The Mecca of Hoteliers

In the world of hospitality, we all know that our common goal is to serve guests so they can have a good experience. If you are running a business in hospitality, a hotel, a restaurant, even a small coffeeshop, I strongly suggest reading two references in the following. Other types of business that also provide services, such as hospitals or healthcare facilities, or airlines, would be perfect to learn about this too. The mecca, or the pinnacle of hospitality, is the Gold Standard of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company. If you haven’t heard about it, here are two references that you can look up to:

1. A book titled “The New Gold Standard”, written by Joseph A. Michelli, published by McGraw-Hill, 2008.
2. An article titled “My Week as a Room-Service Waiter at the Ritz”, written by Paul Hemp, Harvard Business Review Magazine, June 2002.

Those two references make us aware that even in the line of duty we are serving people, we are not their servants but service professionals. They have the motto “We are Ladies and Gentlemen serving Ladies and Gentlemen”, which resonates with human dignity, to take pride in this profession. They tell us that, “If you feel good about yourself, you’ll treat others, including colleagues, well.” Not only does this term make it easier and natural to perform duties for the guests, but it also creates a good work environment by treating your coworkers with respect, and they are practicing ‘Lateral service’ a helping hand among each other.  

As time goes by… There are some changes in the service industry. In the name of efficiency, there is a shift to a new form of service. There are budget hotels, no-frills airlines, and self-service restaurants. I think the presence of these new types of offers just enriches the customer’s option and is suitable for one’s budget. For those who provide basic services (hotel or airline or restaurant), they can still perform excellent service by creating a good experience for the guests or customers while they are using their facility. Because you want your customer to come back. A good experience is created when your guest feels welcomed. As simple as greeting your guest with warm hospitality when they arrive, maintaining the cleanliness of the room, smooth check-out process, or suggestions for nearby restaurants or sightseeing places are very welcoming and helpful.  

Both writers from the references above, Michelli and Hemp, emphasized the importance of having empathy towards your guest in order to deliver a wow service. Make an extra mile effort, such as decorating your guest room with flower petals in a romantic ambiance knowing your guests will be a newly-wed couple and will be staying for their honeymoon. They will remember the experience as a fond memory that will be treasured forever. By acknowledging your guest’s condition and anticipating their unstated needs, it is a level of care that transcends attentiveness and embraces genuine empathy. 

Another thing that makes a wow service, is customer recognition. Usually, the front liners are the ones who take note of what the guests’ preferences are. When a guest pulls the desk facing a window, the housekeeper will take notes and make an input to their Guest-recognition Database. Next time the guest stays, he will have his room with a desk facing the window, just like he preferred. Those efforts of fulfillment of a need according to an individual’s preferences create an intimacy of interpersonal care, which becomes the art of anticipation. And such anticipation is critical for the hotelier or any hospitality business, which has already become a service culture in the Ritz-Carlton.

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