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HOTEL BUSINESS REVIEW

APRIL FOCUS: Guest Service

 

Exceeding Guest Expectations by Anticipating Their Needs

By Diarmuid Dwyer Area Managing Director, Hilton | April 2023

From the moment a guest makes a reservation, they have certain expectations as they anticipate their upcoming stay.

The key to ultimate guest satisfaction is understanding the relationship between these expectations and the overall experience offered.

It is essential to know what guests are looking for when they are searching for, and pricing plays an important role. In a luxury environment, for example, guests are willing to pay higher rates for a great product and great service. After the pandemic, we've also seen a notable shift in people prioritizing health and safety when choosing where to stay. Individuals tend to favor hotels with great standard health and safety practices in place, which all hotels in Hilton have protocols in place for. Product, from a delivery standpoint, is another relevant factor. These three pillars are crucial to identify and understand to anticipate guests' needs.

Providing great service and a positive overall experience should always be a priority for hoteliers. Creating personalized and unique experiences are a huge focus across the New York Hilton properties as we strive to improve our guest experience and interactions as often as possible. Even when we provide outstanding service, we strive to maintain that same quality across all guest interactions. Creating unexpected and delightful encounters for individuals can establish a lasting impression and set the mood for the rest of their stay, and oftentimes result in a returning guest.

Across the New York Hilton properties, activations have been a huge focus as these experiences allow us to provide visitors with pleasant and meaningful "surprise and delights" to elevate their stay and overall experience. In 2022, for example, Conrad New York Midtown hosted a pop-up activation in their lobby for Mother's Day. They partnered with Kendra Scott to allow guests to customize and create complimentary "mommy and me" bracelets. As a result, guests received thoughtful pieces of jewelry while creating lasting memories with their loved ones.

Lobby at Conrad New York Downtown

General Practices to Exceed Guest Expectations

Before guests arrive on-site, preconceived expectations of their stay and the property have already been set. Such expectations may vary between individuals depending on their values and background. It can be challenging to meet these unspoken expectations without understanding the individual's needs, but that doesn't mean it is not possible. It's essential to keep in mind that though every hotel has a guest room, the overall experience being provided is what makes the difference. It matters where guests choose to stay. What is important to a family is different from what is important to a business traveler. Recognizing these different personas are how we differentiate service for the guest.

To exceed guest expectations, hotel team members must anticipate their needs. This is essential before and during their stay. Communicating with travelers before their arrival can help team members prepare for a guest's stay, especially those with special requests. During their stay, hotels should aim to provide individuals with an experience where they don't have to go out of their way to ask for things. Attention to detail within the room, for example, can make a notable impression on guests. Whether that is hanging their robe, setting water at their bedside, restocking towels, or other anticipatory services, these touchpoints can go the extra mile in surpassing a guest's expectations. Team members should strive to always be one step ahead of guests without being overly on top of them. It is important to keep in mind what matters to each individual.

Years ago during my training at the Killarney Park Hotel, I was taught that delivering warmth beyond a smile can go a long way. As long as team members can deliver this, the rest will be taken care of. This mission and messaging has resonated with me ever since and is a standard practice we implement across all of the Hilton properties in New York. With genuine service, everything else comes together. From a Hilton perspective, recognizing guests that are loyal to the brand throughout their stay, such as Hilton Honors members or Diamond members, encourages them to feel recognized and in turn drives further loyalty amongst guests.

Views of the Lobby and Front Desk at Conrad New York Downtown

How to Provide Comfort In and Out of the Guest Room

Providing comfort in and outside of the guest room can be the determining factor that influences guests to return to the same property, or brand. Certain amenities can be implemented in guest rooms to help travelers feel relaxed and at home. At both Conrad New York Downtown and Conrad New York Midtown, we've partnered with Bedside Reading to provide visitors with a convenient reading selection in both digital and print. If they enjoy the reading materials, they are welcome to take their book home, at no cost. Turndown services can also go a long way. At Conrad New York Downtown, a lavender scent is placed at a guest's bedside to enhance sleep. Through Hilton luxury standards, robes and slippers are available upon request to allow guests to customize their stay.

Comfort is not only determined by how cozy the beds are or how spacious the guest rooms may be. It's also how a hotel team interacts with guests outside of their guest rooms through experiences and activations. Food and beverage experiences, apart from in-room dining, also play a relevant role in guest service. Getting to know your guests will make it easier to create meaningful memories and personalized experiences for them to always remember. Understanding your guests and building a relationship with them can help guest service team members create personalized recommendations, on and off property, that will enhance the overall guest experience.

Consistency is also key in creating special moments for guests, especially brandwide. The Conrad properties, for example, have stuffed animals associated with each hotel that young travelers can look forward to obtaining during their stay. Not only does this enhance their experience and provide a certain level of comfort, but it encourages them to want to collect them all. Such a simple touchstone can be a significant factor in creating a lifetime loyal guest. 

Providing A Positive Experience Through Effective Communication

Whether it's communicating with guests or other hotel staff, effective verbal and non-verbal communication is essential in enhancing guest experience. Across the New York Hilton properties, our team members connect daily with the operations team to receive the latest updates. Team members are also trained to provide experiences to exceed guest expectations through genuine and anticipatory service. Guests are sent pre-arrival emails to gather preliminary information about their stay. They also have custom profiles that contain their preferences to help all team members recognize important details for that guest. Team members are also trained to personalize the guest experience by using their name to address them wherever they can. One example of this is calling a guest by their name when they use their in-room phone to call the front desk or order in-room dining.

