New Hotel Booking System

This is a quick shout out to Ed Sansbury from the United Kingdom who is currently developing a hotel booking system with a bit of a difference. My initial thoughts are positive, despite the fact that the hotel system is still under development, and I’m wondering whether this might grow to become the booking system to beat that offered by http://www.hotelsystems.co.uk/.

Tristan (from hotelsystems.co.uk) – I’m looking forward to seeing the latest version of my favourite hotel software to date. If the updates are as good as they sound, then the latest system is going to set even higher standards within the hospitality industry.

And on a fun note –

I read the following article by Oliver Smith at Telegraph.co.uk. He talks about a British couple who were given a complimentary five-star hotel room – with a voyeuristic catch.

A British couple on holiday in New York have received a complimentary five-star hotel room, in return for allowing pedestrians and passing motorists to watch their every move.

Duncan Malcolm and Katherine Lewis from London agreed to spend their break in the Big Apple as non-paying guests at the Roger Smith Hotel, in the heart of Manhattan.

However, the couple’s lodging – a replica bedroom built on the ground floor of a nearby building – has floor-to-ceiling windows, permitting an unhindered view to voyeuristic passers-by.

Although the room has curtains, its occupants must keep them open between 4.30pm and 7.30pm. The bedroom and bathroom are not on display – allowing guests a degree of privacy.
The couple have said that they plan to stay for five days in the room with a view.

The Roger Smith is one of a growing number of hotels that use bizarre themes and quirky rooms to attract visitors.

One room at Berlin’s Propeller Island City Lodge features a large one-way mirror that allows guests in the neighbouring room to look inside.

The Poseidon Resort in the Bahamas offers "undersea suites" – a series of luxury apartments situated 12 meters underwater.

America’s Dog Bark Park Inn gives guest the chance to stay inside "the world’s largest Beagle" – a room inside a giant, hollow dog, complete with ensuite bathroom.

For more information go to –

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travelnews/4384743/British-couple-go-on-display-in-New-York-hotel-room.html

I can’t help but question whether it is the poor customer service within the hospitality industry that has caused this need for alternative sources of positive publicity and optimistic word of mouth. Hotel chains would rather spend their money on pricey marketing initiatives than on the training needed to create the perfect experience for customers like you and I.

Hospitality Industry Training

As a corporate trainer and regular seminar presenter, I keep my ear close to the ground, especially when it comes to training within the hospitality industry.

I have recently seen a dramatic increase in the training opportunities provided to hotel employees, especially in the areas of customer relationship management and customer service (and within China, English language skills) so, therefore, I was interested to read the following article taken from the ‘Hotel News in Brief’ section of ehotelier.com:

“More than 350 hoteliers and industry experts gathered at this year's WORLDHOTELS Annual Conference at the Monte Carlo Bay Hotel in Monaco, on 17th and 18th January. Under the banner "IMPACT 2009", the global group for independent hotels launched a number of initiatives designed to combat the economic downturn and to grow revenue and market share across a number of markets, business segments and channels. A key component of this strategy was the introduction of the "Unlimited Training" programme. Under this programme, WORLDHOTELS' properties can send an unlimited number of staff on an unlimited number of up to 120 training courses offered by the WORLDHOTELS.academy in 2009 for a one-off nominal fee. The courses are being conducted in seven languages including English, Spanish, German and Chinese and are being held in 14 international destinations. The courses range from yield, revenue and front office management to sales, international marketing and distribution, and traditional hotel operations. For more information please visit: http://www.worldhotels.com/.”

http://ehotelier.com/browse/news_more.php?id=15409_0_11_0_C

The concept of increasing the levels of training during times of economic downturn is extremely sensible, yet this idea seems only to be embraced by the hospitality industry. In the manufacturing, research, and engineering industries, when the economy is slowing and business is bad, the first expense to be cut is training. However, when the economic situation improves and business increases, these companies will be left with unmotivated, poorly trained employees with little time on their hands for improving their skills.

Three cheers to the hospitality industry, the one industry still able to see the bigger picture.

La gon (from Thailand)

Emma

I am still on a search for the best hotel booking system for small to medium sized hotels. If you know of hotel booking software that can beat www.hotelsystems.co.uk for ease of use and functionality then please contact me on eharradine@hotmail.co.uk

Customer Service Flaws

Today I attended a number of meetings within a popular Nanjing five star Hotel. I started my day by meeting with some clients and I purchased coffee and tea for all attendees. Next, I met with the Training Manager to discuss the hotel’s training strategy for 2009. Finally, I met with the General Manager to discuss training seminars and also to conduct some research into the chain’s hotel booking system. After these meeting I purchased a takeaway coffee and proceeded to the taxi queue.

During my meeting with the GM I had mentioned this blog and the subject of empowerment. The debate was both lively and interesting and left me with a list of blog topics as long as my arm; I couldn’t wait to get back to my office and start writing… Until I reached the taxi queue and the subject matters flew from memory in favour of yet another customer service problem due to poor employee empowerment.

My Chinese language skills are not great and from time to time I have problems communicating with taxi drivers, especially those from outside of the province. Therefore, I explained where I wished to go to concierge and requested that he communicated with the taxi driver on my behalf.

