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1. Independent Hotel Show: Be Unique 7 Lee Jamieson

2. Stop Talking, Start Doing! 9 Anne Blackburn 3. Wishing I Was Your Guest 11 Derek Blackburn 4. Book An Experience, Not Just A Room 13 Anne Blackburn 5. Make Me Welcome 15 Derek Blackburn 6. Leading the Guest Experience 17 Derek Blackburn 7. Delivering Outstanding Guest Experiences 19 Anne Blackburn 8. Guest Experience Language 21 Derek Blackburn 9. Missing You Already 23 Anne Blackburn

If you are a hotelier searching for robust business solutions, then the Hotel Industry Magazine On Series is written specifically for you. Each book collates our most popular and useful perspectives on a given issue faced by hoteliers – creating an unrivalled resource of actionable intelligence for hoteliers.

As part of our long-term strategy to

diversify Hotel Industry away from a

traditional print publication, we have

developed a new series called

Hotel Industry Magazine On...

Each issue curates our best content

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a single source of intelligence to bring

about positive change in your

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Hotel Industry Magazine On

Guest Experience

First published internationally in 2014 by Jamieson Media

Written by Anne Blackburn, Derek Blackburn and Lee Jamieson

This publication is based on original articles, content originally

published in Hotel Industry Magazine.

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The Independent Hotel Show 2014 is here again! On 21-22 October 2014, thousands of hoteliers from across the country will come together at Olympia West Hall, London to discover those bespoke products and services that can help differentiate their hotel from the competition. As ever in a competitive business environment, the race is on to improve the guest experience throughout the hotel ... But how would you describe your guest experience? Is the language you would use to describe it unique? Or do you fall back on those phrases ground into you during your hotel training at college or university? Finding the right language is difficult because we talk about “guest experience” as if it is a noun ... Like an object that can be lifted, moved, repainted ... The reality is more complex, as this special issue of Hotel Industry Magazine shows. Written by the UK’s leading guest experience experts from Sidona Group, we guide you through every step of the guest experience, step-by-step. Every touchpoint impacts the emotions of the guest, and so the language you use needs to reflect this. To really achieve improvement in your guest experience, you need to think carefully about the culture that surrounds it. Is that culture consistent and embedded throughout the guest experience cycle? The guest experience and the culture that surrounds it is the hotelier’s ultimate competitive advantage. A competitor can steal your colour scheme, branding, fixtures and so on, but they can’t directly lift the emotions your guests have developed for you hotel and the culture of

your employees. These things are emotional entities ... not “nouns”! So, use this year’s Independent Hotel Show to find new ways of becoming a bespoke and unique hotel with a clear sense of personality and character. Combined with improvements in your guest experience, you could be unstoppable! There will be hundreds of suppliers waiting to guide you at the Independent Hotel Show 2014, so make sure you attend ... For FREE! Register now: www.independenthotelshow.co.uk

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In partnership with Hotel Industry Magazine, Sidona Group shares ideas on how you can deliver a fantastic guest experience at each stage of their stay with you – They call this The Guest Experience Cycle. You can never NOT deliver an experience. Guests are forming perceptions about you from interactions with you on and off-line that start before their visit and long after they have returned home. The guest experience is much more than good customer service. It goes beyond your rooms, facilities, your design and quality. The highest standard in all those is expected and can be copied by your competitors. Guests now demand an experience. This is the new competitive battleground and key to your reputation and sales growth. Over 50% of the guest experience is the emotions you evoke for your guests. How you make your guests feel is what makes you unique and what they remember. These feelings become the memories they keep and the stories they tell. What are the anecdotes that your guests tell and what are you doing to influence them? Your guest experience needs to be researched, designed and continually updated and enhanced. It needs to fit with your brand and meet the needs of your guests. All aspects of your hotel from your processes and policies to the attitude, behaviours and skills of your staff need to focus on making

your guests feel welcome, valued and special, cared for and delighted. Guests who have positive emotional experiences are likely to pay more, return more and recommend you more. Now commit to taking some action Share this content with your team out of the work environment to

encourage a new flow of ideas on how to make more emotional connections with your guests.

Articulate your guest experience in 3 words. Share this with all

staff. Are you consistently delivering this across all departments? Be a guest of a competitor. Look and Learn. What could you do

better? ■■■

What can you do to influence would-be guests to choose your hotel? One of our clients at Sidona Group recently told us about a phone call from a prospective guest who said “My friends said I must come and stay with you, so I’m ringing to make a booking”. Then she said “Whereabouts is the hotel?” Imagine what great stories the guest must have been telling their friend to prompt such a phone call. What stories do your guests tell about you? Before guests visit they form beliefs and perceptions about your guest experience from five key areas: 1. Recommendations from friends 2. Interactions with your staff on telephone 3. Your Website 4. Social Media and 5. Feedback sites such as Trip Advisor There are great opportunities at all these touchpoints to communicate the unique aspects of your guest experience to ensure guests want to visit you. Story telling via these marketing channels of the great personal experiences you have delivered to guests is a powerful way of attracting new guests. They should focus on creating feelings of excitement, reassurance and indulgence in order to connect emotionally with them. Staff answering booking enquiries need to be trained in the skills and language to make your guests feel those emotions.

