3D experience: almost nothing is so important than how someone feels, no matter the type of business.

3D experience

Enjoying a meal, product or service is more than the sum of ingredients or components. Only when the other senses are stimulated as well we can speak about the 3D-experience. Eating, for example, is tasting, looking, feeling and experiencing. Bringing over the philosophy of the dish (the why) will increase the experience of the customer, it makes it more meaningful. You have to go beyond your product and create something unique for your customers – something they don't expect but do appreciate. This is completely different than “service” or a “perfect operation”. It is about the positive impact of human behavior, the impact that certain behavior has on others.

Hospitality make people feel they are more than welcome. Attention and flexibility are key. This is not higher math, and need to be trained by role models and very practical training. Let your staff get satisfaction from the fact that they are enjoying their guests or customers. That is no trick, that is an attitude.

Hospitality is about the product, environment and behavior. The first two are not that simple to change, behavior is though. Customers do have certain expectations about the hospitality factor. This can be different though by customer. Almost nothing is so important than how someone feels, no matter the type of business.

Hospitality is there when the customer feels that your company is 'on their side' The opposite is true as well. You can speak about hospitality when something special happens for you. Hospitality is not there when something happens to you (source: Danny Meyer). These two simple words make the entire difference in customer experience. My experience with many companies is that something is happening to me. I get the standard tune (we do this, we do that – and bye, call me for any questions) without asking me any questions. They don't even make a small effort to find out more about me in order to respond to my personal needs - and miss a great opportunity to positively influence my experience as a customer, to make it above expectations and unique.

Customer Service versus Hospitality

There is a significant difference between customer service and hospitality. Service is the ‘technical' delivery of a product or service, while hospitality determines the feeling of someone receiving the service. Service is a ‘monologue' from a company to its customers: we are doing things like this, we are respecting these norms, we determine how to execute, etc.

Hospitality, on the other hand, is a dialogue: the customer is involved in the process of service delivery and integrated into the quality of the service experience and customer satisfaction. Every company that wants to achieve the top, need to have both an excellent service and the highest level of hospitality.

There has to be an eye for the individual needs and the ability to respond to it – despite the fact that the core business is the same for anyone. It's all about the additional layer (behavior).

Data is attention

How often are you welcomed and recognized as a customer? Checking in is almost an anonymous process rather than a personal experience. How pro-active are employees to find out what the reason is for visiting a company? It's free and does increase the perceived value of a company. ABCD – Always Be Collecting Dots – meaning always collect information about customers and capture relevant information in the database to ensure a superior service.

Behavioral characteristics of hospitality

Hospitality is a dialog and employees are the critical links between the service and customers. It is not only important that employees do have the right theoretical knowledge and experience but the kind of feeling that they radiate is also critical. Emotional talent and skills should get more attention when attracting or onboarding new employees like:

• Optimism: original friendliness, sincere attention and a feeling that the glass is always half full.
• Intelligence: not just smart minds but a great deal of curiosity and willingness to learn further, open-minded.
• Work ethic; a natural drive to do something in the best possible way. The feeling that you as an individual really contribute to excellence and high performance. Often the technical skills are easy to learn, but attention to the smallest detail - sometimes smaller than an average customer will notice - is another story.
• Empathetic ability; being attentive, moving into someone else's feelings. In concrete terms, this means: taking care of a customer, connecting with him/her and being aware of what effect your behavior has on others. People do not go to a service provider such as a restaurant to be fed, but also to be nurtured. No company can preach hospitality when the staff does not cherish hospitality.
• Self-awareness and integrity; self-knowledge, self-confidence and a natural tendency to bear responsibility and do the right things for the customer based on honesty and good judgment.

Excellence Reflex

The so-called "excellence reflex" is a natural reaction to repair something that is not good or to improve something that can be improved - a kind of second nature. This cannot be thwarted by rigid process thinkers. Anyone who thinks that hospitality is only something of those employees who are in contact with customers misses the mark. Hospitality is a matter for everyone.

Employees who strive for high performance and excellence must have an eye for the bigger picture since excellence is a chain reaction and not an island culture. Hospitality is not a final destination, the road to it is just as important. It is critical that hospitality is broadly supported and consistent in implementation and tailored to individual needs within this context.

 Multi-focus Hospitality

Hospitality must initially be aimed at staff and only then - in descending order of importance - to guests, society, suppliers and, last but not least, investors. Why this order? The employees are placed directly above the guests because they form the link in the building of customer experience and their loyalty. And of course, we are talking about employees who have a high degree of enthusiasm to come to work. That enthusiasm is a combination of motivation, self-confidence, pride, and satisfaction with the choice they have made to work for the company in question.

In addition, the financial output of a company is a consequence of how employees feel. If, as a manager, you put the financial incentive first, there is a chance of a faster financial result, but for how long will that be sustainable? With such an arrangement, it is inevitable that at some point employees recognize themselves in a business culture where their own needs and those of guests are not put first. This can lead to a decrease in motivation and enthusiasm that are necessary to optimally perform the work. Even investors understand this.

