Customer experience – which represents the sum of all experiences your customer has with your goods or service during their relationship with you as the provider.
Know what you are delivering
Do you have a clear image of what service you are capable of delivering to your customers?
The first part of creating a Superior Hotel Customer Experience is to start defining what kind of customer service you are capable of delivering consistently.
Customer service – which represents the actual service for the customer before – during and after the purchase of your goods or service. Each activity represents the feeling if your goods or service has met the customer’s expectation.
Delivering great customer service is one thing, but do it consistently is what will make the difference.
Your guest will arrive with an image of their expectation of what kind of service your hotel delivers, and there should be no doubt in your mind if you are capable of meeting this image.
If your guest arrives with an image you are not capable of meeting, never come up with excuses. Be honest with the customer service you are capable of delivering.
If you have a walk-in customer requesting a room with a jacuzzi or ocean view, and you know your hotel doesn’t have rooms with a jacuzzi or ocean view then this is a service your hotel is not capable of delivering.
When a guest arrives with similar images and you can’t meet them always apologize for the inconvenience. Then inform you are not capable of meeting their expectations, and then provide alternatives. Offer to check other hotels in the area to find out if they can meet your guest’s expectations, and then ask your guest if you find a hotel that meets their expectation if they want you to see if the hotel can provide a courtesy hold on the room.
Telling the guest to take a ‘hike’ delightfully can turn a potentially bad situation into something superior. This can only be done when you have a clear image of what you are capable of delivering.
Many managers misunderstand what it means to over-deliver. Do not try to over-deliver on a service your hotel is not providing, but provide extraordinary of what service your hotel is capable of delivering.
Expand your creativity of what you are capable of delivering
If your in-house guest comes down to your front office and has forgotten their toothbrush and toothpaste, this is a service you are capable of providing. Here you might have to be a little creative if your Hotel doesn’t have these items. These are items that are possible to get from a close convenient store or gas station. If it is a distance to the nearest convenience store or gas station and you know that you want to be capable of delivering it while you are on duty be honest. But offer the guest that you will pick it up after you did at your shift, and leave it at Front Desk in an envelope with name and room-number for pickup.
Create your little Guest NoteBook and write events like this down, then next time you are prepared and have brought with you some of the most requested items.
What if the guest has forgotten shoes, ties, shirt, etc.? These are all things that you are capable of delivering with some creativity.
Extra special service is when you get creative and go that extra mile for your guest.
Trust what you can deliver – do not only rely on surveys and comment cards
What if your guest is only satisfied because their expectations are so low and because no one else is delivering any better.
When you receive a survey and all you see is that the guest has marked 10 all over the line – how does this make you feel? Maybe you think WOW we delivered some extraordinary service here.
But does surveys or comment card always reflect the true experience of the guest?
Here my answer is NO. To me, 10 on a survey reflects extraordinary service. And though many hotels really deliver some great service there are not many that are capable of delivering customer service at that level over and over again.
If someone gives your hotel a 10, you so should then really put the effort into getting more information from that guest to learn what events caused him or her to be this satisfied. And the same effort should be put in when there are several areas with a low rating.
Many surveys tend to be just one way instead utilize the opportunity to ask a guest that has taken time to point out some areas of concerns or quality.
A 10 can put you in the confidence zone that is not true to the service you are delivering. Consistency again is the key – you want to provide consistently great service over time and be confident that your hotel is capable of delivering the same great service over and over again. If all surveys that come in gives you an 8 this would tell me that you provide great service on a consistent base, but that there is room for improvements.
I know that there are inspectors that will come from time to time to check on the quality of your service, and sometimes you also will have secret shoppers. If you know that you are capable of delivering consistently great service then they would experience the same as your guests.
Some might ask should we drop surveys and comment cards. Again my answer is NO. Feedback is very important. Use surveys and comment cards as supplements to make minor adjustments where needed. Surveys or comment cards are no good if you don’t utilize them no matter if you get a 10 or a 1.
Adjust your customer service to what actually is happening
As I said consistency is the key to success. But you have to know if the scale is tipping the right way.
Consistency is present when there is harmony between what you conduct and proper correspondence among related aspects.
Consistent superior customer service comes as a result of the ability to adapt to change and make proper adjustments.
In every aspect of delivering superior customer service, there will be several hurdles to pass. Be aware that these hurdles exist, and know how to handle them.
