Posts Tagged ‘Customer service’

How to achieve great customer service – Part 4

Monday, September 10th, 2012

Recognition

Recognise and reward staff who go the extra mile and give exceptional customer service. Listen to your guests and acknowledge the feedback they give you and pass that on to your team. This helps both you and your team or to understand what your guests appreciate and value, and help identify where you may be falling short.

Encourage your team to come forward with their own ideas of how customer service can be improved and make every effort to take their ideas on board where appropriate. This gives the team a sense of ownership and pride which will inevitably have a positive knock-on effect on your guests.

 

Lead by example

Your personality is part of the business. Making yourself visible in your hotel and engaging with your guests not only builds rapport and trust with them, but sets the tone and example for your team to follow. If you hide yourself away in the office, or seldom even visit the hotel, this sends the message that it’s okay to hide away from guests.

Talking to your guests is far the best way to get feedback, and they may tell you things that they wouldn’t feedback to your team. Get to know your guests personally; their likes and dislikes, their routine, their suggestions, their network. All this not only builds rapport but makes it a lot easier for you to tailor your offer and service to meet your guests’ needs and expectations.

 

A team effort

Service should be seamless, and to achieve this, the whole team must support one another. Encourage staff to take ownership when necessary, rather than passing the buck. Allocate responsibilities to specific team members to conduct briefings, training, collate feedback and suggestions.  This spreads the responsibility, gets everyone involved, ensuring these happen even when you’re not there.

All this adds up ultimately to making your customer service memorable, and a potential point of differentiation – for the right reasons.

How to achieve great customer service – Part 3

Monday, September 3rd, 2012

Empower

Upskilling your team by giving them the appropriate training, coaching and support enables you to delegate authority and gives your  staff a sense of responsibility, so they take the initiative and make decisions. You’ll be surprised how often they end up improving the process.  It means you don’t have to keep an eye on things 24/7, in the confident knowledge that your guests will always get great service.

Encourage staff to think ahead and anticipate guests’ needs, rather than waiting to be asked. Demonstrate your trust in the team by giving them responsibility and authority to respond to guests’ expectations and requests in the way that they see fit. Develop champions for areas of responsibility that need a specialist knowledge or particular attention. This promotes a sense of pride and responsibility and will encourage continuous improvement. This in turn can have an impact on your guests’ experience, when
specific knowledge is required to gain the guest’s confidence, for example dealing with function bookings, or food allergies, when from the customer’s perspective someone with specific expertise in that area may be needed.

Giving your staff authority to deal with unplanned situations (including complaints) enables them to resolve issues quickly and with minimum fuss. This is not only far better for the guest, but less effort in the long run for you and your team if they don’t need to find you or a manager. Telling a guest you don’t have the authority to deal with an issue is both frustrating for the guest and degrading for the team member.

There will naturally be situations where a manager’s input may be required, but aim to keep those to a minimum by ensuring that any one of the team can deal with the most common issues, questions or complaints.

Motivate and encourage your staff in making guest service a priority. Create a culture of continuous improvement by encouraging your team to ask for guest feedback. When they receive favourable feedback ask them to suggest ways to build or capitalise on this, and when less favourable to come forward with their own suggestions of where and how things can be improved.

In the final part next week,  it is about reward and recognigtion for the staff that go that extra mile for the customers.

How to achieve great customer service – Part 2

Monday, August 27th, 2012

Direction

We’ve already talked about defining what we mean by great service, now this needs communicating. Discuss with your team what your guests expect and how to meet those expectations. Focus on telling people what you want to achieve, i.e. the end result, rather than dictating how to do it.  This gives people flexibility to adopt their own style.

However, be prepared to explain in behavioural terms when necessary, so rather than just saying ‘welcome guests’, give some examples of the types of things you’d expect to see them doing or hear them say if there’s any doubt about what this means. The more specific you are and more examples you give the easier it is for people to understand. Then lead by example so there are no mixed messages.

Encourage your team to take the guest journey, and see everything from a guest’s point of view as often as possible; they’ll invariably spot things that can be improved to enhance the guest experience, and this helps them put the whole customer experience into perspective.

