Art of Hospitality

, , ,

Hostess and PBX Operator jobs should be replaced

, , ,

with positions designed to care, build relationships and to do something remarkable...not to hand-out menus and answer the phone.

Consider these are the first and last people your guests encounter. Consider they (and other front liners like them) have more face time with your customers than anyone else. So, why do we spend the least amount of time hiring and training them, why do we spend so little time cultivating them and why do we worry about an additional 25 cents per hour? Most importantly though, why do we teach them to function first and to care second? I guess we don't understand or don't want to believe that it's at this function-oriented, front-line level that we have the greatest opportunity to surprise people. This is where customers least expect someone to know the answer or take care of problems, let alone create any magic. This is also the place that gets remembered the most...the first and last impression. All in all, it's your sweet spot, the place where you can hit it the farthest, and the longest.

Answering the phone efficiently doesn't improve occupancy. Smiles and intelligence do. Greeters handing out menus while placing callers on hold doesn't increase the average check. Recognizing and engaging repeat clientèle do.

Caring always wins out over speed, systems and programs. Having someone at post is meaningless if there's no smile, hello, thank you or thoughtfulness attached. 

Job descriptions are incomplete if they don't include:

  • smile
  • hello
  • recognize
  • care
  • build relationships
  • pick-up clues and hand-off
  • thank you
  • do something remarkable

Replace function with care at all costs.

,

You Know You're Remarkable When...

,
  • you no longer need to place recruitment ads in the newspaper or HCareers.
  • recruiters call you regularly with top prospects
  • interns ans externs are lined-up out the door
  • chef wanna be's come from all over just to tour the kitchen and knowing they have only a prayer of ever working there
  • the "open position" list is replaced by "top candidates"
  • turnover is minimal (less than 20%), and when it occurs, it's not your fault...retirement, transfer, entrepreneurial opportunities, etc.
  • getting housekeeping room attendants is rarely a problem

If this isn't the case at your place, perhaps the word's not out. Or, maybe the experience isn't fully developed, or the right leaders aren't in place, or your company isn't committed to excellence. It's rarely a "poor labor market" problem. More often, it's something internal...so carefully inspect that area first.


,

Subtlety

,

Consider that most remarkable hospitality experiences are not at all aggressive. They are born not from how much we do for someone, but rather how inconspicuously we do it. Memorable service seems almost magical with the guest left wondering…”how did they do that?”

In service, we aren’t measured by how much we know…but rather, by how we deliver it.

, ,

How to Impress Your Guests

, ,

If you're looking for some examples of how to get personal and engage with your guests, take a page from Captain Flanagan of United Airlines...

  • He mingles with passengers in the gate area
  • He makes gate announcements himself, updating passengers about weather conditions and sets realistic expectations for delays
  • He uses his cellphone to call United operations to ask about connections for passengers
  • He passes out information cards to passengers with fun facts about the plane; he signs two of them, whose owners will win a bottle of wine
  • He snaps pictures of animals in the cargo hold to show owners their pets are safely on board
  • He writes notes to first-class passengers and elite frequent fliers on the back of his business cards, addressing them by name and thanking them for their business
  • He personally calls parents of unaccompanied children to give them updates
  • He instructs flight attendants to pass out napkins asking passengers to write notes about experiences on United, good or bad
  • He orders 200 McDonald's hamburgers for passengers if his flight is delayed or diverted

"I just treat everyone like it's the first flight they've ever flown."

Not exactly what you expect from an airline...that's the beauty of it, the power of surprise.

Thanks to Church of the Customer for the pointer.

, , , ,

Negative Feedback...What To Do?

, , , ,

Comment cards are dying. So are letters to the GM or corporate office. People don't have faith in that system anymore, mainly because they don't trust anything will happen...that no good will come of it. On-line is where it's at. Guests are turning to sites like Tripadvisor, VibeAgent, epinions, etc., to air their issues and concerns. It makes perfect sense...it's immediate and unfiltered (no interference from the hotel or restaurant). Tripadvisor allows hoteliers to post a public response to reviews. But, this can be very dangerous because there's a natural tendency to defend the actions and offer "reasons"  for problems in order to control the damage. And, that's bad. A better strategy is to reach out to individuals personally, apologize and solve the problem. Hopefully, trust is regained and with any luck, the offended party becomes a loyal fan. They might even add a follow-up review describing your turnaround. If you're compelled to post a public reply, keep it focused on an apology, your appreciation for feedback and your efforts to reach the party personally. And, as I've mentioned before, add some links to these reviews on your website to demonstrate how important they are to you...both good and bad.

