Grant Baldwin’s Blog

This week I had the privilege, the opportunity, the chance…well, actually I didn’t really have a choice but I stayed in 5 different hotels this week. And whenever I travel, I have a couple of places I usually try to stay in but the more I travel, the more I realize there is really one hotel that I really like every time I’m there.

Hampton Inn.

I stayed in a Hampton Inn the other night in Atlanta and there are a lot of things that you can learn from a Hampton Inn. If you run a business or an organization, here are some things you can pick up from the Hampton Inn chain:

• Consistency: It doesn’t matter what city I’m in, every Hampton Inn I’ve ever stayed at always provides a consistent and quality experience. The rooms are all the same. The beds are all the same. The breakfast is the same. You get consistency when you choose a Hampton Inn. There are some hotel chains where in one city, the hotel is amazing but in another city at the same hotel chain, you want to sleep with one eye open. In addition to the consistency of the physical property, they are extremely consistent in their branding. The look and feel of every piece of signage and literature is consistent. They do it right.
• The Little Things: I’ve just started noticing it but there are a lot of little things that Hampton Inn does well. A quality continental breakfast that is good and hot is always nice. They continue to offer free wi-fi internet while so many hotel chains have started charging for this.
• Value: Every time I stay in a Hampton Inn, I feel like I get more than I paid for. A company is smart to under promise and over deliver and that is what they do every time. Nobody wants to feel like they got ripped off but everyone wants to feel like they got a steal of a deal.

So as you look at what you do in terms of business, you have to ask yourself:

• Are you consistent in your business? Does everything have the same look and feel?
• Are you doing the little things well?
• Are you providing a value that makes people feel like they get more than they paid for?

If you think people don’t notice each of these things, you’re kidding yourself.