Customer statisfaction vs Operational Optimization
One thing you learn in business school is the question of optimizing resources to maximize revenue.
An example of this is the airline industry, where resources are the seats and optimizing means that you sell seating at different prices (thereby targeting different market segments) in order to fill up all of them for a given flight.
This applies too in the hotel industry where resources would be the rooms.
I usually stay at the Sheraton when I am in Taipei. This is a great hotel. However, the last two times I have been here, they have wanted me to move to another room after the first night.
The ostensible reason was to give me the exact class of room that I am paying for. In other words, I get a “free” upgrade the first night, and something less fancy the second.
I guess that this is an optimization thing: so that they can maximize income from the higher class room.
However, customer satisfaction goes out the door.
When I get into a hotel, I want to unpack and hang out the shirts and pants. I also want to set up my other stuff. In other words, after a 13-hour flight, I want to feel at home.
Making me change rooms means that I have to pack my bags again after the first night’s stay.
So I am not satisfied.
