The Tricycle of Guest Service Excellence: A Perfect Model For Remarkable Experiences
Doug Kennedy | October 4th, 2024
The Art of a Great Arrival for Luxury Hotels
Adam and Larry Mogelonsky | May 22nd, 2024
Mohegan Sun Adopts Wireless eTray Technology by Bartech to Provide Guests With Convenient and Safe In-Room Purchase Options
Bartech | September 1, 2020
Casino hotel leverages standalone guestroom point-of-sale solution to enhance revenues, while providing guests with contactless access to non-refrigerated items. Las Vegas — September 1, 2020 — Bartech, the leader in automatic minibar solutions for the global hospitality industry, has partnered with the Mohegan Sun Casino & Resort to implement its advanced eTray solution, an innovative platform that allows hoteliers to sell non-refrigerated products within the guestroom without the need for an existing minibar. As reopening properties face the need to adapt services to address guest concerns over potential health risks, Mohegan Sun...
Hotel Carmichael Caters to Latest Guest Connectivity Trends Using BeyondTV With Voice Activated Technology and Enhanced Wi-Fi by Hotel Internet Servic
Hotel Internet Services, Inc. | August 18, 2020
New luxury property set to open in summer 2020 will provide guests with seamless content casting abilities and contactless control over hotel amenities while guaranteeing a fast and responsive Wi-Fi connection. CARMEL, Ind. — August 18, 2020 — Hotel Internet Services (HIS), a full-service provider of internet services and solutions for the hospitality industry, has been selected by Hotel Carmichael, Autograph Collection to provide its guests with the latest in in-room entertainment and virtual assistant technology with the implementation of BeyondTV alongside advanced Wi-Fi capabilities. A newly built boutique hotel opening during ...
Value Reigns in the Hotel Recovery Phase
Larry Mogelonsky | August 12, 2020
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.hotelmogel.com) The summer of COVID-19 for hotels has meant a dominance of local leisure guests and road trips as we await the return of group travel to boost our occupancies and our margins. With the approaching next normal of autumn, winter, more properties reopening and less overall desirability for a vacation to a domestic location during the colder months, it would be all too easy to succumb to a price war. Fortunately, we know the ramifications of a price reduction, notably that it erodes your customer base by making it harder to return to your standard rates. And yet, market forces will dict...
How to Avoid Roadblocks to Great Customer Service
Shep Hyken | August 5, 2020
By Shep Hyken What gets in the way of creating a great customer service experience for you and/or your organization? Is it a process that is clunky, inconvenient and difficult for the customer? Is it people who aren’t properly trained or don’t have the right people skills? It’s easy to ask yourself these questions and self-diagnose your organization, but have you ever asked your people? That’s exactly what my friend and client, Diane Kniowski, did. Diane is president and regional general manager at Univision. As she moved into this role, she realized the opportunities that would come from providing a better customer experienc...
5 Reasons Guests Matter More Than Ever
David Berger | July 30, 2020
Hotels hamstrung by operational limitations, dizzied by government mandates, and sensitive to traveler anxiety are challenged, but will rise again through continued focus on the guest experience By David Berger Providing a quality guest experience is more important than ever for hoteliers seeking to compete in the post-COVID-19 world. Much has been said over the past six months about social distancing, mask etiquette, and the need for greater vigilance in protecting public health. No question this is table stakes, but the goal of hospitality—providing a positive guest experience—is more paramount than ever. Here are ...
A Boring Customer Service Experience—That’s What Our Customers Want
Shep Hyken | July 29, 2020
Call me boring, but I want the same thing every time—at least when it comes to customer experience. I want it to be good. I want it to be consistent. I want to predict the experience I’m going to have with the people and places I do business with. If you ask the CEO of a big company or the owner of a small business, I bet they would say the same. We want our customers to always have a good experience with us—one they can count on always happening every time they do business with us. We want them to find that our people are always knowledgeable, always helpful, always friendly and always respond quickly. We want our products to alw...
Brand-New Boutique Resort at the University of Florida to Deliver a Mobile-First Guest Experience
INTELITY | July 29, 2020
Hotel ELEO at the University of Florida will provide guests with personalized, contactless service through a custom, INTELITY-powered brand app Los Angeles, CA (July 29, 2020) - INTELITY®, the provider of hospitality’s most comprehensive guest experience platform, has signed a deal with Hotel ELEO at the University of Florida to deliver contactless service to guests with a branded mobile app. The app will supply robust digital capabilities and another layer of safety for guests and staff at the new, upscale hotel in Gainesville, Florida. With the new app, guests will have the ability to tailor service to their preferences before, dur...
Advantage Reserve Announces Collaboration With Kennedy Training Network to Optimize Reservations Sales
Advantage Reserve | July 29, 2020
Fort Lauderdale, FL, July 29, 2020 — Advantage Reserve, the leading provider of high-quality central reservations services to the hospitality industry, has announced the launch of a new sales training partnership with Kennedy Training Network (KTN), the lodging industry’s best source for hotel training programs. This collaboration will enhance the guest experience, improve performance levels, and increase reservations conversions for Advantage Reserve’s diverse customer base of luxury hotels and resorts. During this unique period across the world in 2020, the hospitality industry faces a crucial time for reservations sales, and the v...
