Feedback Matters

You know the email. You stay at a hotel, eat at a restaurant, buy a product or use a service, and soon afterward it lands in your inbox: “How likely are you to recommend us?” Pick a number and you’ve just become part of a Net Promoter Score.

NPS is everywhere; from hotels, restaurants and retailers to B2C and B2B product and service companies. For more than 20 years, that familiar question has been showing up in customers’ inboxes while the resulting scores have become a fixture on managers’ dashboards.

In this episode of Feedback Matters, Jeff Robbins and Rich Raffel take a fresh look at NPS more than two decades after its introduction. Why did it become so popular? What exactly is it measuring? And what are some of the quirks and potential pitfalls of its rating scale and scoring methodology?

The discussion was sparked by two separate guest surveys Jeff received following the same hotel stay. Both asked about recommendation...but in very different ways. One simply asked, “Would you recommend us?” Yes or no. The other asked the familiar NPS question on a numerical scale. That seemingly small difference raises a much bigger question about what NPS is really measuring.

Jeff and Rich also look at what NPS got right—particularly the simplicity that helped make it so successful—and whether, more than 20 years later, it’s time to rethink how we measure recommendation, loyalty and the customer experience.

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Want us to take a look at your feedback loop? 👉 https://www.guestinsight.com/book-a-f... ➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖

So You Want My Feedback?- Episode 21

After a recent hotel stay, Jeff received a feedback request that seemed to offer a simple choice: leave a public review if you enjoyed your stay, or explain your concerns if you didn't. As it turned out, it wasn't nearly that straightforward.

A few days later, a completely separate guest survey from the hotel brand arrived.

In this episode, Jeff and Rich walk through both feedback experiences live, examining what worked, what didn't, and what they reveal about guest feedback, survey design, and the overall guest experience. Along the way, they discuss review requests, Net Promoter Score (NPS), question wording, and why the final guest touchpoint deserves the same thoughtful design as every other part of the guest experience.

About the Series

So You Want My Feedback? is an ongoing series that follows real guest feedback experiences Jeff and Rich receive during their own travels and everyday lives. They don't identify the hotel, brand, or survey provider because the goal isn't to criticize organizations—it's to identify what hospitality professionals can learn from each experience.

Each episode explores the complete guest feedback journey—from the initial invitation to the survey, review requests, follow-up communications, and everything in between. By walking through each experience live, Jeff and Rich examine how survey design, messaging, and follow-through shape both the guest experience and the quality of the feedback organizations ultimately receive.

While hospitality is the primary focus, the series occasionally examines customer feedback experiences from other industries.

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Want us to take a look at your feedback loop? 👉 https://www.guestinsight.com/book-a-free-discovery-session ➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖

So You Want My Feedback?- Episode 20

Can a simple haircut follow-up survey teach us something about customer feedback? Absolutely.

In this episode of So You Want My Feedback, we step outside the hospitality industry to review the follow-up email and survey from a regional hair salon. While the business isn’t a hotel or restaurant, the customer experience principles are exactly the same.

Jeff and Rich walk through the entire feedback journey—from the email invitation to the private survey and review request—and discuss what works, what could be improved, and why even well-designed feedback programs often miss opportunities because of small details.

Among the topics we discuss:

* The difference between public reviews and private feedback

* Why wording matters in survey invitations

* How businesses unintentionally reduce survey participation

* The importance of signing follow-up emails and making them feel personal * Missed opportunities to promote mobile apps

* A clean, responsive survey interface that gets many things right

* Why the feedback loop often receives less attention than other parts of the customer experience

Whether you work in hospitality, retail, personal services, healthcare, or any customer-facing business, this episode offers practical ideas you can apply to your own feedback process.

If you enjoy these real-world critiques, be sure to subscribe for more episodes of Feedback Matters and So You Want My Feedback, where we review actual customer surveys and feedback requests to help businesses create better customer experiences.

