How to Improve Hotel Customer Service

In today’s competitive hotel business scene, many hotel managers are going back to the basics of customer service. Current pricing restraints are forcing owners to rely on good old fashioned service to increase their reputation and with it, their profit margins.

Why You Should Improve Your Hotel Customer Service

It is becoming increasingly important to create a spectacular first impression and then to give excellent service to wow the customers into coming back again and again.

Interpersonal Communications

The advent of the Internet has made it difficult to create a relationship with customers through interpersonal communication. However, when given the chance to talk face to face, it is crucial that you create powerful impressions that are going to win you more customers as well as retain the ones that you already have.

To assist with this, all hotel staff that will be interacting with the clientele should have at least basic training in interpersonal communications and know how to put people at ease. They should be courteous, careful and culturally sensitive to your international travelers. Making people feel at home, or at the very least welcomed, will prove to net some return patrons.

First Impressions

Customers will often decide whether or not they want to do business with you within the first two to three minutes of meeting you. Whether you are selling or promoting a product or a service, the people you are talking to make their decision quickly. Consequently, first impressions are the key!

To make a good first impression, pay attention to your body language, the inflection of your voice, as well as the words that you use while communicating with them.

Body language in particular is extremely important, as it has been found by psychologists to determine up to about fifty-five per cent of others first opinion of you. Keep your demeanor open and friendly at all times and you will decrease the chances of giving the wrong impression to any customer.

Pay Attention to Body Language

Let’s focus on some of the smallest gestures that create the biggest impression that any hotel management can make use of to win the favor of the customers. Most of these things might look rather simple and unimportant until you try. If you have a problem with surly customers, you will see the difference right away when you learn how to put them at ease.

Since it has been stated that body language accounts for more than fifty percent of the impression that you make upon other people, it is crucial that any hotel management see to it that people who handle customers in their hotels pay close attention to some body language.

This is where you will find that investing in the training of your staff is very important. Here are some tips that will help that score the best impressions and improve hotel customer service:

• Attitude: Avoid wearing an unreceptive attitude. Let your attitude be cordial. Don‚Äôt underestimate the importance of mannerisms. It is important, especially in the face of confrontations that you always maintain yourself as a professional.
• Smile: Smiling will not only let your customer know that they count but also sense that that you feel good towards them. The phrase ‚Äúsmile and the world smiles with you‚Äù fits well here. On a very subconscious level, people like to be greeted with a smile.
• Eye Contact: This is important for several reasons. Direct eye contact makes you appear confident and competent. It shows that you are concerned enough about their needs to pay attention. It also makes it easier for a customer that is hard of hearing to read your lips if you are looking at them and presenting your whole face to them.
• Customer‚Äôs Name: If during the course of interacting with the customer you get to know their name, refer them by their names when addressing them in the rest of the conversation. You should try as much as possible to personalize the conversation. You should never forget to listen to your customers. This will make them feel important.
• Posture: Making sure that you assume an upright posture. This is a plus when dealing with hotel customers. You should also make sure that you make use of our hands when illustrating points. Finally, you should avoid motioning your body from left to right while communicating with a hotel customer. For some reason, this can make people feel ill at ease.

However trivial any of these may appear or sound, the truth is that none of them should ever be taken for granted. Learning how to give a spectacular first impression will improve your customer relations and give you an advantage over your competition.