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Case in point Applying the RATER Model for Service Success Five service
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Case inp o i n t
Applying the
RATER Model
for Service
Success
Five service attributes can help maintain five-star ratings.
By Andrew J. Czaplewski, Eric M. Olson, and Stanley F. Slater
THE BROADMOOR HOTEL and Spa
in Colorado Springs, Colo, has a record
of 41 consecutive years of five-star rat-
ings from The Mobil Travel Guide. The
hotel's facilities and setting certainly
help, but according to Perry Goodbar,
vice president of marketing for The
Broadmoor, "It's the people who truly
make this place special. Exceptional
service quality begins with exceptional
people." So how do you make sure that
year in and year out some 1,600 employ-
ees maintain the superior service quality
required to earn those precious five
stars? To examine just how the manage-
ment of The Broadmoor accomplishes
this, we examined their operation
through the lens of the RATER model of
services marketing developed by A.
Parasuraman, Valarie ZeithamI, and
Leonard Berry.
The RATER model focuses on five
service attributes: reliability, assurance,
tangibles, empathy, and responsiveness.
Reliability. Every new Broadmoor
employee, before ever encountering a
customer, attends a two-and-a-half day
orientation session and receives an
employee handbook. Making and keep-
ing promises to customers is a central
part of this orientation. Employees are
14 I M M J a n u a r y / F e b r u a r y
trained to always give an estimated
time for service, whether it be room
service, laundry service, or simply esti-
mating how long it will take to be seat-
ed at one of the restaurants. When an
employee makes a promise, they keep
the promise. On the rare chance that it
becomes truly impossible to keep that
commitment, the employee goes into
"service recovery mode" to satisfy the
guest's expectations.
This initial training session also
provides the setting for the most impor-
tant service quality topic to be dis-
cussed—guest satisfaction. This includes
learning the finest details such as tlie
proper way to greet a guest, proper
dress codes, and how to answer ques-
tions accurately. Employees are trained
to never guess if they don't know the
answer to a question. Inaccurate infor-
mation only frustrates customers. When
an employee is unable to answer a ques-
tion accurately, they immediately con-
tact someone who can. Of course, the
two-and-a-half day orientation session
won't be sufficient to ensure the five-
star standard of behavior, but it certain-
ly sets the appropriate tone and lets new
employees know the organization is
serious about service.
2002
At the end of the initial orientation
session each new employee's manager
comes to personally welcome them.
They are then taken to their work loca-
tions and instructed in their duties. This
marks the start of a 90-day on-the-job
training session. During this probation-
ary period they will shadow an experi-
enced person in their respective areas
and engage in extensive role-playing
with their managers. During these ses-
sions new employees learn basic tasks
such as how to enter a guests' room and
handle delicate situations, such as how
to calm an upset guest.
After this 90-day training period, if
they've passed all the requirements, they
become full-time employees. Now they
enter into a strict program called
"Keeping the Stars." This program is
divided into five modules and is facilitat-
ed by department heads and executive
members. These senior managers must
attend a three-day training session sim-
ply to be able to facilitate this program.
The first module in this program is
identified as the "Culture of Guest
Satisfaction." Here employees are
instructed in how The Broadmoor's cul-
ture embraces guest satisfaction. The sec-
ond module, "Communicatiorj for Guest
Satisfaction," includes such fundamental
skills as maintaining eye contact, learn-
ing how to properly address a guest, and
encouraging employees from all ranks
and positions to approach guests and ask
them if they can be of service. The third
module, "Everyday Guest Satisfaction,"
focuses on the steps to achieve guest sat-
isfaction with special emphasis on how
to acknowledge guests, clarify situations,
meet guests' expectations, and confirm
satisfaction. The fourth module is called
"Above and Beyond Guest Satisfaction"
and emphasizes taking service to the
five-star level. Employees engage in
extensive interactive exercises in this
module. The final module, "The Art of
Recovery," provides employees with the
tools to recover when service doesn't
meet the guests' expectations. Once an
employee has completed all five mod-
ules, they receive a certificate of comple-
tion and a small token of recognition.
In these sessions employees
come to understand that fine
details, such as how to appropri-
ately respond to a guest's
request for directions, are a big
deal. It's not enough for an
employee to simply provide
directions when asked by a
guest. They must graciously
walk them to a spot where they
can actually see their destination
and then make sure they're com-
fortable with how to proceed.
This may seem like a small item,
but when you consider that
there are more than 700 rooms
situated on 3,000 acres, this
small service becomes a big
responsibility.
Ultimately, all of this train-
ing is aimed at supporting three
other elements of the RATER
model—assurance, empathy,
and responsiveness.
