Bad Staff Attitudes Account for More Complaints Than Quality of Product, from Big Hospitality UK

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Trade website, BigHospitality, recently posted a very interesting report comparing restaurant complaints about service with complaints about food quality.  The article is based on a report titled ‘Handle With Care’, produced by the Institute of Customer Service.  The reports argues that the way customers are treated by the restaurant employees is often more important than the food.

In fact, the top 3 complaints are ‘staff attitude’, ‘staff competence’, and ‘organizations not keeping promised’.

Check out the full article or the Handle With Care Report below.

Source:  BigHospitalityUK

Full Report for Purchase:  Institute of Customer Service

AAA Announces Changes to the Approval Requirements for Hotels

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In the second half of 2012, AAA started implementing changes in how they score hotels that are candidates for 5 diamond status.  This was the first time they have made a change to their program since the year 2007.

The new AAA Hotel Rating Guidelines can be found here.  Click on the link halfway through the article to download the PDF.  If you skip to page 30 on the PDF file, you will see the new AAA Hospitality Standards for Five Diamond Hotels. 

Here are a few highlights that we have seen:

  1. It appears to be much harder to pass.  The old program had 391 possible points, the new program has only 345 possible points.  However, it appears the minimum needed to pass is still 268 points.  You used to need only 68.5 percent to pass, now you will need to score 77.7 percent.
  2. Many of the points that were removed were the easiest points.  You no longer get points for having 24-hour reservations, accurate pre-programmed phones, or the ability to post miscellaneous charges to the guest room.  I would estimate that most hotels will lose about 15 to 20 points from their previous score because these standards were removed.
  3. The new scoring is a bit more subjective than the old scoring system.  Instead of ‘attendant addresses guest by name during closing’, the new standard is ‘attendant uses guest’s name as appropriate for the manner of the guest.’  Other standards include ‘attendant provides an appropriate introduction’ and ‘attendant extends an appropriate closing’.
  4. The last question in each section ‘Hospitality, Refinement, and/or Competency’ now can be scored anywhere from 3 points to minus 3 points.  If any employee provides poor service or gives incorrect information, you can now lose 6 points pretty easily.
  5. A few of the very hard-to achieve standards have been eliminated.  For instance, room service no longer has the standard ‘there is additional evidence of personalized services’.

If you need help preparing for your audit, contact us.  The TrueGuest Service Experience Audit is the measurement and feedback tool you need to help you succeed.

Source:  AAA Approval Requirements & Diamond Rating Guidelines for Lodgings

Jacob Tomsky Spills Our Dirty Secrets with ‘Confessions of a Hotel Insider’

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A great post today on tech site Lifehacker from author Jacob Tomsky.  Jacob Tomsky recently wrote the book ‘Heads in Beds: A Reckless Memoir of Hotels, Hustles, and So-Called Hospitality.  In his clever blog post on LifeHacker, he mentions a few tips for guests such as things a guest should never say, never do, and things that every guest must know.  A few highlights:

heads in bedsNever say: “My credit card declined? That’s impossible. Run it again.”
Man, don’t make me run it again. If your CC declines once, it will, without question, decline again. Your card is not a crumpled old dollar, and the banking system is not a stubborn vending machine. That’s not how the banking system works. You need to call your bank. And, no, you can’t use my phone.

Never do: Do not continue your phone conversation during the entire check-in.
Can you imagine how it feels, as a human, to be part of someone else’s effort to multitask? While you say to the phone, “Uh-huh. Yeah. Yeah, well, I told her they wouldn’t go for it. I know these people,” I get the lift of an eyebrow, side glances, brief and uninterested head nods thrown in my direction indicating your main focus remains on your call, perhaps a moment where you hold the phone slightly away from your ear to benevolently allow me 5 percent of your attention. That call will end in five minutes. But because you treated me like an automatic check-in machine, this room I’m giving you will plague your whole stay.

Things every guest must know:  Basically, never pay for the minibar, in room movies, or for cancelling a room past the cut off. 

Overall, pretty clever and right on the mark.  We’ve canceled many rooms using his method and hate hearing guests’ tragic airline stories as well.  Snarky, sure… but funny.

Link:  Article on LifeHacker

CNBC’s “Hotel: Behind Closed Doors at Marriott” is much watch TV for Hoteliers

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cnbcSet your DVRs, CNBC has recently started airing their new special on Marriott.

The special focuses on the recent growth of Marriott, as well as the struggles.  It includes an interview with former CEO Bill Marriott before wrapping up with a great segment on the 5 Diamond Service provided by Ritz-Carlton.

We will let you know as soon as CNBC posts the full episode online.

