GuestProof Guest journey audit Guest Journey Audit · USD 89
Nine touchpoints, and the stay is not where it goes wrong
Booking to post-departure, walked as a guest, with the three failures that generate most of your complaints.
Your rooms are good and your reviews say so. The complaints cluster in the ninety minutes around arrival and in the twenty four hours before it, which are the two touchpoints nobody in the building thinks of as part of the stay.
Three failures account for 71 percent of the negative themes in your reviews, and all three happen before the guest has been in a room. Nothing in this audit is about the rooms, the housekeeping or the breakfast, which are consistently praised.
Journey
Nine touchpoints, scored
| State | Complaint share | Priority | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Discovery and listing | Good | 3% | None |
| 2 Booking, direct | Clunky | 6% | Medium |
| 3 Confirmation | Adequate | 4% | Low |
| 4 Pre-arrival, 24 h | Does not exist | 24% | Critical |
| 5 Arrival and parking | Failing | 29% | Critical |
| 6 Check-in | Failing before 15:00 | 18% | Critical |
| 7 The stay | Strong | 8% | None |
| 8 Departure | Good | 4% | None |
| 9 Post-stay | Nothing sent | 4% | Medium |
Touchpoints 4, 5 and 6 are consecutive and they are 71 percent of the complaints. A guest who arrives badly carries it into a stay that is objectively good, which is why your review scores are lower than your rooms deserve.
Arrival
What actually happens between 14:00 and 16:00
- 14:10
Guest arrives by car
No parking information has been sent. The listing says parking nearby. The nearest car park is 240 metres away and full on a Saturday.
- 14:20
Guest parks on the street and reads the sign
Two hour limit. They now have a deadline they did not know about and a hotel they have not entered.
- 14:25
Front door locked, no bell
Reception is unstaffed until 15:00. There is a phone number on a laminated card at eye level for someone standing close, and not visible from the pavement.
- 14:35
Guest calls the number
It rings in an office that is staffed from 15:00. Voicemail. The guest is now standing outside with luggage and a parking limit.
- 15:05
Reception opens
Room not ready until 16:00, which is correct and stated on the booking, and is being heard by someone who has been outside for 55 minutes.
- 15:10
The stay begins badly
Every subsequent small thing is now read through this. The review written on Sunday is about the room, and the star rating is about this.
Evidence
What the reviews say, coded
Fixes
One email and one sign
| Fix | Cost | Addresses | Effort |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-arrival email at 24 hours | USD 0 | 24 percent of complaints | Two hours, once |
| Exterior sign with the phone number and hours | USD 120 | 39 reviews worth | One afternoon |
| Named parking instructions with two options and prices | USD 0 | 63 reviews worth | Included in the email |
| Luggage storage offered explicitly before 16:00 | USD 0 | Room not ready complaints | One sentence |
| Post-stay email at 48 hours | USD 0 | Review volume and recovery | One hour |
| Soundproof rooms 4 and 11 | USD 6,000 | 12 reviews | When cash allows |
Five of six cost nothing but time and together they address about three quarters of your negative themes. The soundproofing is the only capital item and it is the smallest benefit on the list.
What the pre-arrival email has to contain
- Check-in is from 16:00, stated first and plainly
- Reception is staffed from 15:00, and this number before then
- Two named car parks with walking time and price
- That you will hold luggage from 13:00
- The exact door to arrive at, with a photograph
- One line inviting them to reply with an arrival time