12 February 2003: Accor's Ibis hotel group is putting its money where its mouth is. If a problem can't be solved in 15 minutes, the guest's room is free. 

Ibis is the first hotel group in Australia and New Zealand to introduce such a pioneering customer satisfaction guarantee.  

The 15 Minute Guarantee will be implemented across the network of 12 Ibis hotels in Australia and New Zealand. The Guarantee, combined with the hotel brand's revolutionary People's Price strategy, makes Ibis an unbeatable option for smart travellers wanting value for money without sacrificing on service.

"At all Ibis hotels our philosophy of value, efficiency and transparency is epitomised in a service excellence program which incorporates ongoing staff training and programmes to ensure continuing improvements across all departments," said Roger Batty, Accor's General Manager Economy Hotels.

The Ibis 15 Minute Guarantee is our promise to guests that if they are not completely satisfied with any aspect of their room and we can't fix it within 15 minutes, they will not be charged.

"With the launch of the Ibis 15 Minute Guarantee we are showing our customers that while our facilities have been adapted to ensure our guests get the best price possible, our service is absolutely first class." 

Batty admits that at first some of the hotel general managers were sceptical about introducing such a programme, but trials have shown that 98.4% of comments were actioned within 15 minutes or less.

"Introducing this programme was a great way to motivate our staff and highlight that their contribution is vital to guest satisfaction," Batty said. "Too many hotels think that facilities are everything. Most people will tell you it is the human element that is principal in guests enjoying their stay and we aim to have our staff offer the highest level of efficient and friendly service."

Based on a month-long trial during which the test hotels sold 3474 rooms, only 11 issues could not be fixed within the specified time - which equates to less than 0.0003%. The most popular guest requests were for extra towels, help with using the remote controls for the television and for changes to the air conditioning temperature.

Fewer than one in nine guests made any sort of request, and of those the vast majority were minor and easily actioned.

"Some of our general managers expected a flurry of complaints about the smallest things but what we found is that most people are honest and only expect a free night's accommodation if there is something really wrong," Batty said. "Before undertaking this initiative we introduced a comprehensive maintenance programme to identify any possible areas of improvement and conducted extensive staff training across all of our hotels.  I am confident the Ibis network is now ready to face the challenge."

Ibis is the leading 3-star hotel brand in Australia and New Zealand and is renowned throughout the world for the hotels' quality, simplicity and value for money. Hotels are conveniently located in central business districts and major regional and suburban areas. There are 10 Ibis hotels in Australia and 2 in New Zealand, with a network of more than 600 worldwide.

Accor is the worldwide leader in hotels, tourism and corporate services, employing 150,000 people in 140 countries.