How can you train your employees on service benchmarking tools?

“Be in the guest shoes” Old hospitality guest service delivery quote. The basic 101! Makes our team think about…. How would you feel in that situation? How would this impact your stay experience? How would you share that experience with your family and friends? Crafting personable and memorable experiences is key. Empower people that it is not a monotonous guest service delivery. That comes across fake and not personable. Having the social media guest comments mentioning team members by name is when you see how a guest’s heart has been touched! That’s worth celebrating and then fosters a culture, improving guest satisfaction and increasing bench mark service experience scores. Which in return brings more happy guests back!

I find that we don’t teach any more how to be physically present in the floor…the right spots on the floor, body positioning so that we always see the guests while doing other tasks, how to communicate with your colleagues or other guests while the eyes scan the room…it irks me to continue to repeat to the FD staff not to turn your back while at the desk…all these points will allow you to be actively present on the floor and either anticipate or react quickly to customer looking for service.

Mentorship approach. Collaboration- conduct open forums and do not be an idea-killer--it will serve to shut down creativity-there are diplomatic ways to deal with a bad idea without shooting down the source. Competition is good...it drives one to contribute to success as a team, not an individual. As a mentor you can demonstrate how best to develop cutting / competitive edge...make it a fun challenge.

Having your staff on board the reasons why is integral to success. It allows your staff to feel safe in a changing environment and their contribution in the process can save issues further down the line.

The key to successful training is to ensure it is ongoing and aligned with the overall goals of the organization. It’s also important to provide feedback and recognition to motivate employees and reinforce learning.

UNORTHODOX-of course. Invite willing guests to participate in a your own 'focus group' why not? They booked with you for a reason. Should expectations are exceeded they will tell you...if they are let down, you need to know. Right from the horses mouth. A good % of your guest would love to participate whether it's to blow off steam or to pat you on the back. Either way, you'll have your work cut out for you. You'll know where you shine and what needs imporvement. Real time real guest interraction. Your ROI? Priceless. Follow up with a genuine hand written appreciation letter. Looking for repeat guests? Heck, they are already vested into your success-you bet they will return. Guests will script your GUIDELINES for you.

All associates should know exactly what guests are asked in the survey they receive after their stay. This way they know how to get a few steps ahead of the guests from pre arrival to post departure.

Benchmark is key role to navigate the position or level of performance on your team. Benchmarking have several types depend on department. If you take the benchmark to sales dept its all about target achievement and sale. If you move to reservation dept, The benchmark consider of in coming call responses, respond email, check availability and clear the tentative booking to have the accurate availability and certain task which need to assign them to complete on daily routine. So trained your team to work on daily basis of benchmark, so end of the month the report will be in positive

Some people roll their eyes at check-lists and manuals, "just another task they need to do". Remind the staff as to why - and most of them come down to safety & delivering a quality product; that most staff will get behind! The communication doesn't need to be stale and boring, think about alternate delivery and training like gamification.

Clear guidelines and consistent training is the key to great service and knowledge for all employees. Sop and manuals can help

Actions trigger reactions inevitably. Sometimes you ARE the tool. Set the stage by defining maybe a dozen situations common to your industry. Role play each. Invite a seasoned expert to comment after - with comments, observations and suggestions. More fun and a better teaching technique than many. Plus this is more than just a one on one training session...your entire team should play and learn.

I always create forums for my more experienced team members to share their wisdom and learnings with more junior members of the team. Learning by doing is so incredibly important but, being able to do this alongside colleagues who have considerable experience, really helps ellevate that learning.

Observation clearly is the most telling method of monitoring their demoener, style, communication, eye-contact, genuine interaction with guests as well as co-workers. Besed upon observation (I suggest more than one superior being aware and observing)- identify pluses and areas needing improvement. Be constructive and pleasant when addressing your employee...everyone wants to be recogized for a job well done and, if there are aspects that the employee will benefit from altering accordingly, they should be grateful. Accolades plus tips to improve will prove of value for all.

A good benchmarking tool is being present at the reception when your guests checkout. Not only the Front Office Manager. Get the DOFB, the Executive Housekeeper, the Maintenance Manager, The Revenue Manager there; to see with their own eyes if they did well. And by the way; the GM and HR director should have a look on friday afternoon at the staff entrance. The more smiles, the better the work environment they created.

See above. Same results-evaluate and improve. It's a given, cost effective and memorable. I doubt your team will make the same error or misjudgement again after role playing with a respected mentor, advisor, expert in your field.

Only when you determind the VIBE of your eatery can you begin to define roles - to suit the personality and skillset of each tream member. Young, hip, happening party atmosphere? Chic, sophisticated, refined fine dining? Once atmosphere is determined, your stage is set. From there you draft new-thinking goals, standards, JDs, SOPs, etc. And expectations arise from the 'master plan' or atmosphere you hope to create. It often seems the paper work side comes first when in reality it's upside down.

1.Introduction to Benchmarking 2.Customized Training Modules depending on the department 2.Feedback mechanism 3.Certification Program