How Often Are You Told What You Want?

The cartoon above is an absolute favourite of mine from the cartoonist/creative genius, Hugh MacLeod. Take a look at his artwork and musings on the website: Gaping Void

How Often Are You TOLD What You Want?

As a customer, how often are you told, rather than asked, what you want or need? It’s not something that you ask yourself very often; however, if you think about it, we are told what we want every day.

Microsoft tries to insist that we need auto correct. Record shop chains tell us that we want to buy the top 40 hits; hits which are decided upon by twelve to fifteen year olds. Would you let a twelve year old decide what you watch on television or what clothes to wear? And every day, in hotels around the world, guests are being told that they want breakfast included or that they want a complimentary drink in the hotel bar.

Do these companies ever stop to question whether they are giving their customers what they truly want?

I read an article on ehotelier.com today about this subject. Yeoh Siew Hoon’s article discusses the idea that hotels shouldn’t offer a free breakfast and assume that this adds value to the guest’s stay; in fact, the free breakfast may actually cause more frustration than satisfaction. A better idea would be to offer guests a choice; do they want a free breakfast in the morning or would they prefer free internet access.

I’ve experiences many similar situations in hotels around the world. The constantly irritating example is when inedible food is placed in front of you; a smiling waitress delivers a freezing cold burger surrounded by a centimeter of oil and burnt fries. You politely explain that you will not accept it, and the response you receive is, “I will exchange it for you.” A complaining customer hates to be TOLD what will happen in response to their complaint; they want to be in control.

Customer service staff need to be trained to ask the right questions and then offer the customer choices. “I’m sorry, sir. Do you have time to wait for a replacement?” Followed by, “Thank you, sir; and would you like us to remake the same dish or would you prefer to change your order?”

They shouldn’t be saying, “I’ll bring you a free drink with your meal, I’m sorry for the wait.” They should be asking whether the guest would like a free drink or a free dessert. When a customer is given options they are far more likely to leave satisfied with the result.

I agree with Steve Jobs, who said, “You can't just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they'll want something new.” However, you can, and SHOULD, give your customers choices.

The concept is the same if you are providing a booking system to hotels, motels, or guest houses...

Don’t tell the customer what they want… Ask them!

Obviously, full customization has to come with a price tag, but offering simple choices in date layout, taxation standards, and room names or numbers is a simple and effective way to give the client what they actually want rather than what you think they .need

Ask yourself this: when did you last ask a client what they needed? If you can’t remember, do it today.

Thanks for reading,

Emma

If you have any questions or comments regarding corporate training for hotels or hotel booking systems for small to medium sized hotels, motels, and guest houses, please leave your comments here or email me on eharradine@hotmail.co.uk

24 Hour Customer Support

Above: The testimonials offered by Hotel Booking Systems are a good example of positive ‘customer support’ feedback.

Customer support: number three on the list

“Customer support – 24 hours” came third on the list of requirements when sixty small-to-medium sized hotel, motel, and guest house owners and GMs were questioned about their hotel booking system requirements. However, when asked about their reasons for swapping their booking software supplier, “Lack of continuing support” was number one on the list. This did not come as a surprise to me.

An effective hotel system must be usable in any country, with any currency, and any tax system. It is for this reason that free fields are required (as opposed to drop downs) and programs must be fully customisable. Most (but certainly not all) companies have realised this and therefore offer full customisation; however, with complicated systems and full customisation, there needs to be an option for twenty-four hour support; something that, yet again, most companies (seem) to realise.

However, I have come to question the support offered by these hotel booking system providers. I have lost count of the number of unanswered calls, week long waits for email replies, and voice mail messages I have left… All to no avail. And once I receive such terrible support once, I no longer have faith in the supplier and no longer recommend their product to my clients. It’s as simple as that! If a customer is promised support as part of their software package, then that promise needs to be fulfilled.