Assurance. The Broadmoor
conveys trust by empowering its
employees. This has a double
positive effect. First, it demonstrates to
employees that they're regarded as
intelligent individuals and an integral
part of the organization. Because of the
tremendous amount of time, energy,
and money (an average of $1,800 is
invested in each new employee in their
first 90 days) spent to hire and train new
employees, it's important for the hotel
to retain this critical resource.
An example of an employee
empowerment policy is the service
recovery program. If a guest problem
arises, employees are given discretionary
resources to rectify the problem or pres-
ent the customer with something special
to help mollify them. For example, if a
meal is delivered and there's a mistake
in the order or how it was prepared, a
waiter can offer the guest a free item
such as a dessert or, if the service was
well below expectations, simply take
care of the bill. Managers then review
recovery expenses in order to under-
stand the nature of the problem and to
help prevent it from occurring again.
The Broadmoor's management team has
found that the majority of service fail-
ures are caused by problems in commu-
rucation. Each service recovery episode
is discussed with the employee who
authorized it and ways to prevent the
problem from happening in the future
are explored. Unless there is a persistent
pattern of mistakes, employees aren't
criticized or reprimanded for order
recovery expenses. Rather, the employee
and the manager try to find ways to
improve the situation and solve the com-
munication problems.
Guests also benefit when employ-
ees are empowered. Who among us
hasn't experienced a service or product
problem only to have the person we
express our concerns to tell us they
don't have the authority to deal with
the issue? The Broadmoor strives
to avoid this. According to
Goodbar, "Guests are remark-
ably forgiving of mistakes if they
feel their concerns have been
understood and addressed
quickly and courteously."
Another method of provid-
ing assurance to customers is by
personalizing communications.
Employees are instructed to
always address a guest by name,
if possible. To accomplish this,
employees are trained to listen
and observe carefully to deter-
mine a guest's name. Subtle
sources for this information
includes convention name tags,
luggage I.D. tags, credit cards, or
checks. In addition, all phones
within The Broadmoor display a
guest's room number and name
on a screen. The use of a guest's
name is designed to convey trust
and confidence.
Tangibles. Tlie Broadmoor
boasts a 300-seat theater showing
MM January/February 2002 j 15
Case inpoi nt
first-run movies, chic boutiques, a florist
shop supplied by its own greenhouse, a
cigar bar, an authentic English pub, more
than a half dozen restaurants, and three
championship golf courses. In 1995, a
$20-million, 90,000-square-foot spa with
26 treatment rooms and six-foot-long
soaking tubs was built. Two of the rooms
also feature The Broadmoor's signature
17-head shower with automatic thermo-
static controls. Services at the spa
include hydrotherapies, body treat-
ments, massage therapies, and aesthetic
treatments. The spa also is home to the
resort's tennis facilities and fitness cen-
ter The fitness center features indoor
and outdoor pools, an aerobics studio,
and cardiovascular and resistance train-
ing. The indoor pool sports a soaring
skylight, and even the locker rooms are
elegant with a fireplace in each. The ten-
nis facility consists of nine courts (two
covered during the winter). Just in case
none of these activities suits a guest at
The Broadmoor, they can still choose
between horseback riding, fly fishing,
bicycling, squash, and trap, skeet, or
sporting clays at the shooting grounds.
One of the greatest challenges for
The Broadmoor in recent years has been
updating rooms built in the early part
of tlie twentieth century to meet the
needs of twenty-first century visitors.
To accomplish this, it spent $100 million
between 1992 and 2000
in improvements and
will spend at least that
much again in the next
few years renovating
rooms and adding a
new outdoor pool com-
plex.
Approximately 70%
of The Broadmoor's
bookings are for busi-
ness functions. To
accommodate this
important clientele, the
hotel offers 116,000
square feet of meeting
space, 42 separate meet-
ing rooms, as well as
ballrooms, breakout
16 I M M J a n u a r y / F e b r u a r y 2002
rooms, and board meeting rooms.
While most of the hotel's revenue
comes from business functions, that
doesn't mean only businesspeople
attend these retreats. Many business
guests bring their families along, so it's
important to provide appropriate activi-
ties for spouses and children as well.
As attractive as the guest rooms are,
the original architects had no way of
envisioiiing the electronic world of the
twenty-first century. Consequently,
many of the rooms at The Broadmoor
were comparatively small and lacking in
such contemporary essentials as Internet
hookups. The need to update these
rooms had become evident, the chal-
lenge was how to do it with minimal
disruption to guests. Part of the solution
to this problem was addressed in 1995
when a new guest room building was
added. This new facility boasts 150
additional rooms and 12,000 additional
square feet of meeting space in the
Rocky Mountain Ballroom, which can
accommodate 700 guests for banquets or
1,000 for meetings. Having this new
structure in place has allowed The
Broadmoor to take sections of the older
buildings offline without having to shut
down the resort.
