Hi Cabana team,I wanted to take the time to send you comprehensive feedback on my most recent experience, (second time), because I care, I'm excited about your business model, and I get what it takes to run a capital-intensive startup.After a first great trip in April, I turned around and immediately booked another trip for this summer. The first experience with cabana was great, and you guys were flexible with my need to reschedule the original dates. (You gave me full credit.)
You're probably working on it, but it would have been nice to join a frequent traveler loyalty program before booking the second trip, and be able to share it on FB. I'm sure you know word of mouth advertising is the best, and I found myself wanting those tools on your behalf.
I have a marketing idea that involves organizing a large women's hiking group I belong to doing a caravan trip with your camper vans and documenting it on your FB page/blog, etc. Not sure who to talk to about that.
Second trip last week:
Not the same seamless experience. I'm guessing that's it's been a busy summer for you, so therefore more pressure to turnaround the vehicles, and probably more wear and tear and maintenance issues. That's the impression I got.
At pickup, I was ready to drive away, and tried to remove the back shades from the windows to see out the rear view mirror, but they were riveted to the top of window. The first van we had in April was not like that. When I talked to someone onsite about it they said, oh you don't need to look out the back anyway. Not reassuring and I wasn't OK with that. When I said the last van I drove allowed for total removal, they said it must have been a different model. I asked if they had any clips to jerryrig it, and they fished around for one binder clip. That gave partial view on one window. I drove away feeling less than confident, and decided to buy some more clips along the way.
As we were heading out of town, two cars honked and said I was losing all of my water form the tank, that it was pouring out, so I pulled over. All I can assume is that whomever refilled the tank didn't close the cap all the way. So I went back to my house to full it with my hose. That tacked on another hour-ish, which pushed back the ferry wait time and put us into commute traffic. I'm glad I live in Seattle, and was able to do this, but imagine having flown in and having to deal with it. Also, it gave the impression that the turnarounds are happening, rather than following a tight checklist. it made m wonder what else was missed. (I'm not trying to be a pain, just want to give you feedback on perception because I know how important that is.)
Toilet: The first time I used the toilet, no water or deodorizer came out, like in the first van I had had in April. So it was like using a dry toilet and sure enough, could already smell it a bit the next morning. When I called Cust. Svc, they said go to the store and buy deodorizer and I'll get reimbursed. That seemed like not a good way to start the trip. He also asked if I saw emergency deodorizer by the safe, which I didn't. So we bought toilet bowl cleaner, Lysol spray and a jug of water to move it through the hole. Later that day I looked in the manual and saw the note about looking for deodorizer pouches behind the garbage pail to put down the toilet as the first thing you do on the trip. That was not wat we had to do in the first van, so this was a surprise. That made me wonder if all of the toilets on all vans had changed procedures, or if the three different models had three different toilets. And then on the second to last day, we discovered by accident that you had to have the pump on to flush the toilet. This was different than the first van. And, no blue deodorizer came out. So, the feedback is, for your repeat customers, it's important to tell them that they may have a different type of process in the next van, and also putting the notes over the toilet would be helpful. It would also have been helpful for the Cust. Svc person to try to troubleshoot with me vs saying, gosh, sorry, go buy your own supplies and we'll give you a discount, and then didn't hear another work about that. So in the end, I think the toilet was working fine, but I'm still not sure if the person doing the turnaround cleaning neglected to drop the deodorizer pouch in the toilet, and again, it's important to understand that different vans' toilets operate differently. And again, I never heard another word about discount.
Front blinds/panels: The first night we discovered that one of the snaps was missing, so we had to jerryrig it to stay up. Again, I'm wondering if you guys are getting behind on maintenance due to higher volumes in summer and increased business, and if so, what is the mechanism for doing quality control and having quick replacements in inventory. (Not really my business, but tat's where I go with business processes.) It also made me wonder if a decision was made to permanently attach the back window blinds because of the snaps failing problem.
Backup camera suddenly appeared halfway through the trip.
I gave the heads up that we'd be a few hours late, and got back a note in return saying $100/hour. I wrote back saying that I lost one hour on the front end due to refilling water tank, and toilet issue, and to please do the right thing. I never heard back, so I'm wondering if I'm still going to get charged when you get around to closing out last week's trips. It also made me wonder if there really weren't any notes from my call into Customer Svc about the the toilet and water tank.
Heard from another couple who rented that weekend that their AC didn't work.
Got lots of inquiries while on the road and said nothing but good things. people are really curious. Thought you'd want to know that. I gave out your URL multiple times and said why I thought Cabana is a better choice than Outdoorsy.
In summary, I'm still excited about your product and will rent again this fall or winter, but it would sure be nice to have a loyalty program for repeat business and for spreading the word, and would have been nice to know where I stand with not being charged extra for the late return due to the issues I experienced. (Can you please comfirm?) I really am a fan and that is why I'm taking the time to give you all the positive and constructive feedback as you grow your business. I also have ideas for expanding the business model. Happy to share those with the right person.Warmly,
Holli Harris
