When I started in hospitality I believed myself to be an effective communicator and always made sure that my coworkers and superiors would be up to date with the information that I had so that everyone would stay ahead of the game. Once I moved to management I remember telling my director that he should improve his communication to the team and I was convinced that I could do a better job communicating if I was in his position. It’s not that he wouldn’t communicate what was going on, but I was mostly the one asking him for updates and trying to get myself involved as much as I could to get the information I needed in order for me to be effective…. and I still believed communication to be one of my strengths.
My wife and I are living in the West Village in Manhattan, and adore this neighborhood as of its vast variety of excellent and unique restaurants. We love to dine out, and excellent food and service doesn’t cut it anymore. It takes something more…
You’ve been reading posts after posts on how to become a great leader and how to motivate the people around you. Unfortunately bad leaders are more common than the great ones, and it can be very dangerous to work for people who don’t know what they are doing. It’s not only dangerous for your business, but for more selfish reasons, it can be very dangerous for your own career and kill the passion for what you are doing. While I strongly believe that you can learn from both, the good and the bad boss, you shouldn’t try to find excuses to continue working for the bad one.
Complacency is your worst enemy! It can damage your business or your career, and the worst thing about it is that you’ll probably be the last one to find out that you became complacent yourself!
From the outside it’s always easy to judge, if someone is falling victim to complacency. The person doesn’t believe in change anymore, or cannot see the need for it, loses his passion for excellence at every single step of the way, believes that he’s the victim of the incompetence around him, and is not willing to step out of the comfort zone anymore and take risks. Pretty obvious, right? Anyone from the outside can see it.
But what happens if you’re the one who is struggling with complacency without even knowing it? Did you ever had the feeling that it’s not just not right that you have to do all the work, and that people around you should step up to their plate as well, that you’re tired of always going the extra step without seeing the direct impact or outcome of your efforts? Complacency is a slow dead and you need to watch out for the early signs of it:
You’re not taking risks anymore
You’re too comfortable stepping out of your comfort zone
You’re not striving to do your best anymore
You’re not trying to think out of the box anymore
You’re not taking initiative anymore
Andy Grove, the former CEO of Intel, said that ‘success breeds complacency’, and ‘complacency breeds failure’, and he’s so right. You look at all the companies and businesses that used to be so initiative and great just a moment ago, and are not even relevant anymore now. But what happened? Well they stopped changing and evolving because of complacency, stood still for a moment, and the world passed by them.
Just have a look at most of the great hotels from the past. Try them and you’ll be surprised by how their service and hospitality lost its edge.
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Luxury is changing, and what mattered most to us only a decade ago, isn’t even attractive anymore. Guests don’t rate hotels by its amenities and luxurious settings anymore, they’ll judge them by the experiences they provide them… experiences and memories that last long after they depart.
Experiences cannot be measured in money, but are so much more valuable in adding meaning to our life. An experience is invaluable, not subject to inflation, lasts for a lifetime, and is the new and most stable currency ever. Continue reading Experience Is The New Currency!→
I recently happened to watch the WestJet Christmas Miracle video on YouTube and I was impressed by how simple yet powerful this idea was in building an emotional connection between an airline and its customers. The video went viral, has over 26 million views on YouTube, and the cost for the Christmas presents is nothing compared to the return on investment this campaign will have for WestJet.
What concerns me is that the hotel industry who claims to be all about its guests and their well-being didn’t come up with this first. It feels like that we keep holding on to our glamorous past by thinking that we can still impress our guests by sending up a bottle of champagne and chocolate covered strawberries to their rooms, while other industries figured out a way to move on and to connect deeply to their customers.
The exact same thing that the airline did for its customers any hotel could be doing for its guests staying over during the holidays by asking them prior to arrival what they want for Christmas and delivering these gifts on the 25th. Continue reading Is The Hotel Industry Losing Its Hospitality?→
Jeff Bezos takes customer service to the next level, and is planning to have packages delivered within only 30 minutes of ordering! How is this possible? Click on video below and you’ll find out how. For more details read the related article in the Washington Post.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98BIu9dpwHU
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The value of acting promptly and making a mistake requiring forgiveness is greater than the value of delaying to get permission! Let me explain you why…
Most companies fail to deliver excellent customer service because their employees are not empowered to make the right decisions the moment it counts most to make the customer happy. They need to check with their managers first delaying any helpful response, and making it frustrating for the customer to do business with you. Empower your employees to make the customer happy the fast and uncomplicated way. Your customers have a choice to do business with you, or the competition across the street.
