Published on: April 13, 2015
by Kevin CoupeFlyerTalk has a story about how an Australian hotel chain, Art Series Hotels, has begun reviewing its guests, ranking them on its website and rewarding the people defined as best guests.
According to the story, "Between April 17 and May 31, the hotels will be rating guests on a star system ranging from one to five stars, with five stars being the highest. These reviews will then be posted on the hotel group’s website for all to see. Five-star guests will be offered a free night, and anyone with bad behavior will be on display for the public to see," ... though guests have to opt-in to be publicly identified.
The hotel's website explains it this way: "…we want to see if the fear of having one’s dirty laundry aired in public affects guest behavior, making our hotels better for all. After all, it’s the bad guests that often ruin it for the good ones. But, perhaps more importantly, we want to find out who the perfect guests are. We do have special guests; ones who always greet us with a smile and make us want to come to work. We want to bring them back for an extra night, because these are the kind of guests we want at Art Series Hotel Group."
FlyerTalk writes that "Art Series Hotels sees Reverse Reviews as a way to potentially alter behavior and also to let guests in on the group’s behind-the-scenes processes."
This is an interesting idea, though I'm not entirely convinced that it is a good idea to post reviews of one's customers. I'd expect that the vast majority of folks who agree to be rated online will be good customers, so the list will be highly self-selective.
Still, the focus on best customers is an Eye-Opener ... if only because the act of identifying them is a positive one.
- KC's View: