I recently wrote a post about the less glamorous side of first impressions. One of the examples I gave involved restrooms. It’s an area that can often get overlooked when thinking through first impressions and your guest experience. However, it can quickly create a negative experience.
It’s interesting to go into a really nice environment and find a horribly maintained restroom. Equally interesting, is to go into a place that’s dirty and not well-maintained, but has an immaculate restroom. I’ve been in nice restaurants that have surprisingly dirty bathrooms and restrooms in run down gas stations that looked like they belonged in a four star hotel. In both cases the quality of my experience was impacted.
Here are a few areas to think through when evaluating the restrooms:
- Smell – hopefully it smells good or at least not bad. Air fresheners are cheap
- Paper Products – TP & Paper Towels – make sure before an event that these items are well stocked
- Trash Cans – these need to be in a place that are accessible, because if they aren’t trash will end up all over the floor. Please place at least one beside the door for the germaphobes
- The Floor – clean it well before and after an event
- It might be a good idea to assign someone to make rounds and do some spot cleaning (wipe up any water on the counter, pick up trash on the floor, etc.) at regular intervals
For additional reading – here’s an article about first impressions, rest rooms, and the college admissions experience from TargetX. Here’s a look at the winners of a contest they held.
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