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by Vassilis Xenoudakis
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You better do it perfect because you will get no second chance; the Guest
is sharing this with his friends. The truth is that Guest communication is
greatly undermined in terms of the impact it has. Traditionally, it is supervised
on departmental level as an organic part of each department’s operation. But
should Guest communication be regarded like this and what decisions must be
taken to change this? 1. Must become a leader
Initiate communication, create communication leads and follow up on
them. The basic element that distinguishes a hotel from a serviced apartment
and allows for charging a premium is human interaction /communication.
Along with the advancement of technology human communication has been
altered in character and communication channels have been enriched. After the
introduction of information technology (internet, portable computers, network
integration, etc) communication channels are targeted and so frequently utilized
that endorsing them in the hotel services is becoming more or equally important
to the use of the Guest’s mother language. A good example is that it is not
anymore enough to offer a newspaper in the morning, but whichever newspaper the
Guest likes, in whatever format, on whatever platform, application or even what
part of it is to his/her interest.
3. Must want to
research, be curious.
Usually the only time that a service has been properly researched and
introduced in a hotel is on drawing board / during its feasibility study. Even
though there is a wealth of information hidden in the “everyday” operation
hotels fail to utilize them and only respond to competition. The main reason is
that small-medium hotels cannot afford the resources. I will draw an example from my experience in
Greece, a major drawback dominating the Greek hospitality industry. The Property
Management Systems (PMS) that are used by the hotels in Greece are either very
basic packages with basic functionality or primitive in relation to collection
and representation of data generated during a stay.
4. Must admit that
enough is not enough.
This applies to the misleading notion that the Guest experience derives
from the wealth and not the quality of services. Guests are highly
knowledgeable reviewers and standards are the minimum requirement for them, not
the higher performance to be achieved. Therefore, achieving them does not make a
hotel “the best” or even “good” in providing value. Conception of value is
becoming more multi-influnced and includes time and marketing communications
(projected services). My interpretation of value of stay would be:
Value = Experiences gained + services consumed
Resources dedicated (time + money) x projected services
5.
Must accept that there are many stakeholders.
Everything produced is a result of processing
inputs from the environment.
Competition, Guests, suppliers, friends, visitors, communities, media, etc.,
everybody contribute with their own way to the final tourism product. Those are
your stakeholders therefore they have interest in learning how you operate,
your culture, success stories or even shortcomings.
This is just the icing of the cake and my empirical approach to a
very wide subject based on my experience in Guest Relations and hospitality.
Notwithstanding, it is very unfortunate to realize that in Greece this crucial
role is handed irresponsibly to entry-level employees or people without
hospitality background, as it is regarded that this function does not require
“operational experience”.
There are many
more points to make regarding the emerging need for strategic management of Guest
communication and the information generated from it in hospitality. Certainly,
there is no right or wrong answer and I encourage you to respond to this post
and add your crumb of knowledge and opinion.
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