Hotel Front Office Management, 3rd Edition

DEVELOPING A SERVICE MANAGEMENT PROGRAM 327possible improvements that can be debated by team members. Additional meetings willfind team members crystallizing concepts and gaining insights and respect for jobs performedby team members.The team may decide to have front desk clerks alert the housekeeping staff when morethan two people check into a guest room. The housekeeping staff can then routinely bringadditional towels. This decision not only solves the problem of guest dissatisfactioncaused by too few towels but provides an opportunity for frontline employees to developand deliver a guest service. It is no longer a front desk problem or a housekeeping problem,but a team effort to produce a satisfied guest.An example of a service management program is Hilton’s “Hilton Pride Program,”which recognizes exceptional hotel performance and customer satisfaction. “The PrideProgram reinforces our pledge to maintain exceptional levels of customer satisfactionwhile building pride in the workplace. This sense of pride enables us to crate a level ofservice that brings our customers back, said Dieter H. Huckestein, executive vice president,Hilton Hotels Corporation and president, hotel operations owned and managed.“The performance criteria include the following items:• Customer satisfaction tracking studies• Guest comment card responses• Mystery shopper evaluations• Team member surveys• EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization)• Room RevPAR• RevPAR index• Brand management and product standard” 22Delta Hotels received the Canada Awards for Excellence Trophy 2000 from the NationalQuality Institute (NQI). Mr. John Johnston, president, Delta Hotels, remarked,“Not only does this award recognize our ongoing commitment to excellence, but moreimportantly our commitment to our guests.” The selection process included “[NQI] assessors[who] visited six Delta hotels and the Corporate office to review examples ofquality in action. Delta Hotels met the rigorous criteria in the Excellence Framework bydemonstrating outstanding continuous achievement in Leadership, Planning, CustomerFocus, People Focus, Supplier Focus, and Performance.” Prior to this award, Delta Hotelsestablished an internal quality control program—Quality Business Assessment. “With thisprocess, Delta Hotels trains internal assessors to conduct individual hotel assessmentsand develop a quality improvement plan. Every two years, a hotel will undergo an initialthree-day assessment and a subsequent five-day assessment to ensure that ongoing qualitymeasures are incorporated into Delta’s culture and all aspects of [its] operations. Externalassessors are also invited to conduct assessments, ensuring that assessments meet theprofessional standards of NQI.” Mr. William Pallett, senior vice president, people andquality, says, “Our goal is to ensure a seamless approach to quality, so that it is part ofour culture. Problem Solving Teams regularly monitor process for improvement oppor-TLFeBOOK