Learning from mistakes: What can hotels learn from the airline industry?
We all expect employees to perform perfectly, and when they make a mistake, we quickly label them as being careless… without looking at the root cause – the why? In a lot of cases, particularly in hospitality businesses, it’s due to poor training, weak interpersonal communications (with both external and internal customers), flawed processes, incomplete information gathering, impaired decision-making, distractions, stress, fatigue or non-work related issues. Failures by back of house departments, such front of house staff (checking guests into rooms that are occupied) or housekeeping (neglecting to report defective items for repairs) are a few examples of stepping in the wrong direction – all of which lead to inferior service.
Most everyone in business strives to be 100% perfect, but that’s not possible. In complex environments, such as in hotel and restaurant operations you will always have errors. Whilst total error prevention, meaning error avoidance is unrealistic, error management, i.e. reducing and managing errors well - is well within the realm of possibilities. And that requires operators and managers to start asking “what needs to be done” after an error has occurred.
Learning from failure is something that the airline industry has done very successfully. Industry statistics show with steady year-over-year growth, there were more than 40 million flights globally in 2020 (prior to covid), while fatalities comparative to distance travelled, have been extremely low and on a downward trend. More fatalities have been recorded from travel by car, train or boat. By meticulously learning from its failures, the airline industry has become the safest form of mass transportation. The industry has latched on to every opportunity to improve safety. But mistakes and, sorrowfully, tragedies do still occur. Boeing’s recent problems come immediately to mind. What twisted Boeing’s culture from excellence in aviation design, quality, and safety into emphasizing short-term profit and enhanced distribution of cash to shareholders? Many would say leadership failures, flawed culture and greed.
Apart from safety, maximising revenue, particularly with the adaption of the latest technology is one of many lessons to be learnt from airlines. Just think of this the next time you check in for a flight at the airline counter. The emphasis is what needs to be done to process you, the traveller, and get you onto the aeroplane as quickly as possible. Technology plays a big part in the course of action, and it’s been so for quite a longtime now. It took the recent pandemic for hotels to catch up with technology. The way things are moving, this process is not going to be unique to airlines.
Bear in mind though, the ‘above the clouds’ place of work for airlines is different to the ‘on the ground’ operations in hotels. Obtaining a flight ticket or reserving a hotel room, in an age where one can converse, choose, purchase and pay with the mobile phone is no different in both cases. However, the similarities end there. Hotels are not airlines. Airlines are the gatekeepers of the travel industry and to many destinations, whilst hotels are at the heart of most trips.
Airlines understand what most travelers want: affordable air travel. If the price is right, customers will put up with the hours of discomfort and limited choices. Technology and convenience are the aces the airlines hold. Hotel guests want comfort - regardless of the category of hotel. They may accept a middle ground on service, but will be most unwilling to compromise on comfort. They also want choices and to be in control of those choices.
Shafeek Wahab - Editor, Hospitality Sri Lanka, Consultant, Customer Service Trainer and Ex-Hotelier
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