I was confronted with a blank look and asked whether I was a hotel guest. I explained that I wasn’t in fact a guest but had met with the GM and had purchased goods from inside the hotel. I assumed that this would solve the problem, but no. Concierge explained to me that they had been instructed to only provide assistance and taxi services for hotel guests and were adamant that they had no intention of bending this rule for me.

It wasn’t the rule of denying assistance to non-guests that bothered me but the conversation that followed. In fact, ensuring that guests receive priority attention at all times is something that sits well with me, but it’s the lack of flexibility due to deficient empowerment that sends chills down my spine.

I do at least have an excellent topic (with perfect example) for my next management seminar within this hotel; I just hope that this service ‘innovation’ doesn’t create too many issues for prospective customers in the following months.

For another great blog related to customer service and management visit Paul Bacon’s blog: Notes From The Trenches -

http://sinohr.blogspot.com/

I’d love to hear your comments on customer service within the hospitality industry and also recommendations for alternatives to my favourite hotel booking software – http://www.hotelsystems.co.uk/. Thanks!

Empowering Employees

In yesterday’s article I touched on the idea that disempowering employees leads to poor customer service and lack of product / price / service flexibility. I have experienced this phenomenon twice today.

My first experience occurred during my daily visit to Costa Coffee in my home city of Nanjing. I ordered my usual Café Latte and requested a glass of cold water. The look on the cashiers face was priceless. “Cold water?” she asked. “Yes”, I replied, “cold water!” “Do you mean a bottle of water?” “No”, I replied, pointing, “I’d like a glass of cold water from your water machine over there”. The cashier huddled in the corner with her manager for a number of minutes before the manager wandered over to confirm that I was in fact requesting a FREE glass of water to accompany my overpriced coffee. The manager, looking very pleased with himself, ordered the cashier to pour me a glass of water and went back to pretending to look busy. During this process, I was extremely tempted to walk out and never return. The cashier wasn’t even allowed to provide a free glass of water without first checking with her manager!

The second occurrence was later this afternoon when conversing with a client and his employees. I gave a thirty minute presentation to the middle management of a medium-sized Nanjing hotel and after the presentation I asked the staff a number of questions to clarify the message I had delivered. Before any employee answered a question, they would first look at their manager for permission to answer and would never do so until they had received the obligatory nod. In a business where I have been hired to consult on CRM issues the General Manager could not understand how this lack of empowerment was hindering the hotel’s relationship with customers.

I found an interesting article by Mike McDaniel on Ezine discussing this exact problem:
http://ezinearticles.com/?Empower-Employees-to-Keep-Customers-Happy&id=1614535

I’d be interested to hear stories from readers related to hotel staff providing poor service due to lack of empowerment. Especially stories related to hotel booking systems and CRM systems.

A Hotel in Macau (which will remain nameless!)

I spent a very enjoyable week in Macau, the Las Vegas of Asia, a couple of weeks a go and booked my hotel a week in advance via www.asiarooms.com, having read the reviews on the service, the room quality, and the location.

On arrival we checked in with my member’s card and received an upgrade, as I would have expected. The hotel lived up to our expectations and Macau exceeded our expectations. Until our final night in the hotel…

Due to unexpected circumstances I was required to stay in Macau for an extra night, so off I trotted to reception to extend my stay. The price per night for my stay had been 750 HK dollars (this was for both week nights and week days) for a deluxe suite (due to my upgrade). However, when I attempted to downgrade to a standard single room I was quoted 1250 HK dollars and was told this was the cheapest room available.

A long discussion into the logic of this pricing system ensued, and the outcome was that we received the price of 750 due to the room being of deluxe criteria and my membership status. If I wanted to downgrade I had to pay more. To this day I still do not understand the reasoning. However, after a lengthy discussion with the manager, I deduced that if I were to sit in the lobby with my laptop and book online (as any Tom, Dick, or Harry) I would receive a price of 750 HK dollars, but if I were to try to book a room (as a returning customer, having spent a great deal of money in the hotel) face to face I would have to pay 1250 HK dollars.

Another example of customer service gone wrong, and the problems surrounding conventional hotel booking systems, which allow absolutely no flexibility and hinder the empowerment of employees.

Supplier Relationship Management

As the acting Supplier Relationship Manager for my clients, I must take responsibility for managing problem resolutions. I create the relationships, train the individuals involved, and ensure that smaller issues are not masking larger problems before handing over the reigns to the hotel employees.

This process involves a great deal of discussion, scheduling, documenting problems and solutions, status update meetings (usually con calls at present) and resolution follow-ups.

New hotel and motel owners are often too tempted to bypass these fundamental yet vital steps to ensure effective communication between staff and their suppliers.

I have spent a long week making phone call after phone call to suppliers… Or should I say, I have spent a long week talking to answering machines belonging to suppliers. What has the world of customer service come to? I don’t expect an answer around the clock but during office hours… Surely that’s not too much to ask?

Which is where I harp back to my previous phone call to www.hotelsystems.co.uk

My conversation with Tristan was unlike discussions with other hotel booking software suppliers. Despite my lack of respect for time differences, the telephone was answered immediately (unlike the answering machines I speak to when contacting other hospitality suppliers) with a cheerful and accommodating tone.

I was listened to, and the improvement initiatives I offered were gratefully taken on board, whilst Tristan worked away at fully customizing the hotel booking software for my client. This is a company that understands the concept of improving efficiency and profitability without the need to jump from crisis to crisis in order for these improvements to be made.

A rather rare find in my opinion.