Another option is for the hotelier to create a separate conversation and invite these guests to join-in and offer their comments and perhaps even share in the corrective process. Vibeagent's Adam Healey discusses this very scenario in an exchange on Chris Clarke's Vacant Ready blog. Looks like VibeAgent is heading in the right direction by encouraging hoteliers to use this platform. 

, ,

Luggage Lessons

, ,

A recent lost luggage experience with Express Jet reminded me why most companies fail when things go badly. First and foremost, they don't recognize the grand opportunity inherent with all mistakes...the ability to surprise people with immediate and unexpected results. Instead, they think average...offer an apology, maybe a credit voucher and try to do just enough to get the complainer out of your hair for the least amount of trouble and money. These are the companies that miss the point...and the chance to be much better than everyone else...and to win.

The key to all customer complaints, screw-ups and problems is to shock people with actions they don't expect (in a good way, of course). If you do anything less than that, you're mediocre. Here's more insight why it rarely happens...

Accepting Responsibility- Most employees are taught to apologize. Very few are given the latitude to say "it's our fault". Apologizing is important...it's expected. But, accepting responsibility is vital...it demonstrates a genuine interest to solve the problem and make someone happy...and, it's rarely done at the front line.

Front-Line Ownership- Almost every organization sets-up rules and policies which get in the way of efficiently solving problems at the point of customer contact, which is precisely when and where customers want action. Often, a lack of investment and trust in the staff sets-up a fear-based bureaucracy with layers of supervisory approvals necessary to get anything outside of the rule book accomplished.

Improv and Immediacy- Most employees are trained to follow rules and scripts which are developed around prescribed scenarios. The problem is that most customer issues don't follow the script...they happen because somewhere, someone colored outside the lines. And then, the system fails because there's no prescribed answer and time is needed to obtain blessings from bosses to move off the script. Customers don't have time or the patience for your system...they go somewhere else.

There are two objectives every company should put at or near the top of their strategic plan...1. Hospitality First- infuse your organization with a hospitality attitude...give people what they want, and deliver it in a meaningful way; and, 2. Trust- Allow every front-line team member to solve every problem. Find a way to do these two things well, and you will be way ahead of everyone else.

Oh...and as far as my luggage, After a dozen phone calls, three e-mails, two trips to get things I desperately needed, and a debate with the Albuquerque GM about receipts and audit policy (long story), my carry-on bag arrived a week later, albeit in a pretty rough state. The hassle factor is alive and well...just like I expected.
Computer_bag_009

, ,

Marketing 101

, ,

Peel back the layers of your current marketing/strategic plan. If you can't find these points in there...please redo.

  1. Understand what your guest wants (listen and engage)...and give it to them
  2. Surprise people through meaningful delivery (hospitality)
  3. Chop Wood...focus on flawless execution, improve...then, repeat

If you do these things really well, spreading the word will almost take care of itself.

Yes...it's this simple.

Credit...inspired by this post.

, , , ,

Missed Opportunity for Continental

, , , ,

Art of Hospitality Lesson...When things go bad, don't make them worse. Seems like common sense. I think that's what is lacking in organizations like Continental Airlines.

Last Thursday, 168 passengers on Continental flight 71 endured a 32 hour journey to get from Amsterdam to Newark. Along the way, the poor people on the plane enjoyed overflowing and inoperable toilets, raw sewage in the aisles and an unexpected overnight stop in Ireland. One of the passengers, Dana Bushman, was kind enough to share her personal account. Or, you can read the media version. Either way, it wasn't a good day for anyone, especially Continental.

Continental's failure has nothing to do with toilets or flight delays. Much like like Jet Blue's Valentine's Day chaos, it's not an equipment problem, it's a people problem. It's an attitude of prevention and fear that gets these companies into trouble. They use traditional and outdated PR tactics to downplay very serious and remarkable issues. And, that's what everyone expects them to do...and there lies the missed opportunity. Here's the PR statement released by Continental:

"We deeply regret the serious inconvenience to our customers and are apologizing to them and compensating them for the poor conditions on the flight as well as the diversion and delay," from the Houston-based carrier.
FYI, the compensation (to date) amounted to $100-$500 in credit vouchers for future flights.

Pretty lame...and exactly what we've come to expect. Now, they're in a real firestorm...and, deservedly so.

