The Importance of a Survey

This past weekend, I was lucky enough to go on a trip to the Almafi Coast in Italy. We stayed in Sorrento, and visited Positano, Capri and Pompeii. We booked our trip through a company specializing in youth tours, so we thought that we would have a really organized weekend and wouldn't have to worry about a thing. Even though we had a fantastic weekend, there were parts of the trip that we were dissatisfied with.

The first disappointment came when our tour guides showed up to the meeting spot at least 15 minutes late, and didn't understand why we were all there. We explained that the travel itinerary said to be there at a certain time, but the tour guides said they didn't know anything about that. The itinerary also promised a pit stop on our way from Rome to Sorrento, and the tour guides said they didn't know anything about that either.

As a whole, there rest of the weekend went pretty smoothly. Our hostel was beautiful, and we spent time at some of the most amazing coastal towns in the world. However, there were still things the tour guides did that frustrated us. From not knowing how to give directions to places and not even knowing where places were that we wanted to visit, they just didn't seem that knowledgeable about the trip that they were leading.

I know many people were frustrated at the end of the trip with the performance of the tour guides. That's when the survey from the company came. I filled out the survey, and answered the questions as honestly as I could. I expressed my dissatisfaction with some aspects of the trip, and praised them for others that I really enjoyed.

In PR, we are always creating surveys to gauge interest and satisfaction in a wide variety of products and services. As a PR student, I know how important it is to receive feedback from surveys, and that's why I took the time to complete the one that was distributed after my trip. Even though surveys can sometimes be tedious and not very exciting, it's important to remember how crucial they are for both the surveyors and the surveyed. The only way to improve something is to get feedback on it, and the only way to receive better services is to give feedback on surveys!