I recently attended an innovation conference in Boston – a city that I love to visit, especially when it gives me the opportunity to escape the heat of Texas in the summer and trade 95+ temperatures for 60-degree weather.

I stayed for two nights at a brand new concept hotel that has started to pop-up in major cities around the world. The hotel promotes itself as being “designed for guests” and I promise, it did not disappoint. The self check-in worked without any problems, the lobby / lounge was inviting and provided ample room for groups to gather, and the rooms were genius. They are tiny by comparison to other hotels; however, the attention to detail and “smart” rooms is impeccable. Well, almost….

I was ecstatic to see a towel warmer in the bathroom. A great touch to an already fantastic room and who doesn’t love a nice warm towel when you step out of the shower? The hotel even highlighted the availability of a towel warmer in their cute room instructions booklet so those unfamiliar with this European-staple didn’t miss out.

The sad reality was that I never enjoyed my warm towel. The towel warmer was installed over the toilet in a separate “room” next to the shower. The best I could do was stand in the shower and gaze wanting-ly through the glass wall at my warm towel hanging on the warming rack.

Good ideas only go so far when delivering on positive customer experience. The key is in the execution and the details! Process mapping is a great tool that we have seen work successfully to make sure the details don’t get over-looked when building new experiences, products, and services.

Sweat the small stuff… it matters!

Karie Starrett
karie@clearworks.net

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