A few weeks back, I visited New York City to attend PSFK’s “Future of Retail” gathering, which coincided with NRF’s Retail Big Show & Expo. I have grown increasingly interested in this topic after working in-house at a Fortune 50 retailer and seeing the immense opportunity to apply my craft of service design to industries traditionally thought of as “product focused.”
One industry that is not product focused, and really has never been, is hospitality. However, the experience I had staying at two different hotels in New York showcased firsthand the difference between thinking of a customer’s experience as a product versus thinking of that experience as a service.
When I booked my stay in New York, I was strongly considering two options: MADE Hotel, a brand new hotel in NoMad and a last-minute option that was still well-designed, but a bit lower-priced. I had come up with a budget for the trip in my mind and MADE was just ten dollars over my nightly budget. Because I have been a stickler for working lean recently, I decided to forgo staying at MADE and go with a slightly less pricey option. Boy was that a decision I later paid for with my time and comfort. Instead of booking at MADE, I decided to try Arlo NoMAd, another fairly new spot in the neighborhood following the “microhotel” trend. Even though it was beautifully designed and felt good on the outside, many things went wrong during my two nights inside Arlo that left me wanting more.
And so, when weather forced me to stay an extra night in New York and my original hotel was fully booked, I decided to spend my third night at MADE. This circumstance of fate presented me with the perfect opportunity to compare these two experiences and draw some intriguing conclusions that apply well beyond the hospitality industry.
In the rest of this post, I will focus on five key elements of the service experience at each hotel and explain how each spot measured up.
Head to Head Comparison
For the purposes of this post, I have chosen five characteristics of service experience to compare:
- User Flow
- Organizational Culture
- Staff Interaction
- Error Handling, and
- Hygge
I have chosen these characteristics based on my own “moments of truth” with each provider and those I know to be prevalent with most service providers. “Moments of truth” are the make or break elements of a patrons’ experience with a brand, and they typically include the check-in and check-out steps for services like hotels and airlines. In many cases, these “moments of truth” are those moments when something goes wrong, and the provider has to improvise in some way to handle a mistake or resolve a concern and keep the patron happy.
Herein, I have intentionally decided not to focus on the overall physical design of each hotel, because both were beautiful. What truly made one outstanding and the other forgettable was not the quality of the space guests lodged in, but the level of attention and craftsmanship the brand brought to the experience happening inside. To make my analysis a bit more quantitative in nature, I am adding a seven point rating scale for each characteristic. The scale is as follows: 1) Very Poor 2) Poor 3) Mediocre 4) Satisfactory 5) Good 6) Very Good 7) Exceptional.
What truly made one outstanding and the other forgettable was not the quality of the space guests lodged in, but the level of attention and craftsmanship the brand brought to the experience.
User Flow
Arlo NoMad rating: 2
MADE rating: 6
One of the fundamental elements of a great service experience is the flow of users through the service system. This includes the physical flow of people, objects, and staff, as well as the intangible flow of information and interactions.
My bad experience at Arlo NoMad started at check-in. When I arrived, there was a large, chatty group of internationals checking in right before me. The staff at the front desk spent several minutes speaking with the group before me, who had many questions and were joking around with one another. By the time they got to me they rushed me through the check-in process and did not provide me with detailed information like how to access the lounge spaces, what dining options the hotel offered, or a heads-up that the hotel regularly hosted large gatherings in its second-floor space. This check-in experience was a missed opportunity for the hotel to provide me with key information that would set the tone for the rest of my stay. Because the hotel did not proactively tell me things, I had to ‘discover’ my way through a number of clunky steps and sometimes beg for help.
This bad experience continued when I tried to use the hotel elevator and found that I not only needed to pull out my key to access it (very difficult with hands full of luggage that you have to carry yourself!) but had to press a bunch of buttons on the outside of the elevator to select one that would actually take me to my floor. The device where we entered this information was cumbersome and required users to press very firmly to make it work, and sometimes the elevator on-call would just disappear and you would have to start the process all over again.
My physical flow through the Arlo NoMad space was also cumbersome, and it was my least favorite aspect of the overall hotel experience. The hotel is laid out like a grid of interconnected pieces, which relies heavily upon narrow corridors, the elevator, and a large wood staircase to move from one environment to the next. Whoever designed the hotel interior filled every last surface with furnishings and DIY decor, like hand-written signage and playful pencils and notecards. When there are multiple activities going on at once–such as in the evening when a jazz musician is playing, restaurant patrons are entering and guests are checking in–the hubs of interaction are too full of people for the service system to work as it was designed.
