Nice Hotel, Horrible Customer Experience

The swimming pool, the breakfast buffet, the chocolate on the pillow – these are small yet essential details that all add up to a winning customer experience in a hotel. Even with all these aspects in place, what distinguishes one hotel from another is the level of customer service provided by their staff members. When there are compromises in the customer support quality, hotel management must conduct in-house customer service training to remedy the situation efficiently.  Hospitality businesses are well-aware of the indispensability of outstanding customer care but it is not enough to recognize this point.

Hotels must take a proactive approach while catering to guests, from the preliminary inquiries about room rates to the interactions with the cleaning staff upon their departure. Not only does a superior standard of service increase the chances of brand loyalty, satisfied hotel guests leave extremely influential positive online reviews. Close to 80% of potential customers trust online reviews as much as they would a personal recommendation from a friend or family member. The risk of a customer-staff misunderstandings resulting into a negative online review is a serious one! Serious enough that conscientious managers now prioritize a customer-centric culture in their respective hotels.

Watching Out for the TripAdvisor Syndrome

The internet has significantly altered the impact of customer service feedback for the hospitality industry. Now practically any guest with a wi-fi connection can leave a review about their recent hotel experience for the world to see. Hotel, resorts and bread-and-breakfast management can take advantage of real-time feedback by offering complimentary upgrades or refunds to disgruntled guests. This, however, requires the hotel staff to be diligently monitoring their social media accounts and hotel review sites for mentions or tags. Investment in a customized online reputation management strategy is a necessity for hotel businesses.

Fine-tuning Customer Support Systems

Yearly customer service training is not enough – it is impossible to provide commendable customer support with randomly scheduled training sessions. Motivated, well-trained employees are in-tune with customer support expectations and form an integral part of their organization’s customer service culture. Managers can employ incentives to encourage hotel staff to provide better customer service. Staff can be introduced to optimal customer service behavior through games-based experiences within customer service training programs.

Small Gestures Go a Long Way                                         

Small gestures, like securing a rare cheese for anniversary dinner or arranging a surprise puppet show for the younger patrons, all demonstrate genuine concern for your guests. Take, for instance, the incident involving a stuffed toy giraffe named ‘Joshie’ going missing at well-known hotel chain. To ensure that Joshie’s owner wouldn’t get too upset, his parents told him that Joshie was taking an extended vacation but would be home soon enough. The hotel’s Loss Prevention team not only returned Joshie with some freebies, they also documented pictures of him sitting by the pool, getting a massage and even getting an honorary badge as hotel staff.  This is a pretty good example of a small gesture which will be remembered by this family for years on end.

Personalize Every Single Experience

As a hotel, aim for delivering personalized experiences rather than just delivering services by-the-book. Pepper your salutations with greetings that acknowledge each particular guest. Loop in culturally-appropriate seasonal greetings in the native dialect followed by a translation to both inform and delight your guests upon arrival.  Finding the right balance of customization is key to customer satisfaction. If you notice a customer is wearing a football jersey, direct them to a nearby football stadium, or have their room TV set-up with a complimentary sports channel subscription. Giving your staff the freedom to deliver such experiences produces amazing results! According to IBM, more than seventy percent of guests report positive experiences when directly linked to personalized services.

No matter what customer support strategy your team eventually decides upon, ensure the customer experience the hotel delivers is relevant to the guests checking-in. While pursuing personalized experiences, your establishment should maintain its excellence in providing basic services – from fluffed-up pillows to valet services. This will not only make for a memorable hotel stay for the guests, but will also instill a sense of pride in every staff member.