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Front of House

Anatomy of a room booking by phone

The ‘Gift’ voucher required that I call Jithendra for a prior reservation. When contacted; Jithendra requested that I call Sureka (providing her tele number) for assistance, as he no longer handled hotel reservations. Not a very positive first impression and read more...

Customer service, stuck in economy

  I recall three articles that appeared in the newspapers way back in 2012 statistically comparing Sri Lanka’s soaring performance in tourism in that year. What caught my attention; in particular, the following, and, I quote, “Tourist ‘Arrivals’ during the first read more...

Customers too expect standards

We may not be aware of them, but we use standards every day, in all aspects of our daily lives – in communications, education, healthcare, food, transport, construction, furniture, customer service and in many others. Some standards have been around read more...

Do we listen to our guests?

Listen to your guests or customers – It seems like such an obvious thing. But do we? Look around you… it’s something that hardly happens or so it seems. How often have we encountered people expressing their frustration for some read more...

Ignite customer service with a spark

  One morning on the way home after my regular walk at the park, I stopped as I regularly do, at the nearest branch of a supermarket chain. The store had just opened its doors for the day and unsurprisingly there read more...

Barman or Receptionist...why not both?

    Nowadays there are several methods of checking into a hotel after having made an advance room booking. The most familiar practice upon entering the hotel is to stop at the reception desk as if you have been summoned to appear read more...

Silver spoon or garden spade?

Tiffany & Company (known colloquially as Tiffany or Tiffany's), founded in New York City in 1837, is a multinational luxury jewelry and specialty retailer operating in 22 countries. Tiffany’s is renowned for its luxury goods, is known for its diamond jewelry and markets itself as an ‘arbiter of taste and read more...

Is your front desk team sales oriented?

The vacancy ad read as follows   “We are looking for a Hotel Front Desk Agent to serve as our guests’ first point of contact and manage all aspects of their accommodation. Hotel Front Desk Agent responsibilities include registering and checking out read more...

The return of the hotel lobby

“Modernity is the transient, the fleeting, the contingent; it is one half of art, the other being the eternal and immovable.” - Charles Baudelaire    Going back in time to the late 1800’s, the hotel lobby served as the place to see read more...

I'm not room number...I have a name

‘Checking out?  Your room number?’  Sounds familiar doesn’t it? Amazing how often, hotel staff at various hotels of differing star ratings, keep asking these identical two questions when you approach the front desk cashier to settle your hotel bill. It’s read more...

'Do not disturb'...but for how long?

Guests won’t find any “Do not disturb” (DND)  signs hanging on doors at Disney's hotels including those at Disneyland, the Aulani in Hawaii and the four hotels that overlook the monorail at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. Eventually, all read more...

Rediscovering the lost art of hospitality - Part 1

When someone makes you feel comfortable and at home, that person, providing a warm, friendly environment is being hospitable. Anything ‘hospitable’ is welcoming and open.   A Greek proverb suggested that in being hospitable, the main feeling should be goodwill. The basis for the read more...

Will the guestroom telephone disappear?

Not for some time. Yes, emerging technologies such as Echo - Amazon’s brand of smart speakers which connects to the voice-controlled intelligent personal assistant named Alexa is making its presence in hotel guestrooms. However, the jury is still out on read more...

The courtesy call conundrum

Rudy a hotelier friend of mine recently reminisced, how after staying for four days, he received a Courtesy call from the hotel’s guest relations officer on the day he was to checkout. The caller wanted to know whether he had read more...

Reinvent the welcome experience with self-check-in

It’s time to reinvent the self-check-in process, and that doesn’t mean only cutting back front-desk employees. For decades, hotel brands have been attempting to launch various versions of self-check-in.   In the 1990s, I remember much talk but little adoption beyond beta read more...

The real opportunity in voice is human engagement

While it seems more on-trend to have voice-search capabilities at your hotel, don’t forget entirely about the importance of human-to-human interaction between front-desk staff and guests.    Seems like every day when I read hotel industry news publications there is always a read more...

The top 7 front office controls

As you know the front office is the command post for your operation, and it’s also the point where all the receipts come through. Making sure you have solid internal controls at the desk is not only good business, it’s read more...

A true story of an authentic hospitality welcome

Recently while on the road conducting training for the Camelback Resort in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania, I had the opportunity to experience a genuine, authentic welcome. Before that story, let me first share a few details about my expectations, read more...

Ideas for Reservation Managers

Although the webcasts that TNS/Track so generously sponsor usually focus on sales training tips directly for the frontline reservations staff, this month I took a little different approach and focused on train-the-trainer ideas for managers. The format was sort of read more...

Ideas for Reservation Managers - Part 2

Challenge: Reservations agents may not relate to the life experiences of prospective guests   In order for agents to sell to the unique needs and wants of prospective guests, they first need to develop empathy and an understanding of what guests are read more...

How about a housekeeping services doorknob menu?

There’s nothing quite like hotel room service. Be it an indulgence or a necessity, few things seem better suited to serve a jet-lagged traveler, (who gets into the hotel past midnight), than a breakfast tray delivered to the room…long after read more...

Kept on hold...

An article I wrote earlier on my recent experience of having been kept ‘on-hold’ for a total 39 minutes during 3 call attempts to speak to someone at an airline when seeking information made me wonder whether this was just read more...

