Customer service done RIGHT

Earlier this year, I had a most unfortunate experience at the Residence Inn in Austin TX during SXSW.  It was made even worse by the fact that the hotel staff really didn’t think that there was a problem.  There was little if any effort to reach out to me and say, hey, we value you as a guest, we know you had a choice and you chose to stay here, and even though things did not go the way they should, we are here to say that’s not the way we operate. 

Nah, there was nothing like that.

This week, I am in our Indianapolis office for some business reviews.  I’m staying at a Marriott property near our office.  It’s the second time I’ve stayed here, and in general, I have been pleased.  There’s free wi-fi, free breakfast and a decent fitness center.  The facility is new and the beds are comfortable.  I don’t ask for more than that. 

Last night, I came up to my room to find my keys not working.  I went down to the front desk to get new keys, but upon returning to my floor, found the keys were not to be the problem.  There was something wrong with the whole lock system.  The woman at the front desk came up and tried, but she couldn’t get in.  Then, the laundry guy (?!?) came up and his key worked, and I got in.  The woman from the front desk came back up and apologized profusely.  She said my room would be comped, which she did not have to do, as the apology was enough.

Next morning, I was heading down to the fitness center and I wanted to make sure I could get back in the room.  I found, much to my chagrin, that the lock was not working, and my door had been open all night (note, I do use the bolt and all that).  I stopped by the front desk to explain that to the morning manager on duty, and she promised to have it fixed by the time I returned.  Sure enough, it was, and when I entered my room, there was a gift bag filled with goodies and two hand-written notes of apology. 

“They didn’t have to do that,” I thought.   But how nice that they did.  And isn’t it better to leave a customer with the feeling that they went the extra mile to make me feel better, rather than my horrible experience at the Austin Residence Inn?  All they had to do was admit a mistake and say that it wasn’t going to happen again.  I’m not saying my room should have been comped, but maybe some extra Marriott rewards points would have been appreciated.  No matter.  I’m quite pleased with the SpringHill Suites and will certainly plan on returning here on future trips to Indy.  Checking my door, extensively, each visit of course.

BlogHer Business vs. SXSWi = My thoughts

This has been a very busy start of the year for me.  I fulfilled some personal objectives and made an effort to be social, not just online but in person.  To this goal, I attended two very different conferences, SXSWi (South by Southwest Interactive) in March, and BlogHer Business (BHB) at the beginning of April.  I got done with SXSWi, and while it wasn’t perfect, I was happy that I went there.  That is, until I went to BHB and saw what a conference could and should be.

Don’t get me wrong - a lot of people GET SWSW and what they’re trying to accomplish.  I heard many times that I shouldn’t expect too much from the sessions, and SXSW is “all about the hallways.”  But why did I come out of those 4 days feeling like I had wasted a lot of time, after spending 2 incredibly productive days with the BlogHer crowd?  Three main areas of comparison come to mind:

Sessions - At SXSW, I got the feeling that a lot of them were winging it.  The session I always come back to as the best example of “phoning it in”, literally and figuratively, is the one on creative mobile content that featured Jeremiah Owyang, Chris Heuer and Chris Brogan.  These are thought leaders, people who have blogs I follow religiously and often quote in my own dealings.  No offense guys, but your session was useless.  Essentially, they broke the audience up and took us out of the room to “create”.  My group stood in the Bloghaus while Jerimiah talked with someone into what looked like a tape recorder.  I didn’t get any perspective into why he was asking the questions that he was (if he even was asking questions).  I got the feeling that Chris Heuer was trying harder, but still, it wasn’t working for me.  I didn’t see Brogan, so I can’t say what he was or wasn’t doing.   When you put the thought leaders of social media in a room, you expect more.   I got really angry when I realized that I was missing Kathy Sierra’s session, and after about 10 minutes of staring at this, I headed to Kathy’s well-prepared session (and learned a ton).  

In contrast, all of the BlogHer Business sessions were focused, information packed, and productive.  Plus, they run on time!  Speakers spend a great time planning what they are going to say, whether they have powerpoints or not.  Moderators add value by directing the conversation and adding their own viewpoints where appropriate.  In the two days at BHB, I got enough inspiration to last me at least a year.  Until I next BH event, I suppose!

Focus - SXSW is huge, and offers a lot for more than just me.  So, truth be told, you may be an interactive designer, or some other field than marketing and really would get more out of SXSW that I can.  BHB is totally focused on me and what I do - it’s for marketers, PR folks, advertisers and the like.  For that reason alone, I found myself at home there. 

Socialization - OK, so SXSW is all about the hallways.  But I have to tell you, I made more connections, and more valuable connections at BHB in 2 hours of meet and greet than I did in all my time at SXSW.  I’ll pull BHB’s hallways up against SXSW’s any day. 