Check out this preview here:

Also, check out this preview about the Ritz-Carlton segment of the show.

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‘Unexpected Strength’ Marks 2012 Performance according to HotelNewsNow.com

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Another great article from HotelNewsNow.com as part of their 2012 Year in Review.  From the article:

In a year marked by fiscal and political uncertainties, with black swans threatening to land throughout the world, the U.S. hotel industry quietly continued to churn along with strong performance.

Persisting negative headlines seem to corroborate those instincts, but Smith said that simply hasn’t been the case.

“Unexpected strength has kind of been the theme lately,” he said.

HotelNewsNow.com says that several prominent themes emerged during 2012 including:

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5 Steps to Make Your Omelet Station The Most Memorable Part of a Guest Stay

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Let’s face it, hotel breakfast buffets are often the best part of staying at a hotel for many guests.  In fact, lots of research has suggested that the service during breakfast is often the key to a successful overall hotel satisfaction survey score.  Today, we are going to focus on improving buffet service by re-training your Omelet Chef.

Decades ago, someone came up with the idea to add a Chef to the buffet so guests could get eggs and omelets prepared to their liking.  Eggs and omelet creations are typically low-cost, very filling, and loved by guests.  Unfortunately, over time, the Omelet Chefs began being replaced by employees who spoke very little English and did little more than just stand there and wait for you to point at the ingredients you would like in your omelet.  For some reason, we all started hiring people who rarely smiled, said very little, and always seemed very bothered to have to make an omelet for a guest.  Nothing makes that 3-minute wait for your omelet more uncomfortable than knowing the person cooking the omelet does not want to be there.  Also, good luck if you need someone other than an omelet.  I can’t tell you how many my request to have a buffet item refilled was just met with a shrug.

Omelet Chefs are in a key position when it comes to guest interaction and they should be held accountable to the same service standards as a Guest Service Agent.  At a minimum, a good Omelet Chef does the following: Continue reading →

Ask TrueGuest: How to Test Your Bartender’s Free Pouring Count

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Free pouring is our 3rd favorite (ok, least favorite) method for pouring alcohol.  However, we understand that many bars want free pouring in place for ascetic purposes.  A highly skilled bartender can still achieve accurate pours using a free pouring method, just be sure that you are consistently testing your bartender’s pouring count.

In order to test your bartender’s counts, you will need a testing kit.  A couple of the popular brands are the Exacto Pour and the ProCheck.

Check out this video for a demonstration of how the kit works:

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Just like everything else these days, there is an app for that!  Check out the Virtual Pour smartphone app from the World Flair Association:

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Remember, whether you are using a measured pour or a free pour, the key is consistency.  Over-pouring not only leads to high beverage costs but also increased liability.

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Weekly Hotel Occupancy Rate Above 75 Percent for the First Time Since 2007

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Time for a quick check with one of our favorite blogs on economics, Calculated Risk.  For the first time since 2007, weekly hotel occupancy topped 75 percent!  It is amazing to follow the CR chart, which shows the median of 2000 to 2007 and compares it with 2009 (the worst year since the great depression) and 2011 and 2012.  From Calculated Risk:

This could be the peak weekly occupancy rate for 2012 (the 4-week average will move up some more). Overall occupancy is back to normal, and will probably move higher over the next couple of years since there is limited new supply being built. 

Line graph showing hotel occupancy rates by week of year for 2009, 2011, and 2012, compared to the 2000-2007 median. 2009 rates are lowest; 2011 and 2012 are above the median. Median occupancy rate highlighted at 63%.

Now, if we could only work on getting those average daily rates back!

Source:  Calculated Risk

Hotel Guest Satisfaction Posts a Huge Decline in JD Power 2012 North America Hotel Guest Satisfaction Index Survey

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A J.D. Power award trophy with a gold and black seal reading Customer Satisfaction, J.D. Power and Associates, Since 1968 and a plaque that says The Voice of The Customer.

Overall guest satisfaction has declined to 757 (out of 1000) in the most recent JD Power Hotel Guest Satisfaction rankings, a drop of 7 points since last year.  A decline is to be somewhat expected as hotels continue to post higher and higher average room rates.  However, the JW Power survey really shows some key areas of struggle.  From the press release:

“However, guest satisfaction with the underlying experience has deteriorated much more than this score suggests, as relatively high levels of satisfaction with cost and fees mask declines in other areas of the guest experience. Satisfaction with check-in/check-out; food and beverage; hotel services; and hotel facilities are at new lows since the 2006 study and satisfaction with guest room has declined within one point of its lowest level in the past seven years.”

The problems are much more than high rates and poor internet.  Surprisingly, only 56 percent of hotel guests have a high opinion of the staff.  From the press release:

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