Effective communication between management and employees is critical in today’s fast-changing and ever-growing marketplace. For example, employees feel involved when upper management encourages sharing of ideas and opinions. Engaging employees helps them see that their jobs have meaning and helps create a connected and accountable culture. Generally, this leads to higher productivity, employee retention, and job satisfaction.
But one of the most important effects of good internal communication in any service industry is its ability to establish a shared understanding of success between management and employees.
You may have read this humorous story, or another like it. It is said to have taken place at a London hotel, with the letters later released to the London Sunday times. Whether it’s real or fictitious, it’s still a great example of how good intentions can lead to a bad customer experience when communication breaks down or becomes ineffective.
Dear Maid,
Please do not leave any more of those little bars of soap in my bathroom since I have brought my own bath-sized Dial. Please remove the six unopened little bars from the shelf under the medicine chest and another three in the shower soap dish. They are in my way.
Thank you,
- Berman
Dear Room 635,
I am not your regular maid. She will be back tomorrow, Thursday, from her day off. I took the 3 hotel soaps out of the shower soap dish as you requested. The 6 bars on your shelf I took out of your way and put on top of your Kleenex dispenser in case you should change your mind. This leaves only the 3 bars I left today which my instructions from the management are to leave 3 soaps daily. I hope this is satisfactory.
Kathy, Relief Maid
Dear Maid – I hope you are my regular maid.
Apparently Kathy did not tell you about my note to her concerning the little bars of soap. When I got back to my room this evening I found you had added 3 little Camay’s to the shelf under my medicine cabinet. I am going to be here in the hotel for two weeks and have brought my own bath-size Dial so I won’t need those 6 little Camay’s, which are on the shelf. They are in my way when shaving, brushing teeth, etc. Please remove them.
- Berman
Dear Mr. Berman,
My day off was last Wed. so the relief maid left 3 hotel soaps, which we are instructed by the management. I took the 6 soaps which were in your way on the shelf and put them in the soap dish where your Dial was. I put the Dial in the medicine cabinet for your convenience. I didn’t remove the 3 complimentary soaps which are always placed inside the medicine cabinet for all new check-ins and which you did not object to when you checked in last Monday. Please let me know if I can be of further assistance.
Your regular maid,
Dotty
Dear Mr. Berman,
The assistant manager, Mr. Kensedder, informed me this morning that you called him last evening and said you were unhappy with your maid service. I have assigned a new girl to your room. I hope you will accept my apologies for any past inconvenience. If you have any future complaints please contact me so I can give it my personal attention. Call extension 1108 between 8AM and 5PM. Thank you.
Elaine Carmen
Housekeeper
Dear Miss Carmen,
It is impossible to contact you by phone since I leave the hotel for business at 7:45AM and don’t get back before 5:30 or 6:00PM. That’s the reason I called Mr. Kensedder last night. You were already off duty. I only asked Mr. Kensedder if he could do anything about those little bars of soap. The new maid you assigned me must have thought I was a new check-in today, since she left another 3 bars of hotel soap in my medicine cabinet along with her regular delivery of 3 bars on the bathroom shelf. In just 5 days here I have accumulated 24 little bars of soap. Why are you doing this to me?
- Berman
Dear Mr. Berman,
Your maid, Kathy, has been instructed to stop delivering soap to your room and remove the extra soaps. If I can be of further assistance, please call extension 1108 between 8AM and 5PM. Thank you.
Elaine Carmen,
Housekeeper
Dear Mr. Kensedder,
My bath-size Dial is missing. Every bar of soap was taken from my room including my own bath-size Dial. I came in late last night and had to call the bellhop to bring me 4 little Cashmere Bouquets.
- Berman
Dear Mr. Berman,
I have informed our housekeeper, Elaine Carmen, of your soap problem. I cannot understand why there was no soap in your room since our maids are instructed to leave 3 bars of soap each time they service a room. The situation will be rectified immediately. Please accept my apologies for the inconvenience.
Martin L. Kensedder
Assistant Manager
Dear Mrs. Carmen,
Who the hell left 54 little bars of Camay in my room? I came in last night and found 54 little bars of soap. I don’t want 54 little bars of Camay. I want my one damn bar of bath-size Dial. Do you realize I have 54 bars of soap in here? All I want is my bath size Dial. Please give me back my bath-size Dial.
- Berman
Dear Mr. Berman,
You complained of too much soap in your room so I had them removed. Then you complained to Mr. Kensedder that all your soap was missing so I personally returned them. The 24 Camay’s which had been taken and the 3 Camay’s you are supposed to receive daily. I don’t know anything about the 4 Cashmere Bouquets. Obviously your maid, Kathy, did not know I had returned your soaps so she also brought 24 Camay’s plus the 3 daily Camay’s. I don’t know where you got the idea this hotel issues bath-size Dial. I was able to locate some bath-size Ivory which I left in your room.
Elaine Carmen
Housekeeper
What’s striking about this example is that the maids and other employees at the hotel didn’t necessarily do anything wrong—there was simply a breakdown in communication that led to the series of events causing Mr. Berman’s poor customer experience. It’s probably safe to assume that he would never return.
Perhaps a technology-driven tool to ensure communication between the maids and their management would have prevented this occurrence. Many hotels and other companies use similar systems today, and the expansion of this type of technology has helped the hospitality industry to meet and surpass guest expectations for years.
We mentioned how essential it is set the bar of employee expectations through regular communication. Corporations that have a steady stream of regular communication between management and others are able to create a shared understanding of success, meaning that the employees know what is expected by management and know what it will take for customers to have a positive experience. In the example above, employees would have known that to be successful they would need to ensure Mr. Berman had a great experience. Perhaps as a result of that goal, each staff member would have followed up with one another to ensure the guest’s requests and needs were met as desired, to avoid disastrous miscommunication.
Many times, as in this case, employees become trapped by processes—like the maids putting out the soap daily (only to scramble from the unordinary guest request). It is the responsibility of management to consistently communicate and keep employees thinking about the big picture (like putting customer experience above daily processes). When regular, consistent and effective communication is disseminated through organizations, customer experience disasters, like this, can be avoided.