Establish systems and guidelines where necessary and adequate tools and resources to meet these expectations. Too much red tape, staff shortages, unreliable equipment or a poor product will only lead to frustration and is bound to have a knock-on effect on staff’s ability to deliver great customer service.

 

Regular communication

Keep staff up-to-date at all times. Conduct daily briefings to cover such information as: VIP guests, special needs, regular guests and any known preferences so staff can anticipate their requirements, today’s menu and details of all ingredients, special offers and events or deals, other activity in or around the hotel that could impact the guest in any way, staff shortages and cover of responsibilities. These actions ensure your staff are fully briefed and competent to deal with any guest’s queries or concerns.

The daily briefing also provides an opportunity to get feedback on any guests’ comments. You can discuss any questions or suggestions that arise about operational issues that could have a bearing on the level of service your guests receive.

So, even on your busiest mornings make sure these briefings still happen; it’s generally on the busiest days that things go wrong.

In part 3 of the blog,  I will looking into empowerment of the staff and by giving them the training and skills that are needed, to gain the customer’s confidence.

 

How to achieve great customer service

Monday, August 20th, 2012

The service your guests receive will often be the most memorable part of their stay. Few people will return by choice, where they’ve experienced poor service, nor recommend a hotel even when they’ve received average or good service. Service is invariably your opportunity to create a key differentiator to your hotel. So as a manager what can you be doing to contribute to your service levels?

 

Last year I attended the inaugural Boutique Hotel Summit in London. Although I don’t think anyone could quite agree on a precise definition of boutique, one theme that came up consistently was that of delivering consistently great service.

So how do we ensure that our staff deliver great customer service?

 

Define great service

Well, the first thing to do is define great service. I’m not proposing here to define what I think it is; I’m sure you already have your own ideas. But if you needed to explain this to any of your team, would you be able to define it? I believe the starting point is to reflect on what it is that your guests expect and how they define great service. Understand your guest and who you’re targeting.

What is the style of your hotel, and how is this reflected in the way you serve your guests? There’s often a fine line between uninterested or unreceptive and being over attentive and bordering on being intrusive. There’s then striking a balance between formality and overfamiliarity. These are things that we often know when we see it, but it’s sometimes difficult to describe this to staff.

 

Recruit on attitude

Once you know what level of service you’re looking for you’re in a much better position to get your staff on board. Start by getting the recruitment right. In my book attitude will always be a higher priority than skills. You can develop skills by training, but it’s much more difficult to change people’s attitudes; an eagerness to please people, a willingness to go the extra mile, and an enthusiasm to learn are the key attributes to look for at the recruitment stage.

Develop a reputation as a good employer. This way you’ll be in a much better position to attract the type of people you really want when the need arises, rather than your hotel being a last resort for those desperate for any job they can get.

 

In the next blog we look at direction and how to focus on what you want to achive.

How to Get the Best from your Seasonal Staff

Tuesday, July 3rd, 2012

This month many of you will, I’m sure, be taking on additional staff for the summer season. But are they an asset or a liability? If all you do is give them an order pad or a uniform and tell them to get on with it, they could be doing more harm than good to your summer holiday profits.

Recruitment
Your selection of staff needs the same care and attention you’d give to any member of staff. Don’t be fooled into accepting someone just because they are available. Now more than ever you need to recruit people who can hit the ground running. With the best will I the world someone with the wrong attitude is never going to leave customers with a great experience and clambering to come back. Bear in mind that for many of your customers at this time this will be their first visit, so ensure that first impression is a good one, so it’s not their last.