The User Flow at MADE was much smoother than that of Arlo NoMad. Its well-defined boundaries between different “zones” of the main floor through simple physical cues of furnishings, decorations and hard surfaces made it easy for me to locate the check-in desk and command the desk clerk’s full attention upon arrival. My check-in experience was a true “moment of truth” at MADE that set the tone for the rest of my flow through the hotel because it was seamless. The desk clerk provided me with information about various aspects of the hotel and pointed me towards the elevator. Once I got into the elevator, a staff member offered to show me to my room and gave me some further tips about where other elements of the hotel were located. The flow through my actual room was also seamless: everything was easy to locate and seemed to show up just when I needed it (no looking for the trashcan or wondering where to store things, for example). My room had two sturdy wood stools near the entryway that enabled me to slip off my shoes right after walking in, then plop my luggage on top to unpack it. A pair of slippers awaited me in the bathroom with a robe, inviting me to enjoy the late afternoon light and imagine how to spend the rest of my day in leisure. After getting settled, I decided to look for some food and a place to work. Because the hotel was so cozy, and it was snowing, I proceeded to the hotel lobby rather than bundling up. Downstairs, I had my choice of two spaces: a more ‘buttoned up’ bar area where folks were eating and meeting, or a more low-key and chatter-filled coffee area in the lobby. Like in my bedroom, both spaces were designed in such a way that made navigating them feel effortless, and staff arrived promptly on the scene as I moved into my preferred environment: the bar. I could continue this story across the rest of my stay: restaurant recommendations and check-out but will stop here for the sake of keeping this piece a reasonable length. That said, I did dock MADE a point for two things: the exterior of the hotel is set back from the road so it is difficult for drivers and patrons to see as they locate the hotel for the first time; and the clearly-defined nature of the coffee, check-in, and bar zones on the main floor made it challenging for staff to spot and subsequently help me when I cozied up in the coffee shop on my second day.
Organizational Culture
Arlo NoMad rating: 4
MADE rating: 6
Culture is the invisible fabric that undergirds a successful service delivery system. It is not the systems, channels, or tools an organization uses to achieve its aims, but rather the human values, norms, and behaviors that help it become its best or worst self.
Arlo NoMad and MADE had distinctly different cultures. Arlo’s culture felt a bit hierarchical, and “get by with the minimum possible,” and then MADE’s felt more grassroots, and proactive. As a trained ethnographer and natural observer of human behavior, this distinction was noticeable in the smallest of ways at each hotel.
Culture is the invisible fabric that undergirds a successful service delivery system.
When I arrived at MADE, a number of its staff were hanging out on the main floor, scattered amongst the guests at different tables near the bar. At first this was not apparent, but as I sat in the bar area and moved throughout the hotel over the course of my stay, I realized that they in fact worked there. It appeared that some of these lingering staff were on-shift, while others might have been management or even founders that were simply observing or enjoying the environment. These staff were dressed smartly, a bit like designers, but conveyed a sense of warm approachability, rather than removed esoterism. When I saw them chatting amongst themselves, they seemed to be having fun and did not appear stressed or bored. On my second day at MADE, I had breakfast in the main floor bar area and chatted with one of the servers. I remarked to her about some of my observations, and she said that it was all “by design.” She mentioned that every staff member was handpicked and that the operation had a “zero tolerance” policy when it came to drama.
By contrast, Arlo’s culture felt stuffy and un-motivated. The staff were generous, when asked, but no one went out of their way to do anything for me. On my second day at the hotel, I noticed some of the staff interacting with each other in preparation for an event. They were curt with one another, and seemed stiff, even a bit bored. One staff member lingered behind the bar for a long time, seemingly avoiding requests to do any sort of work, rather than busy greeting me or the other guests seated in the bar area to see if we might like something or might just want to talk. Another staff member, some sort of event coordinator, was busy preparing the space for the event and moved around with a sense of authority and discipline. What I found interesting, though, is that she seemed to give orders rather than ask for support, and came across as a “boss” rather than a partner towards other staff. Those staff who were nearby her, the one behind the bar for example, did not offer to help and seemed lost in their own worlds. These actions spoke volumes and told me everything I would have needed to know about the consciousness and energy level of the team if this hotelier was a client.
Staff Interaction
Arlo NoMad rating: 2
MADE rating: 7
Those staff who appeared to be on-duty at MADE were friendly, and had an almost laid-back attitude in the way they both greeted and interacted with guests. By contrast, Arlo’s staff left a lot to be desired. I noticed this for the first time when I ordered dinner on my second night at the hotel in the main floor cafe area. The gentleman who took my order never greeted me and threw a blank stare my way when I first approached him; seemingly he was finishing something up behind the counter that I could not see. After some time, he somewhat rudely asked me what I wanted to order, even though I had already given him my order minutes before with a nod as his response. During my first night at the hotel, the cafe staff were friendly and had even given me a few extra pastries when I told them I was “practically starving.” Reflecting back and remembering all the times I either interacted with or observed staff at Arlo, I realize that the staff interaction there was inconsistent. It seemed driven mostly by individual motivation, rather than a collective sense of care and enthusiasm. By and large, the staff are motivated to keep customers “just satisfied,” but are not interested in going out of their way to ensure guests feel truly delighted.
