Self-initiated work
Concept 01 · Hospitality
Listen first. Then make it personal.
A Voice of the Customer programme for a five-star beach resort, and where I’d take it next, depending on what the guests tell us.
A Voice of the Customer programme for a five-star beach resort, and where I’d take it next, depending on what the guests tell us.
Guests speak in six places. The survey arrives after they’ve left.
Hear every guest, everywhere, and fix it before checkout.
Fix the basics, add a human fallback, or personalise with consent.
Issues fixed in-stay, repeat stays, zero privacy complaints.
Guests from all over the world stay a few nights. A problem not fixed fast leaves with them.
New luxury hotels open nearby, and rivals launch digital check-in and AI concierges.
Reviews, surveys, messages, front desk, social media and the team, each in a different department.
The General Manager’s brief“Keep us the resort guests remember and come back to. Hear every guest while they’re still here, use new technology where it genuinely helps them without losing the human touch, and prove it in repeat stays and ratings within 12 months.”
The traps I’d rule out on day one, so nobody mistakes activity for progress.
A celebration, a family holiday, a wellness break, a stopover.
The beach, the privacy, the kids’ club, a restaurant, the brand.
The moments guests praise, not only the ones they complain about.
Reviews, surveys and messages grouped into themes, whatever the language.
The team validates each theme against what they see every day.
And a date. Reviews get substantive replies, not templates.*
* A Cornell study of 80 hotels found revenue rises with review response rate up to about 40%; hotels replying to more than 85% earned less than hotels that replied to none.
Tested against a small sample of real public reviews, then the resort’s own data. Nothing will be named.
The programme isn’t the end. What guests say decides what I’d do next. Choose a finding:
Waits at arrival, a crowded pool, rooms that need maintenance.
Fix the basics first. Personalising a stay that doesn’t work is decoration. I’d run an operations sprint with owners, service standards and a clear before-and-after measure.
In one study of hotels with the most negative reviews, 83% of complaints were about tangibles: facilities, cleanliness and room condition.
Apps, kiosks or smart rooms that confuse guests, with nobody to step in.
Design the human fallback before adding more technology: who helps, how fast, and how the guest reaches them in one step.
In a 2025 survey of 450 hotels, 70% said guests still prefer to speak with a person, especially at check-in. Lighting, Wi-Fi, entertainment and air conditioning caused the most trouble.
Praise for staff who remembered them; complaints that service felt generic.
Move to Part 2: personalisation guests control, starting at booking and only at the level each guest chooses.
In a 2025 study of 1,750 affluent travellers, 93% expected every detail of their trip to be tailored, up from 83% a year earlier, and 90% called wellness offerings a key booking factor.
Comments about being chased, over-served, or asked for too much.
Go privacy-first: Essentials by default, fewer questions, and a published list of what is never recorded. Personalise only when invited.
Only about 48% of travellers say they would readily share personal information for a more tailored experience, and 70% of guests in a 2026 luxury-hotel study worried about privacy in hotel apps.
Most likely it’s a mix. Then the order matters: fix the basics, make sure a person is always there, and only then personalise.
Some guests want to be recognised, others want to stay invisible. Five-star service has to tell which is which.
2026 study of 290 guests at one luxury hotel (preprint). A signal, not proof.
Turn the dial and watch the same stay change. Anyone who doesn’t choose gets Essentials: only what the stay needs.
Respect is the service. The guest gets five-star care and leaves no data behind.
The default for anyone who doesn’t choose: only what this stay needs, nothing kept without a yes.
Recognition the guest asked for. Every preference is service-relevant and saved with consent.
The guest invited the team in. The occasion, not the person, is what gets personalised.
Only what’s needed to confirm the stay. No extra questions.
Two optional questions: what brings you here, and how you’d like to be looked after.
Room, pillow and dining preferences offered as optional choices. Returning guests confirm theirs in one tap.
The occasion captured at booking: a birthday, an anniversary, a first family trip.
A simple confirmation. Nothing more is asked.
One reminder to share allergies or accessibility needs, if any.
A short message: “Shall we set the room as you like it?”
The team quietly prepares around the occasion.
A warm welcome. Nothing personal mentioned.
Needs confirmed discreetly, never quizzed.
The room is already set the way they like it.
A small, personal welcome for the occasion.
Excellent standard service. Nothing is noted.
Only what this stay needs is noted.
Favourite table, sunbed area and room temperature, without asking twice.
Moments planned around why they came.
Nothing is kept after checkout.
Kept only if the guest says yes.
“Shall we remember this for next time?” Saved only with a yes.
A thank-you that recalls the moment.
Welcomed like any valued guest.
The essentials are ready. Nothing more.
Everything is ready before they arrive.
A welcome that remembers last time.
Two optional questions and the dial. Travel-site guests get them in the confirmation.
The team learns who wants recognition and who wants privacy.
AI spots patterns across stays. People decide what to do.
Check what reviews say against what frontline teams see every day, and test the booking questions with a few guests before rolling anything out.
A 24/7 feedback loop, run by people, and more than half of each season’s bookings from returning guests.
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