Direction
Everyone needs to know what’s expected of them from day one. Ensure you give them a thorough induction, which is planned out in advance. You won’t have time to revisit things that are missed, so schedule this into their first week, so they have an opportunity to absorb the information. This should include:

  • Define your values, who your customers are, and what their expectations are.
  • A clear job description outlining their responsibilities, time scales, priorities, measurements or KPIs, and how their role fits in with the bigger picture.
  • Clarify basic standards of dress, staff behaviour, time keeping, break allowance, staff meals, security, food safety, health and safety.
  • First impressions count. Specify your establishment’s standards for welcoming and greeting customers, including the booking procedures if this is part of their role. Even back of house staff need to know the protocol for greeting customers or dealing with their questions.
  • People can’t sell something they don’t know exists. Ensure a thorough product knowledge – what does your establishment offer – times of service, complementary products, etc.  Let your staff taste the dishes, explain what accompanies each dish and what it should look like, what prices include and what’s extra (especially with fixed menus or party packages).
  • Establish protocol in dealing with difficult situations, customer complaints, and awkward customers.  Define the line between handling themselves and when to seek intervention from a manager or more experienced staff member.
  • What is their role in up-selling, and what are the products you want them to promote, including any future events?  What are the benefits of these offers or products from a customers’ perspective?
  • Run through the payment procedures, including any security procedures or checks needed, and how to deal with any concerns or potential breaches.

Support and teamwork

  • Don’t leave them floundering or too scared to ask for help. Establish a clear line of reporting, and who to go to for help and guidance when needed.
  • Teamwork is key. Introduce new staff to the whole team, defining everyone’s areas of responsibility to ensure no gaps and no duplication of effort. Avoid the frictions that occur when someone hasn’t pulled their weight or others are seen to ‘interfere’ with your way of doing things.
  • Consider assigning each temporary staff member with a buddy, someone to look over their shoulder, guide them and support them as necessary ensuring, of course, that this person will be patient and supportive when asked.
  • Avoid being let down at the last minute – Provide out of hours contact numbers and establish procedures for sickness reporting.

Recognition and reward

  • If your core team are incentivised, make sure you include seasonal staff in the scheme.
  • Give them something to look forward to and keep them interested for the whole season.  Involve them in any after work social activities and maybe some incentive awarded at the end of the season.
  • Recognise potential and consider opportunities to turn part time or temporary into permanent or regular work.
  • Maintain your reputation as a good employer. Treat seasonal staff well, and they will be willing to come back next time you need an extra hand, and spread the word that you are a good employer.

Remember summer is a time when you have a excellent opportunity to wow first time visitors with a great experience, and hopefully make them into regulars or referrers. Don’t blow that one off chance.

Find your passion

Wednesday, June 27th, 2012

Working in a business you don’t enjoy, especially when it’s your own can be soul destroying enough in its own right, but it’s bound to impact on your customers too. If you’ve no passion for your hospitality or leisure business and share no common interests with your customers isn’t it time to do something about it?

Whenever anything went wrong or when confronted with something that was unpleasant my mother always used to say “life’s too short”. Unfortunately in her case it was, and she died at the age of 65. My dad outlived her by nearly 17 years, but sadly died at last year aged 81.

But both of them thankfully spent their latter years doing things that they had a real passion for. Whilst I was at university Mum also went back to school, to train as a psychiatric nurse. She later went on to work in young people’s psychiatric unit and used to come home with stories of playing football with teenage boys, dealing with anorexic girls and other troubled youngsters in the hope of giving them a better chance in adult life. My dad, having initially trained as an architect and then working as an interior designer had always had a passion for vintage cars and for the last 30 years pursued his hobby of restoring his own and others’ cars and frequently worked long into the night in his workshop. And at his funeral people came from far and wide with their cars that he’d worked on over years.

So what have I learnt from my parents about running a business?

Nearly every book on marketing, whether for hotel, hospitality, or restaurant businesses, or any other type of business, will remind you that you need to identify your target market and offer something that meets their needs. But what if when you analyse this you identify a group of people or a product or service which leaves you cold? Would you want these people at your funeral? I know my dad would have been delighted to see so many of his happy customers turn out in his honour.

Working with your perfect guest or customer and the services and products you offer should really excite you. If it doesn’t, it’s bound to have a knock-on effect on the perception of customer service and certainly impact your bottom line. But if it doesn’t excite you why would you want to be doing it anyway?

So in an ideal world you want to be dealing with people with whom you share interests, values or enthusiasm. So how do we find the ideal customers?

