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Has Service Returned to the Hospitality Industry?

by Lou Marrocco, CMP

Has Service Returned to the Hospitality Industry?

It I s a question worth asking and a goal to work towards for us all.

My company, Brandywine Events, has been on an eight-month travel job, taking my team and me to twenty-eight different cities, venues, and hotels, to do an expo for a client. Having witnessed all but three locations across the USA, I have found that the level of service varies. Not so much from the property’s “star” rating, or hotel flag, but from their respective management or corporate culture.

In observing the operations from the reservation experience, front desk greeting, CSM interaction prior and on site, to the banquet and AV staff, to the final invoice, each of my twenty plus interactions are like snowflakes, each different from the other. Even in hotels of the same brand. My career experiences within the hotel, restaurant, conference center, and off-premises catering and planning have always been about service. I feel that we in the industry and our teams have a responsibility for providing the best customer service we can. After all it is the Hospitality Business. All beginning and ending in hospitality.

Very few operations are taking the time to truly instruct staff members on what “service” is. It’s more about hiring, then quickly adding that person, with their unique qualifications and experience, directly on the schedule. Some do have a training period consisting of reading and signing off on their policies and procedures. Others may add in some “trailing” time with a seasoned staff member of the organization, but rarely do you hear or see where the management invests the time, effort, and resources needed to train the new hire. It still is sink or swim, warm body syndrome. And what about the current staff? Have they had any service training recently? “Welcome, how may I help you? manager, or operator, and know that each customer is important to their success and profitability.

I know, having had my catering company for over fifteen years, that it is a constant and never ending process. Staff leave, others come in, some of your best trainers have left your company for a variety of reasons or simply left the industry. How can operators/ business owners accomplish training when they are trying to recoup lost revenues and tighter budgets? There is no easy answer, and it does depend on the organization and their owners. What is your company service standard? You expect a high level of service and do receive it at a four- or five-star facility. For example, when you go to Four Seasons or Eddie V’s you’re expecting a service level that you may not find at other establishments. And you are paying for it. However, I do believe that great customer service is there at your local pizzeria, neighborhood bar, or restaurant in the way you are greeted. Customer service shines through any place where you are truly greeted by an employee who is sincere in having you as a customer. Do they have a secret remedy for welcoming customers, or is it something else? I will take a little liberty here and suggest that it is from the top down. The small operators are the ones who most of the time are doing the training, while doing all the other duties they need to do. So why and how do they do it? I suggest that it is because they are the owner, or manager, or operator, and know that each customer is important to their success and profitability.

Which brings me back to the large hotel and venues. Yes, in all cases it is about the bottom line, but it should also be about giving your team all the tools to make them and you successful. There was a time, and in some places, thankfully still is, when the new hire in an organization was mentored to not only learn the policies, procedures, and culture, but also how to be a true “service provider.” We all need to remember that the employee who is the least trained in service and their duties is the one that your next and last customer will interact with and remember about your operation. As for the twenty plus locations around the USA, I can honestly say that there were six or seven that checked all the service boxes for me. It was not the four- and five-star locations. Some were hotels that you would only stay with if you were snowed in and had no choice. Their team, from the front desk to the banquet staff to the invoice reconciliation, was such a wonderful experience that we recommended to the client that they should consider returning next year. We all have our own expectation of service levels, and that is how it is, but remember that it all starts with a sincere “Welcome, how may I help you?

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