Repeat Business is what all companies strive for, especially hotels. They make money because you come back time after time and hand over your hard earned dollar bills. But, why return to the those hotels and restaurants? Does it have anything to do with the staff being service oriented? The answer is yes and we are going to discuss two staff positions that will specifically affect repeat business.
Those positions are Concierge and Convention Service Managers. You deal with the position, but it is the superior service of the person that you want and need. Let's discuss.
Concierge - recently I was in New Orleans at the Marriott Convention Center and our group needed help making reservations for dinner. Our favorite place was only open for special parties, so we had to go to plan "B" and find something else that would accommodate twenty to twenty five persons with only one day notice. We checked into the hotel and then went directly to the concierge. Her name was Rhoda Martinez.
She not only recommended a restaurant that could take care of us, but assisted us several times before our reservation to make constant changes to our numbers. Each time we talked she was courteous, pleasant, helpful and had great suggestions. She loves her job and the guests love her. So do we.
Rhonda even recommended a unique little local place for lunch that was ideal and will be remembered, so when thinking of reasons to return to her hotel, she gets an A+.
Convention Service Manager - I spent thirty years in hotels and most of that time was spent handling convention groups as Director of Convention Service. Clients would negotiate the sales contract with their sales manager and then it was my job to service them the rest of the way. That meant confirming contractual details, confirming space, pulling out all their needs and wants plus communicating their wishes to the hotel staff. Then my job was to make sure it all happened.
Two Goals - but, I had goals for each convention I handled. The first was to make sure all the attendees had a great convention, all the details were handled efficiently and with great service. Repeat business depends upon clients leaving the hotel with wonderful memories and saying to themselves "I want to return."
The second goal was as important, if not more important, than the first one. It was to make the convention planner so happy that they won't want to go anywhere else. So, to do this, I took extra care before the meeting to get all the details and prepared the convention resumes plus BEOs in detail. The hotel staff only had to follow my instructions and then I made sure everything was ready so the meeting planner only had to check the meeting rooms, but did not have to call and make changes.
We had great repeat business because the meeting planners knew I would make their job easy. Accomplishing one goal without the other did not bring back the business.
So, many of the hotels and restaurants you visit are nice and have great physical attributes. The meeting space and food might also be worth rebooking your convention, but you won't rebook if your attendees are not happy or if you had a hard time working the meeting. However, a great Concierge and Convention Service Manager will bring you back. We all like to be catered to. In the movie Field of Dreams there was a phrase that said "Build it and he will come." However, in the hotel and convention business, "If you make it easy on the planner, they will rebook." Repeat business absolutely depends on service.
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