Start by listing what you enjoy, what you’re passionate about, what’s important to you. Can these be incorporated into your hotel or hospitality business? If your business reflects your interests the likelihood is you’ll attract other people who share them. You’re more likely to be able to build rapport with them, and you can be more targeted (and successful) with your marketing, both externally and on-site.

Create your values around what is important to you. If it’s important to you to sustainable resources, or care for the environment, or to use fresh, local ingredients when available, create your values around these principles.

If like my dad you have a passion or particular hobby, is this something that you can incorporate into the business in some way. In Dad’s case it was vintage cars, but it could be anything that you’re interested in – be that golf or gardening, shopping or skydiving, woodwork or walking. Your passion should really influence what you offer; whether you focus on just one of your passions or a number passions, it’s a combination of these that add up to make your hotel or hospitality business different. You’ll find it easier to share detail of your real passions, which will not only make your hotel or hospitality business stand out, but attract like-minded guests.

One way of really capitalising on your interests and capture the interest of your guests or customers is to become an expert in something that they and you are interested in. In addition to attracting the type of guests or customers with whom you can build a good rapport and a better prospect of repeat business, it also gives you a great opportunity to get noticed. By writing articles, blog posts, guidebooks or maybe even organising clubs or seminars around your interests or topic, you’ll be on the radar of people who share your interests, which in turn enables you to build your prospect list. It also provides a great opportunity for PR.

Focusing on a specific interest could also involve promoting or writing about events, or organising your own events, and opens up opportunities for joint ventures or partnerships with other businesses, clubs or organisations who share your target audience. What better way to get yourself noticed?

Any of these ways of tying in your interests into your business not only enables you to enjoy what you do and who you work with, but is a great way of being unique and really standing out from your competition. If you have a very niche interest it will translate into a very niche target market.

It’s never too late to start focusing on what you love and where your passions lie. Life’s too short not to.

Back to basics

Wednesday, February 29th, 2012

With so much attention on getting income up and costs down, have we lost sight of some of the basics?

In my recent interviews with a number of prominent hotel professionals in my series “How to Give Your Hotel a Competitive Edge”, one of the messages that kept coming up over and over was about getting the basics right. Whilst most hotels get most tings right, most of the time, it only takes one little slip up before we end up with a disgruntled guest. These are some of the points raised:

 

The Welcome

Do your guest always get greeted with a smile and made to feel special?

  • How well do your staff anticipate guests needs before they ask for things?
  • Do you give attention to detail and have any special little touches for guests?
  • Do you know what constitutes a good welcome for your guests? Do they like to be fussed over, or would they prefer to be left to their own devices?
  • When staff service a room do they routinely put everything back to the standard layout, or leave things the way guests have laid them?

 

The condition and cleanliness of all areas

Do you have a strict audited cleaning programme in place? And does this ensure that the bedroom and bathroom are spotlessly clean (including under the bed, on top of wardrobes, under the basin)? And when was the last time anything saw a lick of paint? Take a look with a fresh pair of eyes and check whether anything looks tired and in need of a facelift. It’s a good idea to walk the customer journey at least once a week to check this out.  Better still ask others to do this on a rotating cycle; different people will pick up on different things, and even if you can’t address everything at once, at least you’ll know where needs attention and can schedule it into your maintenance plan and budget.

And when it comes to refurbs do you go all out on one or two rooms, or do you spread your budget to the benefit of all areas? There’s no one answer to this question, but think about the impact on your guests, your staff and your business as a whole. Is upgrading just one room benefiting only a very small proportion of your business, whilst other areas visible to all guests are left wanting?

