The value of feedback - part 2

Read our recent post about our guest feedback process and you'll know that it's a subject close to our hearts. Learning how to use it, how to interpret it, has been a learning curve over the last 18 months. If you take it too literally, then it could either lead you to complacency (you're wonderful, don't change a thing) or conversely drive you mad (you're terrible, get your act together).

The new cooker in situ at Quarry Cottages, Ballachulish

The best example we can give is on the subject of the comfort of our beds, as it's quite possibly the most subjective of all opinions that we receive. Tracking our forms we've discovered that completely opposite opinions can be forthcoming on the same bed within a matter of days. The solution? First and most obvious is to test out a negative comment to make sure something hasn't suddenly gone horribly wrong. And second, is to maintain a register of all our mattresses with replacement dates, so that we can tell exactly how old a mattress is and whether it's due for the next round of our rolling replacement programme.

One area where we have acted directly on feedback received is on the cookers at Quarry Cottages. Knowing quite how well these perform is a bit tricky unless we're told, and recent feedback suggested that they weren't performing well at all. And rather than risk acting on just one of the properties, we've replaced all 3. So, Quarry cottages are now equipped with some rather nice new cookers with double cavity fan assisted ovens and ceramic/halogen hobs.

Next up, 3 new flat screen TVs. These should be in within the week!