Recently, I worked on-site at three different hotel properties in different parts of the country.  Overall, the clients I was working for experienced great service at each property, however, there were a couple of instances where the service level at one of the hotels was not consistent from staff member to staff member.  As meeting planners, we are able to experience service from all departments of a hotel property and can quickly notice when the service delivered by one or more staff members isn’t consistent with service delivered by their colleagues. 

As meeting planners when we experience mediocre service from any of the staff, it is important for us to immediately give feedback to the supervisor of that particular staff member.  I prefer to offer feedback as quickly as possible because the experience can be used as a “teachable moment” to help the staff member understand how their service can be improved, not only while I am on-site, but also for future clients.  I believe that each hotel property is working toward a level of consistency in their service and therefore, they appreciate the opportunity to use actual customer experiences to help inform staff about the impact of their poor service.

To assist staff, it may be helpful to use a simple mechanism to instill a positive service attitude in them.  If each staff member helps to hold their colleagues accountable to remember to work within these guidelines, their hotel will quickly become known for their excellent service.  This will help to retain customers and to gain new ones as well.

S = smile.  Always greet customers with a smile on your face.

E = Everyone is a customer.   Each meeting participant is a customer.  Be aware of the needs of the meeting participant as well as the meeting planner.

R = Ready.  Be ready for the unexpected to happen.  Welcome variety in your job.  It will allow you to be creative. 

V = Value.  Value each person you come in contact with.  Show each person a positive attitude and value everyone equally.

I = Important.  No matter where you work in the facility, your role and the work you do is important to the success of the event and ultimately to the success  of the hotel.

C = C’mon.  Don’t be the staff person with a negative attitude and demeanor.  You’re no fun to be around and you’re not helping your team be number one.

E = Energy.  Bring energy to everything you do.  Customers and meeting participants will notice it.

By using these simple guidelines, service providers at all levels in the hotel will be more aware of the important role they play in the success of the events at their facility and will help the hotel retain and gain new customers.

~Jerry Schmidt