 

The practicality

Image of a hotel room

How practical are your hotel rooms? Unless you experience a night’s stay for yourself you wont be able to see what works and what doesn’t. I recently stayed in a very snazzy hotel, and it looked great, but when I met with my colleagues at breakfast we were all complaining that none of it was practical. Definitely a case of form over function on that occasion.  Ask yourself these questions:

  • Do I have to strip the desk or dressing table of marketing bumf before I can put anything down?
  • Is there anywhere to hang the hand towel? Or hang the bath towel so it can be reused?
  • Is there anywhere to put down my toiletries in the bathroom, or put my makeup down where I can reach it and still see in the mirror?
  • Does the kettle lead reach the socket without having to put the kettle on the floor, and still leave free power sockets accessible if I need to plug in my laptop or phone charger?
  • Does the showerhead and water pressure give a decent shower?
  • Is there anywhere to hang my dressing gown – either in the bathroom or bedroom?
  • Can I see myself in the mirror whilst holding the hairdryer?
  • Can I sit comfortably at the desk without banging my knees, and have enough light at the desk to read by without sitting in my own shadow?
  • Can I open a window without using brute force?
  • Can I comfortably watch TV from the chair?
  • Do I have to strip off half a dozen unnecessary pillows before I can get into bed (and make extra laundry into the bargain)?
  • Do you have to get out of bed to switch out the light?

 

A good night’s sleep

When was the last time you slept in one of your own hotel beds? Even if guests don’t make use of the hotel facilities or get up early enough for breakfast, the one thing that all your guests will expect is a good night’s sleep. So check out your beds. A good quality mattress and base is key; and unless you check your beds regularly you wont know when they need replacing.

A good night’s sleep will also be affected by light, noise and temperature.  Do the curtains meet in the middle and cut out street lighting and the sunrise?

Is there any noise from outside such as bottle disposal from the bar, air-conditioning units, traffic, your own bar or other local bars?  Or internally from lift shafts, banging pipes, neighbouring rooms. I remember one sleepless night being disturbed by music throughout the night, only to discover it was from a radio in the night manager’s office in the adjoining room.

And how is the room temperature? Is the air conditioning or heating system clear to adjust without having to call reception?

 

Perceived value for money

All of the above, of course add to the perception of value for money, but value for money will mean different things to different people. So how well do you understand what is important to guests? Is what they receive as good as or better than what guests are expecting?

You should be constantly looking for ways to add value for guests, and particularly look for items that are low cost to you, but high perceived value to your guests. Is everything provided that would be expected at the price point your guests have paid? People’s expectation of what’s included at breakfast, for example, will be very different if they are paying £12.95 rather than £4.95. Do you let guests know everything that is included in their rate? And do you include everything they might expect to be included, such as free WiFi.

Value for money also means a clear and transparent cancellation policy – having to pay for something you have not used will not be seen as good value!

Consider how you compare with your competition, and if you are competing with brands and budget hotels focus on the personal touches that you can add that they can’t offer.

Do your hotel guests suffer from buyers’ remorse?

Tuesday, February 21st, 2012

So you’ve got the booking. All you do now is wait for your guests to arrive. Right? No.

I’m sure you, like me, have made purchases – maybe bought a new pair of shoes, ordered a new car, or booked a holiday – only to reflect afterwards if we’ve done the right thing.

With a car it may have been an over zealous salesman, and now you start to see the car everywhere, or you hear tales of unreliability. When you’ve bought that new pair of shoes (I’m addressing the ladies here!) and you wonder if you will ever get any wear out of them. And with the holiday you start to read of poor experiences or learn that you have to fly from some remote airport that means leaving home at some forsaken hour to get your flight.

So what has this to do with your hotel guests? Why would they ever feel remorse?

Well, let’s think about that period between making the booking and arriving at their room.

Do your guests get:

A stony silence for the intervening period?

…..Or do you:

  • Send a personalised confirmation email summarising their booking
  • Send details of the events and activities happening locally during their stay so they can plan ahead
  • Offer to make dinner, theatre or event reservations for them
  • Send them directions and journey times from their home postcode to reach you (this also helps reduce the risk of stressed late arrivals)
  • Advise of the best and most cost effective routes from the airport or railway station

Frustrated at having to make a detour due to the local roadworks, missing the turn into the car park or finding the car parking full?

