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Like, WhatEver!

The W Hotel uses the funky catchphrase "Whatever Whenever," which means that the staff willl go out of their way to provide you with whatever you need whenever to need it to make your stay more enjoyable. This is great, and quite a few of the staff members at the W Atlanta (where I stayed last night) have clearly embraced this strategy. The concierge, bell manager, and front desk staff all gave a warm welcome when I entered, as did the hostess at the hotel's restaurant, Savu. But that's where the consistent experience ended. A bellman failed to hold an elevator door for me when I was clearly in a rush to get there before it closed. I guess he was in a bigger rush. Later, when I and my six guests showed up at Savu for dinner, our table was yet to be set up. "So?" you ask. I had called twice to ensure everything would be ready when we arrived. Our waiter, though fully courteous, was not nearly as upbeat as the rest of the staff. This stood out so much simply because it was so different. Finally, I returned to my room to find I'd received one of "those" messages: thanks for staying here, hope everything is to your satisfaction. Great! Except that the person who left the message obviously had had quite enough of repeating it to everyone who had checked in. My point is this: Don't promise Whatever Whenever if you can't deliver it. It's hugely challenging to deliver a consistent customer experience across touchpoints (in this case, staff who work steps away from each other). And although I give W kudos for trying, if you're going to step out and make a big promise like that, you had better plan to have whatever it takes to deliver on it, whenever customers expect it -- not just when it suits the individual employee.