Hotel services also need design
To build a hotel with reasonable functional layout, complete equipment configuration, complete service items and distinctive decoration requires careful design. But for hotel services, it is quite controversial whether it is necessary to design or not: some people think that it is unnecessary to design, and it can be done according to the requirements of star standards. Necessary design, without first-class service design, there will be no first-class service. The author believes that good service needs design, service quality will be improved in design, and service items will be innovated in design.
01
Several phenomena that hinder service design
What is gratifying is that more and more hotel management experts and scholars have begun to pay attention to service design, and many hotels have begun to carry out service design consciously or unconsciously, and have received good results. But there are still some factors and phenomena that hinder the development and deepening of hotel service design. There are three common ones:
1. Inertial thinking
Case: Artillery of Brahma
After a young artillery officer took office, he went to his subordinate units to inspect the drills and found that several units had a common situation during the drills: during the drills, there was always a soldier standing under the barrel of the cannon, not moving at all. After inquiries, the answer is: the drill regulations are stipulated in this way. It turned out that the regulations followed the rules of the era of horse-drawn cannons. The task of the soldiers standing under the barrel at that time was to pull the reins of the horses to prevent the distance deviation caused by the recoil after the cannon was fired, and reduce the time for re-aiming. Now the cannon is no longer needed for this role, but the regulations were not adjusted in time, and the soldier of Brahma appeared, the discovery of this officer led him to be commended by the Ministry of Defense.
In fact, the phenomenon of “Brama’s Artillery” also often occurs in hotel management. The source of guests of the hotel has changed, and the operation and management of the hotel has not changed according to the changes in the environment and conditions. It still follows the original rules and even I’m used to it, I don’t even ask why.
I once asked the housekeeping director of a 4-star hotel “what kind of slippers are in your hotel room”. When he heard this question, he answered one without hesitation, and then told me how their slippers are non-slip and how good the quality is. When I prompted him whether the slippers in the room should be different, he suddenly realized something and hurriedly explained that there are two colors of slippers. What if there are female guests or there are frequent children? Can there be smaller slippers that fit them better?
In fact, the hotel is equipped with the same type of slippers is a management standardization requirement. When the star standard was first introduced into China, the problem that needed to be solved urgently at that time was the unification of the standard. However, with the change of the customer source market, the hotel must take customized and personalized service as the goal of daily service pursuit. Many hotels have invested heavily in hardware transformation, but little slippers have not noticed.
2. Empiricism
Case: A drowned donkey
When a donkey was carrying salt across a river, it slipped by the river and fell into the water, where the salt melted. When the donkey stood up, he felt a lot lighter. Donkey gained experience and was very happy. Later, once, it was loaded with cotton, thinking that it would be the same as the last time when it fell again. So, when it came to the river, it deliberately fell into the water. But cotton absorbs water and weighs a lot. Instead of getting up, the donkey sank until it drowned. Why did the donkey die? Because it did not treat experience correctly, but applied it mechanically.
The phenomenon of superstitious experience in hotel management is also very common. For example, some hotels follow the common banquet order, first cold dishes → large dishes → stir-fry dishes → large dishes → soup dishes → fish → green vegetables → pasta → fruits, thinking that they have obtained the “true inheritance”, but have not thought about improving and adjusting.
However, with people’s understanding of dietary common sense, eating fruits after meals will increase blood sugar levels, which is not good for health. Pasta and fish are placed on the table at night, and there is often no time to enjoy them because the guests push the cups to change the cups, and because drinking on an empty stomach is not good for the health, the fish will become fishy when it is cold, and the guests are reluctant to eat it.
Another case is that the turntables in the hotel dining and banquet rooms have always been decorated with flowers for a long time. The flower decoration turntable has its advantages, but there are also many disadvantages. First, the cost is relatively high, and the display time is not long, causing waste; second, the characteristics are not distinct, so it is difficult to leave an unforgettable impression on the guests; third, many guests are allergic to pollen, which affects the guests’ dining. What affects the dining environment the most is that there are many small flying insects hidden in the flowers. When serving dishes, flying insects fly out from the flowers, affecting food hygiene and dining atmosphere.
After discovering these problems, some employees began to try to use fruits, grains, bonsai and other items to design a unique turntable culture according to the theme of the banquet, seasons and other factors. Because of its uniqueness and specificity, it often leaves an unforgettable impression on guests.
