If you are a property owner in the tourism and hospitality sector, a simple formula that you can employ to have a successful business is – people buy from people. The quality of service offered by your staff is the primary determinant of success and failure. The only way to set yourself apart from your competitors is by providing unmatched superior customer service consistently. But the real question is how to do it? In this article, we will explore the principles of customer service in the context of a competitive global hospitality market and try to find the answers to ways to improve customer experience in hotels.
How To Measure Quality of Customer Service?
According to a survey, customer service excellence is often described as the feeling of being respected or heard. It is one of the intangible factors in a guest’s decision to choose one property over another. You can’t always put your finger on what makes good customer service, but you know it when you see it. And it is an important metric in determining success, both in terms of meeting rising customer expectations and achieving business profitability.
Guest satisfaction is highly influenced by service elements such as employee attitude, the speed and array of services offered. According to a survey published by Cornell Hospitality in 2012, it was found that the better the customer satisfaction, the higher is the income. This means that hotels need to drive their focus on customer service in order to drive more profits. Moreover, the same study found that while making the purchase decision, guests often considered service to be considerably more important than pricing and location.
Does customer service training improve customer experience?
The short answer is yes! Employees that receive customer service training are capable of laying the groundwork for excellent service delivery. Regular customer service training in the hospitality industry reflects improved skills and attitudes; better communication skills; and a deeper understanding of workplace practices. Hospitality leaders who invest time and resources in customer service training have seen increased morale, confidence, self-satisfaction, and work satisfaction among their staff. Customer service training builds an interest in and willingness to participate in further training. This ensures more independent and satisfied employees that perform better. A boost in job and career advancement potential are also some of the potential benefits of this training.
Hotelogix’s Automate Coaching Engine or A.C.E. is a leading contactless learning system. It is the world’s first automated self-paced coaching engine in the hospitality industry. It’s an easy-to-use software that enables hotel staff to carry out their function with access to an integrated learning module. Hotelogix cloud PMS comes with this pre-installed coaching engine. So, you and your employees have constant access to all of the videos and lessons for your hotel software training. The tutorials are designed keeping in mind the challenges of hoteliers. It replicates a step-by-step learning model that leads you through the different basic activities and features of the software. The interactive required for a day-to-day company in a way that feels more consumer-focused than enterprise-focused.
What are some hotel customer service training values you should focus on?
Customer service is the only factor that can set your property apart from its competitors in the eyes of a customer. Creating a customer-focused business model as a whole will help to better meet customer expectations. Encourage your staff, both junior and senior professionals, to obtain industry certifications as one approach to assure quality service. Hospitality businesses can also use techniques like the SERVQUAL methodology, which compares customer perceptions of quality to customer expectations, to measure customer satisfaction levels. The five dimensions of customer service in the SERVQUAL model are:
- Reliability: It refers to the consistency of service quality offered by your property at all levels.
- Assurance: The ability of your staff to transmit trust and confidence by their knowledge and courtesy.
- Features:The organization’s physical facilities, equipment, and employee appearance are tangibles.
- Empathy: Empathy is the level of compassionate, one-on-one attention that an organization’s employees give to its clients.
- Responsiveness: Staff willingness to assist customers and deliver prompt service is referred to as responsiveness.
5 tips to improve the customer experience in the hospitality industry?
#1 Ease the booking process
You have a better chance of improving your occupancy and revenue if you have an online hotel booking system that is constantly open for business. Mobile gadgets have become the traveler’s closest friend, according to the small hotelier, with about 85 percent of activities booked via mobile devices. The biggest benefit of having an online booking engine is that it allows potential guests to book at any time.
Hotelogix has launched its web booking system to increase bookings with ease. This enhanced version allows you to check hotel availability faster, make instant bookings, automate confirmation emails, and more with a modern design and new features.
#2 Personalize the stay experience
Meeting or exceeding client expectations is how quality in service is defined. A customer’s engagement with a front-line staff has a significant impact on how that hospitality service is perceived. Self-empowerment and self-regulation, a positive perspective, awareness of their own and others’ feelings, and the ability to suppress fear and anxiety while being able to access a desire to help others are all qualities of employees who are best suited to generate these moments.
#3 Invest in a PMS
A plaque on the wall proclaiming great customer service from hotel workers has no bearing on a guest relationship that has devolved into hostility. It has no value unless it is reflected in the conduct of firm employees toward visitors daily. Migrating to an efficient cloud-based multi-property management system helps to maximize the productivity of your employees without compromising operational efficiency.
Hotelogix is a cutting-edge cloud hotel management system that is ideal for your property’s operations. It can be easily adapted for a low one-time setup price, no subscription/zero license fees, no long-term contract, and free software updates. Furthermore, it allows you to save money by eliminating the need to purchase a server and set up IT infrastructure and resources.
#4 Use technology
The development of “smart rooms,” or rooms that are powered by a mixture of artificial intelligence and speech recognition technology, is an emerging trend in the hotel business. They can improve the customer experience by allowing guests to use voice control to control many features of their hotel room.
For example, services like Alexa for Hospitality allow hotel guests to operate multiple gadgets in their rooms via voice commands sent through Alexa smart speakers. As a result, a guest may be able to control the lights or switch on or off the television from anywhere in the room using simple voice commands.
#5 Get feedback
If your property fails to satisfy a client’s expectations, the consumer is likely to tell others about it, frequently through social media. An on-site issue that becomes an online complaint, going from private to public, can be significantly more harmful to a company’s bottom line than the original problem. Organizations and personnel must work hard to address concerns before the client walks out the door — or pulls out a smartphone to make an online posting — to prevent any problem from developing.
Customers that are dissatisfied need:
- An understanding representative: They need to vent every now and then. They want to know that the employee or boss is paying attention and is concerned about their concerns.
- An apology: In certain circumstances, a sincere apology is all that is required.
- A Solution: Customers typically bring issues to the notice of personnel to have them resolved.
- Compensation: Customers who are dissatisfied often want compensation, although this is not always the case.
- Follow-up: It’s crucial to some people to know that their problems are brought to management’s attention and rectified for future consumers.
- Confirmation: Customers want to know they’ll be taken care of.
Summary:
We’ve gone through the fundamentals of meeting client expectations. However, for your business to be successful, it must not only meet but also surpass customer expectations. Exceptional service does not always necessitate a significant investment of money, time, or resources. People often remember the small things, the special attention from personnel, and the individual touches the most. There is no recipe for providing exceptional service. It will be determined by the sort of customer, the purpose of their visit, and the items they value. Finding innovative ways to give exceptional service necessitates management support, excellent observation skills, and a willingness to put in “a little extra”.
