Our family just returned from a trip to Mexico where we’ve visited many times before. This time we stayed at the Princess Resort near Playa del Carmen. Our experience was extremely disappointing despite the beauty of this new hotel.

As Darla and I reflected on our disappointments, we realized that probably 80% of the problems would have been reduced or eliminated if the hotel had simply informed us of our options and benefits. Our greatest challenge was finding out, often after the fact, about perks our package included. If our initial orientation had been done well and information provided, the hotel would have performed much better for us.

Another problem was the lack of communication. As someone who has visited Mexico 20 times, I know most service providers there speak better English than I do Spanish, but evidently because this hotel is new they’ve hired many employees who we couldn’t understand and who couldn’t understand us. A rudimentary ability to communicate with guests is key to a successful experience.

And if you really want to perform, inform your team. Service training was sadly lacking. Many employees simply didn’t know what to do despite whatever intentions they may have had. We sometimes ran into a welcome exception to the poor service rule, and these were typically employees who had been employed–and I assume trained–elsewhere before joining the staff at the Princess.

Information should always precede execution. As simple as this sounds, overlooking it can derail performance.