Respondents agree

It seems that my questionnaire respondents agree:

“I have come to trust software providers that request additional payment for support. Any company that has told me they can answer my emails or calls 24 hours for free has let me down one hundred per cent of the time.” – Simon, Hope Hotel, USA

“I’m getting too old to understand the ins and outs of a complicated booking system. I want to be told how to use it and get on with using it from day one. Once something goes wrong, it’s not like I can figure it out for myself; I need help. And if there is no one to help me for over a week, what am I supposed to do meanwhile?” – Anon, UK

“I’d like to send some of these people on a customer support course to teach them how to deal with real people. I sometime wonder whether they know their own software because they certainly don’t know how to explain it to me. I need quick, supportive, answers to my questions.” – Anon, UK

“I don’t mind waiting two days for a reply as long as I know it’s going to be two days! Don’t promise me the earth and give me a ping pong ball, I’ve learnt enough in this industry and won’t be taken for a mug anymore!” – Peter, Swan Inn, Yorkshire, UK

Testimonials

As a consultant within the industry, I have found testimonials mentioning excellent customer service and support are of utmost importance when promoting your software. I expect to see two or three testimonials from establishments of a similar size to the hotel, motel, guest house, or inn, I am consulting for. Excellent testimonials (that can be checked) can make or break my decision to use a system provider and I am sure that this is true of establishments searching for their own booking software.

I wish to also convey the importance of this to the hoteliers reading my blog: ALWAYS ask for testimonials and ALWAYS ask whether you can check their validity. If a supplier cannot provide positive feedback from previous clients and/or seems reluctant for you to contact the person, DO NOT trust the supplier. I learnt my lesson the hard way, there is no reason for you to do the same.

I hope that hoteliers and hotel booking software suppliers have found this, and previous, posts useful. If so, please add your comments to support my ideas, completely disagree with my thoughts, to advertise your own hotel/software, or to ask any questions you have.

Thanks for reading,

Emma

Please contact me on eharradine@hotmail.co.uk for further information or advice.

Off Peak Discounts

Offering an ‘off-season’ discount is a concept that I’m sure you, as a hotel owner or GM, are all too familiar with. In fact, as you’re clawing your way out of a difficult off-season right now, I’m sure you’re keen never to return to such depths. You know your product is first class and your service top rate, so why should you have to lure guests with huge discounts and extra perks?

Well, I believe that off-seasons are a thing of the past. Off-seasons are the times when prospective customers least like to travel and therefore are much less likely to stay in your hotel, motel, or guest house. To entice these customers, hoteliers have turned to internet booking agents to offer unbeatable discounts as a last-ditch attempt to improve occupancy levels, but this has done little good for RevPAR.

So, what if you use your marketing skills to ensure that potential guests want to travel and yearn for a stay in your hotel. Sounds difficult? It doesn’t have to be…

It’s all about targeting; targeting exactly what within your hotel or surrounding area will attract your prospective guests; and targeting the correct words to use on your website and advertising to optimize your visibility within search engines.

Let’s start with the former marketing skill: targeting what amenities you can take advantage of in order to attract guests…

I’m searching on the internet for a guest house during the summer; a beautiful little cottage appears. I look at the amenities and discover that it is close to the beach, has a swimming pool, and is within easy walking distance of the local town, which has outside terraces and beachside bars. Perfect!

I’m searching on the internet for a guest house later that year. It’s snowing outside. I discover the same little guest house and check out the amenities. I’m told once again that there’s a beach, a pool, and outside catering. No thank you very much! It’s far too cold; I’d rather stay at home.

Actually, the guesthouse was close to a mountain with great winter sports and hiking available. There are lodges nearby with spas, which serve good hearty winter roasts, and the guesthouse has a great indoor sauna area… But I wasn’t told any of this. The guesthouse owners have marketed themselves as a great summer getaway and in the process have marketed themselves an off-season.

Your marketing must be constantly evolving in order to attract guests through each ‘high-season’ available to you. This might mean finding seasonal activities for every season and highlighting the benefits of avoiding the crowds, but no matter how you do it, you’ve got to give them a reason to want to travel off-peak.

Next, we’ll tackle the second marketing skill: optimizing your visibility in search engines to attract the right guests for the right seasons; another ever-evolving task.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Pay-Per-Click Ads (PPC) are vital tools if you’re going to attract guests all year round. And, there is no excuse for hit and miss website marketing anymore. With analysis tools, such as Google Analytics, it is easy to see which key words generate the most traffic to your site and pinpoint consumer trends during certain times of the year.

Once you have analyzed the data and know what consumers are looking for, it becomes easier for you to emphasize your unique selling points (USP) during each season and give your guests exactly what they want, not just what you think they want.

To summarize, it is possible to manipulate seasonality in order to gain conversions, and if you use your website marketing strategically, you can make the concept of an ‘off-season’ completely obsolete. Just don’t expect to build a website and be able to leave it untouched for a year… As the market evolves, you need to as well.

