23,000+
pieces of passenger feedback collected
~22%
of feedback givers left a written comment
180+
concession locations covered at Chicago O’Hare
3
stakeholder levels aligned on one source of truth
Real-time visibility across a complex airport concessions program
Unison Retail Management oversees the concessions program for the Chicago Department of Aviation at Chicago O’Hare International Airport, one of the busiest airports in the world. Their remit spans the full lifecycle of the program (from design and construction to facilities oversight, retail management and compliance) across a complex ecosystem of more than 180 food, beverage and retail concessions operated by many different brands.
In an environment at that scale, the traditional toolkit of periodic surveys, mystery shopping and complaint logs delivered information that was detailed but retrospective. By the time results arrived, the passengers had long since caught their flights, and the moment to act had passed. Unison wanted a way to understand the passenger experience as it happened, location by location, and to turn that understanding into action while it still mattered.
Starting in April 2025, Unison deployed Smiley Sign™ across more than 180 concessions. The QR-code based microfeedback points let passengers share a quick sentiment rating and an optional comment at the moment of exit, with no app, no login and complete anonymity. Reporting was structured to flow to three levels at once: Airport leadership, Unison management and individual tenant leadership.
“Now we can see what happens as it happens. Bad interaction and good interaction – you can see it at the moment,” says Andrew Dordek, Director of Retail Operations, Unison Retail Management.
High-volume, honest, location-level insight
During the first six months, Smiley Sign captured more than 23,000 pieces of passenger feedback across the program, with roughly 22% of respondents also leaving a written comment. For a passive, opt-in channel, that level of participation gave Unison a continuous, always-on read on the passenger experience that surveys and mystery shopping could never match.
Because every response is tied to a specific location and time, the data did more than measure overall sentiment. It pinpointed exactly where the experience was strong and where it was slipping. When four locations of the same brand were scoring well and a fifth was not, leadership had an immediate, data-backed starting point to investigate rather than a generalized assumption. The same granularity surfaced positive outliers too, including specific locations where passengers were naming individual employees for great service.
“In just six to seven months, we’ve captured over 23,000 pieces of passenger feedback through HappyOrNot Smiley Sign, with around 22 percent of users leaving written comments. Because it’s frictionless and anonymous, we’re getting honest, unfiltered insights that we simply didn’t have before” says Sofia McDowell, Director of Marketing, Unison Retail Management
From signal to action in days, not quarters
The value of the data showed up in how quickly it moved into action. At the concession level, operators could respond in days rather than waiting for a quarterly review; in one case, adding seating at a location within days of feedback flagging a comfort issue. At the program level, Unison management used location-level scores to focus attention where it was needed, working with tenants to diagnose and address underperformance at specific sites.
The three-tier reporting structure made this possible without creating bottlenecks. Airport leadership saw consistent oversight across all operators; Unison management held centralized visibility across the whole program; and tenant leadership received their own performance data to share directly with frontline managers. Centralized visibility, decentralized action: Everyone working from the same numbers, acting at the level closest to the passenger.
“With HappyOrNot, we’re not just looking at overall trends. We can pinpoint performance at the individual location level. When one site underperforms while others in the same brand are scoring high, it gives leadership a clear, data-backed starting point to investigate and improve,” McDowell says.
Better experiences and a stronger service culture
The most immediate impact was operational: A single, consistent feedback method across 180+ concessions, with high volume of collected feedback and giving every stakeholder a reliable, real-time picture of the passenger experience. Issues that once surfaced weeks late, if at all, now reach the right owner the same day.
The qualitative impact surprised the team. A large share of the feedback turned out to be positive, with passengers frequently praising employees by name. That insight became the foundation for employee recognition programs and helped reinforce a stronger service culture across the concessions ecosystem. Instead of a tool that only catches problems, Smiley Sign became a way to celebrate and reinforce what was working, motivating frontline teams across many different operators.
“We’re seeing passengers call out employees by name and highlight great service, which is helping us shape employee recognition programs and reinforce a stronger service culture across the airport,” Dordek says.
One source of truth for a multitenant operation
For Unison, the lasting value of HappyOrNot is alignment. In a program with many operators, many brands and several layers of accountability, the hardest thing is getting everyone to work from the same picture of reality. A continuous, location-specific microfeedback signal, shared across airport leadership, program management and tenants, turned that picture into a single source of truth that everyone could act on.
The broader lesson for any complex, multilocation operation: Capture feedback where the experience happens, make it frictionless enough to generate real volume and route it so the people closest to the customer can act. It is the same operational logic HappyOrNot has seen at other transport hubs, including Dublin and Cork airports with daa. The details changes but the principle holds, with HappyOrNot providing a single source of truth for customer experience across the entire program.
“Reporting flows from Unison to airport leadership and directly to our tenants, so everyone, from operators to frontline managers, can get the same data and take action where it matters most,” Dordek says.
About Unison Retail Management
Unison Retail Management is the concessions management practice of Unison Consulting, Inc., a leading airport consulting firm founded in 1989. Unison serves as the Concessions Management Representative for the Chicago Department of Aviation at Chicago O’Hare International Airport, overseeing the concessions program from design and construction through facilities oversight, retail management and compliance. Learn more at unison-ucg.com.