Wingate Hospitality

Creating the Most Hospitable Environment: Hotel and Restaurant

By Brandon WingateV. 2.0 2011

Introduction

• Who are you?• Where are you from?• Why are you in the hospitality business?

Program Goals

• To provide a broader understanding of true hospitality

• To discover best practices in delivering great customer service

• To layout a plan for leading your organization toward creating advocates

Module 1

The Essence of Hospitality

“Hospitality is the foundation of a business philosophy. Virtually nothing else is as important as how one is made to feel in any business transaction. Hospitality exists when you believe the other person

is on your side. The converse is just as true. Hospitality is present when something happens for you. It is absent when something happens to you.

Those two simple prepositions – for and to – express it all.”

- Danny MeyerSetting The Table

Hospitality Definition:- Service is the technical delivery of a product. Hospitality is how the

delivery of that product makes its recipient feel- Understanding the distinction between service and hospitality has

been at the foundation of our success. Service is a monologue – we decide how we want to do things and set our own standards for service. Hospitality, on the other hand, is a dialogue. To be on a guest’s side requires listening to that person with every sense, and following up with a thoughtful, gracious, appropriate response. It takes both great service and great hospitality to rise to the top.

Service vs. Hospitality• When the right food is delivered

to the right person at the right table at the right temperature at the right time.

• When you see a member of the wait staff decanting a bottle of wine with care and grace

• When your empty plate is cleared from the table in a graceful manner

• When the waiter can explain and describe every entrée, appetizer, and wine on the menu.

• Most distinguishes any business, is the sum of all the thoughtful, caring gracious things the staff does to make the guests feel they are on their side.

Two Types of Hospitality

Offensive HospitalityFigure out creative ways to

enhance an already good experience

• Extra desserts with inscriptions written and chocolate for birthdays

• Dessert wine for regulars

Defensive HospitalityGetting better at overcoming

frequent mistakes or at defusing whatever situations

the guests might be angry about.

• Checking guests into occupied rooms

• Swiping credit cards on third party reservations

Signs of TROUBLE!!

• “worst choice in Houston area”• “avoid at all costs”• “I felt like I was bothering the front desk

attendent”• “the manager was rude and just didn’t care”• “my dinner was ruined because the waitress spent

more time talking with her table of friends then she did taking care of us”

• “I probably wont stay here again unless I have to”

What you want…

• “The food and service was perfect!”• “The front desk staff was so helpful and

friendly”• “I will definitely return to this hotel for all my

future visits”• “I love this restaurant!”

Fly Fisherman Theory• Fly fishermen gather information from

tiny insects on the bottom of rocks in a stream. These insects would tell the fishermen precisely which fly to tie to the line because the trout would only bite on an artificial fly that resembled what was actually hatching in the water.

• There is a world of information under that rock, but it is up to the fisherman to care enough to look for it. There’s always a story behind a story if you look for it. By Turning Over Rocks you can augment your success at “hooking” guests by taking the care, time, and interest to look.

Signs of a potential “hook”:

• Guest’s impatient look• Glance at a watch• Sighing• Untouched dish• Curious gaze• Walking into a lobby and looking around aimlessly.

These are details that indicate that someone is bored, impatient, puzzled, interested, or lost. Each gesture is a potential opportunity to engage with the guest and provide hospitality.

Applying the Fly Fisherman Theory

• Like the fly fisherman, it all starts by Turning Over Rocks. It is amazing how powerful it can be to ask a guest where they are from. Often, that leads to making a connection because we know someone in common, or we’ve enjoyed the same restaurant, or share the same sports story. When choosing which restaurant to go to dinner, or which hotel to stay at to visit your aunt and uncle, you’ll choose the one whose hostess went to the same high school as you, or the one with front desk agent from your hometown, or the one with the waiter who shares your birthday.

Shared Ownership

• There is no stronger way to build a relationship with someone than taking a genuine interest in another human being. When we take an active interest in the guests at our hotel/restaurant, we create a sense of community and a feeling of “shared ownership”.

