A most excellent Guest experience is based upon memorable ‘touches". We can thrill our Guest with amenities, WOW with service and astound them with extraordinary facilities. But, let's discuss the topper – what really they will talk about (and remember) – your personal "touch" which made them feel special. The key is to engage your guests yourself (you and you management team).
Oh, we have barriers – those excuses ready-made – to keep us cloistered and movement shackled. Those meetings, the demands of our office and being desk ridden, the controls of our hand held technologies. Can you cast those aside for a few hours every week? Yes, you can – and commit to meeting and serving your guest first hand. This is where innkeepers and Bed and Breakfast operators create the memories and the differentiators. They greet their guests personally, register them, and show them to their rooms. Their "touch" remains throughout the visit. No matter the size of your operation, you can do it, too, by enlisting your senior management group or executive committee. Let's see how to do that.
Once a week for two hours at check-in time an assigned senior manager is at the Front Desk. They watch the process and select a Guest(s) to escort to their room. This gives them ample time to strike up a conversation, put the Guest at ease, talk up the property amenities and activities, promote hotel restaurants and spa – you get the drift. Then, in the Guest room, they explain the A/C, the television, lighting, even the emergency procedures. The manager ends this "rooming" exercise by leaving a business card and the offer to further assist the Guest, if required, during their stay. And, the last "touch", upon their departure, the manager writes them a thank you note, for you have on file all Guest contact information.
Let's do a little math here. You have maybe five direct report senior managers, who volunteer two hours a week, plus yourself. That is twelve hours a week, forty eight hours a month, 576 hours a year of pure Guest contact. How can you beat that for a personalized "touch" and a memorable Guest experience? Try it! As a side benefit, just think what this Guest engagement says to your staff – quite a message in itself.
Republished with permission from A Guy Walks In…
About The Author
John Hendrie, the consultant/owner of Hospitality Performance, has taken a hard look at the HR discipline. He knows it; he has worked it. Now, he has formulated his thoughts and recommendations as a collaborative author in a new, must read E-book, called Good Book of Business. He and other experts share their expertise on topics from marketing to finance to operations. A must read for any businessman or woman! Buy it and become enlightened. Click here to see a sample chapter.
Authors contact
John R. Hendrie
Phone: 978-346-4367
Email: jhendrie@hospitalityperformance.com
Hospitality Performance, Inc.
http://www.hospitalityperformance.com
40 East Main Street
USA – Merrimac, MA 01860
Phone: 978-346-4367
Email: jhendrie@hospitalityperformance.com
