If there’s any place where customers should be garnished with happy hospitality due to customer’s paying a large amount of attention to the type of service they receive, it’s within the hospitality industry.
From restaurants to hotels and cafes or food trucks in between, part of your role as a hospitality service provider is to maintain customer happiness and overall satisfaction. That’s why it’s imperative you keep your customers at the forefront of your operational plans to keep your hospitality business afloat.
Impressive, aesthetically pleasing hospitality supplies aside which no doubt form key inclusions to your business’s overall professionalism and presentation, good old fashioned service never gets old.
Customer Beliefs
Long gone are the days when customers were happy simply receiving a “thank you” after paying their bill or a “hello and welcome” upon entering a cafe. Although simple niceties still form proper etiquette, it’s not enough. Satisfied customers have evolved and now expect memorable experiences and self motivated service practices when and where it counts. From being attended to immediately, to bending any menu rules when asked, these should now form standard practices as customers want to feel as if their business is greatly appreciated. This also helps the propensity of customers providing your business with pleasing reviews or positive word of mouth amongst their network.
Aim To Make Every Customer A Loyal One
Happy customers come back, time and time again resulting in loyal customers. Not only is it important for you to provide five star service, but dish up wonderful products as well. Make it one of your goals to remain up to date on all the latest food, seasonal or beverage trends that your customers may be interested in. This helps you appear as though you are innovative and an expert in your field. Most customers like to think they are dealing with experts in their field, so make sure you are presenting yourself as just that!
Be sure you have properly stocked up on all your grocery items too to avoid that dreaded response to an order, “Sorry we’ve sold out of that” or worse “We cannot make that request as the kitchen has run out of XYZ!” Everything must be available at all times. What regular customer wants to go to their favourite dining spot to ask for either their usual order or be in the mood for something different, only to be told – they can’t have it. We will tell you, none! Keep customers loyal by focusing on them at all times and being able to deliver on their order – at all times.
Take Action With All Feedback, Including the Bad
Promote and give your customers an outlet or platform for telling you about poor experiences they had. When you have customers who have had a negative experience, make it easy for them to vent and get it off their chest quickly. That way, you can firstly apologize, then rectify the issue so it doesn’t happen again. Don’t make the mistake of denigrating customers when they are upset by dismissing their claims and not offering a way in which you can make it back up to them.
Make it mandatory to correct issues that went awry and identify weaknesses in your service offering which could be enhanced. Capture communication methods for keeping in contact with your customers too so that you can alert them to when changes and improvements occur.
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One key factor in keeping your guests engaged and coming back to your business over others, is to garnish your customer experience with happy, consistent hospitality. It’s the simple things done well and all the time, that makes a big difference to customers, regardless of how big or small your hospitality business is.
