I started working in hotels in 2004 and still can remember my first mystery shop. The overall results of the inspection were ok, but unfortunately we missed out on a couple of points because not all of our associates used the guest name consistently. Over the years this standard became increasingly important and you could not pass an inspection anymore without using the guest name at least twice during every interaction – even if everything else was perfect there was no passing without usage of guest name.

Another standard along the way increased in importance, not only would you have to say the guest name you should also introduce yourself by name to the guest. Using the guest name would make the guest feel recognized and welcome, and introducing yourself would help making an emotional connection. So if the guest would need anything, he would already knew someone in the hotel and feel much more comfortable asking for help (rather than not saying anything and leaving the hotel unhappy).

It never stopped to amaze me how something seemingly so easy to do as using the guest name, and so powerful and effective, was so difficult for us to do consistently.

Since then every hotel I worked at our associates somewhat struggled with using the guest name and to achieve consistent excellence.   I have learned that we have to train name usage on daily basis, over and over again. What helps as well is to start greeting your co-workers by name when meeting them back of house, it just helps you making a habit out of it.

As luxurious experiences like staying in five-star hotels or eating at fine dining restaurants become more easily accessible, and expectations continue to rise, so did the required level of personalization to still impress at hotels. Hotels would go at length to ensure that you feel most recognized as a guest and that you hopefully share your experiences with other travellers on social media later.

Most recently we hired a new welcome ambassador (this role is more commonly known as bellman – I am sorry for my W lingo), and he had since then been a total rock star on social media. Every other week his name comes up on TripAdvisor with one of our guests commending on his excellent service, attention to detail, and that he was able to remember their names and would connect with them throughout their stay. Now we do a lot of things to impress our guests day in and day out, and we never hesitate to go above and beyond to do so, but what seems to impress our guests the most, is that we use their names… consistently.

While all of the other things need to be in place, and using the guest name certainly does not give you a pass to miss out on other service standards and offerings, we need to constantly remind ourselves that the basics of excellent customer service still remain true and that we cannot do enough in making sure that our teams appreciate the importance of it.

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