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The lodging industry has more human "touch points" between the brand promises a company makes and the real-life ability of that company to keep those promises than any other business. That means there are countless opportunities for employees to make the customers' experiences ones they'll be eager to repeat. There are just as many chances to blow it.
Put differently, you only get one chance to make a good impression, and that first impression often is made through some of your least well-compensated employees. One bad impression and you've lost that customer--forever.
With all the pressure on guest satisfaction, revenue per available room and average daily rate, a company's survival depends on the ability to make these employees true brand ambassadors. Enlisting your employees as brand ambassadors is the first and most visible--but hardly most important--aspect of internal branding.
Unfortunately, few organizations know how to enlist their workers in this branding effort. Few organizations in this industry or any other are doing a very astute job managing their work force.
The facts are downright frightening. HR Magazine reports that 75 percent of American workers are either totally turned off by the organizations that employ them or do just enough to get by. Monster.com found that almost as many--72 percent--would leave their jobs if they could. Needless to say, such workers do not make reliable, much less passionate, representatives of their brands. (And, all too often, that's as much management's fault as employees').
The lodging industry faces a big challenge in this area. Fortunately, some key industry leaders recognize the importance of training their employees to be brand ambassadors. Lizz Chambers, director of training and development for Newport Hospital Group in Newport, Va., said that unlike some organizations, hers intensifies its training efforts during economic downturns.
"One of our main efforts is teaching front-office people to become sales people, encouraging them to capture room reservations and to convert walk-in business," Chambers said. "We drive that home a lot during soft times."
But training, however important, is only the beginning. What's equally critical is that the entire organization be part of any internal branding effort. That means it must be aligned to support the front-line employees.
Without making sure that every department at a property is just as devoted to meeting the customers' expectation as the front desk and housekeeping are, the best training in the world won't help. If every part of the organization is not aligned to support the others--if, for example, the housekeeping or maintenance schedules are not properly coordinated--it won't matter how skilled the front-office staff is at converting walk-in business, to use Chambers' example. The guests' experience will suffer, business will be hurt, and the brand will be damaged.
It's no longer news that consumers have become highly skeptical of advertising. Two years ago, the Yankelovich Monitor found that only 7 percent of Americans--down from 13 percent in 1987--have any confidence in the ads they see or hear. Period.
This cynicism is understandable. Too much advertising is created with insufficient attention to the brand promises an organization can legitimately make. Too many organizations make brand promises without making sure their internal operations are aligned to keep them.
Branding is not just a matter of communications. Branding is also a matter of behavior--from the way your customers are greeted when they enter your lobby to how efficiently your computers process their reservations.
A few months ago, I ended up at a hotel that was not nearly as glitzy as those I have sometimes been fortunate enough to stay at on business trips. It wasn't even convenient to the meetings I had. But from the minute I walked in the door, I sensed something special.
Everybody I ran into was pleasant. Even the housekeeper spoke to me. The staff, which clearly enjoyed what they were doing, made me feel that I was the most important person they had dealt with all day. I was so impressed I made it a point to visit the manager to understand what he was doing that made his hotel stand out from the countless others up and down the same highway--hotels that recruit from the same labor pool and pay the same.
I realized once we started talking that this guy really gets it. Employees have the ability to spend money and solve problems on the spot. They treat you with care and respect at the front desk, and, once you have settled in your room, the front desk calls to make sure you are comfortable and everything is to your liking. Management takes the time to communicate and keep employees informed about how the business is performing and where challenges are foreseen. Finally, management rewards employees financially based on hotel performance. Most notable was the general manager's humility and willingness to give credit where it belongs--to his staff.
The care the management takes with the employees is contagious. Workers take a lot of pride in the place. They like working there, and the retention of staff in key positions is incredible.
These workers are true brand ambassadors, and you know what? It's the only place in that town I will stay. They've made a customer for life. Can your organization say the same? hmm@advanstar.com
William Fitzgerald is the vice president/general manager of Brand Inside, a division of The Martin Agency in Richmond, Va. He can be reached at bill.fitzgerald@ martinagency.com.
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