Whatever It Takes

As a hotel manager for more than a decade, I have developed a basic rule that I apply to all situations. I tried to make the rule simple enough for my employees to remember and easy enough to understand. When the staff as a whole worked in line with the rule, the service scores started to climb and the overall attitude throughout the hotel improved as well. The idea of the rule was to give the employees the power to handle as many issues as possible.

The first rule, and the most important, is Do whatever is takes to make the guest happy. (If you prefer you may think of the word customer instead of guest for your business.) Simple, straight forward, and easy to apply. Once you figure out what will make the guest happy, do that, whatever it is. This gives the employees the power to take action, to actually do something. The word do prompts action; it gives the person listening to the command the indication that some sort of action will be required. They know that they have to do something.

The something they are required to do is defined as whatever. This opens up the possibilities to an almost endless list of options. It encourages a certain amount of creativity on the part of the employee. They need to determine what possible actions can be performed, what they really need to do. The fact it is whatever it takes the employee will have to find out exactly what the problem or issue is in order to know what possible options they can come up with to correct the problem or issue.

The last part of that first rule tells the employee what the criteria is for the action they have decided to do. It makes the guest happy. If the action performed does not make the guest happy then it is not the answer to whatever needs to be done.

As with everything we do in the hotel business, the guest has the final word on what is to be done. If the guest is happy then we have done our job, if the guest is not happy then we have missed the mark, we have not done our job. Every action needs to be done with the thought of whether or not the guest will be happy with what we are doing or will this action benefit our guests in some way. This is especially true when we are dealing with a guest problem or issue.

However, this rule doesnt have to be utilized only when confronted with a guest problem, it fits in perfectly with any and all activities which every department in the hotel is doing. Maintenance should not make a repair that will leave the toilet seat slipping and sliding around when sat on. The guest would not be happy riding a toilet seat that reminds them of a rodeo. Housekeeping would not leave a wet towel hanging on the back of the bathroom door when cleaning a check-out room. The guest would not be happy with a pre-used towel in the room when everything is supposed to look like it is fresh and new. A server in the restaurant would not toss a plate of food at a guest like a Frisbee; the porter wouldnt fling suitcases across the room like a hammer throw in the highland games, and the front desk wouldnt answer the phone whadda ya want?!

Most of our daily actions are basic common sense while some require a little thought. If we always think to ourselves if this particular action will make the guest happy then we know our operations are designed with excellent guest service in mind.

I know some managers will hear the rule do what ever it takes to make the guest happy and think that giving employees the power to do whatever they want brings up too many variables and could cause more problems that might skim too close to liability issues for managements comfort. This rule can be modified to be in place as long as the solution is legal and under a predetermined amount of money. But, dont forget that the whole idea is to get the employees to handle more guest issues quickly without having to make the guest wait while they hunt down a manager to address the issue, especially if the manager will most likely give a refund anyway and assign the employee to process that refund.

Why not let the employee automatically do a refund without having the guest stand around and wait? You can place restrictions and limits on the rule, just keep in mind the overall goal. In my experience, the employees already instinctively know when they reach that point and need to call a manager, especially when the second and third rules are invoked.

Will Maguire, CHA
http://www.freewebs.com/borderlandhosp/

Over 20 years working in the hospitality industry in jobs from dish-washer to hotel general manager. Will demonstrates success in every stage of his career. Most notably in the service side of the industry. His last hotel went from the mid 50% to the top 5% in brand service rankings.

Visit his blog where he shares some of his thoughts and insights about guest (customer) service.

http://x-cellentguestservice.blogspot.com/

Reserve Motel Room89441
Last Minute Hotel75477
Lodge12792
Colonial Inn Motel11425
Galveston Motels66452