Hospitality expertise is not in short supply. Why, then, does the guest experience fall short of the standards we set ourselves?
We develop ambitious hotel concepts, define quality standards and recognise exceptional work with awards. Considerable knowledge and effort go into these achievements. That makes it all the more important to ask what guests actually experience during their stay.
The service the guest pays for
A well-appointed room loses value when a technical fault disrupts sleep. An attentive welcome means little if a promise is lost at the shift change. And a complaint received courteously remains unresolved if nobody takes responsibility for dealing with it.
Is the guest asking for something extraordinary? Or simply for the reliability promised at the time of booking?
Quality is a leadership responsibility
For me, this is a leadership task: testing our own standards against the conditions in which employees are expected to deliver them every day.
A service promise must be achievable with the staff actually available. Responsibility requires authority to make decisions. Recurring faults need a solution that goes beyond the next apology.
This applies to the entire hotel operation, regardless of how long a property has been established or which category it belongs to.
When internal details shape a stay
My operational hospitality and leadership experience leads me to consider these situations alongside the physical and technical conditions of the property. Inefficient routes consume time. An unreliable system creates queries. Unclear ownership delays the handling of a request.
What appears internally to be an isolated detail can add up to a disappointing stay for the guest. Employees have to compensate for the consequences. Attention that should be directed towards guests is then spent managing avoidable problems.
What changes after a complaint
After a complaint, it is worth looking beyond the individual case: what needs to change in the operation so that the next guest does not have the same experience?
Not every request can be fulfilled. But a commitment must be dependable. And a limit can be explained without making a guest feel that raising a concern is an inconvenience.
Awards deserve to be celebrated. We should take it just as seriously when the guest’s experience differs from our view of ourselves. Our expertise should also be measured against that reality, including my own.
Ambition and promises are not yet a guest experience.
Looking at the hotel operation as a whole
Through ALTA MIRA, I combine operational hospitality and leadership experience with an understanding of construction and technical systems. I focus on the relationships that determine whether a hotel can deliver its promise in daily operation.
If recurring problems absorb your team’s attention and affect the guest experience, let us discuss the causes and the next steps for your operation.
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