Bring your unique and interesting stories alive with as many powerful visual aids as possible such as photos and videos. And adding your management responses on Trip Advisor are essential and must convey to prospective guests that you really care about their experience with you. Now commit to taking action Make a list of where you have delivered fantastic guest

experiences and discuss with your team how you can share those special hotel stories to drive your sales growth and make yours a “must visit property”?

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Sidona Group ask if your booking experience is integral to the wider guest experience? When guests book with you, and before they arrive, do they get an experience that matches the expectations they have formed from their research? It is critical to make them feel like a guest from the start, NOT part of a process. Remember they are booking an experience, not just booking a room. One hotel I booked asked the reason for my stay. It was to celebrate our wedding anniversary. That information triggered an amazing experience, from champagne & a gift on arrival, a CD of love songs in the room & a framed photo on departure to cherish our memories. Do you ask what experience your guests are looking for when they book? Gaining this information before arrival will enable you to tailor their experience to create great memories. Add value before they arrive with personalised suggestions. Done right, it’s a great opportunity to upsell. Avoid standard ‘extras’ forms with price lists. Consider a smart phone app or virtual concierge service giving guests control and flexibility to tailor their experience. A brief welcome video from your General Manager or a pre-arrival phone call is a powerful gesture. Your website, your staff and the language used by both will secure or lose bookings. All communication – written or spoken – must build excitement. It

must be sincere and personal and focus on the uniqueness of your hotel, clearly articulating the type of guest experience they can expect. Booking processes must be slick and easy and seamless. Reservations staff need to be your finest hotel ambassadors with the latest knowledge of all you have to offer. They need to be skilled at making emotional connections with guests, identifying and understanding their unique needs. And don’t forget to thank your guest for choosing you, before your competitor does. Now commit to taking action Create 3 top ideas that will enhance your guest experience at

booking stage and 3 things you can do to connect emotionally with your guest before they arrive.

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Sidona Group explain that the Arrival Stage is key. It shows guests how much you value their visit and how much you care, which sets the tone for the whole guest experience. Make it memorable and they will spend more, have greater tolerance when things go wrong and be a happier guest. How do you match up to an experience I once enjoyed? I was met with a warm greeting from the doorman and led to a seat in reception. He handed me a welcome folder about the hotel, and let reception know of my arrival. I was offered a drink while completing the paperwork and my needs were explored. I was assured my pre-arrival requests had been actioned and recommendations of what to do during my stay were offered. Conversation flowed about the hotel, its features and offers while being led to my room where a full explanation of the equipment in the room was given. And on the bed was a personal message from the housekeeper alongside freshly baked cookies. Check in was efficient, seamless, informative and personal. I felt special and valued. Customers are your guests – Address their needs first, your processes second. Guests receive many welcomes during their stay with you, so ensure every greeting from every person is sincere, warm and delivered with lots of energy and enthusiasm.

Your arrival experience needs to fit with your brand, and staff need to know how to adjust their welcome based on the guest type and their needs. Corporate clients want speed & technology, families want their children to be happy – have you tried a children’s arrival desk? But No one wants to queue. Queuing creates negative guest emotions and you need to avoid these! Guests do love nice surprises, as long as it’s something they value. What can you offer? Now commit to taking action Consider with your team how you can make all your welcomes

even more memorable than they are already.

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In this chapter, Sidona Group look at the importance of emotional intelligence. Let’s talk about Leadership, and explore the attitudes and behaviours of great hotel leaders’ and what they do to be successful. Every aspect of your guests’ stay with you is impacted by all the leaders in your business, from supervisor to General Manager. How your leaders think, behave, communicate and influence others shapes your employee experience AND your guest experience. We use the term “Service Intelligence” to encapsulate four essential components a hospitality leader needs to succeed. 1. Emotional Intelligence 2. Appropriate Service Behaviours 3. Service Leadership Skills 4. A command of Guest Experience Language One aspect that research has overwhelmingly linked to Leadership success is Emotional Intelligence. This is about being highly self-aware, becoming an expert in handling your own emotions and those of others to develop powerful relationships and superior performance. An emotionally intelligent hospitality leader has many strengths. For example: Great empathy skills, essential to anticipating and managing

guest expectations Creating trusting, open and respectful relationships allowing

everyone to focus on the guest’s needs The ability to tune in to the emotions that disrupt a team and

confidently resolve employee and guest conflict with good judgement

Nurturing and supporting colleagues so that they buy-into the

need to deliver great guest experiences Being an inspiring and consistent service role model whom

others want to follow. The spread of Emotional Intelligence throughout a hotel makes a real difference to your people, your guests and your bottom line. Now commit to taking action Read up about how emotional intelligence can improve

leadership performance and personal growth and identify where your leaders most need to improve. There are many articles and book recommendations on our website in our Guest Experience Thought leadership section.