So You Want My Feedback?- Episode 19

What one small detail in a restaurant survey reveals about anonymity and guest feedback.

In this episode of So You Want My Feedback?, we review a restaurant survey sent after a recent dining experience—and quickly uncover a small detail that could have a big impact on the feedback it receives.

From how the survey frames its opening question to how it handles guest identity, we break down what works, what doesn’t, and what it may be doing to limit honest responses.

If you’re collecting guest feedback, this is a reminder that how you ask… matters just as much as what you ask.

When Guest Surveys Go Wrong: A Masterclass in "Worst Practices"

What happens when one of the world’s biggest hotel brands sends a guest survey that is confusing, repetitive, and mathematically impossible?

In this episode of "So You Want My Feedback", Jeff and Rich break down a recent post-stay survey from a major global hotel flagship that misses the mark at nearly every turn.In this episode, we discuss:

The "Zero Percent" Paradox: How a survey can tell you you've completed 0% of the task after you’ve already provided your primary rating.

The Yes/No Rating Trap: Why asking a guest to "rate" a binary event (like whether they were recognized as a loyalty member) is a fundamental design flaw.

The Missing Middle: The dangers of using a four-point scale that forces guests to be either positive or negative, with no room for a neutral middle ground.

Survey Fatigue & Redirection: The frustrating experience of being redirected to a second, unannounced "brand survey" just when you thought you were finished. Jeff also shares his experience using the hotel's digital key—one of the few highlights of the stay—and how the survey failed to capture that nuance effectively.

Key Takeaway: A survey is an extension of the guest experience. If the survey is "mailing it in," the guest feels it.

Chapters:

0:00 - Introduction: A stay at a major global flagship

1:30 - The Email: Missing signatures and "Very Poor" scales

5:10 - The 0% Completion Metric frustration

9:20 - Rating a Yes/No question?

14:00 - The $2 Water Bottle Dilemma

18:30 - The "Secret" Second Survey

22:00 - Why Midpoints Matter in Scale Design

26:00 - Final Verdict: A "Shocking" Lack of Best Practices

About the Podcast: Feedback Matters by GuestInsight explores the world of guest experience, survey design, and actionable feedback. Hosted by Jeff Robbins and Rich Raffel, we draw on 25+ years of experience to help businesses elevate the guest journey.

About the Series: So You Want My Feedback is our ongoing look at how hotels and other hospitality brands handle guest feedback — from post-stay survey critique to full hotel survey review.

Each episode breaks down real examples, highlighting what works, what doesn’t, and what these choices reveal about guest feedback analysis, survey design, and the overall guest experience. And while hospitality is our focus, we occasionally review customer experience surveys from non-hospitality businesses as a point of comparison — because the contrast is often just as illuminating.

84% of hotel guests rely on online reviews when booking. Only 4% regularly post them.

So who is really shaping your hotel’s reputation?

In this episode of Feedback Matters, Jeff and Rich explore the results of GuestInsight’s December 2025 U.S. consumer survey of hotel guests — and uncover a major disconnect between how guests consume feedback and how they contribute it.

We discuss:

•Why 72% say surveys are important — but only 24% frequently complete them

•The persistent “ones and fives” polarity problem

•Why the “missing middle” rarely speaks up

•The friction behind low review participation

•Whether post-stay emails should match your hotel’s brand positioning

•What this means for response rates, reputation accuracy, and revenue

If most travelers rely on online reviews — but those reviews reflect only a tiny fraction of guests — are hotels being judged by a representative sample?

Watch to understand what’s changed, what hasn’t, and what hoteliers should be doing about it.

👉 Subscribe for more hospitality insights

👉 Visit guestinsight.com to learn more

So You Want My Feedback?- Episode 17

In this episode, we take a close look at a post-stay survey from a major international hotel brand. At first glance, it’s solid: clean layout, well-timed delivery, and even a personal touch — the general manager’s own signature. Someone’s taking ownership of the feedback process, and that’s great to see. But as we move through the survey, some interesting choices start to stand out — like the use of a 10-point scale without a midpoint, and a question about “experiencing the destination” that might leave even seasoned travelers scratching their heads. It’s a great example of how thoughtful design and confusing corporate templates can coexist — and why even a polished guest survey can still send mixed signals about what kind of feedback a hotel or brand really wants.  

