SUMMARY
THEME 4 CAPTIVATE YOUR CUSTOMERS Strive for total customer focus
1. HAVE YOU ACHIEVED LEVEL S?
To measure whether the experience you offer at the hotel does actually deliver on your service goals and adheres to the service steps, you need to assess the quality of service delivery across all elements of the experience web. This can be achieved in a number of ways.
Self-assessment
It is a very good idea to allow employees to assess their own performance in relation to the quality of service they offer. On a monthly basis, employees in each department should, as a team, assess their own performance in achieving their service goals and to determine whether or not they follow the service steps consistently. This could be done as part of the monthly meeting discussed previously. The benefit of this approach is that it involves employees in defining their own strengths and areas for improvement and increases their levels of ownership for what they do, or don’t do.
It is not complicated to organise a basic self-assessment framework for each department and employees could rate their own performance using a simple template, an example of which is shown for check-in below.
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Check-in
Rating 1 2 3 4 5
We are very weak
in this area
We are weak in this area
We are average at
this area
We are strong in this area
We are very strong in this area Service Goal – are we achieving it?
All our customers receive a professional, efficient and friendly check-in which makes them feel welcome and valued by us
Service Steps – do we follow them?
1. We always ensure that the reception desk and lobby area are kept clean and tidy at all times.
2. We always ensure that our hygiene and appearance is excellent at all times and adheres to the hotel dress code. We always wear our name badges.
3. We always acknowledge our customers promptly upon arrival, offer them a warm welcome and make good eye contact with them. We always smile.
4. We always ask the customer how we can assist them and check that their reservation details are in the system. We always confirm the details of their stay back to the customer to ensure accuracy.
5. We always complete check-in efficiently and smoothly at all times according to our agreed procedure.
6. We always check with the customer if they would like a morning call and a newspaper and we always ensure that their request is immediately entered onto the system.
7. We always explain the hotel facilities to the customer when offering the key card to them.
8. We always offer the customer help with their luggage and we always provide clear directions as to how to get to their room.
9. We ensure that we are positive and friendly towards our customers at all times throughout check-in and we chat with them so that they feel we really care about them.
10. We always end check-in by providing our name to the customer as a contact point during their stay and we always wish them a pleasant stay.
You can see that this template simply coverts theservice goalsand stepsfor check-in into statements which can be self-assessed by the reception team. You can apply the same principles for all departments, so that you have a self-assessment checklist for each element of the experience web.
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Using this approach, employees can define their own areas for improvement and given that they are involved in the process, they are more likely to make an effort to improve on any shortcomings they identify. This is a particularly effective approach where you have engaged employees and can also serve to build engagement as it involves employees in decision making related to their area. As such it should be encouraged at your hotel.
External assessment
Self-assessment is useful for the reasons described above, but the true test of whether you are achieving your service goals can only come from assessing quality from the customers’ perspective. To achieve this, you should consider introducing some form ofmystery guest mechanism to your hotel if you don’t already have one in place.
Again, a simple checklist for use as part of the mystery guest process can be developed simply by rewording your service goals and steps into criteria which can be assessed by a mystery guest, as shown below for the check-in component of the experience web.
Check-in
Service Goal
Excellent 2 points
Average 1 point
Poor
0 Points Comments
A professional, efficient and friendly check-in was provided which made me feel welcome and valued.
Service Steps
Excellent 2 points
Average 1 point
Poor
0 Points Comments
1. Reception desk and lobby area were clean, tidy and well presented.
2. Appearance and hygiene of employees was good and they were wearing name badges.
3. Prompt acknowledgement upon arrival was given and a warm welcome with appropriate eye contact and a smile was evident.
4. Booking was in the system and the details were correct as per the reservation made.
5. Check-in was handled efficiently and smoothly.
6. Morning call and newspaper were offered.
7. Hotel facilities were explained.
8. Help was offered with luggage and clear directions provided on how to get to the room.
9. Employee was smiling and courteous throughout the check-in process and did interact well making me feel valued.
10. Check-in was ended in a friendly manner and I was wished a pleasant stay.
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A full mystery guest checklist for all elements of the experience web is provided in the Tools and Resources section at the end of this book.
Using the mystery guest approach can be very effective and when applied properly will help you to determine whether your service goals are being achieved and if the service steps you have agreed with your employees are actually being followed consistently. Using the above checklist, or similar, you can quite easily generate an overall result for the hotel as a whole based on the simple rating scale and break it down by each component of the experience web.