The mishandling of the people on that flight was remarkably bad. Yes, some things could have been prevented along the way. But, they weren't. And, the situation ended up in the toilet (pun intended). Such is life. But, anytime you have a situation that's remarkably bad, you have a gift...an opportunity to create something remarkably good. In fact, it's the only option...if you care to erase the bad. Continental should have been prepared to do just that. They should have seized the opportunity and jumped into action and done something like this...Continental's CEO should have personally greeted the passengers of that flight upon arrival in Newark. The airline should have made 168 passengers lifetime platinum (or whatever the highest level is) members. They should have been offered lifetime airline passes (at least a couple of trips per year). They should have been treated like royalty. They should have been given champagne and T-shirts (I survived the s**t storm on flight 71). They should have been showered with gifts and apologies...and caring.

The passengers should have been converted from disgruntled Continental haters to raving fans...whatever the price. But sadly, they weren't.

Continental could have been lucky (where opportunity meets preparation). But, sadly, they weren't.

We're going to unravel this some more on tomorrow's indieHotelier program...join in on the fun at 11 AM EDT via Talkshoe.

Update: Dana Bushman will join us on tomorrow's live indieHotelier show to give us her first-hand account.

Getting Personal

The first step to providing engaging hospitality is seeing people as individuals...not as customers. Customers are no name bodies who shop, stand in line and fill out surveys. Individuals ask for coffee 135 degrees, like getting to know the manager and take the time to make personal videos and post them on Tripadvisor. Customers, in aggregate, don't connect with you, individual people do. Just like it's easy for an industry or business to discount the validity of customer opinion polls, it's easy for a person to forget an average experience...because there's no emotional connection, it's not personal.  Taking the time to get to know someone forces you to treat them better, like a friend or neighbor. It forces you to have conversations...instead of transactions. It forces you to care...like it really matters what they think of you.

Individuals form opinions about your business based on how you treat them, not what your customer service policy is or mission statement dictates. And, the more choices they have, the more this personal part matters. Companies that excel in engagement, that take the time to demonstrate caring, will win.

Your job is to make every part of your business more personal and engaging...your website, the call center, the signage, the front counter, the menu...everything. Lead people along a path of meaningful delivery, from beginning to end.

Engagement and Leaving Room

Southwest

According to ACSI, Southwest is again the leader in customer satisfaction among airlines, turning in a score of 76 (out of100) which is up 2.7% over last year. The airlines combined are quite marginal (no surprise if you've been on a commercial plane lately) with a score of 63, down 3.1% from a year ago. United takes the honor of being last with a score of 56...uggh.

There are two underlying reasons why companies like Southwest Airlines shine when others, faced with the same constraints, fail...engagement and leaving room.

Engagement

Southwest doesn't serve customers, they engage with them. There's a big difference. Customer service is imparting your standards, scripts and ways of doing things on your customer...and hoping they like it. Customer engagement (the key to hospitality) is centered on listening, adapting and improvising...and breaking the rules, especially when things go wrong. Practicing engagement means you're more interested in the conversation and what you can learn from it...than where it might lead.

Leave Room

Southwest doesn't spend as much time bloviating about how great they are, what their on-time record is, or how wonderful their services is. In fact, they paint a rather average picture of "no frills", no assigned seats travel....with the lowest fares. So, most travelers (especially newbies) come to the counter with a pretty low expectation of the experience. Of course, this is helped along a bit by the reputation of airline travel in general...which is precisely why there's a such a grand opportunity to win at this part of the game. And, Southwest does. They leave room to exceed the preconceived notion that air travel stinks. They leave room to create a positive emotional connection with everyone they touch. They leave room to show you they care.

The one question that beckons is why a company like this doesn't achieve even higher scores? A couple of reasons...one, their reputation. It's their own worst enemy. Over time, they've done such a good job training us...and Loving us, that they've created a path leading to an even higher expectation. While this is definitely a good problem to have, it has it's drawbacks. It means you're forced to reinvent yourself every so often to keep things interesting and new. The other reason the scores aren't higher is that the limitations faced by the airline pack are pretty daunting. When you consider weather delays, mechanical standards, complexity of crew schedules, dependence on computers and machinery to move vast amounts of people and luggage through a system that's already clogged...you're going to have issues. In fact, it's remarkable that anyone can achieve these results, both financially and in the service realm, given the rules and conditions of the game. And, due to this contextual reality, Southwest doesn't really need to do any better. They're already remarkable, close to 10 points ahead of their nearest competitor, Continental.