The staff interaction [at Arlo] was inconsistent. It seemed driven mostly by individual motivation, rather than a collective sense of care and enthusiasm.
Error Handling
Arlo NoMad rating: 1
MADE rating: 5
Error handling is one of the most overlooked elements of designing a successful service system. In delivering a complex service experience that lasts more than a few hours, things will inevitably go wrong. The art of being a successful service provider in the hotel industry, thus, lies less in getting everything right and more in designing for what you can, and creating an effective mechanism to sense and respond to unmet needs over time.
Whenever I think of effective error handling, I harken back to a dining experience I had a few years ago in DC where the staff at a French cafe got everything about my order wrong. That lack of attention to detail felt like a make or break moment for me, and I was internally irate. But one of the managers could tell I was unsettled and just as I asked for the bill, he decided to come over and talk with me about what was going wrong and see how he could fix it. The fact that this manager took the time to interact human to human, unprompted because I had not called for him, and express his sincere disappointment that things were not “just right” enabled me to overlook the poor service and revisit that cafe another time.
The art of being a successful service provider in the hotel industry…lies less in getting everything right and more in designing for what you can, and creating an effective mechanism to sense and respond to unmet needs over time.
With that anecdote in mind, Arlo and MADE handled errors very differently.
I mentioned earlier that I had some difficulty finding staff to help me while sitting in the coffee area at MADE. The way MADE chose to handle this oversight was part of what made my experience there great. After sitting perched on a bench for quite some time in the coffee area with zero staff interaction, I flagged down one of the staff who was wandering around the main floor. I asked him if the coffee area was serving food, and he directed me to the bar and also gestured that the basement level had great food. This staff member decided to respond proactively to my need as it emerged, rather than reacting defensively or trying to explain away the fact that no one had been attending to me. He also checked in with me later to make sure that things were still going well. Brownie points, that’s good error handling.
On the other hand, one of Arlo’s biggest flaws was its lack of an effective mechanism for noticing and addressing errors in-the-moment. I experienced poor error handling on a number of occasions, but the most prominent was on the day of checkout. That day, it was snowing in New York and back home in North Carolina. My return flight was originally scheduled for late afternoon, and due to the snow I decided to just cozy up in my hotel and do some work rather than venturing out. I had a call planned for 11am and really needed a quiet spot to take it before heading to the airport. So, after my morning coffee, I scoped out the perfect location: a heated interior courtyard on the hotel’s second floor that was literally deserted. After scoping the courtyard, I went upstairs and packed all my luggage and brought it down to the second floor to get settled for my call.
The second floor was laid out like a long, narrow rectangle, and featured a large meeting room on its front, an open staircase immediately behind that, a dimly lit bar and seating area behind that, and heated courtyard at the rear. The only places on this second floor level that were ideal for taking calls were the courtyard and the meeting room because the bar and stairwell were so open and lacked sound barriers. When I got back to the second floor with my luggage about fifteen minutes later, the staff were bustling around closing off areas for an event that was happening in the front room. The front room had been cordoned off all morning, but it appeared that someone had decided the event attendees might want more space. They began asking hotel guests to cluster in the small bar area and told me I could not use the courtyard unless they found out that their event guests were not going to use it.
Slowly over the next twenty to thirty minutes, the bar area became more and more crowded with guests, and the corridors around it bustled with activity from the staff setting up for the event. Time ticked on and I realized I would have to take my call in the bar because I had no time to scope out a new spot. Because my luggage was already packed, going back up to my room would have been a hassle. As I began my call, I realized two things very quickly: the acoustics in the bar were very disruptive and prevented any sort of privacy, and the cellular and wifi connections in the hotel were both terrible. So, I was stuck nestled among tons of strangers in a dark bar, trying desperately to figure out whether to “roll with it” and pretend everything was fine or reschedule my call for another day. I decided to take the call and started to move around the hotel in search of a signal. Eventually I landed on the first floor, in the thick of the lobby activity because it was the only place that had a decent signal. I had little to no privacy and was forced to share private details about my business in a very public setting full of people I did not know. It was the worst.
