An overview of technology for hospitality.
I had an interesting service experience yesterday that led me to wonder what went into the training of the staff. The young man I dealt with was efficient and polite, but the interaction was odd. His words were pleasant enough, and he even joked around with me a little bit, but he never once smiled. It bugged me a little, but the main thing I took away from it was that he didn’t like his job. Why? Because he told me. This is the third time in the last two weeks I’ve had service employees “leak” job complaints to me. Is this a coincidence or a growing trend? The first time, I was in a store waiting for help. An employee noticed me, but asked the other girl to come assist me. She then turned back to me and said, “Sorry, she’s slow. None of us like her.” I thought it was an extreme, isolated event. I realized it wasn’t when I returned to the same store. I thought the woman helping me had just had some kind of jaw injury, as she was speaking to me through clenched teeth. It took me a few minutes to realize that her …
In my humble opinion, good coffee is an integral part of the guest experience. More than half of U.S. adults drink coffee every morning, and the majority of them say they are not themselves without it. Most hotels have coffee pots available to guests in-room, which is fantastic for those (including myself) who would rather not face a lobby full of people before their morning coffee. I only remember one hotel stay that did not offer this amenity, but there was a very excellent selection provided right outside the elevator each morning. The better quality made up for having to leave my room to obtain it. My point here is, at the very least, to provide decent coffee for your guests along with an easy way for them to get it. On my recent trip with my kids, I woke up each morning at least two hours before they did. My philosophy is to never wake a sleeping child (they are easier to keep an eye on that way), so I was happy to see that I would be able to brew a couple cups of coffee in the room without disturbing anyone. I was much less happy with the …
Anyone even moderately engaged in social media for business has read countless articles best practices. You have probably noticed that social media experts (of either the true or the self-proclaimed variety) often disagree on these points. I keep a running list of “rules” I follow, and adjust them if needed when I come across a better idea. That being said, my two biggest rules are stay calm and be flexible. There are a few topics about which I feel very strongly, and one is scheduling tweets. I’ve seen passionate arguments for and against scheduling, and I believe there is a case to be made for both. Following are my personal guidelines for scheduling. Use a scheduling app for spacing out tweets and keeping up with things you want to remember. Sometimes, you find two or three excellent articles all at once but don’t want to spam your followers with multiple tweets within seconds. Scheduling allows you to space them out so you won’t forget to publish them later. I find this most useful when I need to focus on a project and don’t want to be distracted with the constant need to find more content. Do not add Facebook to …
Today, I want to take a look at what was the make-or-break moment of my recent family trip: Check-in. I said in my post after booking that the check-in process would be the time for this hotel to shine. It was an opportunity to go beyond expectations and create loyal guests. That did not happen. After traveling for six hours, with 12 children between our two families, we arrived ready for any distraction from being cooped up in the car. I checked in first, and while the front desk agent wasn’t as pleasant as possible, the process went smoothly and quickly. When our companions checked in, something was wrong with their reservation, and the situation devolved very quickly. They told us the problem. Nothing else. They didn’t say how to fix it, what they could do about it, or what we could do about it. They argued with us when we suggested solutions, yet never came up with a solution of their own. After waiting in the lobby for half an hour, with kids and grandparents still waiting in the car, I had enough. I asked what they were doing to fix the problem, and they answered that one agent …
Last week we talked about the Planning and Booking phases of the guest journey. Before we get into the guest experience on-site, let’s talk about the next phase: Packing and Travel. I will be traveling with a pack of kids, and our method of transportation is road trip. No matter what form of travel your guests are using, there are certain to be frustrations. As a hotelier, the happiness of your guest is not truly your responsibility until they arrive on your property, but this is yet another opportunity to surprise and delight your guests, which in turn gets them talking up your brand to their friends. Consider these ideas: If mode of travel is one of the questions your staff asks during the booking process, can you use that to delight your guest? Consider choosing 5 guests per week, and sending them a travel kit in the mail. These can be customized for people who are flying or driving, and traveling alone or with a group. Attach a card that explains that they were chosen to receive it; it will make them feel special, and other guests won’t think they missed out on something. Packing can be a huge …