No matter how sophisticated your marketing techniques are or how much exposure you achieve this all stands for nothing if you do not deliver on customer service. It is vital that marketing and customer care go hand in hand and only then will a company realise its full potential.

A good example of how this has worked successfully is the Tontine Hotel in Peebles. This historic hotel in the Scottish Borders has been under current ownership of husband and wife team Kate and Gordon Innes since February 2001.

For the past two years The Tontine has been working with Bright Light Marketing and have been marketing the hotel as “Everything an Active Break should be” in order to benefit from the Tweed Valley’s increased popularity as an area to visit for activities such as cycling, golfing, fishing and mountain biking.  In order to make this brand a reality and not just a statement the Tontine also has a Customer Care Strategy which compliments the Marketing Strategy and ensures that new customers become loyal repeat customers. 

Alongside the new Marketing Strategy the hotel has been working on customer care and went through Hospitality Assured assessment to ensure that the service mirrored the marketing messages. One of the key reasons for success is that the whole team is working towards the same goals.

Since the strategy was implemented the economy has being going through recession and it would have been easy to cut back on both marketing and training expenditure. The Tontine has done the opposite and firmly believes that in tough times it is even more crucial that businesses invest in their team and marketing. This has shown dividends with very impressive 2009 results which certainly buck the trend.

The Tontine owners have learnt that customer feedback is essential for the ongoing improvement programme of the Hotel and attribute much of their financial success to the fact they focus on customers first and foremost. Every improvement they have made has received positive customer feedback.
www.tontinehotel.com