Hotel

Operations Management

The Guest Service

Imperative
Importance of Guest Service

• Quality
The consistent delivery of products and services according to expected
standards
• Service
The process of helping guests by addressing their wans and needs with
genuine respect and dignity in a timely manner.
• Value
A guest’s perception of the relationship between what was paid for a
hospitality product or service relative to what was received form the payment.
Emphasis on Service Culture

• Core Values
The foundation of a corporate culture that describe how people in the
organization intend to act.

• Vision
A picture of a hotel’s idea future and answers the questions: “What do we
want to create?”

• Mission
Clarifies how a hotel will add value for guests, employees, and others that it
impacts.
Managers’ Role in Quality Service

• GMs impact corporate culture

Motivating employees
Recognizing and rewarded employees
Develop and implement processes for:
• Recruitment
• Selection
• Orientation
• Training
Empowering employees
Guests’ Perspectives

• Personal Expectations
üMinimal waiting time to check-in
üA friendly welcome, including eye contact, a genuine smile, and
acknowledgement of your name
üAccurate and confirming information about your reservation
üDirections to your room
üThey proper type of room immediately available
üAnswers to your questions about the hotel and its services
Guests’ Perspectives

Employee to Guest Ratio:

• The number of employees relative to the number of guests.

• In the lodging industry, this if typically expressed in terms of
employees per room:

üA 500 room luxury, full service property may have 500 employees:
a 1:1 employee-to guest ratio.
üA 100 room limited-service property may have 25 employees:
a 1:4 employee-to-guest ratio.
Steps to Deliver Quality Guest Service
• Six Components of Quality in the Hospitality Industry
ØIngredient 1:
üConsider the guests being served
üHotel managers must understand what their guests want.
ØIngredient 2:
üDetermine what the guests desire
- Online questionnaire or comment card
- In well-managed properties, top level managers routinely talk with guests
to learn anything that can be helpful about what the guests would like and
want during their visit.
ØIngredient 3:
üDevelop procedures to deliver what guests want
• Benchmark
- The search for best practices and an understanding about how they are
achieved in efforts to determine how well a hospitality organization is
doing.
- A group of employees from each department within the hospitality
operation who work together to resolve operating problems.
Steps to Deliver Quality Guest Service

• Six Components of Quality in the Hospitality Industry

ØIngredient 4:
üTrain and empower staff

ØIngredient 5:
üImplement revised systems

ØIngredient 6:
üEvaluate and modify service delivery systems
Service and Moments of Truth
• Moments of truth involve any opportunities for guests to form an
impression about a hotel.
• Moments of truth can be positive or negative
• Positive moments of truth can be turned into a wow factor at any
Moment
üThe feeling guests have when they experience an unanticipated and positive
“extra” interaction with a hospitality operation
Service and Moments of Truth

• Zero defects means a goal of no guest-related complaints after guest

service processes are implemented
Remember that Service is Delivered by
Employees
Provide a hospitable greeting
Suggestive selling is an “art and science”
Product knowledge is key
Help other employees
Meet and exceed guest expectations
Managers Cannot Delegate Responsibility for
Superior Service
GMs

• Recruit, train and empower staff

• Are role models of guest service
• Are accountable for property’s success
Managers Must Recruit and Select Service-
Minded Staff
• Employer-of-choice
• The hotel is a preferred place of employment in the community.
• Employee Turnover Rate
• A measure of the proportion of a work force that is replaced during a
designated time period (month, quarter, or year).
• Employee Turnover Rate Formula
Provide Effective Orientation and Training

• With an emphasis on guest service, introduce the property’s core

values, vision, and mission

• Train the employee in guest-friendly procedures

• Thoroughly deliver the knowledge and skills required before new staff
members have contact with guests
Management Tactics for Superior Guest
Service: Supervise with a Service Emphasis
GMs
• Should always thank their staff members who provide
exceptional guest service
• Walk the talk
Empower Staff with Service Authority

Managers empower their staff as they

• Share their service mission

• Provide the training and other resources
• Encourage staff to assist with out of ordinary guest requests
Emphasize Continuous Quality Improvement

• Today’s emphasis on “better, faster, cheaper” is important.

ØTwo factors (Better and faster) should be developed with guests’ needs
in mind.
ØThe third factor (Cheaper) is also a meaningful goal as long as it involves
taking error out of the products and services rather than reducing value
delivered to guests.

• CQI
ØOn-going efforts meet or exceed guests’ expectations
ØDefine ways to perform work better
Effective Service Recovery Can “Save the Day”

• Step 1
• Introduce yourself by name and position
• Step 2
• Discover necessary information
• Step 3
• Empathize with the guest
• Step 4
• Fix the problem and apologize on behalf of the hotel
• Step 5
• Thank the guest for bringing the matter to your attention