Being invisible doesn't mean not invaluable

I recall the time…and it was in those earlier days during my career in hospitality, where as the Front Office Manager at the Ramada Renaissance Hotel in Colombo, I had to briefly present to my Rooms Division Manager, a summary read more...

Train hotel teams to stop full refund scammers

Years ago when Promus Hotels Corporation’s Hampton Inn brand was the first major chain to implement the “100% Satisfaction Guarantee,” executives there reported they were able to do so because very few people tried to abuse the system. On the read more...

Reinvent the welcome experience with self check-in

It’s time to reinvent the self-check-in process, and that doesn’t mean only cutting back front-desk employees. For decades, hotel brands have been attempting to launch various versions of self-check-in.   In the 1990s, I remember much talk but little adoption beyond beta read more...

Customer security doesn't stop at the car park...

We’ve all seen security personnel at hotels, restaurants, supermarkets, hospitals, shopping malls, sports complexes, movie theatres, etc. Of course, one of their roles is to ensure the safety of everyone – staff, customers, guests, visitors, and third parties who may read more...

The evolution of hotel PMS

As hotels transitioned from small, independent properties to large hotel chains with global presence, new tools had to be created to manage them. The same happened across the travel space with businesses like the airlines. Quite simple and straight-forward in read more...

During hotel check-in now may be the best time to upsell

Consider Your Strategy When Planning Pricing Tiers, Sales Pitch   In recent years, more and more hotels are utilizing pre-arrival drip campaigns offering guests the opportunity to purchase an upgrade prior to their arrival, which is certainly a smart move.   However, these days read more...

A tale of hotel customer service

It’s great to start the year with a nice story of a positive hotel customer service experience!   This was not a five star hotel, but was more importantly a business that did not focus on stars but focused on people.   The hotel was in read more...

Placing guests at the heart of safety - Part 1

Much like the phrase, "When it rains, it pours," the antagonist Claudius in Shakespeare's Hamlet expresses in military terms how bad things usually come in groups rather than on their own.   "When sorrows come, they come not single spies but in read more...

Placing guests at the heart of safety - Part 2

Safety and security of hotels, be it prevention of accidents, theft or for fire safety, is not only the business of the security department. Yes, it is their core responsibility, but it is also every employees business, and everyone in read more...

What personalized hospitality is and what it isn't

Acknowledgements from hotel employees mean much more than technology solutions   As a hotel conference speaker and opinion writer, I always try to stay up on the very latest innovations and tech solutions, and so I start each day by reading at read more...

How do you shine amongst the crowd?

It is said that a full-service hotel with 300 guest rooms, averages around 5,000 staff - guest interactions daily. With future advances in AI technology, this may become less. Nevertheless, there will still be, on the one hand a great read more...

Bad Dinosaurs in the service industry

Those of you who have seen the TV series “Bad Dinosaurs” would have followed the hilarious shenanigans of a Tyrannosaurus family, as they deal with the trials of life in the prehistoric wilderness, while surrounded by incompetent dinosaurs.   A series of read more...

When being slow or too fast can turn off customers

Service delivery is an important aspect in the hospitality industry. The delivery chain consists of two processes; one is the back-end, the other the front. The front-end is only visible to customers and it is usually this activity, which comes read more...

Improve customer satisfaction by fixing your systems

Does your company run like clockwork? Are your accountants pleased with how everything moves smoothly? Is your managers’ content with how customers are managed by your system?   If so, watch out! Your present methods, regulations, policies and procedures may be convenient read more...

The characteristics of a truly punctilious hotel

Attention to detail is a hallmark of hospitality   One thing I love about reading online these days is how you can just touch a word to find the definition.   While reading classical historical fiction recently, I came upon what was for me read more...

Front line staff: Do you know your product?

Working on the front lines of any establishment can be tricky. You’ve got to handle all sorts of customers, while maintaining a friendly, professional and efficient demeanour. Should something go wrong, you’re first in the firing line. So it’s not read more...

Getting to know your guests

The closing moments of every guest’s trip, for example, taking a ‘break’ from work – begins as a dream; a dream of a wonderful vacation, a dream of a blissful romantic escapade or an exhilaratingly relaxing getaway.   With dreams come expectations. read more...

The six levels of customer service

This article about the six levels of customer service was first published in Bloomberg Businessweek.  Last month I met a client in Indonesia. We went to lunch at a nearby mall where music poured into the public area from every read more...

Tweak your system to improve customer experience

The Disneyland Hotel recently tarnished Mickey’s reputation with an influential customer from Seattle. Mark stayed at a hotel inside the park with his family for three days. He attended a legal seminar while his family enjoyed Disney rides, ate Disney read more...

Those 3 dreaded words

The challenges facing the business of hospitality are on striking the proper balance of combining tech innovation with realism, when delivering personalised experiences.   Self-service kiosks have become increasingly popular in different industries and its entry into the hospitality industry comes as read more...

Customer - centricity and customer obsession

Undoubtedly, there are several other hotel brands in the same city where your property is located - all aiming to win the same customers you are trying to reach. Competition in the hospitality industry is both fierce and continually changing. read more...

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10 Best Places to visit in Sri Lanka - World Top 10
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