Music City Bummer

Remember the brouhaha a few years back when Alanis Morissette released “Ironic”? Many critics lambasted the singer, saying the things she mentioned in the song – like “rain on your wedding day” or “a free ride when you’ve already paid” – weren’t so much ironic as they were bummers.

I’m not positive if this is ironic, but it is definitely a bummer: A major trade association held a conference recently where the buzz was building customer (and employee) relationships…in a mega-resort that seemed anything but CRM compliant.

I’m talking – don’t worry, I’m not going to sing – about the American Teleservices Association annual conference, held last month at the Opryland Hotel in Nashville.

Let me stress right at the start that the ATA itself has its heart – and its customer service chops – in the right place. The conference itself was great, expertly run with interesting and informative sessions. The ATA’s paid and volunteer staff was friendly and quick to help out attendees, whether they had questions about the sessions or the industry, or were just lost in the sprawling Southern monstrosity that is the Opryland Hotel.

I wish the same could be said about the hotel’s staff.

In the past, I’ve said that if whoever decides such things in the great beyond isn’t happy with me when I shuffle off this mortal coil, I’ll probably wind up in Nashville – lost, hungry and plaugued by the ghost of the late, great Minnie Pearl. I am not, to put it mildly, “a little bit country.”

But I realized on this trip that my quarrel wasn’t with the Music City itself. On my sojourns downtown and to the city’s outskirts, I found the people of Nashville to be just super. And heck, I even enjoyed a Clint Black concert while I was there.

No, my problem is with Opryland.

On numerous occasions, I wished I could have found the manager of the hotel and dragged him or her into an ATA session for a much-needed crash course on customer service.

Andy Hatch of Monster.com, for example, told attendees that marketers must make their experience with customers meaningful. He noted that from his previous experience – in hotel/restaurant management, no less – he learned it’s key to listen to your “front line” agents who deal with customers every day. Through this feedback, you can pick up the little things that will help you improve your service – and in turn, your revenue.

For some reason, I don’t think this happens in Opryland.

Now, there was no big, horrific incident during my stay. The room was perfectly acceptable. The service was adequate. If one was staying at Joe’s Shady Motel – Bed and breakfast $29.99 – they might feel like they got their money’s worth. But the buildup for one who is going to a pricey resort like this – either on business or pleasure – is high.

What irked me during my stay? Several things, like guest services’ seeming reluctance to help me find a decent restaurant outside the hotel compound. Or the hotel changing its rental car vendor the week before our stay, without thinking to notify guests of the change so they could make other arrangements. Or the concierge giving blatantly incorrect information about transportation, which ended up costing my traveling companion (Hi, Mom!) extra money. Or the bellhop telling us our bags were checked at one lobby, only to find out after a 10-minute wait our luggage was in another area of the hotel, another 10 minutes away. Or…

Yeah, all of this is little stuff. But little things add up when making an impression on a customer. A guest services rep well-versed in the city’s dining options would create a warm feeling for customers toward the hotel, and encourage them to spend more time (and money) there. A concierge who makes correct suggestions about travel options would make a guest definitely recommend the hotel to a friend. And so on, and so on.

Ah, well. As I found out late in my stay from one of my most valued data sources, a cabdriver – you do chat up cabbies to get the scoop on a city, don’t you? – the hotel probably doesn’t do much to build relationships with its employees, let alone customers.

My driver informed me that Gaylord Entertainment, which owns Opryland (and much of Nashville, it seems) is constantly advertising job openings on the radio, meaning turnover is probably high.