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October 13, 2005
The last 5 minutes
And now, another episode of "How Much Does It Cost to Print a Boarding Pass at a Hotel?"
For our previous episode, it was $20 at the Silver Spring, Maryland Hilton. A manager on duty refunded the amount after I had registered a complaint.
But there's a new winner in this unreal reality show of buzzworthy fees: a record-breaking $21.35 to print two boarding passes at the Crowne Plaza Times Square in New York City. To add it up: $10.95 for 30-minute minimum of computer access (even though it was just 2 minutes actual time), $8.75 for the printed pages and $1.65 for tax.
No sympathy from hotel management this time. "The fees are what they are," the business center attendant said zenfully.
All of it happened in the last five minutes of my hotel stay. The last five, most impressionable minutes. The last impression I'll have about the Crowne Plaza as I recount my experience with others, such as you.
How well do you manage the last five minutes of a customer's experience?
Other blogs that reference The last 5 minutes:
» The Everlasting Last Memory from *Star In The Margin
Jackie writes an excellent post over at Church of The Customer about the importance of "the last 5 minutes" with a customer. Again, she uses a hotel example. And, again, it's about those pesky internet service charges. Will the controversy ever end? (M... [Read More]
OK - what about the Admiral's Club between K and L at ORD? They've had 5 internet terminals for members as long as I can remember. This week I found they had taken out all but TWO terminals - and both were being used by people who thought that playing SOLITARE was a good use of their down time - sheesh.
I pay $350 a year to use the Admiral's Club and they can't keep 5 internet terminals open? Do you think they are in cahoots with T-Mobile, in an effort to force me into a subscription?
I'm confused. Last time you actually had a problem using the service. ok. This time you elected to use a service with posted usage rates. That service worked (provided you some value) and then complain about it and map it to a "last 5 minutes" theme?
Are the prices out of line? Well, you elected to pay them. If it wasn't worth it to you, you could have elected to not use them. Running even one PC that can be used by many folks in a semi-public environment is a royal pain. So, they pass the pain along.
You could have saved the passes to your laptop and ask to print them at your clients office or taken them to another print service (eg. Kinkos). How much would it have costs you to in time and dollars to print it elsewhere?
Apparently the service is useful to some folks. The service costs money to run. How would you propose they recover those costs? raise all the room rates? raise the rates for business class? or just charge the handful of folks that use the service? Or just kill the service entirely?
I've seen this at the other end of the consumer spectrum: Walmart.
All in all, the stores aren't so bad, the products are okay, the fact that everything is under one roof is convenient, and the prices are great. BUT, most of us HATE going to Walmart, and I think that a lot of it has to do with the experience of having to deal with affable, lethargic, and sometimes depressed employees - especially at the cash registers.
Having to wait 20 minutes in line because a cashier's passive-aggressive way of dealing with the utter boredom of her job is to scan product as slowly as humanly possible sucks. Cashiers not making eye contact with you or cracking a smile (even to be polite) sucks.
Walmart cashiers are the singlemost important customer-to-brand interaction in the entire shopping experience because it is the last significant interaction customers have before they walk out the door.
Whatever the experience is at the cash register, that's what they take away with them.
Just about everyone I know would rather pay $5 extra on their grocery bill but get friendly service at the cash register than save $5 and have to deal with a bored, unfriendly cashier.
The last 5 minutes are completely overlooked by most companies, and it is costing them big.
Great post. :)
This posting raises an important question that I never see addressed. Not the policies and fees of businesses, the customer's responsibility to develop a relationship so that the company providing the service has an even greater incentive to do their best for you. I had this discussion with a friend the other day. He thought it was egotistical and manipulative to try to get better service out of people than what they are willing to provide the general public. I disagreed. I said it is a relationship. Therefore, not only do I expect better treatment, but I will become an evangelist for them as a result.
The last five minutes is not when you nurture that relationship. It begins when you walk through the door. It sets up an environment where courtesy can be provided that would not have been if I chose to be an average customer.
On a trip to Mexico I made a reservation at an Intercontinental Hotel because I knew they had Internet access in their rooms. When I was checking in they told me they didn't have more rooms available (and yes, they offered the Biz Center at an hourly rate). A talk with the shift manager got me an upgrade to a suite for the same rate, with Internet access of course.
GS
PS: However, there were not enough power outlets for all my gadgets.
It really makes you wonder ... how much does it really cost a hotel to offer this as a free service to customers? And how much could they gain for this simple gift of convenience? Add a time limit - say 10 minutes free access including a printer - to keep it available to everyone. Seems like many many hotel customers would want to print out itineraries, boarding passes etc. And wouldn't you gravitate to booking at hotels that offered this service?
Jackie, great post. Your point is spot on.
I must ask. From a hotelier who abandoned chains years ago, why are you staying in franchise properties? They are so often mired in mediocrity with way to many rules and guidelines. Independents (at least at the higher end level) day in and day out produce more meaningful experiences. Just my humble opinion.
The internet charge saga is ridiculous at best. I'm embarassed that our industry hasn't wised up more quickly.
Again, good work.
Michael
It's interesting that Olivier mentions Wal Mart above. I have been told by one of my sources that the cashiers at Wal Mart are the lowest-paid employees and are basically at the bottom of the food chain there.
I was shocked to hear this, since the cashier is truly the face of the company to most customers.
I was also told that cashiers have the highest turnover of all employees, which didn't surprise me after learning about their pay. They are expected to turn over high dollar amounts in sales and deal with customers who sometimes treat them badly.
It would seem to me that the cashiers should be the highest paid. But then Wal Mart is a multi-billion dollar company and I'm just an IT geek, so what do I know?
Jackie is right on. In my company we have a similar problem where our guests are handled last by an hourly employee. They don't have the same commitment to the customer. Our sales people are skilled, highly trained, commissioned individuals. As a sales manager for the company I am often appalled by how we treat our guests in the last five minutes. I am going to use this example for training.
Thanks,
Rick
An interesting story that sadly, is all too common in the hospitality business.
The last five minutes is important because of how we assess the quality of experiences. Research by Nobel Prize winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman shows that we assess an experience based upon three factors: 1. the trend - whether the experience is getting better or worse as it progresses, 2. the emotional high point of the experience and 3. the ending of the experience. In most circumstances, time is not a deciding factor in assessing the experience. An ideal experience should get better over time and have a positive emotional high-point right at the end. That is why the last five minutes is critical.
You can learn nmore about Kahneman's work from his Nobel Prize lecture at http://nobelprize.org/economics/laureates/2002/kahneman-lecture.html
Graham Hill
Independent CRM Consultant
Regardless of the particulars surrounding this example, I do agree that leaving a strong, favorable last impression is crucial for any company to help generate repeat business and word-of-mouth referrals and marketing. The last five minutes serve as a pivotal point to connect on an emotional level, and to resonate and jump into a potential repeat customer’s psyche.
Be it a grocery-store cashier saying, “Thank you, Mr. or Ms. So-and-So,” when you are checking out, or Wal-Mart greeters at the entrances and exits of the store making eye-contact and wishing you a good day, these last engagements are meant to make a specific connection with each customer that passes through the doors, and show that not only does the company appreciate their business, but the company specifically appreciates them as an individual. I know a seemingly personal thank you with the person working the business desk speaking your name doesn’t make up for spending $20-plus to print a boarding pass, but it is simple, sincere gestures that do go a long way to make lasting impressions and forge business relationships.