Thanks again for reading,

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 HotelSystems.co.uk for ease of use and functionality then please contact me on eharradine@hotmail.co.uk

Photosynth for Hospitality Industry

Ensuring that your hotel, motel, or guest house is enticing to prospective guests is vital. I know of a number of occasions when a hotel has been well situated and has received rave reviews, but guests have been reluctant to book due to the terrible photographs on the hotel website. The photographs make the bedrooms look small and dingy, the carpet grimy, and the bathroom moldy. Would I like to stay there? No thank you!

However, it is also important to be realistic. How many times have you looked forward to the bright blue, luxurious, fifty meter pool only to discover a ten meter bathtub upon arrival?

When consulting a small to medium sized establishment on marketing and customer service, one of the first items on the agenda is the website, and most importantly the way in which the hotel or guest house is portrayed by the website.

If the photographs do not tell the real story, I source a photographer to provide the hotel with the shots they need to advertise their product and services, and to entice guests with ease. However, this can be expensive; the shots can still be unsuccessful, and the true story is rarely ever told. Whether we like it or not, photography has its limitations.

Until now…

I have been playing with a gem of an idea called Photosynth by Microsoft Live Labs. It allows you to share places and things using the cinematic quality of a movie, the control of a video game, and the detail of the real world. With a collection of photos, Photosynth creates an amazing new experience for your prospective guests.

Photosynth provides the ability to reconstruct a scene or object from flat photographs, and then uses technology to bring that experience to virtually anyone over the Internet.

The Photosynth website says,

“Using techniques from the field of computer vision, Photosynth examines images for similarities to each other and uses that information to estimate the shape of the subject and the vantage point each photo was taken from. With this information, we recreate the space and use it as a canvas to display and navigate through the photos.”

At the moment the technology still feels somewhat infantile, and I’d love to hear if there is more advanced software out there, but I really do believe that this could be the answer to a hotel marketers prayers.

Take a look for yourself here!

Best regards

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 HotelSystems.co.uk for ease of use and functionality then please contact me on eharradine@hotmail.co.uk

The Importance of Decision Making

Today, I wish to cover a subject often spoken about within the hospitality industry, which is also a topic I broached not long ago when discussing empowerment and customer service related issues: Decision making!

The decision making abilities of hotel employees can make or break a guest’s stay. However, hotel owners and GMs too often reward the managers who achieve immediate results (often through luck) and not those who have made some admirable (lateral thinking) judgments which, often through no fault of their own, have not produced the instantaneous results required.

The owners, CEOs and GMs have got where they are thanks to their excellent decision making skills, however, if they were to look back at all the good decisions they made which went badly, they should be thankful to have a job at all. In today’s climate they be cleaning the toilets rather than managing hundreds of employees.

Professor Zeger Degraeve, who is the ‘Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Professor of Innovation, Professor of Decision Sciences’ at London Business School, believes that “the result is irrelevant… as a measure of decision quality.” Professor Degraeve goes on to say that a decision is made in a split second and then implemented (often by others) at a later date, the result is then observed in the future. Events happen that a manager could not possibly foresee and not every variable is controllable by the hotel or the decision maker. “Therefore, the quality of the result is not an indicator of decision quality and the result is irrelevant as a measure of decision (and execution) quality.”

It is important for hotel industry leaders to observe the decision being made at the time and judge the employee based purely on their decision making ability. The judgment may be made based on efficiency, profit, or even guest satisfaction, but it needs to be made based on the question, “what are we trying to achieve?” In the hospitality industry, the answer to his question will nearly always be guest satisfaction and therefore, if the customer was happy with little extra cost to the hotel then the decision was a good one, even if the result in the long run is less than originally hoped for.

For more information on Professor Zeger Degraeve and his thoughts on decision making, please go to HoteleMarketer, where there is an in-depth interview with the aforementioned thought leader.

To link this back, briefly, to hotel booking systems:

Hotels, motels, and guest houses choose hotel systems based upon their needs at the time of purchase. They cannot possibly foresee future events that will render the booking software unusable to them. It doesn’t mean that a bad decision was made; it purely means the results are poor. The overriding factor of hotelsystems.co.uk is the ability to customize the software for individual requirements... Meaning no bad decisions short or long term.

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.