If it’s the right thing to do and in the best interest of the customer, your company and colleagues, go ahead and do it. You’re not going to be 100% right all the time, but we’re working in the service industry and are not performing heart surgery, so trust me most mistakes can be sorted out later. We need to go back to the roots and focus all of our energy and efforts on making the customer happy. This is the only way to differentiate ourselves from the competition and ensure that we stay relevant. Continue reading Why It’s Better To Ask For Forgiveness Than For Permission→
Years ago hotel management graduates would mostly apply for a position as front desk agent or sales coordinator at the beginning of their journey in hospitality. Why? Because this is what everyone else applied for and because it seemed to be the most promising path for a successful career in hospitality. Now this is changing…
Making things simply for the customer is the essence of great and prompt service! How often do you get frustrated by unnecessarily complicated and difficult service?
Our policy states… I need to ask my manager first… No, I am sorry… You need to… Please hold… let me connect you to…
Does any of this sound familiar to you? Trust me it is happening at your company as well! Our customers do have a choice, and if we don’t strive to make it easy for them to do business with us, one of our competitors will sooner or later!
Listen to your guests and put yourself in their shoes!
If you want to learn more from Richard Branson and his secrets to provide excellent customer service you must watch video below. My favorite customer service tip to empower your employees to do the right thing the fast and uncomplicated way is ‘it’s better to ask for forgiveness than asking for permission’.
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No one is perfect and everyone makes mistakes! Our guests expect perfect service, and are unforgiving to any service breakdowns, correct?
False, our guests expect perfect service, but do understand that mistakes can happen, and it’s important that we recognize mistakes, when they do happen, as opportunities to get it right. Guests who have a complaint that gets resolved to their satisfaction are more likely to return than the ones that never had a complaint to begin with. It’s because we understand that no one is perfect, and if something goes wrong, we want the service provider to take ownership and turn the experience around to our satisfaction. Continue reading Stop Pointing Fingers and Turn Your Complainers Into Brand Advocates!→
Staying at a luxury hotel that provides butler service to its guests is truly an experience second to none! Being able to fully enjoy this butler service, however, is easier said than done. Most of us do not have a personal butler at home waiting for us, and so most of us don’t really have an idea what the butler does. One of the signature services of most hotels that provide butlers service is packing and unpacking.
Are you really comfortable having someone else unpacking your suitcases for you and touching your personal belongings and underwear? No, and most of us aren’t… at least not at first. It takes a moment to adjust to this new level of service, and it’s up to the butler to break the ice and make the guest feel comfortable. Continue reading Allow Me To Unpack Your Suitcase For You!→
Every morning the busy ant came to work happy and motivated, joyfully singing her song. She loved her job, and spend most of her days working hard. The ant continued being busy and working hard for years, but without anyone to supervise her or constantly tell her what to do.
The general manager, a big fat bug, recognized soon that it could not continue with these unacceptable working conditions and hired a supervisor to enhance control and with it productivity. He hired the beetle with plenty of experience in the work field and excellent references. The first matter of business for the beetle was to standardize the working hours of the ant, and to accomplish this he started compiling reports that would keep track of the working hours of the ant. He purchased and installed a time clock to help monitoring the hours of the ant and to help him with the paper work. Continue reading The Ant – A Tale About Micro-Management→
When providing excellent service, quality and consistency are really just the cost of entry, but don’t do anything to get you ahead of your competition or to make you special. With offering butler service consistency continues to be the basic foundation for excellence, only that your team now needs to know when exceptions should prove the rule.
Butlers need to know when they can and must make an exception of a value added service to go beyond and when to stay consistent, and this doesn’t come without challenges. Most hotels that provide butler service offer the following value added services that come with it:
Packing & Unpacking Service
Beverage Service
Shoe Shine Service
Garment Pressing
eButler
eButler is the newest addition to the value added services provided by the butler and it gives your guests the opportunity to connect with their personal butler via e-mail or over an app on their smart phone from anywhere at anytime. So no matter where you are, the butler service is right at your finger tips. Continue reading How Important Is Consistency With Butler Service?→
Thank you to all my readers and supporters of Hoteliers of Tomorrow! My most popular posts according to Google Analytics for the month of September 2013 are:
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The quality of service is measured by how it makes us feel. If the so-called best service makes us feel uncomfortable, it’s not considered good service anymore, and that’s the new definition of luxury. It’s not us having to fit in anymore or having to adapt to the world of luxury, it changed to luxury having to cater to us to stay relevant. Most guests are not comfortable at first to take advantage of the butler service, are unsure what the butler can really do for them, and perceive the butler service with its white gloves and bow tie as a relict of former days.The best way to guarantee that our guests are going to enjoy the butler service, is by ensuring that all guests are greeted by the butler upon arrival or within a few minutes of their arrival. This gives the butler the opportunity to familiarize the guest with the other services of the hotel, the features in the room and the value added services that are provided by the butler directly, and most importantly to break the ice. Continue reading The Butler Greeting→
I recently published so what does the butler really do and why butler service is a must in any luxury hotel, and received lots of feedback to talk more about what the butler does, the value added services that come with it, and how it takes luxury to the next level. While becoming a butler requires an education in hospitality management at most properties, and plenty of on the job training, it’s the mindset of wanting to serve others and being passionate about creating an experience that’s second to none, that differentiates a butler by heart from everyone else that believes a bow tie and white gloves cover it.
