There are no keys to be coded or handed out or worried about at Bode Nashville. No ID was required, and we didn’t need to present a credit card to check in. We just unlocked the gate and entered our room with the key code Steve Bintz had received via text once our room was clean. We slipped in, unencumbered, and began to enjoy our stay. And when we were ready to leave, we just left.
It didn’t hit me until sometime in the middle of our stay that Bode had used common and readily available pieces of technology to remove all of the trivial, but sometimes time-consuming annoyances of the hotel experience. That left us with room to interact with the Bode staff on entirely new terms in a less formal, more human way. It was startling in its simplicity.
I am so conditioned to communicating via text that it seemed completely natural that they decided to use it so ubiquitously. For example, soon after we walked in the gate to Bode Nashville, Steve was greeted with the following text, “We’re glad you’re here, and we hope you’re settling in for a great stay. When you’re ready, come by the hub for coffee, a glass of wine, or a beer on us…”
Earlier, before I had connected with Steve, I had experienced “the hub.” The hub is what passes for Bode’s lobby, but when I walked in it felt more like a coffee shop. I wasn’t privy to the text messages that came prior to our visit, the room wasn’t in my name, so I didn’t know that there was no need for a key or even a traditional check-in. So I was caught off guard by the unusually calm, casual approach the young lady behind the counter took when I asked if my room was ready.
After she explained how their system worked she offered for me to wait for Steve in the hub and asked if I wanted a coffee or anything else to drink. I said a cup of coffee would be great and expected a pour from a drip, but instead was delivered a freshly made Americano in a beautiful mug. She seemed unusually happy, and not in
Later that evening, we received another text, this one read, “We hope you’re enjoying Bode Nashville. Just a quick reminder – our normal business hours are
It was the kind of timely, proactive communication you hope for in a customer service experience and it was all carried out by a bot. We didn’t care. It felt right. So we headed the closing warning decided to head down to the hub for our free drinks and were treated once again to the casual, friendly service I’d hope for at the best of hotels. With the communications about rules and times taken care of by technology, the human staff was left to help us enjoy our stay. I’ll say it again… It was startling in its simplicity.
Real estate brokers could learn a lot from a stay at Bode Nashville. Real estate agents too. When technology is at its best, it performs the repetitive stuff that makes us grumpy with greater accuracy and predictability than we can. I say let it. We’ll be in a better head space to do the truly human aspects of the job that ultimately set us apart.
I applaud Bode Nashville for painting a clear picture of how technology and humans are supposed to work together, and for creating a reasonably-priced hotel experience that all others will be compared to from this day forward. Thank you.
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