Tick

What makes me Tick….??? Great question. And I have to go back in time to what made me originally tick for the hospitality. We all choose hospitality before we knew what it was going to bring us. And we stayed. At least I did.

Originally I choose this branch because I wanted to be a part of the success and enjoyment of someone’s vacation. That why I was serving food and making jokes at the table, that’s why I did kids clubs, danced my ass off in the mini disco, that’s why I convinced parents to join me to play archery etc, etc. I was part of their vacation, and it really made me tick when kids came to say goodbye crying because they had such a lovely vacation. I made was part of it! Part of making people to disconnect from what they have at home to really enjoy their vacation.

Later I changed the job to Guest Service associate on a cruise ship. Now I was going places while I had a job that made me stay at one place: behind my desk. Smiley, in a tight suite, hair like a purser on a plane and answering questions. Still, I was part of someone’s vacation, but it was much harder to be noticed by guests that you did something special for them. Basically I did what people asked me to do. You want to change money, ok I did, you want more information about an island, ok I provide it for you, you want to change your dining table. I help you with that and there are another million requests that I dealt with on a daily basis that guests expected from me just to do. It was not extraordinary. Where could I be more of value I asked myself. It was when a complaint came to me. At first I was scared to death just to deal with it. But I came to realize that this was my chance to make a difference. This guest was expressing discomfort to me, and now I will make them remember me (in a good way). I started to read people. Before they even said something I knew what the complaint was. And I knew what solution I could offer. I always offered 2 solutions so guests could choose and it felt like for the guest that they made it happen with my help. Both solutions I offered I could make it happen quick. And most importantly after that I did a very thorough follow up. Showed that I cared. Every time I saw these guests the rest of the cruise I would use their name and asked about their activities they did and comfort they were experiencing. This worked. And I got adrenaline from it. I got addicted and wanted to make myself better and better. And then I wanted my colleagues to become better and better. When that worked I felt complete.

Now I am a reception manager and I am not that often behind the desk either I came into a new fase of what makes me tick. I want my team to tick, to tick the way I ticked to be seen by guests. I still want to be part of the success of someone’s stay. I don’t want our guests to have a regular check in. I want them to have a check in that makes the guest tick for this hotel. That makes them come back. That makes them feel so taken care of they always want to come back here. I do that by supporting my team, to make them grow as a person, to get them ready for a new step, for them to be confident in what they do and that they know I always have their back. Now I get that Adrenaline kick when a big event is coming and we are preparing as a team. Everybody is preparing their part. When it all comes together with the well-known hick ups. But despite of the hick ups the reviews are overwhelming. The staff get praised, that makes me tick.