Employees

When a customer (or should we speak about guests?) enters a company for the first time, he/she immediately feel the vibe in which environment he/she has ended up. Are the employees focused on their work, are they helpful and do they give the impression that they are enjoying themselves? Are they out to help each other and do they radiate that they form a team? If this is the case, the hospitality will naturally splash: the guest feels welcome and knows that he/she can look forward to a beautiful day. The loyalty of employees is largely determined by the respect they give and receive. It should be clear to employees that the most effective way to enforce success is taking care of each other and operating as a team; no one married to his specialty - no territory tigers (including front-end and back-end). The results of respectful collaboration build on long-term success.

Customers

Hospitality begins with the genuine enjoyment of granting a favor - doing something that others appreciate. Whether this is an attitude, ingrained behavior or inborn characteristic, it must be one of the most important motivations for staff to come to work every day. In business and in life: you get what you give. You can strive to maintain a human point of view for every challenge and to come up with creative, common solutions that make it clear that you are on their side.

Representative or Gatekeeper?

The employees who are in contact with customers first (receptionists, assistants of doctors or banks, PA’s, reservation lines, service desks, call centers) play a special role in this. They can usually assume two capacities: as a representative or as a gatekeeper. A representative makes things possible. A gatekeeper raises barricades to keep people out. As a manager, it is important to let your employees consciously monitor their own performance: did I present myself as a gatekeeper or representative in that situation? In the world of hospitality, there really is nothing in between.

Nice gets Nice

In the context of many companies, including the hotel and catering industry, that is quite a challenge: with four of the five reservations, there is a discrepancy between the desired reservation and the time when this is possible. Reservation staff is then often under pressure because they cannot always satisfy the caller. The ultimate outcome of a win-win dialogue is that someone who has not got exactly what he wanted nevertheless leaves the conversation with a good feeling because he knows that it was the employee's best interests to make his preference possible. In this context, gatekeepers often respond with "we are fully committed to you" or "all we have is ...", without suggesting any regrets or an option to serve the person in a different way. The door of hospitality has been closed. As a result, such an attitude often only triggers aggression from the customer. As a company, don't believe in these types of games: be convinced of "nice gets nice".

Customers immediately sense whether an employee is genuinely at a greeting or whether it is a pose. It is not a sign of hospitality if the employee does not make eye contact, does not radiate kindness or fails to thank the customers for coming. It doesn't look as hospitable when someone from the ministry rushes ahead of the guest when guiding them to the table, giving him the feeling of being a dog that is being pulled along on a leash.

The technical translation of so-called hospitality principles (e.g. guiding someone to a table) is meaningless without an emotional connection between employees and guest. Eye contact radiates "I see you", a smile says "I am happy that you are there". All simple manners that ultimately influence the guest's experience to a significant extent.

Despite all high-tech innovations, many companies always remain hands-on, high touch and people-oriented. Nothing can take the place of a warm welcome, a hand, a smile and eye contact as an expression of genuine hospitality - a feeling is conveyed that the visit is appreciated as well as the loyalty of the guest. A sincere expression of hospitality at the first greeting is simple but has a high impact - it must be confirmed for the guest that they are happy to welcome him.

Interest is usually mutual. So there is no better way to build relationships than to show a genuine interest in someone, to let them tell their story (needs) and listen. When a staff member shows an active interest in the personal preferences of one of the guests, a sense of "shared ownership" is created. That arises when guests talk about a restaurant or company as if they are part of it. They identify with it and share their experiences with friends and what they really tell (in addition to the culinary experience) is the experience they have undergone. The right degree of personal attention has a major impact.

The dependence on guests who return is practically 100%. Loyal customers are therefore extremely important and not only as a source of income but also as ambassadors. And that is why it is important to give customers or guests a reason to share the experiences they have gained with your company - to excite them.

Hospitality.....

IS NOT

• Giving a customer a feeling that something is happening to him or her
• Something that is seen by staff as "must"
• Secondary to the product or service
• Sending instructions to staff based on the idea "this is how we treat customers" and "one size fits all", a monologue
• Create distance
• Only for employees who have direct customer contact
• A project with high investments
• Similar to customer service which describes the "technical" delivery of a product or service
• The final destination
• Territory tigers who think in terms of "my role"
• Gatekeepers: laying down barricades for customers, not thinking in alternatives, hiding behind and acting on the basis of technical processes

IS

• Give a feeling to a client that something is happening for him or her
• Something that is seen by staff as "we want to do"
• An essential part of the product or service that increases customer value, is unique and distinctive
• Promote a philosophy of hospitality and create space for "one size fits one" with room for staff freedom of choice based on individual customer needs, a dialogue
• Make customers feel at home
• For all employees within the company
• A philosophy where existing people and resources are used in a different way
• Transferring a certain feeling to the customer
• The journey to the final destination
• Teamwork, where employees think based on customer needs
• Representatives: making something possible for customers, thinking in terms of options, personal, sincere attention and commitment, supported by logical processes

Sources:

• Boerenwijsheden, 2014, by Niels van Rees and Tjeerd den Boer (www.boerenwijsheden.com)
• Setting the table, 2006, by Danny Meyer
• www.gastvrijheidinbedrijf.nl, by Daan Bolier