Music licensed via Epidemic Sound: https://www.epidemicsound.com/ #GuestFeedback #SurveyDesign #HospitalityMarketing #CustomerExperience #HotelSurveys #OnlineReviews #CXStrategy #HospitalityInsights #FeedbackMatters #ReviewManagement

In this episode, we take a look at something new for Feedback Matters — a patient feedback survey from a large medical practice.

At first glance, the request feels solid: it’s respectful, professional, and checks many of the right boxes. The email sets expectations clearly and frames the purpose as learning “what we do well and what we can do better.”

But as we walk through the actual survey, things start to break down. The process is long, redundant, and oddly impersonal — from the clunky date-of-birth validation to a request for the respondent’s name at the end.

The wording throughout feels clinical rather than patient-friendly, and the survey’s 5-point scale (ranging from “very poor” to “very good”) is surprisingly unbalanced. And then there’s the kicker: the “likelihood to recommend” question — a version of the Net Promoter Score — shoehorned into the middle of a medical visit survey, using labels that don’t even fit the question.

It’s an eye-opening example of how even well-intentioned feedback efforts can fall short when execution doesn’t match purpose — and when the survey experience itself starts to undermine the credibility of the data being collected.

Want to know what we think about your feedback loop? Book a free discovery call to find out! 👉 https://www.guestinsight.com/book-a-free-discovery-session 

Music licensed via Epidemic Sound: https://www.epidemicsound.com/

#PatientExperience #FeedbackMatters #SurveyDesign #CustomerExperience #HealthcareFeedback #PatientSatisfaction #CXStrategy #OnlineSurveys #NetPromoterScore #GuestInsight

In this episode, we take a closer look at a guest feedback survey from a popular restaurant inside a major hotel. At first glance, it does a lot right — short, simple, on-brand. But as we talk through the guest flow, the copy choices, and the final ask, we started to notice some important gaps. The intent seems clear: it’s not really about feedback — it’s about driving reviews. The survey is built into a reservation platform, and everything about the structure points toward boosting public ratings, not improving guest experience. But here’s the twist: it’s not even doing that well. Despite all the nudging, the restaurant has barely any reviews on the page they push guests toward. It’s a revealing look at what happens when the purpose of a survey is misaligned — and when execution doesn’t support the outcome you’re aiming for. ➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖ Want to know what we think about your feedback loop? Book a free discovery call to find out! 👉 https://www.guestinsight.com/book-a-free-discovery-session ➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖ Music licensed via Epidemic Sound: https://www.epidemicsound.com/ #GuestFeedback #SurveyDesign #HospitalityMarketing #CustomerExperience #RestaurantReviews #OnlineReviews #CXStrategy #HospitalityInsights #YelpReviews #FeedbackMatters

Why “How Likely Are You to Recommend?” Might Be the Wrong Question In this mini-episode of Feedback Matters, Jeff and Rich tackle one of CX measurement's most sacred cows: the Net Promoter Score question.

👉 “How likely are you to recommend our hotel to a friend or family member?”

It sounds smart. It looks official. It’s everywhere.

But have you ever really thought about what it’s asking?

We dig into why this question often fails to deliver useful insight, especially in hospitality. From scale confusion to vague context, we make the case that it’s time to rethink how we measure guest loyalty.

This is just the beginning — in an upcoming episode, we’ll break down how NPS is actually calculated (and why that might be an even bigger problem).

🎧 Subscribe for more honest, practical insights about surveys, feedback, and the guest experience.

 #NetPromoterScore #GuestFeedback #SurveyDesign #HospitalityInsights #CustomerExperience #FeedbackMatters #CX