The organiser mentioned the cold coffee, to someone
After a two-day training event, the organiser tells the duty manager on the way out that it went well, apart from lukewarm coffee at the afternoon break and a room that got too warm after lunch. The duty manager says they will pass it on. On Monday, the message gets lost in handover. Three months later, the same organiser rebooks, and the same things happen.
Your venue does send a survey, sometimes. It asks about overall satisfaction on a scale of one to ten. The answers go to a survey tool account that the marketing manager set up and nobody else logs into.
Feedback is collected without anyone owning it
Collecting feedback is easy. Acting on it needs the right questions, the right timing and a route from a comment to the person who can fix it. Most venue feedback misses on all three.
- Surveys ask about the whole event rather than the parts: room, catering, AV, staff, bedrooms.
- They go out too late, when the organiser has moved on.
- Comments reach a general inbox rather than the department concerned.
- Nobody checks whether an issue was fixed before the client's next event.
- Delegate feedback, where collected, stays with the organiser.
Repeating the same small failures
Organisers who give feedback and see nothing change stop giving it, and eventually stop booking. Department heads never hear about recurring issues in their area. Management cannot see whether service is improving or slipping, and the one number on a satisfaction scale tells you nothing about what to do.
How we build post-event feedback that leads somewhere
- The day after an event, the organiser receives a short form tailored to what was booked: questions about the rooms, catering, AV and bedrooms only if those were part of it.
- Organisers can also offer delegates a quick link, and answers are grouped by area.
- Low scores or comments mentioning a problem are routed to the relevant department head, with the event details, so it is not lost in a general inbox.
- Each issue has an owner and a status. When the client next books, open or resolved issues show on their booking so the coordinator can check it has been fixed.
- Positive comments can be passed to the staff named, and, with the organiser's permission, used as a testimonial.
- A monthly view shows scores and themes by area, event type and month, so recurring issues stand out.
| Feedback | Goes to | Next step |
|---|---|---|
| Coffee cold at afternoon break | Conference and banqueting manager | Owner assigned, checked before next booking |
| Room too warm after lunch | Operations or maintenance | Owner assigned |
| Great AV support | AV team and staff member | Shared with the team |
| Invoice confusing | Finance | Reviewed with the client |
How the team uses it
Department heads see the comments that concern them, within days of the event. The coordinator for a repeat client sees what went wrong last time before the next event. Management sees trends rather than a single score. Organisers notice that feedback leads to change, which makes them more likely to give it.
Signs your feedback process is not working
- You rarely receive written feedback from organisers.
- Comments given on the day are lost in handover.
- Your survey asks one satisfaction question and little else.
- Nobody checks issues are fixed before the client returns.
- Department heads do not see feedback about their area.