As a customer service agent at Canity, I deal with customer service training every day at work. The last thing I expected when heading off to Bali on holiday was a real life lesson on how important ace customer service really is.
I’d decided to treat myself with a third holiday in 12 months to the island destination. What can I say, the 2-for-1 cocktails, happy hours (hours being the keyword), sunsets over beach bars, and abundance of food to satisfy any craving or budget keep luring me back!
For the second time, I decided to stay at The Breezes Bali Resort & Spa. I had fond memories of always being greeted with friendly, warm smiles, outstanding customer service and an eagerness to make a long-lasting impression. In fact, I even did a quick check on TripAdvisor before rebooking to confirm that other travellers had similar experiences. They all did.
If you make customers feel special, they’ll keep coming back again and again. Exhibit A: Me!
At The Breezes, the staff make it their business to get to know their guests. On the first day the guest relation officer, Aldy, met me at the pool bar—though to be fair, that wasn’t too hard, I was there every morning!—and greeted me by name before welcoming me back to the resort. He referred to my previous room at the hotel and asked how my current one compares. He then proceeded to kindly offer helpful holiday advice and reviewed my planned itinerary!
But Aldy wasn’t satisfied with blowing me out of the water with fantastic customer service just once. He caught up with me throughout my stay (did I mention he could find me at the pool bar every morning?), and on one occasion even introduced me to other hotel guests planning on heading out to the same nightclub. A very welcome gesture to a solo tourist. Aldy just kept going that extra mile, even tagging along with us to show us the way and make sure we arrived safely.
And Aldy was no exception: this level of outstanding customer service was on display throughout the resort. Every single staff member took every interaction with a guest as an opportunity to impress—be it with a smile, a greeting by name, or simply by asking how your day was, and offering to grab you a towel if you found yourself in the pool without one!
Upon my return to my room, I’d be treated with a different ‘towel animal’ each day! A custom note would accompany this, turning a small gesture into something that went a long way towards making me feel special. My 18 day stay was certainly made infinitely better by the staff at The Breezes and thanks to their sublime customer service, you can be sure I’ll book there again when I return to Bali.
So what’s my point in all of this? Customer service is about consistently doing the simple, little things like knowing who your customers are, personalising communication, or going that extra mile. It costs nothing and makes a huge difference! Your customers will love you and keep returning for life. Or, at the very least, leave you a glowing review.
Think about your customers: what things, no matter how small, could you be doing to impress your customers and encourage them to keep coming back to you?
