Expressing Empathy Truly Resolves Guest Complaints
Saying ‘I’m so sorry’ is just annoying Over many years of creating and delivering hospitality training, I have encountered various acronyms ranging from H.E.A.T. to L.E.A.R.N. that are intended to summarize the steps in resolving complaints, which is known more recently as “service recovery.” Why Empathy Is the Foundation of Effective Guest Complaint Resolution Typically, […]
Train Your Team To Intentionally Communicate Hospitality Vibes
Hotel employees should master nonverbal communication in guest interactions Typically, the word “vibes” is used unseriously to refer to intangible, possibly imaginary aspects of non-verbal interpersonal communication. However, research conducted by the HeartMath Institute lends credence to the concept that a calm, compassionate, positive “energy field” can be radiated and thus conveyed to others in […]
Technification Is Accelerating Commoditization
Stand Out Through Humanification Technification, defined as the application of technology-based systems to a specific industry, was first used in the 1930s according to the Oxford English Dictionary, but it feels more relevant than ever in today’s business world. This is especially true in the lodging industry. Agentic artificial intelligence, large-language models, chatbots, and humanoid […]
Mentoring The Next-Gen Hospitality Superstars
Lessons learned from my first hotel job still ring true As I write my monthly article for CoStar today, I find myself back at the Marriott Griffin Gate Resort, in Lexington, Kentucky. This time as a guest at the place where my hotel career began 45 years ago, when I was a college student randomly […]
Delivering The “Vibe” Of Hospitality Requires E.P.I.C. Qualities
In addition to being arguably the most used word by younger generations as an adjective, adverb, and noun, the word “epic” is also the name of a new Orlando theme park, an International ski pass, the maker of popular video games, and a company providing digital access to children’s books. Why Hospitality Vibe Matters More […]
Hospitality Really, Truly Is Vibe
Training should help grow employees as humans Although it seems more popular than ever, the word “vibe” has been part of contemporary vernacular for as long as I can remember. It’s a word I’ve often used in my hotel industry seminars, training articles, and presentations. Recently, while doing research for a groundbreaking new hospitality training […]
Beyond “Wow,” “Unreasonable,” and “Outrageous”: Train Your Team To Deliver Ordinarily Extraordinary Guest Service
As a conference speaker and hotel trainer, I’m always interested whenever I see the title of an article, book, or blog post that has anything to do with guest service, hospitality, or customer service in general. Over the years, I’ve noticed that most of the content I see about these topics focuses on providing something […]
Deanonymize Your Guests To Improve Guest Hospitality Experiences
As I make the rounds conducting hospitality industry training, I sense that more and more hoteliers are truly understanding the difference between “guest service excellence” and “hospitality.” My regular readers may recall that this is a topic previously addressed here in my monthly column. In short, “guest service excellence” is more demonstrative, requiring the use […]
Hospitality Is The Fluff!
Throughout my career as a hotel trainer and conference speaker, I have often had some version of this conversation when I meet new people in casual social settings when a polite conversation migrates from “So, Douglas, where are you from?” on to “So, what do you do for work?” Unlike so many traditional professions, my […]
Meaningful Micro Encounters Matter The Most
Despite how technology continues to replace the need for routine human conversations during a guest’s “cycle of service,” we as hoteliers still have plenty of opportunities to have meaningful connections with our guests. These connections truly matter and strongly impact guest loyalty. Sure, many guests book at our websites or an online travel agent, but […]