When discussing customer experience in luxury and ultra-luxury, there’s one critical point that underscores everything, and it drives me crazy because so many people get it wrong.:

Service and Experience are NOT the same thing.

It’s worth repeating. 5-Star Service is an absolute expectation for luxury and ultra-luxury, but great service in itself does not constitute a great experience…. it’s just service!

Some Examples of Service:

• Warm Welcomes, Fond Farewells - well executed and thoughtful
• Using my name consistently throughout my engagement
• Having excellent manners and being nice to me in every interaction
• Delivering expected levels of amenities and engagement (example: champagne at check-in)
• Being efficient, effective, and anticipating my needs in every interaction. This means that you give a little more than I asked, every time

These are a few examples of what is included in delivering Service. However, none of these should be confused with delivering an Experience.

Here is an example of how one of these luxury hotels from my last post could have created an experience for me:

I return to my room at the end of the day, and I have a handwritten note from the GM, noting that the team knows I am preparing for a high-altitude climbing expedition next month, and they wish me all the best. They might have included two packets of electrolytes or a pair of wool socks to take along. I would have been incredibly touched by this gesture because I would have known someone took time to learn about me, simply by briefly exploring my social media pages.

I might have sat down at the bar, and the bar tender might have prepared a special “Mountaineers Cocktail” - completely un-prompted by me and engaged me briefly in learning more about my expedition. I would have been touched at the thoughtfulness of that gesture because, again, it was curated and shows care and attention to detail - just for me.

Ideally, beyond these examples, there would have been multiple layers of experience showcasing more about my personal story, my preferences, and the stories of the property, location, and the stories of employee artisans caring for me and other guests. And that’s just a start at a few of the things that I would recommend. None of these are cookie-cutter and none of these are generic.

You get the idea: Experiences and Service are NOT the same thing.

In my last post, ALL the luxury properties missed on BOTH Service and Experience. And highlighting other examples where the service was much better, does not provide a hall pass for the lack of experience there, either.

It is not enough to have nice employees and pretty properties. It is not enough to have a wonderful hard product and great service. In the world of luxury and ultra-luxury, these are table stakes and nothing more.

Differentiating in this highly competitive market can only be done through experience. And step one is understanding exactly what that is - and is NOT.

Antonia J.A. Hock - Follow
President & Founder | Designing Addictive, Scalable Customer Experiences | CX Auditor | Luxury Innovator | Former Head of Ritz-Carlton Leadership Center |President & Founder | Designing Addictive, Scalable Customer Experiences | CX Auditor | Luxury Innovator | Former Head of Ritz-Carlton Leadership Center