Every hotelier wants a great review of their hotel or department on TripAdvisor or social channels. Great customer service is what sets a good hospitality experience apart from a great one, and it is the cornerstone of our business. Maya Angelou once said, “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget the way you made them feel.” And this quote really sums up what every hotelier strives to achieve – great service which leads to memorable occasions for guests – the kind they don’t easily forget. Understanding your guest and what pleases them is a great place to begin your service excellence journey. IHS’s hospitality customer service training focuses on helping employers and employees achieve the very best results for their guests and staff. Here are 4 ways to get a great customer service review:

 

Hire the right personality

We’re not suggesting for a minute that you hire someone who doesn’t have the skill to work in the hospitality industry – certainly not. But make your recruitment priority to hire for personality or attitude which is far more difficult to change / re-train than any hospitality skill. Look for staff who are willing to go the extra mile or keen to please guests. When staff members show enthusiasm, you know you have a hospitality service star in the making.

Lead by example

Sometimes employees don’t know how to meet their guest’s expectations – so show them. Let your team know what outcomes you would like to achieve with guest service and let them use their own initiative to get going. Then, mentor, encourage, assist and show them ways to improve or new ways to try and achieve this. Ask them to pretend to be a guest for a day or period of time, and watch how they improve their service delivery – a great way to teach and assess staff on duty.

Communicate regularly and empower your team

Respecting other people’s differences, searching for solutions, and working with teams to effect change – they all start with the ability to be able to communicate clearly and effectively. Your customers are your greatest sources of feedback, whether it’s good or bad feedback. Move around on the floors, get to know people, get to know names and greet return guests by name. Have a genuine warmth and professional approach to meeting, greeting and talking to your customers.

Hiding away in the back means you will never know how good or bad your service, food, staff or ambiance is. Don’t you want to know how to improve things and be the very best? Then get customer focused and listen, listen, listen. Then go the extra mile. Don’t keep your staff in the dark – instead, show them how to better themselves in their roles by doing their jobs with them, side by side. Empower your team to do the same. Make sure each and every staff member knows that they are empowered to make positive customer service decisions with your support.

Recognise and reward staff when they get it right

You may be tempted to think it’s a hospitality staff member’s job to be happy, smiley and offer great service. And you’re quite right – it certainly is. But sometimes you have staff who consistently go the extra mile and come up time and time again as a champion of great service via guest feedback forms. Reward staff who consistently go out of their way (even when they are tired or not required to help) to make your guests feel welcome and comfortable. By doing so, you motivate your team and also allow staff to know that they are valued and appreciated. It’s a very worthwhile exercise, and we believe it’s a stepping stone to building great teams within the hospitality industry.

We’ve been privileged to work with some of the industry’s finest hoteliers and we know that their exceptional customer service skills are one of the key reasons that they have become leaders in the hospitality industry. We have a number of suitable courses on offer at International Hotel School, so if you want to train your staff or improve your skills, get in touch today by emailing info@dev.brokenpony.club or visit our website for more information.

(Sources and images: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/importance-customer-service-hospitality-tourism-81068.html; http://www.hospitalitynet.org/news/4054184.html; http://www.hcareers.com/us/resourcecenter/tabid/306/articleid/284/default.aspx; www.nicolelopuch.com