service excellence
ImageFIRST Announces 1st Annual ServiceSTARS Contest
ImageFIRST | August 26, 2024
10 hospitality professionals will be recognized nationally for representing the best in guest experience KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa., August 26, 2024 – ImageFIRST® is excited to announce the launch of its 1st Annual ServiceSTARS Contest, in which ImageFIRST Associates recognize exceptional hospitality professionals who go above and beyond to enhance the guest experience. SerivceSTARS celebrates individuals who align closely with ImageFIRST’s Values – Be Safe, Be Honest, Be Respectful and most of all, Be Remarkable. ImageFIRST’s Hospitality Division offers specialized programs and services in select markets, including Arkansas, ...
Customer Service Excellence in the Luxury Segment: How To Stand Out
EHL | December 11, 2023
By Breandan Ritaine In this article, we shine a light on: Consumer trends that are transforming the luxury segment The ten commandments of luxury brand service strategy Practical ways to build customer service excellence Relevant KPIs to measure customer experience in the luxury segment The luxury sector is growing steadily and creating great opportunities for brands to enter the market or grow their audience. But it’s no longer all about being flashy and pricey, today’s luxury shopper is more influenced by personalization, innovation, conscious consumerism, and an emotional experience. So while today’s luxury industry...
Posters on the Walls
Shep Hyken | September 28, 2022
By Shep Hyken I’ve been working with an amazing client. We have helped the client create a customer experience vision and define five behaviors everyone must exhibit to bring the vision to life. This makes me very proud of the work we do. Communication is one reason that their vision is coming to life. The CEO has sent out videos, regularly schedules town hall meetings, and shares best-of-the-best examples of how team members are creating amazing experiences and Moments of Magic® for their colleagues and customers. In addition, throughout their halls, you can find posters and signage with their vision, their five behaviors, and...
The Employee Experience Starts With the Hiring Process
Shep Hyken | March 12, 2020
By Shep Hyken Every company wants to have good employees. More importantly, they also want the right employees. There’s a difference. The smartest person in the world may not end up being a good cultural fit for a company. Every company has a personality, and the people they hire must possess the right skills, character and behaviors to fit in. This differs from company to company, so what works for one may not work for another. I recently interviewed Teri Yanovitch for Amazing Business Radio, and she talked about her job at Disney World. She had just finished high school and remembered walking up to the “Casting Center,” where...
5 Steps to 5-Star Service Excellence, Inspired by the Ritz-Carlton
Hospitality Insights | February 28, 2020
Service excellence is the foundation of luxury hotels and the Ritz-Carlton has received many awards for it. Here are 5 steps it takes to remain best in class. When you opt for a five-star hotel, you expect luxury. Marble, not granite. Silverware, not stainless steel. Crystal rather than glass. A high thread count. You expect the receptionist who welcomes you on arrival to speak your language. You anticipate valet parking or someone to show you to your room, relieving you of the burden of your heavy suitcases. You presume the hotel restaurant, or indeed restaurants, will serve exquisite cuisine at your beck and call. You want access to addi...
Is Service Excellence the New Marketing?
Hospitality Insights | February 14, 2020
With service excellence being an abstract concept and a soft target, you may be reluctant to invest in it, but it pays for itself in many ways. The drama of television advertising… A captivating opening image followed by a series of emotive visuals. Strategically emphatic sound delivering rhetorically suave messages, with intonation so on point, it makes the hair on your arms stand up. Immersive, hooking viewers to a notion. Awakening a dormant desire or conjuring up a new one. Consumers subconsciously reaching for their wallets as they absolutely must have this essential device. How could they possibly have lived without it? And how doe...
Service Excellence: Through the Eyes of a Server
Bryan K. Williams | November 4, 2019
By Dr. Bryan K. Williams Back to my roots. There’s something deeply moving and rejuvenating to go back to where it all started. My professional career began almost 30 years ago in a fine-dining French restaurant called “The Palm Terrace”. I started as a busboy, then worked my way up to various roles. However, the job that transformed me; the one that made me feel like I was flying...the one that fully consumed me, was as a restaurant server. Oh, I loved that job. In fact, I still view myself as a server today! Many of the articles, books, keynotes and workshops that I’ve created were inspired by my time as a server. I studied...
Bad Timing or Bad Decision
Shep Hyken | October 29, 2019
By Shep Hyken Recently, my wife and I went out to dinner. We planned to go to a movie afterward but couldn’t decide what to see. Easy solution—we decided to go home and watch one of our favorite shows on Netflix. We arrived home, got comfortable, turned on the TV and… nothing. The TV went on, but there was no cable or Internet signal. There was an outage. Obviously, the cable company didn’t do this on purpose. It was out of their control. Sometimes things happen. It was just bad timing. A couple of weeks later, I attended a conference at a hotel in Orlando. We enjoyed the speakers in the morning session, and after about two hour...
