One of my peeves is dining at a restaurant, spending my hard-earned money and I’m about to leave and suddenly there’s a downpour.

I’m unprepared and the restaurant doesn’t have any umbrellas for their customers. Why not?

I don’t think it’s right for any customer to spend whatever amount of money they spend and then let them walk out in the rain. That’s not hospitality, and that’s not ‘customer experience.’  And yet this happens much too often.

One of the ‘Wows’ I talk about at my intensive ‘Word of Mouth’ training workshop is to have a supply of umbrellas handy – as this hotel had in their lobby:


Purchase a supply of umbrellas, even have your logo on them. When it’s raining, give an umbrella to your customers as they leave. Offer to let them keep the umbrella or return it for a free appetizer. Either way, it’s a win-win for you and more importantly, for your customers.

Next Steps: Funny how this works, but it’s the little things that truly make a huge impact on your customers. So I ask, next time it rains, will you be offering umbrellas to your customers … or just let them get soaked?