An overview of technology for hospitality.
Winter is over and the spring brings with it plans of summer vacations with the entire family in tow. I recently booked a hotel stay for a short family trip, and can honestly say that the guest experience begins long before arrival. When I travel with my kids, my focus is narrowed. There are fewer things that matter, but they matter very much: Safety, Cleanliness, and Fun. That doesn’t mean I don’t care about service, because let’s face it, I always care about service. It’s a passion of mine. But I am not so worried about luxury, style, design. We are there to have fun and not break anything. I will not share the name of our chosen destination, but following is an honest review of the first part of our journey: Planning and Booking. Planning: This part was easy for us, we are traveling with friends and the destination was already chosen. However, looking through the hotel’s website, I did consider calling it off. There were no real property photos. They did feature lots of pictures of smiling kids, presumably on hotel grounds at the time they were smiling. But I wanted to really see what we should expect. …
I have often been struck by a disconnect between the customer service policy of some companies and the customer service agents who fail to follow through with it. Why does this happen? What does it take to have the end result line up with brand service standards? My opinion is that customer service stars are born, not made. Even so, service needs reinforcement every step of the way to truly succeed. These are my ideas of the growth of a service star, please feel free to add your own: Birth: Some of the defining characteristics of great service are innate. A happy demeanor and friendly personality are the foundation of customer service. Hiring managers should look for these qualities above all others for guest-facing personnel. Childhood: Behaviors learned during childhood shape us for the rest of our lives. Kindness, compassion, and common courtesy are key components of outstanding service. Look for people who are active listeners, and respond with compassion. Good etiquette is essential as well; eye contact, manner of address, and the “magic words” please and thank you, are simple but effective when interacting with guests. Teens: This is when kids are deciding who they want to be, and …
Collecting information on guests in an effort to enhance their experience is nothing new for hotels. However, with the technologies available today, more information is available, and a broader story of each guest is able to be told. How much information is too much? And what should you do with it? Recently, electric car manufacturer Tesla was able to stand its ground fairly well against a disparaging review written by John Broder of the New York Times. Some of the claims he made in his review were refuted by actual data collected by the car as he drove it. Tesla had the advantage in this situation, and a pretty good defense. From a hospitality standpoint, hotels are collecting more and more data on their guests, even before arrival. I recently read about a hotel who puts together a short “story” on each guest before they arrive – and uses it to provide a more personalized experience. For instance, a guest may walk into their room to discover their favorite flowers on the bedside table (a nice personal touch), or a framed photo of their family on the dresser (more on the creepy side.) The Ritz-Carlton has long kept track of …
While doing some digging on the role of a butler in the guest experience, I was pleased to have the opportunity to reach out to Robert Watson from The Guild of Professional English Butlers in London. He provided me with insights into his profession, and what hotels can expect when they use this service. What does a hotel butler do? Butlers are trained to assist in all departments of a hotel. They take care of guest requests, bookings, reservations, problems, complaints, supervise and co-ordinate every service that guest receives in suite and to ensure guest satisfaction by paying attention to the smallest detail from arrival to departure. What role does a butler play in the guest experience? Hotel butlers act as a link between the guest and all the functions of a hotel. This highly personalized service often includes remembering guests’ preferences for dining, flowers, and other personal tastes. Imagine arriving in your room after a long trip and having a butler there to ease you through check-in, and even unpack your bags. Butlers can also help choose clothing for a specific occasion, arrange transportation, or any number of things that ease common stresses associated with travel. What can hotels …
Creating a Picture Perfect Customer Experience with Social Media First we have to start with asking ourselves ‘What Is a Picture Perfect Customer Experience?’ Picture Perfect Experience is often referred to as the ideal experience. In a Social Media setting this results in the customer becoming champion advocates, creating strong referrals, retention and profitable growth. How to create a Picture Perfect Customer Experience with Social Media You want to create a Picture Perfect Customer Experience with Social Media to influence your customers in a positive way. The results will lead to customers sharing your brand message to their Social Networks. The first step is to start collaboration with your employees and customers. Social Media today provides several opportunities to create focus groups. Google+ Communities, LinkedIn Groups and Facebook Groups are some examples where you can create a focus group for collaboration. Keep these focus groups private, so access is by invites or approvals only. Build in these groups one of the strengths that is common both for Hospitality and Social Media: Storytelling. Create your Community or Group to develop a new culture of sharing information. For example Google+ Communities allows you to share content, video, images and slides. Here you …