I had a rather cruddy customer service experience the night before last, and I wasn’t going to blog about it. I posted a couple of tweets that night amid my frustration (after contemplating carefully whether I wanted to call out the business itself). But I was just going to let it be.

But after the phone call I got today, I couldn’t let this go without illustrating how one business went out of their way to fix a misstep in customer service. There’s something for everyone to learn in this one.

What Happened

I live in the Chicago suburbs, and I had some events and plans downtown this week. So instead of fighting rush hour traffic, I decided I was going to stay at a hotel overnight. Based on some past good experiences, I booked a room at the Hotel 71 on Wacker Drive.

My stay was fine, all that stuff. After my event commitments, I brought my car back to the hotel and valet parked it before meetings some friends out for the evening. When I got back at around 1 a.m. to pick up my car, the front desk staff informed me that they’d misplaced my car keys.

That in itself was frustrating, but hey, stuff happens. So I asked what the plan was to track them down, and the night manager started calling around to the doorman and valet guys that might know where the keys were (they’d all gone home for the day). It was late. I wanted to go home. But my disappointment around the whole issue really centered on the attitude of the desk staff.

They could have apologized, but they didn’t. They could have offered assurances that they would do everything they could, up to and including getting a replacement key for my car if the keys couldn’t be found. They could have offered me a seat and a bottle of water while I waited. They could have updated me with what they were doing to track down the keys each step of the way (which took about 40 minutes, all told).

But all in all, I felt like I was causing an inconvenience for them by hovering while they looked. No one spoke to me unless I asked them what was happening – which, admittedly, I did with increasing levels of frustration in my voice. When I asked for updates, I was given variations of “We’re working on it”. When they finally did find the keys, the night manager asked “Do you have a black car?” and when I responded yes, she simply said “It’s out front” as if to say HA…we found your keys, now go away. And when I commented that I hoped they didn’t expect me to pay for the parking, she responded with “That’s up to Dave” (the valet guy). I took my keys and left (and no, I didn’t pay).

I drove home angry and frustrated, vowing that I wouldn’t be staying at Hotel 71 anymore.

How Hotel 71 Fixed It

Yesterday morning, about 8 hours after the events of the previous night, I got a very polished voicemail from Stephen Ellingson (gosh I hope I spelled that right, Stephen…I neglected to ask so please correct me if needed), the manager of Hotel 71. He said in his message that he wanted first and foremost to formally apologize for the severe challenges we’d had with the valet situation the night before, understand from me what happened, and do his best to make it right.

Impressed, I called him back.

He asked me to describe what happened, and I did, mostly like I did above. He’d gotten an incident report from his staff, but it almost certainly didn’t include any of my commentary on the matter. Where did he learn about that, then?? He had clearly been listening and paying attention to Twitter (they’re on there too), because he thanked me for providing the context and details I did about how the situation made me feel.

He apologized again, told me that they’d clearly missed being able to deliver even the most basic of customer service, and that he was embarrassed and disappointed. He assured me that it wasn’t acceptable to him, and asked me (!) if he could please invite me back again so that they could re-instill my faith and positive impression of their hotel. In fact, I got the distinct impression that Mr. Ellingson wasn’t going to settle for just smoothing ruffled feathers. He not only wanted to earn my trust back, he wanted me to be delighted with my experiences at his hotel.

I told him that the phone call itself – just the demonstration that he cared enough about what happened – was more than enough for me. He insisted that he’d like to have me back to the hotel as a guest (on them) and give them the opportunity to give me a great experience. He gave me his personal cell phone number, took my address, and told me that he’d be sending me an invitation to return. He also promised that he’d be addressing the issue professionally with his staff. He closed by thanking me again for being willing to chat, one last apology, and a hope that we’d say hello in person when and if I returned.

My 5 Lessons For Us

I really think Hotel 71 did a great job of resolving a situation that had left me feeling really defeated. And for those that will inevitably ask, no I don’t think they reached out simply because I snarked about them on Twitter or because of how many followers I have. I DO think the tweets helped give them more details about what I was thinking personally along side an issue they were already aware of. And I’m trying to acknowledge what they did well here. If we want Twitter to work, we need to acknowledge and embrace it when it does.

Whether that was Mr. Ellingson’s adept handling of the situation or the evident sincerity in his apology, he managed to make me – the customer – feel cared for in the wake of something that wasn’t so fun. And for as much as we’re asking for companies to pay better attention and work to deliver better customer service, I wanted to point out exactly when someone did that.

Did it turn me around and make me willing to give Hotel 71 another chance? Recommend them to others? You bet it did.

So here are my things to remember for my business and yours:

1. Mistakes happen. Preventing them is the ideal, but as important is acknowledging them when they happen, and figuring out how best to fix the situation in the eyes of the customer.

2. Listen, listen, listen. Hotel 71 had an incident report filed by their staff, but it was missing my perspective as a customer. Steven was listening and while the report was concerning to him, the details in the tweets he saw made him more aware of what really happened, at least from my point of view. You want as many sides of the story as you can get to form a complete picture. You can’t fix what you don’t know is broken.

3. Apologies matter. Saying “We screwed up and I’m very sorry” goes a long way to making someone feel like they’re valued and heard. If you can’t take back the mistake, you can at least own it. And mean it. If you’re simply apologizing because you think you have to, your customers will be able to tell.

4. Update as much as you can. When you’re in the middle of trying to resolve a situation, keep your customers as informed as possible about the steps you’re taking to remedy things. It communicates that you care about not only fixing the problem, but their peace of mind as well.

5. Understand the value of resolution. How you solve a problem can absolutely overshadow the mistake that caused it, for better or for worse. Ignore it, and fuel the fire. Acknowledge it and make an earnest effort to correct it, and you’ll leave a lasting impression with your customer.

I like when we can look at good examples of companies trying to do the right thing. It makes be believe all over again that there are good businesses and good people out there. And while they screw up once in a while, there are those working to make it better when they do.

That’s what I learned. Anything in this example stand out to you?