Communication for pre-arrival and at check-in sets the stage for the entire stay. It is crucial to leave a good first impression at check-in. Through professionalism, personalization and anticipatory service, guests feel recognized and at ease. Even the small things help build that relationship and bond with the guest that makes them want to receive that kind of service again. It is also important to identify and understand a guest's preferred method of communication, whether that's via phone, email or text. Tailoring communication to the guest's preferences is key.

Hotel team members should also be trained to pick-up on non-verbal cues through attentiveness. Training, and having action plans with the teams, are a great way to remind team members what to look out for. Each hotel has its own brand standards. These standards are enforced by department heads throughout the hotel and through the training department in Human Resources. Hoteliers should work to deliver the services guests expect to receive and beyond. With the help of other team members, and with experience over time, understanding the different types of travelers is essential to know when and when not to engage.

For example, you should always engage and observe with children that are traveling with their families. This not only makes the children feel seen and recognized, but parents also feel comfortable knowing that their child is accepted and being treated properly at the property that they chose.

How to Provide Positive Guest Experiences for International Travelers

Anticipating international travelers' needs may differ slightly from those within the United States. Though they have similar guest expectations as domestic guests, international travelers tend to prioritize hotels that offer breakfast and early check-in. Guests arriving on property after a long day or night of flying tend to want their guest room to be ready as soon as possible. Convenience plays a key role when choosing a place to stay. Having a trained on-site guest relations team can ensure that international travelers check-in and adjust to their guest rooms smoothly. By learning these trends and standards, hoteliers are able to cater to international guests' preferences and customs.

Creating A Culture of Service

Creating a culture of service at a hotel starts with consistency and constant reinforcement. Staff training and meetings are very important to the success of our hotels. Thorough training ensures that all team members understand what the core objectives are from a service perspective. We constantly reinforce these ideas and implementations within our hotel team members. When we're hiring, we seek employees who hold similar values to our hotel brand and other staff members.

Importance of Having A Guest Relations Team

Exceeding guest expectations begins well before check-in. Having a dedicated guest relations team on-site is an effective way to ascertain what guests are looking for before they even arrive. Communicating with guests prior to their arrival allows guest service team members to establish relationships with guests and identify areas of opportunity for personalization. Having a better understanding of a guests' needs and preferences is key in anticipating their needs.

You don't have to be a luxury hotel to go the extra mile and ensure your guests have a memorable experience. In fact, providing the right recommendations can elevate a guest's experience and impression of the hotel and the overall area. Not all travelers are prepared to venture outside of the hotel which means that relevant recommendations can be very helpful for those unprepared or unfamiliar with the neighborhood. Some hotels provide a list of restaurants and activities nearby within the guest room, but this lacks the opportunity for human connection and personalization. Through effective communication, a hotel team member should inquire and ask thoughtful questions to discover the guest's needs and preferences.

Continuing to Provide Excellent Guest Services Outside of the Hotel Experience

Milestones and special occasions are a huge part of an individual's life as they provide something positive to look forward to. For those seeking to travel for their celebrations, where they choose to stay can play a key role in setting the foundation of a memorable experience. It's important to not only help provide a positive experience, but to be a part of it. Going the extra mile to help guests celebrate special occasions starts within the hotel. Coordinating in-room personal touches, welcome amenities, packages, upgrades, or other "surprise and delights" are great ways to meet guest's needs in a meaningful and positive way. To anticipate guests' needs, communication is imperative. 

Across the New York Hilton hotels, we often receive requests for assistance in planning activities outside of the hotel. Proposals are a prime example. Guest service team members should be prepared to assist with these particular requests, or have the resources to direct them in the right direction. Conrad New York Downtown's guest relations team is the perfect example as they always strive to help plan customized activities based on their guests' demographics, interests and needs.

Whether it's organizing a helicopter proposal with the best city views, creating a guide of iconic TV show film sites, or rearranging a guest room to set up a tea party with views of the Hudson River, their guest relations team uses communication and creativity to bring guests' ideas to life.

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13. PRIVACY POLICY

The following is the Privacy Policy for HotelExecutive

We can be reached via telephone, email, or online at our contact page. When you visit our site we do not log any information regarding your domain or email address. Information Sharing: We do not share user information with any third parties other than via press release distribution as described below.

Hotel Newswire is a newswire service that distributes press releases on behalf of our users. If you decide to submit a press release for distribution through our system we will transmit your entire press release including any personal information therein contained to our media contacts and online distribution points including search engines. This is the only redistribution of your information that we engage in. Your submission of press releases through our system indicates consent with this policy. The information we collect during your registration process is used to notify users about updates to our service and inform users of any special events hosted by Hotel Newswire. This information is not shared with other organizations for commercial or non-commercial purposes.

Cookies: Our system requires the use of cookies to enable the user to log back into our website to access information from the newswire, without having to log in each time using the required username and password.

If you do not want to receive email from us in the future, please let us know by following instructions included in our communication with you. Users who supply us with telephone numbers online may receive telephone contact from us regarding their account, or informing them of new products and services available on the HotelExecutive website. If you do not wish to receive such telephone calls, please edit your account and remove your phone number from your account profile. This can be done from your user account menu.

Ad Servers: We do not partner with or have any relationship with any ad server companies. From time to time, we may use customer information for new uses not previously disclosed in our privacy notice. If our information practices change at any time, we will post the policy changes to our website to notify you of these changes and provide you with the ability to opt out of these new uses. If you are concerned about how your information is used, you should check back at our website periodically.

Upon request we provide site visitors with access to all information (including proprietary information) that we maintain about them. Users can access this information by logging in to their account.

Security: We always use industry-standard encryption technologies while transferring and receiving user data exchanged with our site. We have appropriate security measures in place in our physical facilities to protect against the loss, misuse, or alteration of information that we have collected from you on our site. We do not store credit card information in our systems.

If you feel that this site is not following its stated information policy, you may contact us.

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