Blog

Steve

The impact of accretion in hospitality

I met a friend for lunch over the weekend. The night before he’d flown in from Las Vegas, having booked a room at a nearby Hampton Inn. He used the Hilton Honors app to reserve and pay for room 404 in advance and awaited an electronic key to arrive to

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Steve

Manage customer perception

Increasingly, travelers are reading hotel reviews before deciding where to spend their travel dollars. Research suggests that the average person reads about seven reviews before making a decision (T. Lappas, Stevens Institute of Technology) and 33% of travelers reported changing their hotel booking plans after reading online reviews (Phocuswright). Hotel

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The power of the frontline

My family and I stopped by the mall last week to pick up some last-minute items for my 13-year-old’s summer camp in New Mexico. We were tight on time as my wife had called ahead to add our name to the list at Yard House, where the hostess predicted that

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More Proof That Perception Matters

I recently developed a learning activity for a client who wanted his team of 60 commercial property managers to recognize the influence that biases, preconceived notions, and assumptions had on the quality of their tenant interactions. My client was motivated by the recurring conflict that arose whenever property managers had

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Take charge of customer perception

I was recently trawling TripAdvisor reviews for a client in the Caribbean when I came across a 3-star (out of a possible 5 stars) review titled, “Best location, wish they maintained it well.” The reviewer went on to criticize the hotel’s “un-manicured” and “poorly maintained” grounds, implying that management was

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As lines form, be assertive

This is the fifth post in a series that will explore a set of questions I received from participants during a webinar on the topic of customer service. (I say “explore” rather than “answer” because I’ve discovered over the years that there is rarely a single right answer to these

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For better or worse, perception is reality

Over spring break, I stayed at a lodge in Breckenridge, Colorado made up of 46 privately owned upscale condominium units. Many of the units offer balconies with spectacular slope side views, spa showers, granite countertops, and high-end appliances. Imagine that you were a guest at this lodge and noticed that

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Unintended consequences

As a customer, do you ever experience a negative unintended consequence of an action that was designed to enhance the customer experience? Perhaps the bar’s live music is too loud to hold a conversation or the restaurant’s lighting is too dim to easily read the menu. Although these establishments are

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Blind

In 1997 I heard Dr. Chip Bell speak on the topic of customer service. My most vivid memory from his talk was a question he posed to 70 members of our management team: “How many of you,” he asked, “have worked here for 90 days or more?” Surveying the room

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