For my 40th birthday, my wife and I traveled to Las Vegas where we met up with several other couples to hang out by the pool, see a show, and play a little Blackjack.
My wife had made reservations at Caesars Palace which, ironically, was also celebrating its 40th year anniversary. From our first interaction with Joanie at the front desk, I knew this was going to be memorable. She immediately made the connection between the celebration of my 40 years and the hotel’s anniversary celebration.
She noted this when she handed me a room key that contained a holograph containing a black and white picture of the front of Caesars Palace in 1966 and then, when rotated slightly, depicted a color picture from the same vantage point in 2006. During our brief conversation, we joked about the theme song for my 40th birthday celebration: Toby Keith’s hit song, As Good as I Once Was.
Memorable room key in hand, Julie and I headed to our room in the recently opened Augustus Tower. It was then that I noticed our room number: 4089. When we reached our floor and existed the elevator, my wife took a picture of me next to the large number 40 designating our floor number.
We then proceeded to our room, opened the door, and entered to find that our flat panel television set was playing a music video. That’s right: Toby Keith’s, As Good as I Once Was. Not sure whether that was staged or just a bizarre coincidence but I was wowed! And Joanie wasn’t through yet. Julie and I went downstairs to do a little exploring of the sprawling facility and when we returned an hour later, there was small gift and a handwritten note from Joanie wishing me a happy 40th birthday and a pleasant stay.
So how does this pleasant surprise translate into more revenue for Caesars Palace? For one, it’s clearly documented that there is a relationship between guest satisfaction and ancillary spending in a hotel setting. In one study, J.D. Power and Associates concluded that guests whose overall satisfaction was a ten on a 10-point scale spent an average of $14 more per day on supplemental goods and services (e.g., food and beverage outlets, gift shops, in-room movies, etc.) than guests who were less satisfied.
In fact, the first night of our stay I recall canceling a reservation that we had made at a well-known sushi restaurant down the street in order to dine at Caesars’ own sushi restaurant, Hyakumi Japanese Restaurant & Sushi Bar.
And the payoff for Caesars Palace doesn’t end there. A week later, in a note to Gary Selesner, the President of Caesars Palace, I committed to return to Caesars Palace the next time I visited Las Vegas. Now, think about the number of hotels in Las Vegas that are attractions unto themselves. It would be perfectly natural to assume that customers would experiment by staying at a variety of competing properties—many of which are very uniquely themed in order to differentiate themselves from competing hotels and casinos.
Even so, my commitment to Mr. Selesner was “to return to Caesars Palace the next time I visited Las Vegas.” Notice that there are no qualifiers such as: if the location is convenient; if the price is right; or unless your competitors are offering free show tickets to book. My intent is to return to Caesars Palace. Period.
Think about your own experiences at hotels, airlines, restaurants, department stores, etc. How have pleasant surprises such as upgrades, sample appetizers, complimentary alterations, etc. contributed to your positive impressions of these companies and influenced your loyalty and future spending?
