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Through the Eyes of Hotel Guest Service Designer's: Achieving Guest Satisfaction
When Ellsworth Statler opened the Buffalo Statler Hotel in 1908, he initiated differentiation within the hospitality industry by offering for the first time a private bathroom for each room, a light at the door, a pitcher of water for each guest and the morning paper.
After the Second World War, the Hotel industry accompanied the expansion of tourism by increasing the number and quality of the services offered. Howard Johnson and Kemmom Wilson stand out as the creators of one of the first hotel chains -the Holiday Inn-, which offered, among other services, air conditioning, private bathroom, and in-room phone. The first differentiation strategies were related to the development hotel facilities and the creation of new and innovative services.
During the 90s, Hotels were faced with a new challenge: globalization made it increasingly difficult to offer exclusive products within an already huge Hospitality industry. Services which at one time had been exclusively offered by a few hotels became regular services at a great number of establishments.
Then, Hotels began to establish differentiation in connection with their retention and loyalty strategies, aimed at achieving guest satisfaction by determining guests needs and offering services adapted to such needs, giving rise to a new type of service: customized services. This new kind of service attracted a large number of guests and set standards within the market regarding differentiation. However, at the beginning of the XXI century, increasingly more hotels offer customized services, taking us back to the initial question: how is it possible to make a difference?
It is worth mentioning that the analysis of the elements that make up hotel services is made by guests according to their own criteria and experience, and this is the basis for their opinion and image regarding such services. Therefore, it is not only necessary to offer personalized services , but also to determine the criteria applied by guests regarding each service: how they perceive it and how it affects their physical and emotional wellbeing, according to my experience while I have been butlering, a good way to achieve this is to think of PERSONALISED SERVICES as PERSONALISED RELATIONAL SERVICE ( PRS).
Establishing Hotel-Guest relations is essential for differentiation within the market. Relational strategies strengthen and secure these relations. Hotel Butler Services is a priceless relational tool, providing what we can call moments of truth: the direct interaction between the provider and the receiver of the service , where it is possible to get to know the guest, determine both, rational and emotional guest needs and satisfy them in a personal way, so it makes possible to have an impact on their sensory and spiritual world, generating positive feelings and emotions that trigger unique enduring experiences. If you know what guests want and you offer it just as they want it, they shall not look for it anywhere else.
Personalized Relational Services, which lead to get closer bonds lasting in time, are established as soon as the guests reservation request is received and his requirements are met, and even after his departure. The same policy is applied at the welcome arrival, his assistance during his stay, the generation of service needs as a way to get to a better knowledge of the guests characteristics, pursuing to design for him unique and personal experiences, and in the systematic follow up of his satisfaction as a way to validate the experiential process.
The personalized service, seen as a relation service (PRS), also leads to the creation of a differential relations system, focused to raise the emotional value of the rendered services, some PRS´s advantages are as follow,
The one who receives it satisfies his/her need and perceives it as an experience. The one who provides it obtains information on the guest being assisted that is essential for differentiation strategies. Their goal is to establish, develop and maintain interaction with the receiver of the service -offering long-term value- which translates into permanent satisfaction, thus generating guest loyalty.
PRS helps us to establish priceless relations-interactions with the guest, adjusting the actions and services strategy to meet his expectations, thus raising the emotional value of the services.
PRS is an important tool to be used in the micro-segmentation of the services, conveying that the guest feels more identified with them. As a result, the expected emotional value will be achieved.
PRS is a supporting validation instrument for the design of an experience, so that we can determine the service emotional value and the meaning of the lived experience, through the interaction-relation established with the guest , this way we can personalize the meaning of the experience.
Personalized Relations Service is an active and dynamic service, constantly seeking for the guest emotional welfare and the generator par excellence of positive holistic experiences.
Personalized Relational Services are a new vision of customized services. Their goal is to establish, develop and maintain interaction- relation with the guest -offering long-term value- which translates into permanent satisfaction, thus generating guest emotional loyalty.
The motivated guest is eager to be assisted: more receptive, accessible and even helpful. The guest is more confident regarding the services offered and thus demands more services, generating greater interaction with hotel employees. This increased interaction allows obtaining more information that can be used to provide increasingly customized services. Consequently, the guest becomes a priceless Hotel ally, as confidence translates into loyalty.
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