Mike Hohnen

I found this at HotelNetwork – I really like it

October marks the tenth anniversary of the coining of the phrase, “amenity creep.” With all of this new “stuff” for our guests, you would expect to see guest satisfaction scores increase. But the North America Hotel Guest Satisfaction Index Study by J.D. Power and Associates showed that overall guest satisfaction has been declining over the past several years.

The key to success isn’t adding more amenities; it is adding more authenticity to your hospitality.

The most successful operators are differentiating themselves by providing authentic hospitality through Systems of Truth and Honest Leadership.

Systems of truth
You can’t put a line in your new hire orientation that says, “give authentic hospitality,” and expect it to happen. It happens as the result of systems and processes that you put into place, which I call Systems of Truth. Two that work in any hotel are:

* Active vs. passive service—Stop asking guests to “call if you need anything,” and start asking them what you can do for them. Don’t wait for the guests to come to you because statistics show they won’t. Solve problems on the spot.
* After action review—Common in the military, this post-event meeting is structured to give honest feedback. Gather employees and let everyone speak as equals. This allows continuous improvement in every aspect of the guest’s path.

Honest leadership
Great operators know that even with exceptional talent, the key to producing results is leadership. Good leadership comes down to one thing: trust. Some suggestions on bringing honesty into leadership:

* 100 percent rule—Tell the whole truth. We have a responsibility to let associates know all of the information, especially the “why.”
* Care to confront—It’s important to be willing as honest leaders to confront even our best associates about their performance. This feedback leads to a long-term trust that can’t be faked.

Our business is all about relationships—the relationships your staff has with your guests and the relationship you have with your staff. That is authentic hospitality.

hwn@questex.com

In less than two months the ALIA Europe programme will be in full swing.

I am looking forward to being among the 100+ learners convening around authentic leadership in action. It will be a programme rich in design, and also in the diversity and life experience of the people in attendance. Participants are coming from Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. This learning community, while coming face-to-face for a brief 6-day period, is part of a global movement of community and organizational leaders and followers striving for more effective, more humane living and working environments.

You can download the brochure here

“The whole corporate social responsibility idea is trying to graft something onto the old profit maximization model. What we need is a transformation. The way we think about business, what it’s based on. People want businesses to do good in the world. It’s that simple…. We need a deeper, fundamental reform in the essence of business.”

—John Mackey, Chairman & CEO, Whole Foods Market & co-founder, Conscious Capitalism, Inc.

Read more here

Jay Cross asks the question:

Here is Jay’s website with more on informal learning

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