1180] Conjugation - (2007-05-08)
[1248] How NOT to oversell a hotel - (2007-06-27)
[1284] An update on the West Wilts show ... - (2007-07-30)
[1421] Castle Lodge Hotel, Ely, Cambridgeshire - (2007-11-04)
[1422] Wiltshire - speaker / after dinner talker offer - (2007-11-05)
[1445] Looking after you Christmas Customer Crowds - (2007-11-26)
[1548] Hotelympia - show report - the lighter side - (2008-02-21)
[1622] An extra step - victory from defeat - (2008-04-25)
[1792] All the pieces fall into place - hotel and courses - (2008-09-10)
[1877] Guests doing a bunk? - (2008-11-09)
[2007] Launch of Melksham Food and Drink Festival - (2009-01-24)
[2283] Everyone is in the customer relations business - (2009-07-12)
[2303] Turning potential customers away - (2009-07-24)
[2593] Food and drink launch - (2010-01-21)
[2724] Escapee Grandparents welcome - Henfield and Melksham - (2010-04-15)
[2879] Night Porter and reception - 24 hours a day? - (2010-07-20)
[2936] The service that customers should receive - (2010-08-27)
[3147] Hotel star ratings - towards a better system of review - (2011-01-25)
[3164] Brown - or Mrs Sally Brown, accountant from Whitstable? - (2011-02-10)
[3309] Tipping Policy - Well House Manor - (2011-05-29)
[3660] A Pivotal Incident - learning how to welcome your guests - (2012-03-18)
[3743] Sunday - no longer a day of rest - (2012-05-28)
[3832] A busy day at Well House Manor - so come in and make it even busier! - (2012-08-10)
[3838] Guest review - Well House Manor, Melksham - (2012-08-14)
[3988] Three cheers for the staff at Well House Manor - (2013-01-24)
[4033] Official Star ratings for hotels - still worth having? - (2013-03-07)
[4051] On reading a new hotel review - (2013-03-24)
[4202] Excellent Railfuture conference, but some setup lessons - (2013-11-03)
[4232] Not wanted here - hotel guests who will not be happy - (2013-12-30)
[4321] Are administration / review charges on hotel guests acceptable? - (2014-11-20)
[4521] Should we get an AA or Visit Wiltshire hotel assessment? - (2015-10-09)
[4543] Saturday morning at Well House Manor - (2015-10-17)
[4603] Happy New Year. Our customers are our ambassadors - (2016-01-01)
[4613] Our best hotel customers help us ... to help them ... be our best customers. - (2016-01-04)
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