Ask your staff how you can help them deliver a more emotionally

engaging guest experience.

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Remember every aspect of your guests’ stay with you is impacted by the actions and behaviours of all your leaders, explain Sidona Group But what are the actions that you need to take to ensure that your people deliver a truly outstanding guest experience, every time? To lead: Communicate your guest experience vision and standards so

employees know exactly what is expected of them, and aim high. Recruit people with a can-do positive attitude that adds value to

your guests’ experience. Poor attitudes destroy everyone’s good work.

Observe how candidates deal with your guests on a ‘taster’ day

to ensure there is a perfect fit with your guest profile and culture. Be a highly visible Role Model, listening and speaking with

guests and colleagues every day to understand their needs. To enable staff to make guests feel valued and special: Empower them with clear rules so they can resolve guest

complaints without needing to refer. Train them to make positive emotional connections with guests

to give you a higher return on guest loyalty and revenue.

To support your team: Hold Regular 1:1 coaching sessions as this improves

performance. Involve the team in decisions that affect them and in planning

change to get them engaged & committed to your vision. To measure success: Measure the emotional AND physical aspects of the guest

experience and how likely guests are to recommend you and why.

This will identify business improvements and staff training needs. Catch your team delivering great experiences and recognise

them immediately to ensure they repeat the behaviour. Remember Your people serve as you lead. Now commit to taking action by challenging your leaders Observe their behaviours and actions. Do they support the

delivery of great guest experiences? How can they make the recommendations in this chapter come

alive in your business, every day?

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Sidona Group explain that language has a powerful impact on your guests experience during their stay with you. The words used by your team members’ impacts directly on the emotions guests feel. Guests form perceptions about how much you care and are committed to meeting their needs from the language they hear. But the right language only comes from people with the right attitude. Therefore, you need to hire people with the right attitude, otherwise your training and hard work will be undermined. There are some key moments where language is vital: the arrival; dealing with guest requests and questions; handling complaints and saying goodbye. Saying NO will create negative emotions for guests, so always deliver positive responses first. Tell guests what you can do for them even when you have to say no. We use a technique called the “By All Means” principle which allows staff to deliver positive responses to any guest query or problem. This allows the guest to feel they are in control and have choices. Listen out for “language habits” in your hotel that may make guests feel frustrated, annoyed or disappointed. I hate hearing “No Problem, or no worries”. It plants negativity in the guests mind. I was out for a family lunch recently – 7 orders were placed and 7 times “No Problem” was repeated back to every order. “Certainly or Thank you or Good choice” is so much better.

Don’t expect the guest to adapt to your preferred style. Your language style should be adjusted to suit the guest type and their generation. And lastly, remember that to deliver consistent standards, all parts of the hotel must be using the same approach. Now commit to taking action Consider the training you provide to improve language skills.

Identify words and phrases which sound positive, appreciative, respectful and sincere

Read aloud all your hotel communications – website, brochures,

signage – what do you hear? How do those words make you feel?

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In the final chapter, Sidona Group’s Anne Blackburn looks at the ideal check out and departure. How guests are treated on departure and after returning home are their lasting (and some say, the most important) impressions of you. Your goal is to send them away with great memories of their stay and fantastic stories to tell. It’s your final chance to show how much you value them. Their departure experience will be a key driver in their desire to recommend you, return and give great feedback. All the great experiences you have worked hard to deliver during their stay can be wiped out with an incorrect bill, no offer of assistance or inappropriate language. These create negative emotions for guests of frustration, neglect or unhappiness. Design your departure experience to fit with your brand and adapt it to each guest. It needs to be more about creating a positive and lasting emotional experience and less about process. Guests may require travel information, route and place suggestions. Your departure team need to have the knowledge required to answer these needs promptly and efficiently. On departure focus on delivering a fond and sincere farewell that shouts “Thank you, goodbye and please come back”. Gifts on departure should be something the guest will really value.

We saw a guest once given a loaf of bread made by the Head Chef, as every morning they had commented how much they had enjoyed it. A month after returning from a hotel visit I received a family photo taken during our stay to bring back the memories with a personal letter of thanks. One hotel has this vision: “Arrive as a guest, leave as a friend, return as family.” Is that your aim? Now commit to taking action Identify specific activities that you can implement to evoke

positive lasting memories with all your goodbyes

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HR and employment law for hoteliers

Empower your managers with Hotel Industry Magazine!

We supply compliance information to your managers, direct to their laptops, tablets or smartphones.

Step-by-step guidance for hoteliers

Template policies and contract clauses

Name: Email:

ENQUIRE NOW

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