Greater than 28 years ago, Hampton Inn initially offered a guarantee with which if you were not completely satisfied with your stay, you do not pay: “Your 100% satisfaction is guaranteed. If you’re not totally satisfied with your stay, you’re not expected to pay.” It was as simple as that…
Did You Notice a Change in the Hampton Inn Satisfaction Guarantee?
…but the guarantee currently states that “Making you happy makes us happy. So, if we can make your stay better, talk to any member of our team, and we’ll make sure you’re 100% happy. GUARANTEED™.” This left FlyerTalk member hugolover wondering if the former guarantee was quietly dropped.
Wanting to find out for myself, I asked one of my contacts at Hilton for some clarification. “The refresh was to give Team Member more choices in how they can extend the 100% guarantee, which could include the guest not paying for the stay, if it was the right choice for the guest.” This modification has apparently been in effect for almost a year.
For the record, a variation of the original guarantee of not paying for your stay at a Hampton Inn is still clearly stated here: “If you’re not satisfied, we don’t expect you to pay. That’s our commitment and your guarantee. That’s 100% Hampton®.”
Summary
One mark of a good brand — in my opinion — is when a change in policy is not noticed because expectations of the customer are met with which the customer is consistently satisfied. I have stayed at several Hampton Inn hotel properties over the past few weeks; and I have been treated well at all of them — even though I had a slightly different experience at each of them. I intend to post a trip report and review of each stay in future articles.
I might suggest that the original Hampton Inn satisfaction guarantee of 100 percent was too good, as it was invoked on two or three stays which I experienced years ago. When the person behind the front desk asked me how was my stay, I would say that it was fine — except for some minor detail which I thought should be brought to the attention of the member of the staff so that it could be fixed or rectified. Perhaps the faucet dripped a little; a light was out; or the adjustment lever on the chair by the desk was broken — the details were so minuscule that I do not even remember.
“No problem, sir. The stay is on us.”
“What? No, I —”
“We insist. You brought an issue to our attention; and we appreciate it.”
I honestly did not feel right about a free stay for something so minor that my experience was really not affected adversely. My mindset has always been that I have operated businesses over the years and appreciated constructive feedback because it helped me improve the customer experience, so giving that feedback to any company which I patronize would be helpful…
…so I suppose that the Hampton Inn satisfaction guarantee has actually improved — but I would not know because I never actually needed to invoke it. The most significant issue I typically have on occasion with Hampton Inn hotel properties is that sometimes the room rate can be too expensive for the experience. I personally do not like paying more than $100.00 per night within the United States; and certainly not more than $150.00 per night — but the experience is never so bad that I regretted the times that I had to pay that much of a room rate. Although there is no executive lounge or the latest in high-end amenities, I do usually get a comfortable bed in a room equipped enough with whatever I need — and the breakfast which is typically offered the next morning is usually good enough for me to start my day.
I only expect to not pay for my stay when my experience is adversely affected enough that that would be the appropriate compensation.
The question is: does using the term happy raise the bar pertaining to the expectations of guests over simply being completely satisfied with a stay at a Hampton Inn hotel property?
Photograph ©2017 by Brian Cohen.
