By: Nick Abruzere
Luxury Resorts invest a significant amount of resources in training their staff to deliver the highest level of customer service to their VIP guests. A vital question to ask yourself is, “What distractions might you have that may be pulling your staff away from delivering exceptional guest interactions?” No technology out there can replace a great, memorable person-to-person experience, however, without even being aware, you may have inefficient systems or procedures in place that prohibit your staff from performing as effectively as possible. By periodically reviewing your procedures and systems, you can ensure your teams are well equipped on the front lines to promote a more efficient customer engagement process, certainly NOT a distraction!
When I visit a new property, there are times when it is obvious that location’s “scale of justice” is out of balance with regard to investments made on the amenities versus the tools available to the front line staff. They do a fantastic job on overall appearance, décor & design elements however my interactions with the staff just are not as smooth as they should be. These impression’s affect my entire stay and I think to myself, how much better of an experience would I be having if the technology here was fine tuned to make it more convenient to me as a guest? Or, at least make it easy for the staff to get their job done in a manner that doesn’t make it a distraction that pulls them away from the important part, which is interfacing with the guest.
Common areas that can be improved upon may be a long or complex hotel check-in and check-out process or a disruption in the flow of service in the restaurant. However, some less obvious areas of opportunity may be an optimized Point-of-Sale User interface that speeds up the ordering process or make the process more conversational in the way orders are taken. By taking a good look at some of the new consumer facing technologies available today, you can get rid of many obtrusive transactional steps and manual procedures and at the end of the day, make a more personalized experience for your guest.
As you can see, these distractions can be anywhere from a process for which no system currently is in place to a great piece of technology that needs to be fine tuned & configured to more appropriately and efficiently perform the proper task. Other hidden distractions may be right in front of your eyes, existing for years, and are just accepted as the way things are done. We have seen positive, uplifting results in the hit CBS series “Undercover Boss” where top executives go undercover to see what their front line employees lives are like on a day to day basis. I think some of the executives were quite surprised by what they found to be the reality of the front lines and took a step back and made changes for the better. Taking the time to slow down and observe your environment, just might be all you need to uncover a hidden distraction that you can resolve to turn your customer experiences from satisfactory to unforgettable!