….Or do you:

  • Advise them of any traffic problems by email or text
  • Allocate ample parking for your expected guests opposed to the car park being full of employees’ vehicles
  • Warn guests in advance if you have limited parking and advise of the alternatives
  • Ensure the hotel entrance and car park are well sign posted and lit so guests can easily find the entrance
  • Tell guests in advance of any security measures needed to enter the car park

A poor first impression

….Or do you ensure:

  • The car park is clean, tidy and well lit
  • The route from the car park to reception is well sign posted
  • Staff on breaks, waste bins, and delivery areas are all out of sight
  • The walk to the entrance is easy to navigate with heavy bags (and potentially the pouring rain)
  • The main entrance is clean (including any signage), welcoming, and obvious from the street and the car park
  • The first thing guests see as they walk in the door is a smiling welcoming face…

A disappointing welcome

….Or do you ensure:

  • Staff are warm, friendly and welcoming to guests – no matter what their role
  • The route from reception to their room is easy (eg lift working correctly, clear signs, clear of discarded room service trays, key cards work properly)
  • The room is fresh, well maintained and at a comfortable temperature
  • The bathroom is spotlessly clean

…..and if there are any problems your team are trained and work as a team to address these and deliver great customer service.

If you are in any doubt about any of these areas, take the customer journey, reviewing all potential routes; and encourage your team to do the same, as they may well notice things that you have become oblivious to.

The way your guests perceive you before they arrive and the welcome they receive will be a key factor in influencing the overall guest experience.  A poor perception is likely to cause them to pick fault with everything, looking for confirmation of their first impression.

Always remember you only have one chance to make that first impression. Make sure it’s a good one.

Please follow this link to get more ideas to help  www.zealcoaching.com/hotel-marketing-workshop

Caroline Cooper

Overcome your guests’ challenges

Friday, February 10th, 2012

Listen to all the reasons people give for NOT staying, or limiting their stay with you. What other services you can provide that might just tip the balance in favour of that night out, overnight stay or weekend away. Think of the challenges your guests face, and how easily you could solve their problems:

  • No baby sitter – can you offer a babysitting service
  • What to do with the dog – recommend kennels (or allow dogs)
  • Poor transport network – provide a free taxi service to and from the station or airport
  • If I stay away another night I’ll miss my gym session and end up eating more than I should – a common concern for business users, so set up temporary membership arrangements at the local gym, and provide a healthy option light or calorie counted meal
  • The kids will want their bikes, but we don’t have a bike rack – offer bike hire or team up with a local hire shop ~
  • There’s nothing to do if the weather is bad – set up a kids’ play room and indoor entertainment area, and provide games and indoor activities
  • I don’t have time to do my laundry, get my hair cut or legs waxed – provide a laundry and pressing service, or offer complimentary or discount vouchers for your own spa or a local beauty or hair salon

You could take the attitude ‘that’s not my problem’ or you can see these ‘problems’ as great opportunities for additional services. Without having to think too hard or spend too much, people can have a ready-solved problem if you’ve put together a package ‘just for them’.
For more articles and resources

Be flexible and offer hotel guests alternatives

Wednesday, February 8th, 2012

You can’t bow to every request a hotel guest ever makes. But don’t be so bound by the rules that any request is met with a hostile ‘jobsworth’ attitude! If you cannot meet your guests’ initial requests, look at offering an alternative:

  • A guest wants an early breakfast, before your kitchen staff normally arrive – offer a continental breakfast or a tray instead, or at the very least a take away cup of fresh coffee.
  • You receive a request just 10 minutes before service for an alternative to the set menu for a big party – you don’t have a choice, but listen to what the guest needs to avoid and offer an alternative combination without this item.
  • Your weekend guests ring ahead and say they haven’t been able to get a dog sitter. You don’t take dogs, but can you find a local kennel who can accommodate the dog?
  • Your guest asks for a particular brand of whisky for an important client he is entertaining. You don’t stock it, so do you refuse, or phone your neighbouring hotel or pub to see if they have it in stock.

Encourage your staff to get into the mindset of looking for an alternative solution, even if the initial question has to be answered with a ‘no’, it can be followed by ‘but I can do x for you’, or ‘I know someone who could do this for you’.
For more articles and resources