Hilton is still begging for scores!

Email begging for a 10 on Hilton's feedback surveyI swear that I truly don't have anything against Hilton as a company. Truly, I stay in many Hilton properties and I am deeply invested in their rewards program.

But Hilton continues to provide an ongoing stream of worst practice examples regarding customer feedback. I can't think of any company outside of automobile sales and service where I have run across more examples of bold, unabashed begging for scores.

Here's the latest, an email sent to a friend of the NPS Loyalty Forum who had stayed at a Hilton Garden Inn.

In case you missed some of the previous examples I had collected from various Hilton properties, here's a quick access list: 

• Begging for Scores at Hilton
• Follow-up survey invitation
• The dangers of tying compensation to customer feedback

Comments

[Adam Ramshaw]

Rob,

It really is disappointing when you see organisations put so much focus on the score (any score) as an outcome in itself rather than a diagnostic for action.

I guess this is what comes of putting this information in people's KPIs and bonus calculations. You certainly get action but sometimes mis-directed and shorted sighted action.

Adam Ramshaw

[Tim Tyler]

I agree with Rob and Adam - it is disappointing to see the score elevated above the customer, to the point where employees feel management WANT them to elevate the score at all costs.

I have a simple checklist that I consciously refer to when looking at culture change scenarios such as this, it may help;

1. Do the staff understand what the objectives of this change are, agree with them and understand how the NPS initiative impacts their day-job (as opposed to their quarterly review)
2. Do they have the skills, have they been trained to deal with the consequences of the NPS feedback?
3. Do management reinforce the NPS strategy by their actions, do they talk about it, do they share stories about customer experience change compulsively? Or do they still talk about the old stuff everyday and NPS at bonus time?
4. Are employees compensated for the right things - and the right things are almost never just the NPS score. But the NPS score is a valid part of measurement for staff performance.

In my experience, 1. is most often short-changed. 'Get your score up' is easier to communicate than the chain of; 'good experiences over time - reliability - trust - loyalty - advocacy - profits' that should underpin NPS projects like this.

Tim Tyler