Highly personalized service is critical to retaining customers

I am on the final leg of my journey to uncover the secrets of retaining hotel customers. Today I am in Deer Valley, a plush ski resort just above Park City, home of the Winter Olympics in 2002. Once again, individual, customized attention seems to be the key. “Here, highly personalized service is critical to retaining customers” says Dan Howard, Director of Public Relations at Montage Deer Valley. “We collect information on our guest preferences so that we are able to customize their stays,” he says. Even children receive a personalized experience. The Montage’s culinary teams collect copious notes on dietary restrictions so that associates can address the guests in advance of their orders when they come to the tables, helping reassure guests that they are recognized and that their dietary needs are being taken to heart in preparing their meals.  “We consider every meal custom to order,” says Howard. Similarly, Spa Montage has a signature treatment called SURRENDER in which the first 45 minutes of the treatment is a conversation between a dedicated therapist and the guest to review health, exercise, diet and hereditary factors prior to being prescribed with a very specific spa ‘diagnosis regimen’ that is specific to the guest. 

Just along the road, at the Stein Eriksen Lodge, Deer Valley, the staff uses every bit of personal information they can as an opportunity to create a memorable experience for guests. “Every guest receives a personal escort to their room”, says Hotel Manager Dan Bullert. “And this enables the staff to develop a personal contact with the guest and possibly obtain information for which the hotel can then take the experience a step further. For instance, a guest made reference to their favorite TV show Downton Abbey, the team then felt inclined to put together a nice card in reference to the show along with the times and where to find it on the channel lineup. Along with the card was a chips/salsa amenity to enjoy while watching the show.”

 

I’m sorry – I am a Brit but I don’t get the appeal of Downton Abbey. Do the actors ever move their lips? My advice for decent drama: watch Brideshead Revisited instead.