|
1 July 2004
What
were you expecting?
Travel is
wonderful...
or so you
should believe
By Terry Riley
Have you ever had a business trip where everything—and I mean
everything—went perfectly? Me neither. Yet while paging through a
periodical that targets business travelers, I noticed that the people in
the ads appear to be on trips that couldn’t be more pleasant.
What gives? I fly with the same airlines as the pictured passenger who is
sitting next to an elegant seatmate while being attended to by attractive
and cheery flight attendants. I rent from the same rental car agency as
the driver who is standing in the sun in his perfectly pressed suit next
to his flawlessly detailed, shiny new vehicle. I stay in the same hotels
as the guest who is shown to be checking with the help of a smiling and
eager desk clerk.
Well
none of this happens to me. My experiences are typically different—much
different—than those depicted.
Where
are the crying kids I often find myself sitting next to on airplanes? Where
is the beater that I sometimes get stuck with at the rental car agency?
Where is the apathetic clerk that I must deal with when checking into a
hotel? Where are the delays? Where is the rain? Where are the lines? Where
is the aggravation?!
Having more than a few miles under my belt, the ads for travel services
don’t make me long to pack up and get on the road. If anything, they make
me feel that when I do travel, I’m being gypped. No elegant seatmate, no
shiny new car, no eager desk clerk.
I realize that marketing is all about showing products and services in the
best light, but by monkeying around with my expectations, aren’t these
travel providers setting me up to be disappointed? According to Dr.
Anthony Pratkanis, they are, and it’s not just me that is poised to be
disappointed.
Dr. Pratkanis, a psychology professor at the University of California at
Santa Cruz and an expert in the field of persuasion, says, "Marketing
travel services (any services for that matter) is a double-edged sword. In
order to sell the service, you have to raise expectations. But if—and
when—that service turns out not to meet those expectations, it is
perceived as poorer than if the person hadn't had his expectations raised
in the first place."
Moreover, the greater the difference between one’s raised expectations of
service and his perception of poor delivery of it, the greater the
negative feeling associated with the provider of that service. For
instance, departing 10 minutes late is one thing; having your flight
cancelled is another thing altogether. Being switched from a Ford to a
Chevy is one thing; moving from a full-size sedan to a sub-compact is also
another thing altogether. Being assigned a hotel room in the East wing
instead of the West wing is one thing; shuffled from a suite to a standard
room… well, you get the idea.
Interestingly it is also differences between expectations and performance
that provide companies opportunities to make an even better impression on
their customers than had they not failed to live up to those expectations
in the first place. Or as Dr. Pratkanis puts it, "If a service provider
acts to correct a problem that occurs as a function of a significant
difference between what a traveler expected and what was provided, then
the traveler's sentiment about the company will become more positive. That
is, if a traveler's situation is improved in the face of rapidly falling
expectations, he or she will feel pretty good about the provider." (Of
course, the same works in reverse too. When you have the rug pulled out
from under you as your expectations are rising, your opinion of the
provider will sink dramatically.)
So what does this treatise on expectation and delivery of expected
services mean to you. Well, if you want to return from a trip feeling good
about the experience, go ahead and hope for the best... but expect the
worst.
Based on a column originally published in
Executive Travel magazine,
Spring 2004.
© 2004 Applied Psychology
Related Err Travel columns:
You can call me Al - Hotels compromise
your identity
... and from Travel Fox:
Tour company opens
in Baghdad - North Korea may be next
|
|
