Improve Guest Hospitality Experiences by De-Anonymizing Guests
More hoteliers are understanding the difference between “guest service excellence” and “hospitality.” In short, “guest service excellence” is more demonstrative, while “hospitality” is more of a philosophy for our work-life culture — or, as true hospitality superstars know, it’s really a philosophy for living daily. Improve guest hospitality by de-anonymizing your guests. It is a word […]
Hotel Sales Negotiating Training, Circa 2020
As a conference speaker and trainer, I am finding that one of my most requested topics lately is hotel sales negotiating techniques. Based on the initial inquiries received, I get the impression that many hotel leaders still view negotiating as being a separate part of the selling process such as it was originally taught in […]
Sales “steps” and “funnels” are so 1990s; Here’s what it takes for hotel sales success in 2019
While the hotel sales environment has completely transformed, hotel sales training models seem to be stuck in the 1990s. When I meet hotel leaders at industry conferences it seems most recognise the profound changes such as the emergence of third-party planners and the migration to online RFP tools (CVENT, CVB Platforms and social sites such […]
Condition your reservations team so that when they hear “Ring-Ring” they think “Cha-Ching!”
When you speak with marketing and distribution executives these days, everyone seems obsessed with increasing direct bookings and reducing the costs of customer acquisition. Yet when the phone rings in many reservations departments and hotel front desks, the faces of the colleagues answering the calls seem to convey annoyance more than excitement. I see this […]
The stereotyping of millennials has gone too far
Seems like just about every conference I speak at lately has another speaker addressing some topic related to “those Millennials.” Likewise, seems like at least once a week every lodging publication I read has an article about the challenges of marketing to or the managing of millennials. I certainly understand that this is an entertaining […]
Magnificent managers mentor to the max
If your hotel is looking to improve guest service satisfaction, one of the first steps midlevel managers should do is evaluate how they’re mentoring or developing front-line staff. Nearly every week I head out on the road delivering hotel sales and guest service training that focuses on all departments. Although my programme topics are mostly […]
The difference between caring for and about guests
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Hoteliers need to know the difference between caring about guests and caring for guests to put both into practice. For 30 years now I have been doing a workshop activity in my training classes where I have participants break into small groups and write out one collective definition to answer the question: “what IS hospitality?” […]
Train your front desk team on the “Five Pillars of Hospitality Excellence”
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]When a guest enters your lobby, chances are they are about to have their first human interaction with your hotel’s individual “brand”. In the past, most guests called to book by voice and then called back multiple times prior to arrival with questions about driving directions, transportation, area restaurants, hours of operations and the like. […]
‘AI’ has no ‘EI’: Tech alone can’t deliver hospitality
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Since artificial intelligence has no emotional intelligence, technology alone cannot deliver hospitality. If every hotel brand adopts the same tech solutions and continues to take human engagement out of the cycle of service, hotels will become a commodity. Because I am in the field of hospitality industry training, when I read industry news headlines that […]
Train your front desk colleagues to be ‘memory makers’
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The front desk colleagues at your hotel are creating first impressions that set the tone for the entire guest’s stay every shift, every day. Whereas in the past, first impressions were made by a voice reservations agent or during a phone call to inquire about directions or hotel amenities, most guests find these needs met […]
Embrace sales tech you have before investing in more
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Rather than continue the constant pursuit of the latest bells and whistles, hotel sales departments first should undertake a thorough assessment of their current technology and how it is being used. With any sales training for industry clients, I often conduct a pre-training sales process assessment to better customise the training experience. I get to […]
Hotel companies should refocus on traditional training
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]In the ever-competitive world of hotel branding, C-suite leaders continue to look for ways to differentiate their brands. Yet as soon as an innovative amenity, new loyal programme feature or web widget is launched, other brands catch up. In recent years, it seems the focus has turned back to personalisation of guest experiences as a […]
