The AHA Group

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.

Please allow us to reintroduce ourselves! Over the past two years, our substantial growth has led us to make some big changes. On February 11, Antonia J.A. Hock and Associates relaunched and restructured our company under a new brand: The AHA Group. Our new brand is delivering consulting projects, workshops, and keynotes on every continent, and our new corporate structure positions us for our continued rapid growth. We have a strong footprint in the luxury and ultra-luxury segments, and in 2025, our firm is behind the experience design for some of the biggest luxury launches in the world. Our restructuring includes a new business unit dedicated to our CX consulting, a comprehensive CX Audit practice, and expanded CX workshop services including full day offerings on new topics like luxury experience and ultra-high-net-worth clientele. We also have a new website: www.ahaexperience.com where you can read about our Experience Playbooks, see our Audit results,?and check out a few of our new case studies highlighting some of our consulting projects in Automotive, Banking, and Luxury Retail. We look forward to seeing you there!

Through our CX Audit practice, we’ve learned a lot about the current state of customer experience across industries and geographies. What are some of these major themes? 1.?????Leadership teams that welcome an audit are some of the most courageous and visionary teams - and that’s actually very rare - in any industry. For every client that is a “Yes, we welcome a deep dive”, there are many companies that aren’t ready to hear the results of an audit. We all know that growth can be uncomfortable, but great results start with teams that embrace knowledge. 2.?????Most companies have a significant “Reality Gap” between what they believe they deliver to their customers, and what they actually deliver to their customers. Before you can deliver anything extraordinary, you must close down that gap. Ironically, most executives we speak with don’t think that they even have a gap – right up until their revenue, results, or retention takes a nosedive. Reversing a negative result is a lot harder than course-correcting before the impact hits the bottom line. 3.?????Most companies are still measuring the wrong things in CX. Our view is that experiences must be designed to drive ROI. That’s why our CX Audit has a 22-metric framework, and we score experience impact on the presence of eleven core criteria. If CX isn’t driving revenue, retention, referrals, higher $$ per basket, or creating a competitive moat around your offering, it isn’t worth the investment. No one has resources to waste on just having “happy customers”. That’s just a sentiment. Not a behavior. Hard metrics tell the story of truly happy customers. You can read more about our audit process and results on our new website: www.ahaexperience.com, and if you missed the announcement yesterday in my LinkedIn post, I will link to the press release about our relaunch and restructuring into The AHA Group below in the comments. We are just getting started with the exciting announcements over the next few weeks! We’ve been working on some client projects with brands that you know and love - several of the most recognizable in luxury around the world. The experiences we’ve designed have lessons and take-aways for businesses in any industry!

Of late, I’ve been massively disappointed with the experiences I have in “luxury” hospitality. Rant in-coming. (read to the end for the counterpoint) I just stayed the Number 2 ultra-luxury hotel in one of the top 4 largest cities in the US, and, while this is my most recent stay, I’ve stayed in comparable properties in the other 3 largest US cities in the last 4 weeks. Every single one has been an epic disappointment. Wow. And not the good kind. Were all of these properties very beautiful? Yes. Gorgeous, sumptuous, modern, and breathtaking. Was my room spacious, cleaned to perfection, and impeccably decorated? Yes. At this price point, the hard goods were exceptional and on par for the ultra-luxury category. The service was efficient, effective, and the employees were well groomed, polite, and personal. But here is the problem for me—with this property and the others--- ZERO EXPERIENCES and ZERO STEPS OF SERVICE. In three days, I only had my name used twice. Warm welcomes and fond farewells? None. Any personalized touches in my room or during my restaurant visits (also highly rated and expensive). Zero. Any acknowledgement from leaders on the property? None. I didn’t even see any during my three day stay. And in terms of making my visit, special, memorable, or making me feel more than a transaction? Nothing. If I had been on this property (or any of the others) conducting a CX Audit, this would have been an EPIC FAIL. Bottom quadrant. In terms of delivering Modern Luxury Experiences—this was so far off, I couldn’t believe it. The above is exactly the experience I had at all four ultra-luxury properties, across the “top” luxury brands, in the biggest cities in the US. The emperor has no clothes. In my view this is absolutely, totally unacceptable. Brands that market themselves as luxury or ultra-luxury simply must do better. Not just with their loyal customers, but with every guest, every time. If you claim to be at the top of your game-- luxury hospitality brands-- you better start delivering. Because from my seat, you are way way behind, even though I keep hearing your (clearly empty) brand promises. Now for the counter-point (thanks for reading this far): I recently also stayed at a Marriott Courtyard, in a medium size US city. Was it as pretty? No. Was the room as nice? No. Were the employees perfectly turned out? No. Was the service just as efficient and effective? YES. AND… I had a personal note from the GM and warm welcomes and thoughtful goodbyes as I came in and out. They literally ran circles around 4 of the biggest and "highest-rated" Ultra-Luxury properties in the US. Luxury Hospitality, it’s time to wake up. Stop with empty promises and fancy rooms. Make my experience match your price point. Every guest, every time. #luxuryhospitality #CXfail

The way I climb is also the way I work. The mindset is exactly the same. The approach is exactly the same. Just like going from 2 hours to 39 minutes on the trail, today I get to share comparable big news on our firm. For the past 24 months, we’ve been relentlessly dedicated, worked the plan, pivoted when required, and continued to focus on the passionate pursuit of results for our clients. Just like in climbing, we’ve faced weather, sharp rock, and steep inclines. Long days and early starts. We’ve been to Little Rock and London, Saudi Arabia and Portland, New York and Milwaukee, and hundreds of other cities around the world focused on designing and delivering addictive, unmatched, scalable customer experiences for forward-thinking companies. With that has come growth. Today, that growth has led us up a new mountain. We are relaunching and restructuring our company under a new brand: The AHA Group. Our restructuring includes a new business unit dedicated to our CX consulting, a comprehensive CX Audit practice, and expanded CX workshop services including full day offerings on new topics like luxury experience and ultra-high-net-worth clientele. We have a new website: www.ahaexperience.com where you can read about our Experience Playbooks, see our Audit results,?and check out a few of our new case studies highlighting some of our consulting projects in Automotive, Banking, and Luxury Retail. All of this is underpinned by the exceptional, passionate team we have, and our equally passionate, exceptional clients. Thank you to all of our clients (many here on LinkedIn) who trusted us with your two most precious assets: your customers and your employees. We are already strapping on our climbing gear and readying ourselves for the year ahead - building more experiences and helping more companies deliver exceptional moments. Stay tuned for more news from the trail!