An open letter to hoteliers (Part 1)
Dear Hotel Friends Why don’t you appreciate me more than you do when I show up at your doorstep? Have you lost sight of the fact, that, as your guest, I am at the centre of the hospitality industry and in an ever expanding circle; you need to always be ahead of my needs.
You try to communicate with me, spending money to make me remember your name, to sell your brand or to lure me to your ‘home away from home’, and, for all intents and purposes you seem be courting me, but I know you like to ‘play the field’. I often question your commitment towards me. You deal with me largely on a statistical basis, while I often introduce emotion into the equation, trying to imagine what I will experience walking in your front door and up in my room when head hits pillow. It’s not an exaggeration to say that the success or failure of your hotel depends upon the level of customer service you provide. Service is and will be a big influence factor.
In my point of view the key to success in this industry is how to surprise me – i.e. pleasantly surprise me. If I am satisfied I may recommend you to two or three people, if disgruntled I can log on to social media and steer several people away from doing business with you. Remember, satisfying me, may just not be enough. Because being satisfied – doesn’t necessarily ensure that I will return to you. I may shop around for better deals. After all, satisfaction in the hospitality industry is a moving target.
Should you ask me to fill in your guest questionnaire, I must not endure a mental ‘tug-a-war’ on whether to rate your performance as ‘satisfactory’ or be less charitable, (forget the higher ratings). I am also saddened when you set ‘satisfied’ as your highest metric for success. Some might argue that this is indeed a ‘competitive bar’, but the reality is that the majority of you are struggle to get beyond ‘satisfaction’, which is but only the lowest base camp on the climb towards peak ‘excellence’. I've always considered satisfactory as average. Who wants to be 'average'? If that's acceptable to you fine, but being stuck in the middle of the pack isn't exactly going to change the world... any world, even your own.
Leonard L. Berry, Ph.D., Texas A. & M. University Professor of Marketing defined ten domains of satisfaction, which are: quality, value, timeliness, efficiency, ease of access, environment, inter-departmental teamwork, front-line service behaviors, commitment to the customer, and innovation. Are you monitoring your domains of satisfaction to obtain feedback about what those domains mean to each functional area of the organisation? In the spirit of future cooperation, let me equate Berry’s domains of satisfaction with relevance to the hospitality business and elaborate on some steps you can take to improve on these ten domains:-
Quality: Quality is in the eye of the beholder and is directly influenced by perception. I.e. it is I, as your guest, who can decide if you have satisfied me or not. My satisfaction is dependent on many factors, such as the quality of the tangible facilities you offer; the responsiveness and empathy of your staff to my needs and requests; the consistency of service quality provided; the accuracy of information given; the location of your hotel; and the price you charge me for accommodation. If there is ‘no gap’ between my expectations and the performance delivered by you – then I am highly satisfied. In reality, most of you stumble and leave an indelibly ‘large gap’ – due to your unwillingness to invest wisely on tangible facilities such as guest rooms, public areas, and technology and in the equal investment and development of human capitol. Think about it.
Value: My perception of value when I stay in your hotel, is broadly based upon ten items I measure on a ‘better than/worse than expected’ scenario, namely; speed of my check-in, how knowledgeable your employees are, cleanliness of your lobby and public areas including washrooms, How clean is the guestroom you provide me? Comfort level of the bed, bedding and linen, guestroom items in working order and properly replenished, do I hear any sounds from the air-conditioned, corridor or adjoining guestroom i.e. the quietness in my room, friendliness of your staff, safety and security and the ‘choices’ your hotel offers as ‘value additions’.
Timeliness: Whilst I appreciate friendly and helpful employees, educate your staff that timeliness in service delivery should be a key goal in your business. When your reservations attendant promises to send my room confirmation and has to be reminded a day later or when I receive my wake call 10 minutes after my requested time or the when the soup I ordered in your fancy restaurant is served lukewarm 35 minutes later – you have lamentably failed me. Understandably, my assessment of your hotel will be significantly downgraded.
To be continued |
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