I’m sure I’m opening myself up to some flaming and negative comments, but BlogHer Business was such an amazing and productive meeting for me, and I really wanted to give Jory, Elisa, Lisa and Kristy some love for making that happen.  I also want people to know for next year, when I have a choice, I’m going to BHB and skipping SXSW.  Anyone looking to better understand women bloggers and learn how to make connections with them cannot afford to miss BHB.   

Soapbox dismounted.  Flame away. 

The BIG BAG and a call to marketers

Wiley author Daniel Terdiman, who I met for the first time at SXSW, published a great piece revealing exactly what attendees at the conference received when they picked up their badges.  A bag.  A BIG BAG.  A BIG BAG full of stuff. 

As a SXSW newbee, I was surprised when after I got my badge I was told to go get my bag.  Cool, I thought, a fun pack o’swag.  Uh, no.  Not in the least.  A huge bag of flyers, postcards, and magazines, oh my.  CDs I’ll never listen to or use.  Guitar picks (ok, so I thought Little IT would like those).  And more stuff than I’ve ever seen from a conference.

I was horrified and a little bit ashamed to be a marketer at that moment.  Yes, we all want to promote ourselves here, but at what cost to the planet and the backs of the attendees carting this crap around.   Daniel wisely points out that the convention organizers encourage people to recycle the stuff by leaving it in the convention center if they aren’t going to use it.  But isn’t the path REDUCE reuse recycle?  Why make the crap in the first place. 

Agreed, we want to get into the minds of attendees.  Agreed, the conference needs the money that will come from these sponsorship deals.  But how can we do this better?

First, how about putting something useful in there?  A notebook or notepad, as old school as it seems, is great, because who has anything other than their laptops to take notes on.  A pen is also a good idea.  Can’t tell you how many times I’ve need a pen here to not have one.  I like O’Reilly’s minibook - they had a game book in there with old school pen and paper games.  I saved that.

Next, how about using less paper?  A postcard directing me to a web site is better than a full catalog (I’m talking about you, New Riders).  Even so, there are a LOT of pieces of paper in there.  Card stock does stand out more, but again, is more costly and harmful to the environment.  I’m not all that crunchy, but seriously. 

But there has to be a better solution.  I’ve heard other marketers suggest a small slip of paper in the bag directed to a web site, but I want to think out of the box bag.  What can we do to get our message across, deliver sponsorship money to SXSW, and still not contribute to the heapload of crap that’s about to descend on the Austin TX landfills?

Marketers, the challenge is up to you.

Dear Austin Residence Inn,

Hi, it’s Ellen.  Remember me?  I just finished a stay with you.  For the most part, I tend towards Starwood properties because I have their Amex, but you were very close to the convention center, so I thought you would be a good choice. Except, you weren’t.

I wanted to write this while I was currently a guest, but your Internet wasn’t working.  ALL WEEKEND.  DURING SXSW.  Seriously, an interactive conference comes to town and you don’t have your ducks all in a row?

Anyhow, while I enjoyed your comfy bedding and thought your breakfasts and fitness center rocked, there are other problems with your hotel that need to be addressed.  Namely SECURITY.

First, my room key got switched with someone else’s in the fitness center.  When I went downstairs to see if I could get my key remade, the person at the desk said, “This isn’t for room 123 it’s for 321.”  So, she effectively told me that I had a key to someone else’s room.  Great.  Maybe she has better snacks in her fridge.  So I took the key back to the fitness center and straightened out the mess.  Of course, then my key didn’t work, so I went back down to the front desk to have it remade.  I told the woman I had no ID, but would be happy to have someone from security or the front desk follow me to my room to check my ID.  She waved that off, saying it wasn’t necessary.  I figured I didn’t want to be any later for breakfast than I already was, so I moved on. 

Truthfully, stuff like that happens to me all the time.  I get really paranoid about that, as I usually travel alone.  But oh, it gets better. 

My dad came from Houston to visit me on Saturday.  I gave him my room number and the name the room was under (sometimes I travel under aliases - Ellen Ramone for instance <g>) so he could valet the car.  Around noon, I hadn’t heard from him so I sent him a text asking where he was.  He said he was in my room.  Yep, IN MY ROOM.  The person at the front desk gave him a key to my room.  Now, I certainly didn’t ask my dad to do that, and didn’t give him permission to do that, and I didn’t get mad at him for doing that, but that isn’t the point.  You should not give keys to people who are not registered to the room!  Period.  End of sentence.  Yes, he was my dad, but how did you know that?  He could have faked the email from me.  I found the manager over at the adjoining Courtyard and requested that he change my room to allow only me, and me with ID to get keys.  He agreed that what happened should never have. 

