Don't Let Your Systems Drive Your Customers Crazy! - Hospitality ...

MISCELLANEOUS
Perchance to Dream - the Guest Room
of the Future [Is it Already Here?]
By John R. Hendrie, Hospitality Performance
Once upon a time, our Guest was thrilled with a good
mattress, a clean bathroom, and access to a pool. Room
amenities and design were not a loss leader, for your
prices reflected a recoup of the costs, minimal, as they once were.
Then, the evolution began, and you had to be quite clever to gain
and retain that competitive edge, cost effectively.
You witnessed the changes. A simple tub begat a Jacuzzi,
siring the Spa. Cable television accelerated into Movies on Demand.
Complimentary coffee in the Lobby morphed into a coffee
maker, a fridge and a microwave in every room. Rigid hours for
Room Service are now 24/7 with pizza. You participated in the
“bedding wars”, extolling your beds, linens, furniture. For some,
a budding Cottage Industry was born - anything that moves is
for sale.
The Guest Room has become the haven, the Business Center,
the Crash Pad, the Love Lair, the extant home away from
home. You are doing everything you can to make it special, safe
and memorable. But, the evolution continues, as you try to exceed
the expectations of the Baby Boomers and the GenX’ers and the
forthcoming generations on the horizon. Remarkable Hospitality
is a challenge!
If you are not thinking about your lodging operation in the
context of the future, you will not exist in that new world. Everything
is changing too rapidly – your Guests, your business,
your world. To be a pioneer is critical, and to move forward with
advantage you must engage the following:
• your Guest
• your own brilliance
• your suppliers/purveyors to the industry
Your Guest wants their connectivity and pleasure in private
and comfort in that amorphous domain we have so carefully created
for them. They want it all, they want it now, and they want
it their way! Your challenge is to marry a high level of service
and product to technology, which is the driving force for this
evolution.
Ideally, you have a relationship with your Guest, and you have
reliable mechanisms to assess your performance and to specifically
capture what your Guest really desires for their experience
in your operation. By the way, hand-written Comment Cards are
not acceptable as you plot your future, for you have lost any real
time response value.
Do not underestimate the power and creativity of your own
perspective, your management team and fellow associates. The
challenge is that you need to take some time and think outside
that four wall box. No excuses; you have all the time there is, and
group exercises with no boundaries create energy, commitment
and, surprisingly, some very fine ideas. Another ingredient is curiosity.
If you are not well read and informed, you are operating
in a vacuum (a Hooverite, gathering the detritus of the Past).
So, now, believe you have some wonderful ideas, culled from
your Guests and your own in-house resources. Some may sound
far-fetched (akin to man on the moon), while others appear
sound, reasonable applications. This is where we can turn to our
partners, the vendors and purveyors. They share in your success,
and they can help you actualize the possibilities.
What is already in the marketplace is extraordinary. Naturally,
security, privacy and reliability are crucial. Some companies are
“cutting edge” with their products and acumen. What follows is
not an endorsement, merely an acknowledgement of the “future
being now”. One company I have watched, GBCBlue, features
an automated Personal E-Room Concierge system, which simply
beats the band! Beyond regular PC usage for the Guest, there is
a screen entry to share with Management their thoughts about
the stay. As it is real time, Management also has an opportunity
to demonstrate active service recovery for any shortcoming/
concern. The screen also has increased Room Service Revenue
threefold, using appetizing pictures for all menu items. Additionally,
there is wonderful opportunity to tout property amenities,
activities and services, and make reservations and purchases
– right there on the Room PC, real time, up close, interactive and
personal. Guest pleasing, Management proceeds. WOW!
As another example of the “future being now” pertains to
the Green Movement and the very simple light bulb, which creates
comfort and illumination, as we know. The Fresh BulbTM ,
developed by Auro Technical Consumer Products and introduced
to the industry by Pineapple Hospitality, is a titanium dioxidecoated
fluorescent light bulb that consumes one-fourth the wattage
of a regular light bulb—cutting lighting costs by as much
as 77 %. The coating reacts with the fluorescent lighting when
the bulb is turned on, eliminating room odors within minutes.
Another certifiable WOW. Just imagine – good lighting, reduced
costs and a clean smelling room.
Innovation and creativity spur societies forward, and businesses
which embrace a better way, anticipate and project the
needs and wants of the marketplace, and invest in the vigor of
their people prosper. Hospitality is not usually in the forefront
for change. However, the world stage and unchartered events
all challenge our comfort zone. We simply cannot afford to be
complacent.
Our Guests and Visitors are far more demanding than in
the past. Ladling out the same old, same old simply does not
cut it! Hopefully, the business of the summer months has been
encouraging, and we will take some time to assess what we have
learned from our Guests, tap ourselves and our resources for
new ideas, and partner with companies which support our business
to advance new generations of thought and product. The
Guest Room is the lab; this is where new products are created
for the comfort, security and sensibility of our raison d’etre – the
Guest.
John Hendrie, is CEO of Hospitality Performance, Inc., a full-service hospitality
consulting company. With a strong background in Hospitality, Human Resources,
Organizational Effectiveness, and Communications, John has devoted his career to
establishing Standards of Excellence across varied businesses. For more information,
please visit www.hospitalityperformance.com
HOSPITALITY MALDIVES OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2006 17