Don't do this to your guests. - So You Want My Feedback Episode 18

When Guest Surveys Go Wrong: A Masterclass in "Worst Practices"

What happens when one of the world’s biggest hotel brands sends a guest survey that is confusing, repetitive, and mathematically impossible?

In this episode of "So You Want My Feedback", Jeff and Rich break down a recent post-stay survey from a major global hotel flagship that misses the mark at nearly every turn.In this episode, we discuss:

The "Zero Percent" Paradox: How a survey can tell you you've completed 0% of the task after you’ve already provided your primary rating.

The Yes/No Rating Trap: Why asking a guest to "rate" a binary event (like whether they were recognized as a loyalty member) is a fundamental design flaw.

The Missing Middle: The dangers of using a four-point scale that forces guests to be either positive or negative, with no room for a neutral middle ground.

Survey Fatigue & Redirection: The frustrating experience of being redirected to a second, unannounced "brand survey" just when you thought you were finished. Jeff also shares his experience using the hotel's digital key—one of the few highlights of the stay—and how the survey failed to capture that nuance effectively.

Key Takeaway: A survey is an extension of the guest experience. If the survey is "mailing it in," the guest feels it.

Chapters:

0:00 - Introduction: A stay at a major global flagship

1:30 - The Email: Missing signatures and "Very Poor" scales

5:10 - The 0% Completion Metric frustration

9:20 - Rating a Yes/No question?

14:00 - The $2 Water Bottle Dilemma

18:30 - The "Secret" Second Survey

22:00 - Why Midpoints Matter in Scale Design

26:00 - Final Verdict: A "Shocking" Lack of Best Practices

About the Podcast: Feedback Matters by GuestInsight explores the world of guest experience, survey design, and actionable feedback. Hosted by Jeff Robbins and Rich Raffel, we draw on 25+ years of experience to help businesses elevate the guest journey.

About the Series: So You Want My Feedback is our ongoing look at how hotels and other hospitality brands handle guest feedback — from post-stay survey critique to full hotel survey review.

Each episode breaks down real examples, highlighting what works, what doesn’t, and what these choices reveal about guest feedback analysis, survey design, and the overall guest experience. And while hospitality is our focus, we occasionally review customer experience surveys from non-hospitality businesses as a point of comparison — because the contrast is often just as illuminating.