I certainly have other complaints:

• No one reset the time on the automated wake up calls, so the call came 1 hour late. 
• Breakfast got taken away at random times (9:37) so you never knew if you were going to miss it
• There was no microwave popcorn in the room.  A Res Inn trademark.  And the front desk had none.

All in all, I can forgive most things, but a security glitch is unforgivable.  I’m not happy, and suggest that anyone staying here, or frankly in any hotel, take steps to assure that the front desk staff doesn’t allow people to socially engineer their way into your room.

I’m leaving Austin today, and I just couldn’t be happier.  I certainly won’t find myself at your hotel again if I can help it. 

Zuckerberg Keynote at SXSW - In case you were wondering, it was as bad as they’ve made it out to be

MediaBistrosummarizes the bloggers who have added to the conversation about Facebook founder’s Mark Zuckerberg’s keynote at SXSW.  Most reports talk about how awkward it was to be in the room as the interview went on.  And then some, dude. 

I’m  almost to the point of feeling sorry for Sarah Lacy, but not quite.  Her tone from the beginning was off.  When she sat down, she basked in the applause meant for Mark by saying, what, not for me?  Then she proceeded to be swarmy, interrupt him and generally ruin what should have been a chance to hear from someone young enough to start a company that has people of all ages talking.  She even plugged her book - admirable, but totally out of place.  Admittedly, he is a tough interviewee, as any twentysomething taking the advice of PR people would be.  But that doesn’t mean you have to put yourself in the interview, put down who you are interviewing, and proclaim that you’re having a ”Leslie Stahl moment”.  Because you’re not.  It was like watching a train wreck, yet I could not look away. 

Personal Space

On Thursday, I was greeted by someone who excitedly exclaimed, “Emilie told me to hug you!” and then proceeded to do so. She was pleased to see my awkward stance at being in contact with her, and said, “Wow, Emilie was right!”

A step back. A few years ago, Emilie and I were among a group of people who attended a “Communications Style Workshop.” It was supposed to teach our team how to communicate better. I called it “Tribal Council” and begged to be voted off the island. Communicate THAT.

What we learned was that we have different communication styles. I was “conflict avoidant”. Surprise. I don’t remember what Emilie is, but I do remember that I called it the “huggy” group. Emilie, then, became “the Hugger.”

I will admit I am not a hugger. With the family, sure. But not really with anyone else. Having dinner with our author Erin Manning, an LA resident, I asked her to explain why southern California residents felt obligated to hug you when they first met you, and after! She laughed and said it’s just what they did.

It’s not what I do. An author hugged me once, and we still refer to it as the day that XXX hugged me, and not in a good way. The hugging thing, it just isn’t me.

There’s a lot of hugging here at SXSW, which is nice and frightening at the same time. Nice that people seem to be connecting with old friends. Frightening because sometimes they seem to be coming at me. Know that if you try and hug me, I’m not hugging back. Nothing personal, it’s just my thing.

Emilie, your time will come. Watch your back…

BTR and Andy Beal

Andy Beal, the author of “Radically Tranparent“ was interviewed here at SXSW by John Havens of BlogTalkRadio.  You can listen to the interview here. 

I also attended Andy’s book reading at SXSW and it was great.  I have to admit, if I didn’t work for the company, he would have convinced me that I need this book.  Not just for reputation monitoring and personal brand management, but to learn the best ways to communicate with my customers and figure out what we as a company can do better.  He made a very sweet plea at the end to attendees to help insure he was not the only author at the end of a session with no one to sign for, but that was not the case.  Even though I was questioning the book stage venue, it brought out the book buyers, so something is working!

BlogTalkRadio and Wiley live from SXSW

Interested in getting the scoop from SXSW but not planning on being in Austin?  We’ve got a great solution for you.  Wiley has partnered with BlogTalkRadio, who will be featuring interviews from many of our authors at the conference, including:

Joelle Reeder, Katherine Scoleri -The IT Girl’s Guide to Blogging with Moxie

Lisa Sabin-Wilson - WordPress For Dummies

Andy Beal - Radically Transparent

Susie Gardner/Shane Birley - Blogging For Dummies, 2e 

Daniel Terdiman - The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Second Life

Shows will be streaming live at blogtalkradio/wileyand the call-in number is: 347-945-7081. Additionally, interviews can be accessed at the 2020 Blog (joewikert.com).  I’ll also be posting updates with times, etc here.

Stalking elleinthecity at SXSW

Chris Brogan pointed me to an excellent site that allowed me to compile my SXSW schedule.  You’ll notice a bit of overlap, but that’s to be expected with so many great sessions.  You’ll also see events after 9pm listed here, and we all know that I tend to be in bed before that, so don’t really think you’re going to find me at the Rock Band party or similar youth fests. 

I’d be interested in seeing what others are attending, so feel free to tweet me (@elleinthecity) or post in comments below.