On our way back from a client meeting in Kansas a couple months ago, several of us stayed at The Hotel Savoy in Kansas City.  While en route, we let our exhibit designer, Randy, choose the hotel.  He used his phone and found one which had 4 stars.

After parking, we walked up the street to the hotel while Randy gave us a bit of history about it:  it was old; it was being renovated; blah, blah, blah.

It was an Experience!

Upon entering and briefly looking around, I was immediately concerned. It smelled old and musty and the place just seemed really creepy!  We made our way to the front desk and Randy checked us in.  I looked over at Kelly, one of our graphic designers, and said “This place reminds me of The Shining!”

Once we were checked in, we walked upstairs to our rooms and became even more concerned.  The doors used an actual key – not a plastic credit card-like key, but a real honest to goodness metal key!  Oh, and did I mention the doors looked like they had been vandalized?  They had dents in them by the deadbolts.

As we looked down the hall, we noticed the carpet all ripped up and dark water streaks down the walls.

Large areas of plaster were broken off and oh yeah, the elevator door had a hand-written sign reading “Danger Open Elevator Shaft.”

Needless to say we were a bit nervous to sleep there, but we thought, “Hey, this will make for a good story to tell the shop when we get back!”

A Negative is Turned into a Positive

We survived the night and even hung around for breakfast.  When we arrived downstairs, we were led to a dining room that was simple and not very inspiring.  The man who was serving us asked if we would you like to see the main dining hall.  I said sure, why not?

Let me tell you, that dining hall changed the whole experience for us from a creepy negative to an amazing positive. The man gave us a tour and we were impressed!  The breakfast was excellent and we left the hotel happy and said we would actually come back.

The night before, we were immersed in the old decrepit part of the hotel and in the morning we were immersed in the restored historic dining hall experience.  Our server was excellent and he had good stories to tell. He made us feel important and loved telling the history of the hotel.  Based on our breakfast experience, our attitudes completely changed.

Immersive Environments and Strong Interpretation

The same can be said about exhibits.  It is equally important to provide an immersive environment with strong interpretation.  How the visitor experiences the exhibit affects how he or she learns what is being interpreted.  The whole package makes the experience, from the parking lot to the person at the reception desk to the exhibits to the front-line interpreters and beyond.  A visitor’s entire excursion can be colored by one weak link, but, as seen in our case, one strong link can also completely change a person’s perception.  Why take a chance though?  Ensure all your touch points are visitor-focused for favorable experiences for your guests.

What experiences have you had turn from a negative to a positive due to good customer service?

For your Curiosity

I found a video on YouTube that someone else made of their visit to the same hotel.  This is the same floor we stayed on.  Apparently the place is haunted.