I am in California enabling an IT company to develop a strategy that will leave their competitors in the dust.  It is early in the morning and I am writing this sitting on a patio by the pool.

The hotel in which I am staying placed a little card on my bed (shown below as taken with my phone) in a bid to save the world on labour and laundry.

Every time I help an organization to dramatically improve their decision making, I place a lot of emphasis on the non-rational aspects of decisions, using the most recent research in behavioral economics. In this particular case, there is something that the hotel can do right away to significantly improve the card’s effectiveness. The card should ask the guest to place it on the bed if they want to have the sheets changed.

There is overwhelming evidence that people comply with defaults offered to them.  The current default is that the sheets get changed daily… but who would remember to put the card on the bed if they don’t want it? If the default is changed to “sheets changed by request”, far fewer sheets will be changed. The results will be seen immediately.

Now, where do I send my invoice?

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