It just likes playing chess, you have to be able to change gameplay during the chess game if your initial gameplay is not working. The game is still the same, you have just adapted to the process and made adjustments within the same window of opportunity. If you are losing the game then be honest with yourself, and learn from this experience.
It comes a time when you can tell your customer that you are not able to meet their expectation, but you will be more than happy to provide them with some referrals that will help them make a proper decision based on their expectations. Always offer then to assist them in calling relevant hotels, and ask if they want you to request a courtesy hold if their requirements are met.
You are only able to adjust your customer service to what is happening when you know what you are capable of delivering.
Learn what your customer wants
a. You have to know what you are capable of delivering
b. Learn what your customer really wants
c. Tell the customer to go elsewhere
The simplest way to find out what your customers want – is to ask them. And to ask them you need to know who they are.
Who are the customers that are most likely to utilize your product?
Proper Market Segmentation is the key to learn who your real customer base is. This should include elements like; Population – Ethnic makeup – geographic distribution and densities – age makeup – personal disposable income – education levels – occupation type – household makeup – workforce makeup – type and cost of housing, etc.
When you ask your customer what they want, you have to know how to listen.
Do your customer say one thing, but mean something else? Do ‘Everything was fine’ really means ‘Everything was fine’? Does No Response mean that guest expectations were met?
Today with the Internet and Social Media customers utilize an abundance of listening tools to express themselves. Learn how to utilize these listening tools. These are great resources to find out what your customers want.
A Superior Hotel Customer Experience is the goal both for the Hotel and the customer. You need to start defining your listening outposts.
Here are tips on sample listening outposts:
- Hotel/Hospitality Blogs
- Google Reader
- Twitter + Twitter Search
- Google Search + Google Blog Search
- Google+
- YouTube
- Hotel Events
- Hotel Newsletters
- Hotel Magazines
These are just some of the great listening outposts I utilize, and that assist me in finding and researching quality information from potential customers. I also utilize traditional research material, and adding surveys on your blog is also a great way to get additional information. Be creative, and utilize all the great tools that are available for you out there.
6. Deliver a little extra
If your customer has been burned before they are naturally resistant. Consistency will overcome this resistance over time.
By now you should know what you are capable of delivering, and what your customers want. Now it is time to start over-deliver within your window of opportunity.
Remember over-deliver does not mean to deliver more than you are capable of delivering. You are pretty much starting from scratch. So train and focus on helping your employees improve one percent every week. Focus on one project every week and involve your employee in every aspect. Example: Let us show our guests and fellow employees our new xxx Hotel Smile this week. Observe reactions both on guests and employees. What kind of feedback did you receive? What can be done better? How did it affect you?
One simple rule your Hotel should start to enforce is to start to Treat Your Employee exactly as you would treat your best customers. This will make a great impact on delivering superior customer service.
By treating your employees this way: you will create a great team spirit – you can provide great training – you know that you have the right tools in place – you can then develop your employee into a valuable customer service representative. If your employees and Hotel improve one percentage every week – you can improve 50% within one year.
Creating a consistent Superior Customer Experience requires that you are willing to go into the process with an open mind, and be willing to listen.
What have you done at your Hotel to create a superior Customer Experience?
We are in this together!
I need to let you all know that we are in on this together. If you need to vent, talk, cry, or just have some to talk with then I am here listening. Since I am working part-time at the local Kroger, I will to the best of my ability to work it out around my schedule.
But you can reach me here:
Email: hotelblogger@aremorch.com
Also, join us at our Facebook Group – Hotel Social Media Community
We will get through this unprecedented event together! #hotelstrong #hospitalitystrong
For any specific information on COVID-19, I recommend go to CDC, WHO, AHLA, AAHOA, and HSMAI. Also, follow information from your local authorities.
NOTE
We are starting to reopen some hotels again (Yay!!!). Make sure you follow their guidelines and say THANK YOU to those that now show a unique spirit to serve, and helps us all get through this!! #hotelstrong #hospitalitystrong
About Are Morch
Hi, I am Are Morch. Your Digital Marketing Coach and Customer Experience Expert that specializes in creating effective digital customer experience offer for hotels while growing and scale customer acquisition and revenue.
Get more from Are on Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn | Pinterest | Instagram| Podcast
