Managers Do, Indeed, Read Guest Comments : Hotels: Only 5% of travelers fill them out, yet evaluation-form criticisms have prompted big changes.

One hotel chain created nonsmoking rooms. Another chain dropped telephone surcharges on some calls made from its rooms. And a third chain created a separate check-in area.

All three changes stemmed, at least in part, from suggestions received on those guest comment forms turned in by travelers who stayed at hotels in those chains. Thus, it would seem that those forms can be an effective way for hotel guests to express their likes and dislikes. And yet the overall hotel industry average for guests who fill out comment forms is less than 5%, according to Kendra Silverman, a Hilton spokeswoman.

Generally, the forms provided by hotels are self-mailers, designed that way so management at the corporate headquarters sees the guest comments before the general manager of the hotel where the guest stayed.

“We don’t want the bad ones lost for any reason,” said John Norlander, president of Minneapolis-based Radisson Hotels, which uses self-mailing guest comment forms.

Some forms allow space for guests to write in comments and not just answer a variety of multiple-choice questions. The space for such comments, however, can be on the meager side.

“Guests often write in between and over printed questions,” said William Hughes, vice president of administration for Stouffer Hotels in Cleveland. “They always find more room if they have something to say.”

Most forms allow guests to sign their names if they wish, but only some hotels will bother with an individual reply.

Here’s how the guest comment procedure works with four major hotel chains:

* Hilton’s system involves self-mailing guest-comment forms covering a variety of hotel-provided services that are sent to the company’s Service Center in Dallas, where they are put through a computer and given an overall score. The comment forms, plus the score, are then returned to the individual property the next business day.

The scores, meanwhile, are also reviewed by Hilton’s vice president of quality assurance.

If there was a negative comment submitted, the individual hotel is required to respond to the guest via telephone or mail within 24 hours. Depending on the issue raised, Hilton management might even follow up with a signed form to see if the guest was satisfied with the response forthcoming from the general manager of the hotel.

Based upon a number of comments from guests regarding quicker check-in procedures, Hilton launched a “Zip-In Check-In” system last month whereby guests can supply their credit-card number in advance and go to a special desk. The system was put in effect for members of Hilton’s frequent guest program, “but we expect to offer it to all guests by the end of the year,” Silverman said.

* Westin Hotels provides guests, on a random basis, with a nine-page guest-satisfaction survey form that asks for responses to multiple-choice questions, though a small space is allotted for extra comments.

The surveys are scored at Westin’s headquarters by computer and evaluated on a bimonthly basis. Individual hotels are then advised of their results.

All individual Westin hotels also use a simpler guest-comment form that is available to all guests. Space is available for personal comments, with signatures optional. These forms are reviewed by the hotel’s general manager, who may respond to the signed forms if the comment warrants it.

* According to Norlander, the company president, Radisson Hotels receives about 20,000 mailed-in comment forms every month, which translates to about 3% of occupancy. About 80% of the guests who send in the forms sign their names. After review, the forms are returned to the individual hotel, and the general manager of that hotel is asked to personally respond by mail or phone to those guests who had critical comments.

“About 88% of the comments are positive,” Norlander said. “But these forms do enable us to know where we may need to improve things and where we’re doing well. It gives us advance warning on trends and shifts. It also helps us to reward those hotels and employees when the forms indicate special merit.”

Norlander added that management from the main office might respond directly to guests who sign their names if the criticism seems serious enough--that is, if it involves shabby treatment or a security breakdown, as opposed to something such as misplaced baggage. Otherwise, he said, it’s left up to the individual hotel to reply, and there is no follow-up by management.

Over the years, the guest-comment forms have had a direct effect on changes in Radisson policies and practices, according to Norlander.

“Starting about 10 years ago, we saw a trend in guest comments about the need for nonsmoking rooms, so we began allocating a few rooms for this purpose,” Norlander said. “As the comments kept showing a desire for more nonsmoking rooms, we allocated 5% of rooms to be nonsmoking. When guests kept showing a desire for nonsmoking rooms, we increased this percentage to 25%.”

Another example: Several years ago, Radisson began receiving comments indicating that even though guests could tell that maids had cleaned their rooms and made their beds, they still believed that their rooms hadn’t been sufficiently cleaned during their stay. “We checked further with these guests and discovered that this response came from our policy of not allowing maids to touch personal items of a guests, such as a razor, toothpaste and such things,” Norlander said. “We changed the policy about five years ago, in a program called ETC, or Extra Thoughtful Care, which now permits maids to move things around in an orderly fashion. For example, in the past, a guest might leave different sections of the newspaper lying around and the maid wouldn’t touch the paper. Now the maid might stack the newspaper neatly.”

* In 1991, Stouffer received about 120,000 guest-comment forms, which translates to less than 2% of its guests that year. However, virtually all of the guests signed their names.

Stouffer also uses self-mailers to ensure that any negative guest comments do not get intercepted by the individual hotel before reaching corporate management in Cleveland. The chain uses a variety of different form letters in responding to the coded guest-comment forms. Guests citing a problem are advised that they can expect to hear from the general manager of the hotel they stayed in by mail or phone within two weeks. After another three weeks, a second form letter will go out to the guest asking if they were satisfied with the response they got from the hotel.

As a partial result of guest comments, four years ago Stouffer eliminated in-room surcharges on credit-card phone calls, collect calls and calls to 800 numbers. Guest comments have also led to waiving charges for receiving faxes.

“The guest-comment forms are one of our tools to get a firsthand look from the guest perspective at specific good and bad points at our properties,” Hughes said. “It’s worthwhile for the guest to take time to fill out the form. Their comments really do make a difference and can lead to changes.”