How can #ClubMahindra(hereinafter mentioned as CM) be making profits when being in a hospitality industry, where Customer Happiness and High Customer Responsiveness is abysmally low. These are sine qua non for long term sustainability and profitability.
My experience of last few holidays at two different properties and that of my friend who visited another property(3 out of 4 experiences) are enough indications that things are not going as planned for this @anandmahindra business. The #Customer #feedback provided to CM for their #Ganpatipule Property(Associate Resort) is given below after the initial points and questions mentioned immediately below -
Some additional points and questions that need responses: Its a timeshare business where the accounting policies followed are different from the normal business for accounting(apportioning of income), depreciation method followed, defraying and amortizing of expenses for sales and promotion. In short comparison of likes are difficult. CM has become a hardcore sales organization with a strong’push’ element. They are constantly trying to catch hold of new prospects at shopping malls, multiplexes, hypermarkets, parking lots, etc. - target audience being owners of B and C-class vehicles and above. Existing customers are being pushed with membership upgrades from type of holidays - Red to Purple, White to Blue, etc. and from Studio to 1Bed-room, 1 Bed-room to 2 Bed-rooms, etc. Also new products for Europe and week-end destinations closer to cities are being pushed. Question is - how does the business perform when the sales expense is frozen and also the available inventory in the form of room-nights are frozen. A drag-effect on the numbers would clearly open the Can of Worms on the accounting jugglery that might be taking place. I am sure this is the case as even after more than 15 years, the CM management is resorting to’Push-Sales’ rather than’Customer-Pull’. Customer pull would have been automatic if the customer service and responsiveness was the CULTURE for the organization. Facebook page of CM censures bad comments and allows only positive comments on its timeline.
Now coming to the feedback about CM Ganpatipule property:
1) Whether would recommend CM to friend – 0(not likely) to 10(most likely)
Response – 0
many reasons -
a) Bad experiences in the F&B section
b) Properties are not well maintained
c) Can’t avail facility at short notices for the locations that I need to go
d) Non-transparent booking system
e) Not a value-for-money with other cheaper and economical options now available
2) Ease and speed of checkin
Response – not at all satisfied
Limited staff with coordination lacking; welcome drink ordered by the front desk staff was not served; check out time wrongly entered in the Hotel Property Management System as Aug 29th whereas actually it was Aug 30th. I started receiving calls from the morning of Aug 29th from the reception and also from the house-keeping departments.
3) Resort hospitality, courtesy and responsiveness
Response – somewhat satisfied
Some staff very responsive(like Vaibhav in activity centre – individual excellence). But most won’t even know basic meaning of hospitality(like the managerial and supervisory staff of F&B).
4) Resort quality and upkeep
Response – not at all satisfied
Firstly, we were checked in room no. 212. The split AC was leaking water inside the room and created a puddle and wet floor soon. On complaining we were provided with another room 217. Shouldn’t this room be locked and not offered as inventory till the problem is resolved.
All rooms and generally the entire property had water leakages and seepage problem, giving an impression of an old rundown 3-star facility. So much so for the CM claim of offering a 5-star like experience.
5) Furnishing, linen, toiletries and kitchenware
Response – somewhat satisfied
Furnishing and linen – satisfactory
Cutlery – old, not cleaned properly, looked as if most of them were past use-by date
Towels – clean but old; replacements overdue
6) STEAMPOTRESTAURANTs and room service – variety, presentation and taste
Response – not at all satisfied
Hair was found in the ‘upma’ served at breakfast. I insisted on meeting the F&B head - Mr.Sharma who met me in the evening after a reminder. Some cost of the F&B breakfast was waived-off towards intoning the lack of hygiene and poor service. Overall food quality was not good.
7) STEAMPOTRESTAURANTs and room service – courtesy of staff
Response – not at all satisfied
Serving staff - good
Supervisory staff - casual and lackadaisical
8) Overall holiday experience Response – somewhat satisfied
Thanks to beautiful location Ganpatipule & the lovely drive during monsoons from Mumbai and back, the holiday was somewhat satisfactory, although Club Mahindra did everything on its part to spoil it. I would be going again in Jan 2017 to see whether feedback has been acted upon.
Couldn’t provide the above feedback on the online link so posting it here.