A culture of hospitality
The hospitality marketplace is strongly bouncing back. The sector has made a strong recovery four years on from the first Covid lockdown. And after many lean years, hotels and restaurants have recovered pricing power. That’s the good news. So what’s the bad news? It’s the array of seemingly indistinguishable hotel options and brands that has crowded the marketplace ratcheting up confusion in the peoples’ minds.
Many of these hotels are hell-bent on the culture of making profit, i.e. are culture-obsessed about financial performance above everything else. You must make money to survive and it’s totally okay to say that out loud (and to everyone else), but turning a blind eye to a problem because the cost of resolving it simply doesn’t equate to the price of the solution, is self- destructive.
The problem referred to here is that of the type of culture that exists in certain hospitality operations. An organization’s culture is responsible for creating the kind of environment in which the hospitality business, (be it a hotel, a restaurant, an entertainment company, cruise line, café, catering operation or a coffee shop), is managed, and has a major impact on its ultimate success or failure.
Culture is defined as a basic set of understandings that are shared by members of an organization that influence decision-making and are shared and passed on to new members of the organization. Hence, cultivating culture is an ongoing, perennial investment. Fail to keep up with escalating expectations and it’s easy to drop behind.
In an interview on the business and culture of hospitality, famous restaurateur Danny Meyer, said that “a successful culture goes beyond mere service. Instead, it’s all about making people want to go back once they’ve left because they truly feel they’re wanted back”. He believes that it’s about happiness and bringing people together who are happiest when they make others happy. Cultivating culture is an ongoing, perennial investment.
Culture is the glue that binds the organisation’s mission, vision and values under one umbrella. It creates the environment in the company. A positive culture powers it towards realising its long-term plans and vision, and where bottom line performance takes care of itself. Hence, getting everyone on board to understand, accept and commit to a quality culture will enable business success easier to achieve.
A hotel can have the most elaborate and rigorous set of operational standards (SOPs)…aimed at a single goal: to provide its guest a hassle-free and memorable experience. But if the culture is not right or tilts towards been toxic, all the well-thought out standards, rules and scripted phrases in voluminous manuals can’t pull this off. As Manuel the harassed waiter in the TV comedy series ‘Faulty Towers” would say, “It will be a case of scripted polite old phrases, uttered by not so friendly hombres”.
A culture of hospitality is not something that is exclusive and restricted to 5-star hotels. Let me illustrate this with two scenarios.
Scenario A: You drive up to the entrance of a top notch 5-star hotel. A smiling valet opens your car door and bid you “Welcome to the XYZ hotel” You are then accompanied to the front desk by a pleasant and chatty bellperson, who after the check-in formalities are done, brings your luggage to your room within ten minutes. During your stay you wander around the property, and begin to observe a pattern of behaviour. When employees come within ten feet of you, they will acknowledge your presence with a polite wave or nod. Coming within seven feet, employees will greet you either “Good Morning” or “Good Afternoon,” some even using your surname. Encounters within five and three feet will bring forth a level of engagement in the form of a brief conversation opener, e.g. “Hope your stay with us has been excellent. If there is anything more, we can do please let us know”.
Scenario B: You drive and park your vehicle at the property’s car park as there is no valet in this “no frills” hotel. You carry your luggage in as there is no bellperson to deliver your luggage to your room. But walking in to check in, you meet a cheerful employee who greets you and invites you to the manager’s “meet the guests” cocktail event that evening. Although you hardly encounter any hotel staff, as you walk to your room, the corridor’s harmonious balance between style, simplicity and natural light that tells you ‘less is more’. A problem you encounter during breakfast your stay is dealt with swiftly accompanied by a sincere apology. When checking out the next day, be surprised to find that yesterday’s morning meal is ‘on the house, due to that hiccup you faced.
Regardless of whether a hotel is upscale or budget, has a high or low staff-to-guest ratio, provides luxury or basic amenities and is subject to varying guest expectations, the culture of hospitality and the warmth of a welcome need not be any different. Why should it!
One can have a great team, but true winning mentality is something that exists beyond strategy and talent. It’s the quality of your organisation’s culture – one when carefully nurtured in a transformational manner paves the way for staff to recognise every moment and step up the plate.
Shafeek Wahab – Editor, Hospitality Sri Lanka, Consultant, Customer Service Trainer and Ex-Hotelier
|
|
|
|