One of the structures being remod-
eled is the Main Tower, home to vast art
collections. Art work on display
Includes art from the Ming and T'sing
dynasties, original lithographs by
Toulouse-Lautrec, and the Maxfield
Parrish painting of The Broadmoor fea-
tured on page 14. Rooms in the Main
Tower that were first put into service in
1918 are being gutted and completely
reconfigured, The new guest rooms in
this building will be significantly larger
than their original design and will fea-
ture marble bathrooms and the kinds of
fixtures and amenities you'd expect in a
five-star resort. However, this renova-
tion also means reducing the number of
rooms in this building by 22.
Empathy. The goal of The
Broadmoor is for every guest to have an
outstanding experience when visiting
the resort. To accomplish this, it seeks to
provide service above and beyond what
is expected. However, unexpected prob-
lems arise. Every employee is instruct-
ed to follow the HEART model of taking
care of problems. First, an employees
must "Hear what a guest has to say."
Next, they must "Empathize with
them," and then, "Apologize for the sit-
uation." Finally, they must "Respond to
the guest's needs" by "Taking action
and following up."
Although empathy is difficult to
instill in employees, Tlie Broadmoor
tries to hire for this trait and trains
extensively to build on it. Seemingly
simple things are
emphasized such as the
difference between ask-
ing: "Checking in?" and
"Welcome to The
Broadmoor. We're
delighted to have you.
Are you checking in?"
Employees are trained to
see things from the cus-
tomer's point of view.
Every day employees are
asked similar or identi-
cal questions by guests.
While it would be easy
to grow tired of hearing
the same questions,
employees are reminded
that, to the guest, it's the
first time the question is being asked. In
addition, a great deal of time is spent
training employees on how to offer
alternatives. When the answer to a
guest's request must be no, the employ-
ee will always offer one or more alter-
natives and ask if any of these would be
acceptable.
Responsiveness. To ensure the
maintenance of the coveted five-star
status, each department director, man-
ager, or supervisor Is required to list 10
things they consider exceptional cus-
tomer service. (It's worth noting that
customers are considered to be both
external guests and internal employ-
ees.) The following three items are con-
sistent throughout The Broadmoor:
• Offering or providing assistance
that goes above and beyond with-
out being asked
• Going out of the way to provide
assistance beyond the call of duty
• Displaying a positive mental atti-
tude that exemplifies five-star and
five-diamond service
The remaining seven Items are to
be specified by the individual depart-
ment. Tliis philosophy helps ensure that
all employees understand the funda-
mental issues described here, but it also
allows enough latitude so service issues
unique to a specific function {e.g., food
service, room service, spa services) can
be addressed by those responsible for
those specific services.
All department managers are
expected to keep enough staff on hand
to ensure the responsive service guests
expect. This is especially important dur-
ing busy times. As previously noted,
responsiveness goes beyond just the
guests. It also extends to its internal
customers—its employees. One such
example is the star card. Managers are
issued star cards to award to employ-
ees—on the spot—who demonstrate
outstanding behavior. These cards may
be accumulated by employees and
turned in periodically for prizes. These
cards also are transferable, so if one
employee sees another employee
engaging in exceptional service they
may choose to reward a peer.
A central part of being responsive
to customer needs is by providing the
facilities guests want. The spa was built
in response to guest comments about
wanting more luxury services. In addi-
tion, a pool and water slides are being
built in response to customers' con-
cerns about having more family and
spouse activities while the other spouse
is in business meetings. One of the
most important projects under way is
updating computer files on all of their
guests by including e-mail addresses.
In addition. The Broadmoor sends
each guest a comment card after their
stay. Every returned card is routed
to the desk of the president, Steve
Bartolin, who then dictates a letter back
to the individual guest and copies all of
the people mentioned and their depart-
ment heads. More often than not, these
comment cards are highly positive, and
a copy of Bartolin's letter is placed in
the employment files of the individuals
recognized for their outstanding serv-
ice. This is the kind of attention to detail
that reinforces goodwill both with
guests and employees and helps The
Broadmoor keep its five-star rating
year after year. •
Authors' note: For more informa-
tion on the RATER model of service
quality consult: A. Parasuraman, V.A.
Zeithaml, and L.L. Berry (1988), "A
Multiple-Item Scale for Measuring
Consumer Perceptions of Service
Quality," Journal of Retailing, 64(1), 12-40.
About the Authors
Andrew J. Czaplewski is assistant profes-
sor of marketing and international busi-
ness. College of Business Administration,
University of Colorado at Colorado
Springs. He may be reached at
aczaplew@mail. uccs.ed u.
Eric M. Olson is professor of marketing
and strategic management also at
University of Colorado at Colorado
Springs. He may be reached at
eolson@mail,uccs.edu.
Stanley F. Slater is professor of
business administration. University' of
Washington, Bothell. He may be reached
stanslat®u.washington.edu.
MM January/February 2002 | 17
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