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 as if these hotels have unconsciously linked together to create a common standard of operation Practicing a uniform standard of operation is well and good…but why on earth cannot hotel staff ask for my name instead of my room number? Doesn’t ‘Checking out? May I have your name please? ‘, sound more welcoming? Not too difficult to say either.
A frequent example of emotionally disconnecting guests happens after checking-in, when the receptionists summons a bellboy, hands over the room key/card and with a wave of the hand, tells him ‘Room 406’. Certainly not the way to generate a meaningful experience that will resonate well and hopefully be shared. Now had the Receptionists said to the bellboy, ‘Please take Mr and Mrs. Wahab to room 406’ - that makes a huge difference.
Yet another common scenario is at breakfast, particularly at resort hotels. You arrive at the breakfast room to be greeted by a hostess or member of staff at the entrance. Her/his role is to welcome you to the restaurant and show you to a seat at a vacant table. Yet, all too often, the welcome is overshadowed by a control procedure. To get pass, the staff member needs to identify you, to establish whether to charge you for the breakfast or whether you have already paid for it by booking on an all inclusive plan. To do this, they are given an ‘in-house guest list’ printed by room number with a corresponding column indicating how many are occupying each room.
This means that in order to identify you, they need to know your room number, hence the scripted welcome (parroted to everyone who wishes to enter the restaurant); ‘Good Morning Sir/Madam, may I know your room number?’ In many instances, this question is posed less politely, with the staff member barking out ‘Room number?’
What I find hard to comprehend is why staff cannot be provided with a guest list in room-number order? Wouldn’t it be just as easy to print the guest list in alphabetical order of the guest’s surname so that the hostess/staff can ask, ‘May I have your name please?’ rather than demand the room number. In hotel parlance, staff to do a ‘name search’ instead of the unfriendly ‘room - number search’
Interactions such as the ones described above occur every day, many in hotels – even in those that boast of belonging to internationally reputed brands. My message to these hotels is that when you disconnect the guest at these ‘touchpoints’, the guest has no emotional connection to your brand. On the contrary, the guest would be ruled by price, location or facilities next time he/she chooses to stay. While, they may be satisfied guests, neutrally pleased with the experience at your hotel, that doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll return.
In conclusion, I do not expect staff in large hotels to remember the names of every guest – unless they are very regular visitors. However, I do expect hotels to facilitate making it easier for staff to recall names, by aligning certain procedures so that staff is more likely to use the guest’s name. After all, the name is the first thing you learn about your guest.
Shafeek Wahab – Editor, ‘Hospitality Sri Lanka’, Consultant, Trainer, Ex-Hotelier |
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