The Bavarian Inn Case

Background The following is a letter written by the customer (me) to the Bavarian Inn following a service failure. Judy Zehnder was the President of the Bavarian Inn at the time the letter was written. The letter was dated Thursday November 17th, 2011 and was e-mailed to the President at 12:14 P.M. on that day. The Bavarian Inn is located in Frankenmuth Michigan and is owned and operated by the Zehnder family.

To Judy Zehnder

For the past 25 years my wife and I have had a tradition of visiting Frankenmuth on the November 11th weekend to do some Christmas shopping and enjoy the German tradition the town offers. During our visit it has been our habit to stay and dine at the Bavarian Inn. We usually bring our friends and/or family with us for these weekends and over the years we have recommended the Bavarian Inn to a countless number of people. We are generally in the habit of booking a room for our next visit at the time we check-out however, this past weekend, we chose not to book with you for next year and, as a loyal customer, I wanted to explain to you why this was the case. In short, the Bavarian Inn has lost its focus on service.

There are a number of areas in which your organization excels however, from my perspective, you are missing the most important element of being in a service industry and that is providing excellent service. Your building is very unique and provides great ambiance and your pools and arcades are certainly a great drawing point for young families. The specialty shops you have opened over the last few years are an interesting alternative to the outlet malls although I suspect they are not drawing the sales you were hoping for judging by the coupon incentives you are providing. Your Perks Club, while paper based and not fully integrated with your reservation system, is an attractive loyalty plan and, to be honest, is probably one of the main reasons we have continued coming for the last three years despite the decline in your service levels. I really enjoy reading your newsletter and your website is inviting and easy to navigate. I also really like the photo contest which I was fortunate enough to place in and I find it an excellent loyalty program in and of itself. All of these features will continue to attract new customers however what keeps people coming back is the service and that is what your organization is struggling with.

Before I explain to you what led me to write this letter I want you to know that I first considered the fact that our experiences were fluke occurrences so I took a moment to review Trip Adviser and I was shocked to read over 80 negative reviews similar to our

experiences. Suffice it to say that it is not just us who are disappointed. The other thing you should be aware of is that I teach Customer Service at Humber College in Toronto so I have the advantage (or misfortune) of understanding what should be happening at the Bavarian Inn to ensure customer loyalty is maintained. As a relative expert on service the first thing I will tell you is that only about 5% of people who experience a service failure actually take the time to write about it. If 80 people documented their experience on Trip Advisor I shudder to think how many customers are just showing their displeasure by not re-booking.

And now for a review of our weekend stay at the Bavarian Inn (November 10th 13th). Upon check-in there was some confusion as we were initially booked for 2 days and had asked for a third day in the same room however, for some reason, our room had been changed. This was sorted out after some difficulty. During our stay we dined at Omas Restaurant 3 times and the Bavarian Inn Restaurant once. The wait staff was different on all 4 occasions and each time we experienced problems. There were four of us dining and each time at least 2 of the meals brought to our table were incorrect and had to be sent back. This included not cooking the portions as requested (eggs over hard versus sunny side up), forgetting to bring part of the meal or actually bringing something other than what we ordered. On one occasion we were told by the waitress that this is the way the eggs always came despite us requesting them another way. In most cases the wait staff did not project a happy to be serving you attitude and they seemed very rushed and not very attentive. I asked one of the servers to explain their training process and was told they spend time learning about the menus and how to set the tables although, despite my probing, they were unable to tell me what they learned about how to speak to a customer, how to be attentive or, surprisingly, how to serve.

Each year we try to stay in the same room (356 or 256) as we like the extra space. Except for the new small flat screen TV the room has not changed much in the past 10 years. Our towels were well used to the point of being thread-bare and our linens were Wal-Mart quality and did not reflect those of a high-end hotel. The cleaning staff does a fair job however there were areas of the room (corners) that did not appear to get much attention. When we checked out I enquired about the rate we were charged to ensure I was getting the Perks rate for the Thursday night and was surprised to learn I was paying the full rate. The correction was made however the supervisor told us that we should request the Perks rate at the time of booking despite the fact the system indicated we were Perks members. I explained to her that we usually book 1 year in advance and the special Perks rates are not announced until September. She didnt have an answer for that.

We had already decided, prior to checking-out, that we would not re-book when we checked out and, although the woman who checked us out was initially very nice, she didnt ask us if we would like to re-book for next year so we didnt have to tell her no thank you. We did take the opportunity to speak to your Manager (a tall fellow who I believe was named Mike) and told him about our disappointment. He was very nice and mentioned how hard it was to hire committed people however he made no attempt at service recovery other than telling us he was sorry and would take our concerns to the appropriate people. This was an opportunity for him to take advantage of what is referred to as the service recovery paradox (simply put: loyal customers who suffer a service failure and who experience an effort to recover their business often become more loyal in the future) a concept I am not sure he is familiar with.

The items I have noted here are by no means all-inclusive and I could go on however I think they give you a snapshot of what happened to us and perhaps will help explain why your resort may not be experiencing the same levels of volume you once had. You could blame your reduced traffic on the economy however I believe it is your service that is at fault. Your pricing would indicate to travelers that your resort provides an above average experience and your building and amenities support this however the service levels provided by your staff are sub-standard and will, ultimately, result in significant loss of business for you. The ironic thing is that repairing service is usually the least expensive area to address in an operation and is often the most important aspect of the business (especially yours).

In closing I would like to thank you for all the wonderful years we had at the Inn when the service was great. I truly hope you are able to turn this around as I would like to again be confident in referring friends and family to your company. My wife and I plan to continue our annual trek to Frankenmuth but I suspect we will be staying with one of your competitors next year. Good luck with your challenge.

Have a great day. Professor Michel Laval

Questions/Activities:

1. The letter found in the case outlines some of the problems the Bavarian Inn has (You can also refer to Trip Advisor to read about other problems). What do you feel are the main causes for the overall poor service? After doing a bit of research on the internet explain, in detail, what you believe the main root cause or causes are for the Bavarian Inns problems and why you think that? (Note: Poor Service is not the cause it is a result of the cause or causes) and give reference.

Lets pretend that you are the President of the Bavarian Inn. Explain in detail the Procedural Justice you would put in place to address this and other complaints?and give refrence.

Still pretending that you are the President of the Bavarian Inn, what form of Interactional Justice would you put in place to deal with complaints such as the one in the case and, based on your research and the case, what form of interactional justice is currently in place? and give reference

In terms of Outcome Justice what would you, as President of the Bavarian Inn, offer me in an attempt to retain me as a loyal customer after the experience I had at your hotel?and give reference

Using the content in the Service Recovery Session as a guide, provide a detailed outline of what the Bavarian Inn should have done in terms of Service Recovery, starting from when I checked out of the hotel. Include all the actions you feel are necessary for the Bavarian Inn to successfully recover from the service failure, who should perform those actions and when they should be performed. and give refrence.

Once again pretend that you are the President of the Bavarian Inn and write a response letter to my complaint letter including all the things you are planning to do to retain me as a loyal Bavarian Inn customer.and give reference.