Humanizing Hotel Brands During COVID-19 Could Encourage Tourists to Return
July 23, 2020
Hotels should build an emotional attachment with tourists when communicating during crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic if they are to encourage them to return, according to new research. The study finds that crisis communication emphasizing shared emotional responses to risks enables tourists to humanize the hotel, which can subsequently create an emotional attachment. This attachment can then increase tourists’ intentions to visit once the crisis ends, which is crucial if the industry is to recover. Researchers from the Universities of East Anglia (UEA), Bath and West of England say their findings challenge the approach that domina...
Take Local to the Extreme
Larry Mogelonsky | July 22, 2020
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.hotelmogel.com) Prior to Covid, hoteliers all over the world were already working on various programs to support local businesses and showcase the best of the community to guests. Now that the pandemic is practically locking out international travelers, the push for drive market customers and ‘local everything’ has bloomed exponentially. But if you are pursuing a course that many of your competitors are also going after, how do you stand apart? The answer is to go deep into your culture and lore, and simply outdo your rivals through what I call ‘extreme local’. Every city is unquestionab...
How to Enhance Customer Experience During COVID-19 to Differentiate Your Brand
Tom Riccio | July 22, 2020
By Tom Riccio Earning consumer confidence during the pandemic with a well-executed safety strategy is vital if hotels are to win back customers as the nation tries to reopen. With Covid-19 a major ongoing hurdle for the hospitality industry and consumers alike, the biggest opportunity for hotels is to protect and enhance their brand by implementing broad public health measures and communicating them effectively. A hotel’s health strategy will either put customers at ease and build trust or signal the establishment is disorganized and perhaps unsafe. Brands that provide comprehensive safeguards – plus variety and flair – will posit...
Another Way to Amaze Your Customers: Pay Attention
Shep Hyken | July 15, 2020
By Shep Hyken I recently wrote about taking the extra step to deliver amazing service. There were three steps: pay attention, care about your customers and put forth extra effort. For this article, I want to focus on the first step—paying attention. Paying attention is more than just the first step. It may be the most important step. One of our readers, Scott Anderson, shared a story about staying at a resort in Mexico. The porter followed Scott and his wife to the room with their luggage. Scott mentioned to his wife how much he would love a Dr. Pepper. (Funny… Dr. Pepper was in the example of the aforementioned article.) He di...
Vegas’s First Adults-Only Resort to Deliver Digital Capabilities With Mobile Check-In, In-Room Tablets
INTELITY | July 15, 2020
Circa Resort & Casino, opening later this year, will pair vintage Vegas hospitality with cutting-edge contactless technology to “wow” both guests and players alike. Los Angeles, CA (July 15, 2020) - INTELITY®, the leader in contactless guest experiences for the hospitality industry, announced today a new deal with Circa Resort & Casino to provide mobile check-in and mobile key, as well as deploy a fleet of 10” luxury tablets that will enable contactless service and give guests unprecedented digital control over their stays. Set to open in late 2020, the Circa Resort & Casino will pay tribute to both the history and futur...
Would You Please Leave a Review About Your Experience?
Shep Hyken | July 8, 2020
By Shep Hyken Getting customers to review their experience with you is powerful. Before they make a purchase, go to a restaurant, stay at a hotel and more, many customers do online research, which leads them to reviews that help form their opinion of products or services they want to buy—or even the company they want to buy it from. Nothing new there. How do you get reviews? Well, the easy way is to ask for them. By the way, I recently interviewed Rupesh Patel on Amazing Business Radio, and he shared the “secret sauce” on how he gets amazing guest reviews for his hotels—and his recipe can work for any business. I suggest gi...
Hotel Internet Services Publishes New Research Report Analyzing Latest Trends in Guestroom Entertainment and Virtual Assistant Technology
Hotel Internet Services, Inc. | July 7, 2020
In-depth White paper leverages guest and hotelier survey results to demonstrate rapidly growing demand for comprehensive solutions able to address preferences for personalized entertainment and voice-activated service. CLEARWATER, Fla. — July 7, 2020 — Hotel Internet Services (HIS), a full-service provider of internet services and solutions for the hospitality industry, has announced the publishing of a new white paper analyzing the latest guest trends when it comes to what they expect from in-room entertainment, convenient access to hotel services as well as the ability to interact with property amenities without increasing the risk o...
Data Shows Negative Hotel Guest Reviews Increase During Pandemic
Lodging Interactive and Commingle:Engage | July 6, 2020
PARSIPPANY, NJ – July 6, 2020 - Lodging Interactive, a full-service digital marketing, social media engagement, and reputation management agency exclusively serving the hospitality industry shares its findings on guest reputation management during the COVID-19 pandemic and the results show negative guest reviews are on the rise. “As leisure travelers kick off their summer vacations, we thought it would be useful for hotel operators to consider the guest review data we’re seeing come through our Commigle:Engage reputation management services,” said DJ Vallauri, Founder, President and CEO of Lodging Interactive. “We looked at 100 c...