Shared Ownership cont.

• Develops when guests talk about a hotel or restaurant as if it’s theirs (advocate). They can’t wait to share it with friends and family, and what they’re really sharing, is the experience of feeling important and loved. That sense of affiliation builds trust and a sense of being accepted and appreciated. This invariably leads to repeat business a necessity for any company’s long-term survival. It creates loyalty.

Loyalty Program

• What is a loyalty program?• All team members are ambassadors of

the brand. They should be experts of the program.

• Loyalty programs turn into repeat business, which means higher revenues for the hotel.

Module 2

Hospitality in Motion

Becoming a Hospitality ACE:Three Core Principles

1. Always Raising the Bar2. Complete Team Effort3. Employ Data Tracking Measures

ACE: Always Raising the Bar

• continuously raising the bar by challenging yourself to improve. If you’re not getting better, you’re getting worse.

• Implement GUEST model, LEARN model, and 15/5 rule

GUEST Model

• Greet each guest• Use guest name at least twice• Establish any guest needs• Show sincere interest• Thank the guest

15/5 Rule

• Acknowledge the guest within 15 feet, engage them within 5 feet.

LEARN Model

• Listen• Empathize• Apologize• React• Notify

ACE: Complete Team Effort

• Involving all members of team, from front line to GM, to focus in on a common goal. You must do the RIGHT THING, versus doing everything right.

• Empowerment• Ownership• Loyalty Program

Empowerment

• What is Empowerment?• The employee has a complete sense of

responsibility. From front line associate to manager, any employee should have the complete sense of responsibility to make any decision he/she seems fit. There is nothing a front line associate can do that a GM cannot do.

Ownership

• What is Ownership?• The employee owns a problem, overseeing its

resolution from beginning to end

ACE: Employ Data Tracking Measures

• Making decisions based on facts and measured numbers. The numbers do not lie.

• Service Recovery Grid• Using tracking forms such as Welcome

Calls, Departure Calls, Defect Reporting

Service Recovery Grid

Hero Not hotels fault, big deal to guest. Ex: airline lost guest luggage. Call airline and monitor luggage for the guest.

Red Carpet Complete hotels fault, big deal to guest. Ex: guest doesn’t get wake up call. Room comp, comp meal, etc.

Empathy Not hotels faults, not big deal to guest. Ex: guest got lost on way to hotel. Empathize and provide guest with a pleasant surprise sent up to room.

Fix ItComplete hotels fault, not big deal to guest. Ex: leaky faucet. Alert maintenance, record in defect log; follow up with guest once complete.

High

Low

Severity

Low High

Fault

Welcome Calls

• A welcome call should be made to a guest room within 15 minutes of the guest checking in.

• It is made to welcome the guest to the hotel and to inquire of any arrival issues the guest may have observed.

• A welcome call form should be used for every shift.• It must document the guest name, guest room

number, time of check-in, time of welcome call, and if there were any issues with the room.

Departure Calls

• Departure calls should be carried out on the PM shift

• The front desk associate must call each of the next day’s departures inquiring and encouraging about extending or making a future reservation

• This creates hospitality, loyalty, and additional revenue.

Defect Reporting

• What are the top 3 problems reported at your hotel?• A Defect Log keeps track of guest issues and comments. It is a

proactive approach for solving problems to ensure guest satisfaction. Complaints are defects too!

• The form must include time reported, guest name, room number, problem location, problem reported, who order was assigned to (housekeeping, maintenance, etc.), time of call back to guest

Module 3

Hospitality and You

Your Brand

• What is your current perception about your hotels brand? What do you know about it?

• What brands does your hotel compete against?

• What are the target markets for your brand?

Self Appraisal

• List your strengths. Expand and elaborate.• List areas of improvement and shortcomings.

What are ways to improve on these?

Future Goals

• What are you looking for in your next job? Where do you want to go in your career?

• What are other job possibilities? • Describe your ideal position and what makes it

ideal.• What is your pledge to the hospitality

industry?

Almost Done!

• Program Assessment

THANK YOU!!!