When we took over Rancho Las Palmas over 4 years ago, we were ranked near the bottom of all of our competitors on TripAdvisor, the leading online review site. While we invested $40 million into the resort structurally, improving the rooms, adding pools, restaurants and more, where we’ve really invested is in our own employees, dedicating ourselves to providing the friendliest, most efficient service possible.
We’ve tried to give our associates the tools to be successful, as one of the few resorts with a full time training staff. We rolled out a company wide program we call “The 4 Keys” and set about teaching our associates to practice Warmth, Personalization, Awareness and Proactivity, our “4 Keys” to creating customers for life.
In today’s connected world, there are so many ways to give immediate, public feedback. Facebook, Twitter, Yelp and literally hundreds of travel sites, with almost all featuring some sort of customer review. But TripAdvisor continues to occupy the top spot as the most trusted source for travel information, with over 45 million travel reviews and opinions, written on over 474,000 hotels, 135,000 attractions, 675,000 restaurants and much more.
As a resort operator, while at times the level of feedback can be overwhelming, our management team reads and reviews each and every comment, no matter how it comes in. Guest feedback is how we improve and become better, and it is invaluable to us.
We know there are ups and downs, and the hospitality business relies on human interaction, where sometimes people have bad days. We aren’t perfect, but I am extremely excited to share the news that we have just achieved the #1 ranking on TripAdvisor amongst our competitors.
On behalf of our 500 associates, I’d like to say ‘Thank You’ to all the guests that have helped us reach #1. It has been an exciting journey!
Best Regards,
April Shute Vice President & General Manager Rancho Las Palmas Resort & Spa
