The energy test
I learned about the energy test whilst working in hotel lobbies. It taught me that small details shape big outcomes: overlook the small stuff, and the big picture will eventually fall apart. This was long before I ever sat at Management meetings. It infuriates me when I hear hotel leaders go on and on about vision, whilst being short-sighted and neglecting the details.
The energy test I refer to here is not about looking for a wellness and fitness evaluation, a science-based assessment, a physics experiment in the lab, or a personal energy-checking method using muscle testing or a pendulum.
This energy test is very simple: After an interaction with staff does your hotel’s guests leave with more energy and fulfilled expectations, than they entered with. Be it whether walking out of the lobby, walking back to the room or leaving the restaurant after dining. By the way, one can apply the ‘energy test’ (notwithstanding a few exceptions), to employees leaving after a staff meeting or a briefing prior to the shift and even to a ‘one-on-one’ held.
In our industry every operational aspect, however small… from making the reservation to the check-in flow to service procedures - even setting a table properly, becomes the difference between ensuring guests staying faithful and saying “never again.” If you consider what makes a good vacation, it’s about paying attention to the details that can make or break the experience.
A lot of hotels spend more time and energy pursuing new guests, forgetting that their best bookings will actually come from returning guests. For instance, if a guest is staying in the Presidential suite of that property, you can be rest assured that the GM or EAM will be around to greet the guest/s. But in the case of a very frequent guest why waste energy and attention. To illustrate this let’s read what a regular guest of a 5-star hotel in Colombo wrote on social media.
“This year, happened to be our 20th visit to the hotel and the manager undertook to provide specific rooms in a particular location. Imagine our disappointment on arrival to find we had a 20 minute almost silent check in process. Why hasn’t the system got our details loaded up? Surely all that is needed is a passport number, credit card and a signature? 5 minutes at worst. To then be made to feel as if we weren’t expected was frustrating. No room was available in the area promised. We were offered the opportunity to change rooms after 2 days on an 11 day stay- a daft and inconvenient solution…and to think that I wasted all my time communicating my requirements eight months ahead of my arrival. The experience emotionally drained all my energy even before I entered the hotel room.” Can it get worse than that? It can and it will unless….
In the vibrant and demanding theatre of hospitality, where every interaction is a performance and every guest expects to be treated as royalty, there lurks an often-overlooked challenge - social fatigue. Imagine the hotel concierge who juggles guest requests with a smile, the server who remains composed under the pressure of a dinner rush, or the front desk agent who handles complaints with untiring patience. Beneath these poised exteriors, many front liners in the hospitality trade battle to remain focused and to halt the rapidly declining energy levels that can lead to decreased job performance: resulting in mistakes occurring or reduced efficiency - thus impacting the overall quality of service.
In life there will always be both good and bad days and it is no different when at work, especially in the hospitality industry, where sometimes the negatives can appear to outweigh even the best days. Managers need to pay close attention to their staff whenever they notice a shift in how they perform while working. If you start to see that your employees seem to lack motivation, seem physically or emotionally exhausted, or seem to be more negative in the workplace, it’s a good time to pull them aside to check on them and see how you can help them. Maybe it’s time for a change in how things are run or expand resources for staff to receive counseling. Unfortunately, most managers don’t recognise the signs or are simply indifferent to the hardships faced by their staff.
Shafeek Wahab – Editor, Hospitality Sri Lanka, Consultant, Trainer, Motivational Speaker, Mystery Guest Auditor, Ex-Hotelier
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