Email Writing tips for better Customer Experience – the Ritz Carlton, Santa Barbara

In this article I share email writing tips for better Customer Experience and Service Recovery using a case study from the Ritz Carlton, Santa Barbara.

Let’s read the Ritz Carlton’s website first

From The Ritz Carlton Hotels webpage –

100 years of history. Countless rewards. With an unshakeable credo and corporate philosophy of un-wavering commitment to service, both in our hotels and in our communities, The Ritz-Carlton has been recognized with numerous awards for being the gold standard of hospitality.

And here is their description of the city of Santa Barbara, California on the site –

The city lies between the steeply rising Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean. Santa Barbara’s climate is often described as Mediterranean, and the city is referred to as the “American Riviera”.

So, the expectations for service at the Ritz Carlton Bacara in Santa Barbara, California are understandably high.

My partner and I were visiting my sister in Santa Barbara, California

We were on holiday and spending time with my sister Diana who lives and has her business in Santa Barbara.

One evening she turned to us and said – you are my guests tonight. Let’s go and have a leisurely dinner at The Ritz Carlton Bacara.

To which we all emphatically nodded yes. What a treat.

And that evening we went off to dinner.

The following day – after the dinner experience from the night before – my sister sent a detailed email to the Ritz Carlton to share on the dining experience from the night before.

The purpose of this article is not to complain about service

Before I share my sister’s email with you – and my observations – I wanted to be clear that I’mnot here to complain.

I’m definitely not a fan of articles where Customer Service experts write to vent frustration or unhappiness under the guise of promoting better Customer experience.

My intention in this article is to share email writing tips for better Customer experience and Service recovery efforts.

The email exchange with the Ritz Carlton provided a personal case study – and one that yielded some learnings.

Here is the email my sister (the Customer) sent following our visit to their restaurant

Good Morning,

I am writing because I felt compelled after a bumpy visit to the resort yesterday in Santa Barbara and I thought it would be helpful for your managerial staff to be made aware of so many missed opportunities for our visit to have been special.

My family was in town from Singapore and Germany and I felt a visit to the Bacara would cap off their trip spectacularly.

I made reservations for the Bistro at 5:30 to enjoy a leisurely time outside during a typically slow time for restaurants.

An hour after the reservation was made, Stephanie called from the Bistro and left a message to inquire whether we would want inside or outside, which I appreciated.

I called back a few minutes after her message and couldn’t reach anyone in the Bistro for a few tries (the PBX call bounced back to the operator).

When I reached her, I verified that we would be outside and see her in an hour and a half.

Now the Customer and her Guests arrive at the hotel

We parked in valet and entered the lobby where an absolutely spectacular floral arrangement greeted us. This was going to be great.

Then we reached the Bistro and the hostess stand was empty.

After waiting a few minutes and Stephanie came up and greeted us and led us to our reserved table for four which was only set for three.

We sat and several minutes later the fourth setting arrived.

Approximately 10 minutes later bread arrived but no bread plates, so we waited another 10 minutes to give our order and at that point asked for bread plates.

Our Server was sweet but only came to the table a couple of times in the two hours we were there. When we ordered our food, she didn’t ask about drinks, and on our side, we forgot to order them.

The food came 45 minutes later, and the chicken/risotto dish was amazing (my visitors had this and they loved it).

I was beginning to get frustrated because of the wait times between visits to our table so we asked for the bill and a person we hadn’t seen yet brought it.

We decided that rather than leave straight away, we would have a drink/coffee in the bar and get a change of scenery.

Her email carries on to share the experience in the bar

At the bar the bartender told us that there is no coffee available at their bar but that they would get one from the restaurant.

We settled in front of the fireplace in the lobby and 30 minutes or more passed without any word or visit from the staff, so we left.

I was so disappointed because I felt like there were so many missed opportunities to be treated like welcome guests.

I truly hope this beautiful setting can be matched by top notch service soon.

Thank you for the opportunity to share our experience,

Best,
Diana

Before going to the reply from the Food & Beverage Director I would like to point out that my sister – as is true to her personality – doesn’t rant or rave or become unfriendly in any way.

She owns a service business herself and is known in the local business community. The spirit here is one of helpfulness and I’d add – hopefulness.

Here is the reply from the Food & Beverage Director

From: “Lawrence Teatree” (names are changed)
Date: April 16, 20XX at 1:50:17 PM CDT
To:” <[email protected]>
Subject: Your stay at The Ritz-Carlton Bacara, Santa Barbara

Dear Mrs. XX,

Thank you for choosing to stay at the Ritz-Carlton Bacara, Santa Barbara and providing your honest feedback.

Providing the highest level of hospitality is our number one priority and we sincerely apologize for falling short of meeting your expectations.