All the while as I prepared for my call, moved about, and searched for a signal, staff were bustling around me, surely noticing that I was uncomfortable but choosing to ignore me. At the bar upstairs, one of the staff simply waited around leaning against a wall behind the bar and never once asked me, or any of the other guests for that matter, if we might like something to drink. It seemed that many of the staff were doing event prep and he was using the bar as a place to hide out, and pretend to be busy. This observation made my frustrations about the lack of privacy and comfort all the worse. The icing on the cake was a moment when the hotel’s proprietor or manager (one can only surmise from his behavior) gave a group of well-dressed adults a tour of the second floor and lauded the hotel’s praises for being such an amazing space, beautifully designed. He also talked about some of Arlo’s other properties. I found his behavior ironic because he never once acknowledged any of the paying guests who were sitting around him, and was more focused on making a good impression on his tour participants. What this behavior told me was this: “We care more about our prospective event users than our hotel guests. We see you as a low-paying user, and these folks might drop some serious cash. We don’t care about your business.” I could go on, but suffice it to say that none of my issues with finding privacy or comfort on my last day in the hotel were addressed by the staff. As it turned out, my flight home was canceled shortly after my call, and the hotel was sold out for the following night. So, I took that as a cue to high tail it and find a better spot to do my bidding.
Hygge
Arlo NoMad rating: 2
MADE rating: 6
I have added a fifth criteria to my review, one that might not typically make it into posts about service experiences: hygge. I see hygge as an oft-overlooked element of a successful service experience. This Danish word, currently en vogue, refers to the overall sense of coziness and wellbeing imbued through an environment. And I think it is an immensely useful term for describing one of the intangible elements of what makes some services great, and some subpar: their ability to make you feel “at home.”
[Hygge] is an immensely useful term for describing one of the intangible elements of what makes some services great, and some subpar: their ability to make you feel ‘at home.’
MADE’s hygge factor was off the charts compared to Arlo NoMad. Like richter scale off the charts. Subtle visual cues in its physical environment invited a sense of coziness and relaxation: loungey seating with throw pillows that promoted lingering in the lobby, delicate and woven elements in the bedrooms, subtle lighting, and smartly-placed windows (and window dressings) that invited the outside in. In addition, my experience of riding the elevator at MADE also made me feel “at home.” Almost every time I rode the elevator with someone else, we ended up striking up a conversation about why we were staying there or what we liked about our stay. At times, I rode the elevator with hotel staff who were friendly and gave me insider tips on things to check out or shared a bit of the story behind the hotel concept. These staff felt like dapper friends, friends who were stylishly dressed but super approachable. When I ate a snack and breakfast in the bar area, I started conversations with fellow guests who told me about their work and commented on how much they loved this spot too, one such guest mentioning that it was now her go-to stay for New York trips. The guests and the staff made me feel like “one of them,” something that is hard to achieve in a city like New York where tourists often feel like outsiders.
As I illustrated in my rating above for error handling, Arlo NoMad’s physical environment was made for architecture magazines, not for human guests. While the space was beautiful, it was not designed for heavy use, or human to human interaction. The entire time I was at Arlo, I did not quite feel comfortable. The room I stayed in felt tight, and it was difficult for me to find the things I needed, like an out-of-the-way place to plug in my computer, or a light switch for the lamp beside the bed. The hotel atmosphere did not promote guest interaction. The seating had sharp, modern lines and the decor in many of the common areas felt “too tidy” to mess up. This hotel’s clean lines that gave it a photo-worthy quality actually made it feel less welcoming. And when I got sick on my second night and had to stay in, there was nowhere for me to cozy up with my dinner and nurse my cold, even in my bedroom. Perhaps in this case hygge was sacrificed for looks?
A Big Aha
Reflecting back on my experiences at these two hotels in New York, I had a huge aha: hotel guests are not buying a place to stay, but rather a place to live for a short duration. When hotels primarily think of their offering as a hip place for guests to lay their heads, their offerings will become commodities. By contrast, when hotels primarily think of their offering as a short-term place for people to live and connect with others, they will begin to imagine a number of new ways to serve customers and add to their bottom lines. And, in this latter case, they will be able to charge guests a premium for their stay.
[W]hen hotels primarily think of their offering as a short-term place for people to live and connect with others, they will begin to imagine a number of new ways to serve customers and add to their bottom lines.
Why The Intangibles Matter
As I have illustrated here, so much of what makes a service experience great is that which is intangible. In the case of Arlo NoMad, the experience was treated too much like a product to achieve true delight and usability. On the flip side, MADE Hotels understood the art of hosting, and built a service experience that could adapt to fit the emergent needs of its users.
The physical systems that brands deploy are but one part of a successful service experience, and to leave a lasting impression today’s brands must design not just for the physical but also for the emotional and the social needs of its customers. The best designers have always understood this and view design as about more than aesthetics. Eric Roscam Abbing puts it well in his book “Brand Driven Innovation: Strategies for Development and Design”: “Design, seen from this perspective, serves not to express an individual’s view on the world, but rather to solve problems, create meaningful interactions, and to demonstrate value for users and interactions.” This broader view of design is ultimately about creating value for users, and increasingly it is the way that the world’s best brands are approaching every facet of the way they build and grow their organizations—not just the way they look and feel. It is more than ‘services thinking,’ it is good business.