IF THE FOLKS at Sheraton are trying to build a strong customer relationship with us, they’ve got a funny way of showing they care.
Last summer, after attending the National Center for Database Marketing conference in Chicago, we returned home to find an offer from Sheraton for a discounted room if we extended our stay at the hotel. We noted Sheraton’s poor timing in these pages (DIRECT, Sept. 15, 1997).
During this summer’s NCDM in Seattle, the chain’s failure to record and act on customer information once again cost it a night’s occupancy. When we made our reservation, we asked to be booked through the weekend, only to be told there were no rooms at the NCDM rate for Saturday. We made reservations at a nearby hotel. When checking out of the Sheraton, we asked the desk clerk for directions to the other hotel. She asked why we weren’t staying on at the Sheraton, and we related our tale. She checked her booking records-and found that a room was available. Would we be interested? Probably, if the offer had been made earlier.
One problem most customer relationship programs have is determining how to capture actionable data. In this case, the data was there-but where was the program?
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