Spending two weeks in Italy is good for a lot of the things that might ail a person, though probably bad for the waistline and liver. Among the more valuable experiences of my most recent visits to Toscana, Lucca and Cernobbio are vivid reminders of what remains the heart of the hotel business—personal guest service.
Driving through Italy on the Autostrada system, one is struck by the systematic effort being made in that country and throughout Western Europe to maintain employment levels. Service stations have as many full-service kiosks as self-service ones. It seems like every 20 kilometers or so, there is a service center, complete with made-to-order food items as well as coffee bars, all fully staffed with presumably full-time, well-employed individuals in the service economy. One of the by-products of developing service economy employment is the higher paying and probably higher skilled jobs, like those in hotels, are regarded as good, serious employment opportunities. And people obtain and maintain those positions by understanding what it means to provide great guest service at a personal level and then focusing their efforts on doing just that.
This is in sharp contrast to how we approach service here in the U.S. We seem to be in a race to buy RFID locks, build grab-and-go food-and-beverage facilities, and set up self-service check-in counters and automatic wine dispensers so that our customers can avoid any kind of human contact if they prefer to go the way of the solitary traveler. Frankly, this emerging trend should be viewed as an alarming one for a couple of reasons:
First, we are eliminating jobs in non-technically skilled categories, the one area of the unemployment picture that has not improved substantially since the end of the recession. Second, and perhaps more importantly, if we create a service-less environment, one in which our guests never have to interact with our staff members, we will have lost the opportunity to do something distinctive, personal and helpful for a guest that could create a lasting favorable impression, generate loyalty and facilitate repeat business. If competition in our business ultimately revolves solely around the quality of guestrooms and public spaces, then no one will have a sustainable competitive advantage as physical deficiencies can always be overcome by capital.
Worse, in a service-less environment, we will have succeeded in fully commoditizing our business. If our guest is left only to pick the color of the corridor carpet that he/she likes before touching his/her smartphone to the RFID lock to check in, we will have effectively conveyed the message that all hotels consist of beds, tables, chairs and self-service devices distinguished only by brand logos and price, and not by guest experiences our hotel staff members create. That is not a happy proposition as in that circumstance, the lowest price and/or the newest box always wins.
Assuming for the sake of argument there still is room for service in our business, what is it the staffs of Italian hotels have figured out that makes guest service great? Following are some observations that are both non-scientific and very personal on what works well. The personal part is attributable to consistent experiences had at several hotels including the Hotel Noblesse in Lucca and the Albergo Miralago in Cernobbio. I focused on what makes great guest experiences in those hotels because they are not new or iconic facilities, just really well-run hotels.
- Great service begins with personal engagement between the guest and staff member. In Italy, whether it is the concierge, the front desk attendant or a member of the wait staff, guests are engaged in a dialogue about where they are going, what they are doing, their likes and dislikes, and the staff actually listen to the answers. The second time a guest meets any staff member, there is a good chance the guest will be addressed by name, fulfilling that secret ambition we all have to be recognized. Similarly, room numbers are memorized and associated with the guest so on a multi-night stay, a guest is not often asked a second time for a room number for a bar charge, again creating a recognition association for the guest.
- Personal engagement in guest service requires empathy and commitment to resolving issues. Americans should not drive inside the walls of Lucca with only Google Maps to guide them. The labyrinth of single-lane, pedestrian-oriented, one-way, largely unmarked streets is virtually impossible for a first-timer to navigate. After the fourth call to the hotel with the little blinking red dot on the map indicating the facility was only two blocks away, the gentleman attending the front desk suggested stopping the car where it was, and then he showed up about two minutes later to drive the rest of the way. He spent the first couple of minutes after this unusual introduction apologizing for the difficulties of driving in Lucca and the inconvenience to the guests, when he might just as easily have pointed to the shortcomings of the driver. He made the guest issue his issue and resolved it.
- Great guest service entails knowledge about the hotel and the area it is in. On the third morning in Cernobbio, while picking up cappuccinos (that the front desk attendant anticipated would be requested and thus were being made before any conversation began) she asked what the day’s plans were, and suggested restaurants for lunch. Because it was Wednesday, she also, without prompting, explained the story of the local church’s Wednesday bell tolling and the history of the weekly farmer’s market that would take place that day on the lakeshore. In Lucca, what might have been an embarrassingly silent drive from the place of rescue to the hotel, the front desk attendant described the history of the buildings we drove by and how those structures fit into the early 19th century effort of the Bonapartes to build 100 churches in the city. Ultimately, he tied the structures that housed the hotel into that story, giving the guests context for the hotel’s place in the city’s history. In both cases, local knowledge shows an appreciation for the property and its environs and creates an aura of competence about the staff member.
- Personal engagement coupled with empathy, knowledge and competence combine to create the gravitas that guests recognize as the hallmark of great service. As hotel guests, we all feel best about service from a staff member when that person exudes that combination of confidence, competence and personality that simply conveys the message, “I get it.” That is at the heart of Horst Schulze’s famous statement, “We are ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen.” Without looking at a paycheck, one could not tell whether the desk attendants at these hotels in Italy were the owners, the GMs or salaried reception attendants because whatever their station in the economic firmament of the business, they get what is required to make their guests happy.
The most valuable customer in our business is one who comes back. We all are driven to push the edge of the envelope on ways to maximize net operating income, and labor cost is always at the top of the hit list for improving margins. However it might be prudent to take a lesson from the hotels in Italy and remember that people provide memorable guest experiences that warrant repetition, not RFID locks and self-service drink dispensers.
Peter D. Connolly, executive vice president of operations and development for Hostmark Hospitality Group, has had a distinguished career in a variety of legal and business roles with prestigious travel and hospitality organizations. He was of counsel to Jeffer, Mangel, Butler & Marmaro in its global hospitality practice, where he designed and documented hotel financial structures, including hotel condominium and traditional hotel structures, and negotiated management agreements, hotel purchase and hotel finance agreements on behalf of various developer and management company clients. From 1982 to 2000, Connolly was with the Hyatt organization as general counsel, where he was responsible for hotel operating legal issues, acquisitions, divestitures, financings, management arrangements and owner relationships. In 1996 and 1997, Connolly ran Hyatt’s development department, and was responsible for the acquisition and/or development of a number of Hyatt properties. Connolly retired from Hyatt in 2000 as Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Chief Information Officer of the company. He is a member of the bars of Illinois, the District of Columbia, the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and the United States Supreme Court. He is a graduate of Providence College and Catholic University Law School.
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