While the explanation was lengthy, the lesson is short: figure out ways to hold conversations and engage with your customer...and, don't tout yourself as being the best...let them do it for you.

And here's a bonus...when looking for place to play the engagement game, choose a sand box where going beyond expectations doesn't happen often, or at all (like the airline business, satellite TV or the economy hotel segment). It makes you remarkable by default when you do.

,

The Power of A Voice

,

Lately, I've been looking at a lot of hotel websites, some good...and some, not so good. I've also called many of the same hotels. Interestingly, no matter what I experienced while looking at the website, it was almost immediately replaced by what I felt when talking with the operator, reservations agent, etc.

We all focus a lot on our on-line presence...because we're told it's really important. And, it is...often the difference between getting the call or not. But, don't let that overshadow something far more critical to the sale...your voice. Be sure to spend  at least an equal amount of time on that part of the experience too.

,

Friendship

,

Dsc_0015
Friendship is extremely important in hospitality...in fact, it's the heart and soul. If we treated all of our guests, owners and staff as well as we did our closest friends, I suggest things could be better and easier for everyone. The speed bumps in our business grind would get much smaller.

Last month, I made a lot of friends at the Inn at Lost Creek...a splendid little hotel in Telluride, Colorado. A small collection of them are pictured above (clockwise...Karito, me, Pati, Lore and Cali, up-front). There are others, like the Majors family, the Yasura's and Lord and Lady Hamer...all wonderful guests. While we went through our daily journey, we learned from each other, discovered new ways of doing things and somehow survived what sometimes seemed like an insurmountable objective...to get to the end of season. My hat's off to the entire team...good job. And, to the many friends I made along the way...thank you.

,

Bring a Box of Chocolates

,

Picked this one from Tom Peters as he writes about his recent experience in Holland and meeting Swedish management guru Jan Gunnarsson.

"Jan performed a wonderful little riff on stage about the person in charge walking into a meeting:

The "boss" brings a PowerPoint presentation.
The "leader" brings a polished Vision Statement.
The "host" brings a box of chocolates. (Hey, we were in Holland.)"

Leadership is not at all about being in charge or demonstrating how much you know. It's just the opposite...believing in and relying upon the ability of those around you.

The Rush

I've spent the last month assisting the F&B staff of Inn at Lost Creek in Telluride, Colorado. With few exceptions, they performed admirably, giving guests a memorable experience. Occasionally, we would incur the "rush" when it seemed like everyone in town decided to dine with us at once.  During these onslaughts, I noticed something interesting. Food took longer to get to the table, it took people longer to get seated, and it took longer to get the bill. But, that's not what mattered most. What mattered was the absence of conversation...the little bit of extra time and attention we normally provided when we had the right amount of staff, less guests to serve, or both.

The heart and soul of hospitality is conversation, attention and caring. That needs to be preserved at all costs, especially when it's really busy...when people expect it the least.

Engage

I've never really liked the term "serve" as a way of describing how we provide guest service. It seems too formal and disconnected. Here's a definition from  Merriam-Webster..."to furnish or supply with something needed or desired".

I think the emerging type of service people are looking for is based more on "engagement" and personal interaction.  If more businesses looked at it this way...building a relationship with someone instead of serving a customer, I think we all win.

There's a distinct difference in counting how many people were served on a given day vs. those that we learned something from and treated like they were friends.

, ,

Seven Steps to Remarkable Customer Service

, ,

If you are in business, you are in the customer service business...and hospitality is a big part of what you do. If you haven't run across Joel Spolsky's list, please take five minutes to read it. It's one of the best service articles I've read. I especially like the bonus at the end...invest in passionate people. Thanks to Seth for the pointer.

Inn Effect

Inns are known for being unique and quaint with a high degree of personal service, customer engagement and charm. You wouldn't use those words to describe most hotels. But, it's precisely these characteristics which describe the most successful companies...the ones that do hospitality best. More and more, people are looking for the "inn" experience...where the top priority is making friends and building lifelong customers. They like doing business with people who care about them and especially those they can trust. Typically, we don't trust people we don't know...and therein lies the primary advantage of the inn effect...the ability to build more personal relationships with people, which leads to trust, referrals and lot's of check-ins.

So, spend some time figuring out ways to make your place more like an inn...and less like a hotel.