Customers are definitely the most important stakeholders in hotel business. If your hotel does not offer quality services to its customers they will find an alternative hotel that serves them well and in due time you may have to close down due to lack of customers. Here are 11 viable steps that will help your hotel to improve the quality of its services to customers.
Customers are definitely the most important stakeholders in hotel business. If your hotel does not offer quality services to its customers they will find an alternative hotel that serves them well and in due time you may have to close down due to lack of customers. Here are 11 viable steps that will help your hotel to improve the quality of its services to customers.
1. Online services
The world has become a global village and the internet is becoming its economic hub. It’s important that the hotel should not limit its services to its premises; it should also offer online services and stay in touch with its customers in the online platform. Services such as online booking, customer care and online car hire services should be availed online to improve the quality of customer service.
2. Invite customer suggestions
In order to know what would serve the customer needs best; the hotel must be in contact with the customer. Their suggestions should be listened to with sobriety and their complaints attended to. At least a suggestion box should be strategically put a point where customers can note them.
3. Effective customer care
No doubt it’s the customers that keep the hotel going; otherwise it would as well shut down. The customers must therefore be treated with uttermost respect. The management should adopt a policy that reminds its workers that customers are the most valuable assets they have, if they don’t treat them well, their competitors will.
4. Set up an effective communication channel
Communication is ideal in every business set up. The hotel should set up a working flow system that will ensure that the management is always in touch not only with the workers and customers but also with other key stakeholders like suppliers, security service providers, media and potential customers.
5. ISO 90012008 certification
ISO 9001 2008 is a manual published by the international standards body to ensure quality assurance system in the service industry. It helps with guidelines on how to manage data, upgrade information system, carry out personnel training, handle risks and ultimately improve services. Acquiring ISO 9001:2008 certification will greatly increase customers’ trust in quality of the hotel’s services.
6. Carrying out internal audits
It’s common that many at times resources are inappropriately allocated or misused. This has seen quality of customer services in hotels watered down. The hotel management should regularly conduct audits in order to ensure accountability in the use of hotel resources.
7. Set up regulations
Many workers can frustrate customers depending on various conditions or attitudes. Workers must ensure ethics at the hotel premises so that they give the customers their best and not their worst. For this reason, the hotel management should come up with rules that will regulate the conduct workers towards the hotel assets, customers, management and fellow workers.
8. Establish an effective Information management system
Information management is crucial in customer satisfaction. The management should put in place a documentation system that efficiently keys in the data about the customers, allows for editing, processing and easy retrieval when need be. The information management system should be well organized and adequately secure so that only authorized personnel can access the data.
9. Personnel training and appraisal
Training of personnel goes a long way in improving the quality of customer service in a hotel set up. This is because it ensures specialization in such a way that every personnel do only what they are best at. A classy hotel should not gamble with service delivery, the management should only entrust trained workers to deliver the various services. In order to keep up with modern trends, the personnel should constantly be trained on how to use the latest technology and deliver services in a modest way.
10. Allow for employee participation in strategic planning
Employees are the people on the ground; they know what exactly happens in the process of service delivery and how it can be improved. They should therefore be included the decision making process so that the best strategies are put in place.
11. Motivate the personnel
A worker with a low self-esteem can spoil a customer’s day. When not motivated, employees may not give their best. The management should ensure that the hard work by the personnel is well appreciated through appraisal, rewards and promotions.
Author Bio
Ashly Kristina is a writer and a professional ISO Consultant who loves to write about the Energy management system and ISO 50001 standards procedures. She has written many articles on ISO Certification and CMMI Certifications.