Quest Griffith and Quest Robina Adopt BeyondTV GuestCast™ to Provide Guests With Latest in Content Casting Functionality
BeyondTV | June 30, 2020
Quest Griffith and Quest Robina cater to guest desire for seamless and secure access to personalized content. MELBOURNE, Australia — June 30, 2020 — BeyondTV (BTV), a full-service provider of guestroom entertainment services and solutions for the hospitality industry, has announced the successful implementation of BeyondTV GuestCast™ at Quest Griffith and Quest Robina. Owned and operated under the Quest Apartment Hotels franchise, one of the largest and most successful apartment hotel brands within Australasia, Quest Griffith, located within the Riverina region, and Quest Robina, situated on Australia’s Gold Coast, represent a le...
INTELITY and JTB Corp Join Forces to Elevate Guest Experiences in the Hawaiian Islands and Asia Pacific
INTELITY | June 24, 2020
New partnership between travel innovators to deliver tailored experiences and contactless service for hotel guests Los Angeles, CA (June 24, 2020) - INTELITY®, the provider of the travel industry’s most comprehensive guest engagement and staff management platform, announced today a new partnership with JTB Corp, Japan’s leading hospitality and travel service, to create VIP travel experiences for guests globally. The initiative will deliver robust digital capabilities and custom content in Japanese to guests through the INTELITY platform, giving JTB’s travelers personalized experiences crafted for their specific needs. “Right no...
The Benefits of Service Design
June 18, 2020
On a global scale, the tourism industry impacts over 284 million jobs. These jobs comprise an enormous sector of the global economy, with these organizations focusing on providing customers with outstanding experiences. Rather than selling their customers and clients particular products to fulfill pain points, these businesses instead focus on providing customers with a promised experience. It is through these emotion-driven interactions that customers determine if their needs have been met and their view of this particular business. Within this sector, therefore, the idea of service design has a tremendous impact. Through service design,...
Prioritizing the Need for Guestroom-Centric Experiences in a Post COVID-19 World
Bartech | June 15, 2020
LAS VEGAS — JUNE 15, 2020 — From implementing strict cleanliness procedures to reshaping the way that services and amenities are offered, it’s clear that the hotel industry has experienced a seismic shift and will look very different as the threat of COVID-19 subsides and guests begin to return. One thing hoteliers can be sure of is that the first bookings will come predominantly from business travelers. In fact, recent survey findings from consulting firm Oliver Wyman support this conclusion with approximately three-quarters of business travelers expecting to travel the same amount post-pandemic as they did before, due to an improvemen...
Taking the Extra Step to Deliver Amazing Service
Shep Hyken | June 10, 2020
By Shep Hyken Sometimes a little creativity and extra effort can make a big difference in the customer experience. One of our followers, David Turk, shared an article from a recent issue of the New York Times about how a server at an upscale restaurant “astonished” a guest with an amazing display of customer service. The short version of the story is that a woman went to dinner at one of the finest restaurants in New York. From experience, she knew it was difficult to get her favorite beverage, Dr. Pepper, so she brought her own and requested a glass of ice—nothing else. When the server returned with a crystal glass filled wi...
The Path Towards Customer-Centricity in Hospitality
Alessandro Inversini | June 1, 2020
By Alessandro Inversini Customer-centricity - or guest-centricity - should be one of the major concerns of managers in the hospitality industry. In fact, in my experience, when interviewing or engaging with hotels directors on this topic, almost all of them have the perception of being fully guest-centred. This is very interesting as our industry needs really to cater to guests during all the stages of their customer journey. However, looking at the academic literature in the field, what appears clear is that there is scant evidence of organizations really addressing customer-centricity in every aspect of their service delivery and operati...
The Incomplete Answer
Shep Hyken | May 28, 2020
By Shep Hyken I recently wrote about the expected experiences gap, where the customers’ expectations—based on the experiences they have with their favorite companies—are higher than what they receive from the company they are currently doing business with. We heard from one of our Shepard Letter subscribers, Jared Lender, who gave us another example of a gap, one that results from incomplete information. In other words, it’s the gap between the answer the customer received the first time they asked and the answer they should have received. This may have happened to you. You reach out to a salesperson or customer support age...
Welcome Back Your Guests With Contactless Experiences and Antimicrobial TV Remotes
MCOMS | May 27, 2020
New York, US, May 27, 2020 - MCOMS, acknowledging the recent COVID-19 challenges that have come to shape again the hospitality industry, has designed some innovative solutions to enable hoteliers to provide tailor made guest interactive services to mobile devices, and communicate directly with their guests. With the recent Corona virus global outbreak, the public has become increasingly concerned with public health, hotel room cleanliness and sanitation. Hoteliers are now called to adapt their offerings and standards and provide peace of mind to the guests. Through MCOMS HOTstream Mobile solution, guests have access to multiple features an...