We have shared your feedback with the Bistro and Bar team to ensure the necessary guidelines are in place to improve the restaurant experience. I have also passed your comments to our Chef regarding the risotto! Thanks!

I do appreciate you giving us the opportunity to restore your confidence in Food and Beverage by speaking to me directly. Please let me know the best contact number and time to reach you, or you can call me at any time at 805 XXX XXXX.

Once again, thank you for your valued feedback and we hope to serve you again whenever your travels bring you back to Santa Barbara.

Lawrence Teatree
Food and Beverage
The Ritz Carlton, Bacara Santa Barbara

Here are email writing tips for better Customer Experience

The Subject Line

From: Lawrence Teatree
Date: April 16, 2018 at 1:50:17 PM CDT
To:” <[email protected]>
Subject: Your stay at The Ritz-Carlton Bacara, Santa Barbara

With regard to the Subject Line, we were not hotel guests at the Bacara. We were clearly dinner guests.

The Subject Line didn’t fit – and even felt like ‘Lawrence’ had not read the Customer’s email.

It seems (my guess) that he was following standard reply protocols.

But the Subject Line matters. It should be well crafted and feel tailored to the Customer’s email.

The Opening

Dear Mrs. XX,

Thank you for choosing to stay at the Ritz-Carlton Bacara, Santa Barbara and providing your honest feedback.

We did not stay at the Bacara, we were dinner guests. So, the Opening line is irrelevant at best, tone deaf at worst.

The Apology

Providing the highest level of hospitality is our number one priority and we sincerely apologize for falling short of meeting your expectations.

Lawrence is the Director of Food & Beverage.

Based on his title, the restaurant where we had dinner and the bar where we later tried to get coffee would both fall under his purview.

His email would have sounded a lot more personal if he referred to himself – “I” and not “we”.

For example:

I apologize that I and our Team fell short of meeting your expectations and that of your dinner Guests – especially as they were visiting you from overseas…

This approach (or something similar) would have demonstrated that he took ownership of the Customer’s experience.

And by referencing the Customer’s overseas Guests he could have helped the Customer feel that she had really been listened to.

The Corporate Speak

Now let’s get to the Corporate Speak. How does the following phrase help in any way with the service recovery?

Providing the highest level of hospitality is our number one priority…

Is that so? Providing the highest level of hospitality is our number one priority?

The entire reason the Customer (ok my sister) took the time and effort to write a long and detailed email is because that didn’t happen for her.

He might as well have written –

Providing the highest level of hospitality is our number one priority, except obviously what happened in your case…

When you make a mistake – you take ownership and apologize first. You don’t couch your apology in ‘corporate-speak’.

This statement, coming at the opening of what I call the Empathy Statement, reduced the impact and sincerity of the apology.

It sounded robotic and scripted.

And yet – even after having written this all so far – I would imagine that ‘Lawrence’ is actually a very nice person.

I don’t think the Ritz Carlton hires people who aren’t.

The Content

We have shared your feedback with the Bistro and Bar team to ensure the necessary guidelines are in place to improve the restaurant experience.

The Customer was very detailed. She shared no less than 10 observations about the experience across both the restaurant and bar.

She took effort and time to help the Ritz Carlton improve and even references at the end of her email that “I truly hope this beautiful setting can be matched by top notch service soon.”

Lawrence’s reply did not address a single specific point out of the 10 raised – nor did he share any details of “ensuring the necessary guidelines are in place.”

He could have done so much more to restore the confidence of the Customer.

The effort (or lack of it)

While it may not have been necessary for Lawrence to address each one of the 10 points raised by the Customer, there wasn’t much effort in his reply.

He could have specifically shared what he was going to do with (at least some of) the information that had been given by the Customer.

As an example, and with better service recovery in mind, he could have said –

With regard to the number of settings at the table when you were seated (3 vs. 4), we have asked the Team that takes our reservations to indicate clearly to our Servers, the number of diners expected and the preferred seating location.

I’m really glad you brought this to my attention.”

My sister would have beamed if she had read that.

To write an efficient & effective email, you need to address both the Tone of the Customer and the Content of the Customer.

This Customer put in effort. It would have been nice to see a reciprocal amount of effort in the reply.

The Recovery

This invitation to reach out to him is excellent and shows a personal touch.

Just consider that this recovery could have been so much more effective if the overall email had been better.

And, if the email had been better, it might have actually spurred a follow up phone call – which could have been a great way to deepen my sister’s trust in the Ritz Carlton Bacara.

The Closing

Once again, thank you for your valued feedback and we hope to serve you again whenever your travels bring you back to Santa Barbara.

The Customer is a long-term resident of Santa Barbara – making assumptions that all your Guests are tourists or visitors is not very welcome for locals.

Lawrence Teatree
Food and Beverage
The Ritz Carlton, Bacara Santa Barbara