One Card, Not Big Data: A Hotel's Guide to Guest Loyalty and Profits

The Net Promoter Score (NPS) is one of the most widely used—and fiercely debated—metrics in business today. There has been a lot of discussion about its effectiveness, and for good reason. Critics argue it can be an oversimplified number that companies chase for bragging rights, often without building the systems to act on the feedback.

The ongoing discussion about NPS is valid because listening is not the same as caring. But what if the problem isn't the NPS question itself, but the philosophy behind its implementation? What if we could use it not just to listen, but to build a culture of caring that drives real, daily improvement?

Amidst the debate, I wanted to share a case where we successfully implemented a simple NPS system in a hotel setting. Here is my story of how our 175-room hotel in Stockholm cut through the noise and used one question to transform our guest experience, unite our team, and ultimately drive our bottom line.

The Challenge: Making Guest Satisfaction Everyone's Job

Like many hotels, we wanted to go beyond simply satisfying guests; we wanted to create genuine advocates. The challenge was translating this ambition into daily action for every employee, from the front desk to housekeeping to maintenance.

We needed a system that was immediate, simple, and empowering. We found it in NPS, but we implemented it in a way that perfectly embodied the system's original intent.

Our Simple, Powerful NPS System: "Big NPS" in Action

Recent research makes a critical distinction between "little nps" (just chasing the score) and "Big NPS" (using the score to fuel a customer-centric culture). Without even knowing it, we built a "Big NPS" system from the ground up. Here's how it worked:

1. The Personal Ask: At check-out, as the agent printed the folio, they would say, "While I print your folio, could you please answer this one quick question about your stay?"
2. The Card: They handed the guest a small card with the ultimate question: "How likely are you to recommend our hotel to a friend or colleague?" with boxes from 0 to 10. A note invited comments on the back.
3. Anonymity is Key: The guest dropped the card into a sealed box. This anonymity was crucial for honest, unfiltered feedback.

Many on the team pushed to automate this process with post-stay emails. We consciously resisted this. We believed—correctly, it turned out—that the personal, face-to-face ask was the key factor in getting feedback. We feared that an automated system would see our response rate plummet. 

The results validated this choice. We achieved a consistent response rate of over 70%. Research shows many email NPS campaigns struggle to get even 20-30% response rates, meaning our data was not just plentiful, it was highly representative and trustworthy.

From a Score to a Culture

Every day, our front desk manager spends less than 15 minutes calculating the score by categorizing guests—Promoters (9-10), Passives (7-8), and Detractors (0-6)—and using the formula: 

NPS=%Promoters−%Detractors

Our score hovered between 45 and 50, which is excellent. But the real magic wasn't the number; it was the conversation that followed. The front desk manager announced the score to all staff in the afternoon shift briefing with the question:

"This is how our guests rated us today. What can we do, as a team, to improve their experience and earn a higher score tomorrow?" 

The front desk team immediately sent comments about a slow elevator to maintenance. They celebrated notes about a fantastic breakfast item with the kitchen team. This daily ritual powered our success. We didn't just track a metric; we lived the "Big NPS" philosophy of continuous, team-wide improvement.

Continue to read about Why NPS is a Strategic Powerhouse for Hotels here: https://www.demandcalendar.com/blog/one-card-not-big-data-a-hotels-guide-to-guest-loyalty-and-profits