As butler you are the ambassador of your brand, you are expected to be able to have a sophisticated and intellectually stimulating conversation with celebrities, industry leaders, and head of states and the most distinguished and well-traveled guests, and provide them with an experience that they cannot find anywhere else.
Sounds intimidating? Well, I didn’t say being a butler was going to be easy, every one can put on a tuxedo, a bow tie and a pair of white gloves (well, some will struggle with the bow tie), but only very few can deliver to the promise that we make when offering our guests the finest service that only the butler can provide.
In so what does the butler really do I talk about that the butler provides a value, that no one can afford to buy, no matter how wealthy, and that anyone strives to have more of, that the butler provides time… time when helping you to unpack your suitcases and having your garments pressed, so you can enjoy your stay at the hotel from the very beginning, time when helping you with your dinner, theater or musical arrangements, and time when not having to worry about anything else but what truly matters to you. Continue reading The Butler Is Leading The Future Of Luxury!→
Do you still remember when online shopping was first introduced or when you were first referred to receive the desired information online rather than from a representative? I still remember being irritated and annoyed by it…
I recently went to get a new suit at Macy’s as they offer a great variety of products and always good discounts. While the customer service wasn’t bad, I got annoyed as I wasn’t in control of the experience and the representative didn’t lead the dance of the experience either. He seemed too busy taking care of other customers to provide me with the personalized service I was hoping for, and I had the feeling that he wasn’t interested in going beyond of what he felt were his job duties. In comparison I always buy my suit shoes over macys.com and always have the best experience. It’s convenient, fast, and uncomplicated and I never have to deal with any attitude or indifference of an employee. Continue reading Is This The End Of Customer Service?→
The greatest challenge of any luxury hotelier is without any doubt change. Not change itself, but the hesitation to let go of the status quo and the past, and to embrace the future… to embrace the future and with that to stay relevant.
At every single luxury hotel I worked so far, employees would always tell me about the golden past, how everything was better years ago and how things are going down nowadays. They would tell me about the sumptuous flower bouquets in every guest room, the abundance of luxury amenities, and how money didn’t matter. How our guests would all be dressed in the finest suits and dresses, and how glamorous and ostentatious everything was. With the words of Bob Dylan the times they are a changin’… you cannot stop change.
Our guests don’t define luxury in material goods like flowers and amenities anymore, they define it by experiencing and collecting enriching experiences. They define luxury with service that goes beyond.
My wife and I visited the W Koh Samui on our vacation to Thailand at the beginning of the year, and while the hotel was fantastic, it’s not the breathtaking view, nor our amazingly beautiful villa with the private pool, and the fine dining restaurant we keep talking about, it’s the service that stayed in our memories long after our departure. Unfortunately my wife got food poisoning from the food at the airport and got sick as soon as we arrived at the property. In the evening while we we’re trying to eat a little at the restaurant and hoping for her to get better, the waiter noticed that she didn’t feel well and offered assistance.
While he wasn’t able to help himself, he right away got the director of rooms, who arranged the hotel limousine for us and asked one of his employees to escort us to the hospital to stay with us until we would return to the property later that night. Once my wife got better and we came back to the hotel, they arranged some porridge in our villa with a note for her to get better soon. We felt that the hotel truly cared about us, and that we built a connection with the people working there. Continue reading The Greatest Challenge of Any Luxury Hotelier→
Great brands are more than just a name, sign or logo, great brands are a promise to deliver an experience and a feeling that you’ll get when you use the product. Great brands connect with you emotionally.
While looking at the ads below try to be conscious of how you are feeling about the brand and the product. Most ads don’t talk much about the product itself and try to connect with you emotionally.