There is also the hotel guest feedback form. Many hotels have set up a “Guest Opinion Inquiry Form” in the hotel rooms, which covers the front hall, guest rooms, catering, recreation, commodities and other services provided by the hotel, so that guests who stay in the hotel can choose by ticking. The purpose of the guest feedback form is to understand the opinions of the guests and improve the satisfaction of the guests, but in practice, the situation is very unsatisfactory. First, the guests did not have a comprehensive experience of the hotel’s service items, or even just stayed in the guest room. You may have some comments on hotel room service, but when you see the dense variety of projects, you often feel troublesome to dismiss the idea of evaluation; second, most of the evaluation methods are selected from the good, the poor, and the fact that the guests’ feelings are often not These four options can be reflected, so we have to give up; the third is that the hotel does not give enough incentives for guest evaluation. It takes a lot of time for the guests to fill in the consultation form. The complaints, praises and various opinions raised by the guests cannot be effectively responded by the hotel, and the guests lack the motivation to evaluate.
As a result, the hotel’s guest feedback form has become a deaf person’s ear—a decoration. But many hotel managers don’t take it seriously, and they keep repeating the list of opinions that cannot be solicited from guests every year, and put them in the folder of the hotel room.
3. Extensive management case:
What kind of room is a non-smoking room: When I visited a five-star hotel unannounced, I booked a non-smoking double room. Stepping into the room, the ashtray was clearly placed on the coffee table, and there was a clear smell of smoke in the room. When I complained to the housekeeping center, a housekeeper walked over to the coffee table and took the ashtray away. I was surprised and asked, “Is this a non-smoking room?” He replied, “Yes, doing Forgot to remove the ashtray when going smoke-free.” When I asked him how he did the smoke-free treatment, he did it with another colleague, and he left for unclear reasons.
I thought this was a special case, but then I consulted a lot of hotels and asked to see their non-smoking room standards and the procedures for smoke-free treatment. On the grounds that there are not many customers in this kind of demand, the extensive work is covered up.
I have tried many ways to find the standard for non-smoking rooms, but have not been able to do so. By chance, I found a non-smoking room handling standard from Mr. Fu Weijian’s blog, which is worth learning and reference:
Room attendants should open windows for ventilation when conducting smoke-free treatment;
Replace or wash the guest room curtains, pillow cores, quilt cores and other non-one-for-one change items (because the smell of smoke is often easily absorbed on cotton fabrics);
Clean the carpet in the guest room (if the guest makes a reservation in advance and the guest condition allows);
Use an air purifier or air deodorizer to further purify and deodorize the room air;
Remove the ashtrays, matches, etc. in the guest room, place a non-smoking room reminder card, and inform the guests on the card that if there are visitors, please go to the designated smoking area;
Put an appropriate amount of candy on the coffee table in the guest room to show the hotel’s gratitude to non-smoking guests;
Put green plants that can purify indoor air on the toilet and guest room desk to improve the air quality of the guest room and create a green atmosphere;
Hang a temporary green non-smoking room sign on the door handle of the guest room, so that guests can know that the hotel has prepared a non-smoking room for them as soon as they arrive at the door, and also play a role in reminding visitors.
The factors considered in this procedure are relatively comprehensive, but compared with Sheraton Shanghai, Sheraton has taken a step further: they clearly remind the non-smoking room guests in the hotel’s bedside table promotional materials: “If we find signs of smoking here, We will charge you RMB 200 as air cleaning fee”. Through this kind of tips, better maintain the quality of non-smoking rooms in the hotel.
In addition to the case of non-smoking rooms, in hotel operation and management, the phenomenon of “similar” and “not particular” can be seen everywhere. This reminds the author of an article “Mr. Almost Mr.” written by Mr. Hu Shi many years ago. Today, “almost” gentlemen can be seen everywhere in the hotel. For example, Chinese kitchen dishes are cooked with a little salt, vinegar, etc., resulting in unstable quality of dishes; hotel inspection standards are posted on the wall, but pork is new or not, and they are all judged by senses and experience.
The operation and management of many hotels are superficial, and they are satisfied with “similar and passable”. The system and procedures are completely borrowed from other hotels, which is seriously out of touch with the actual hotel; some hotels lack research on specific implementation methods and means, pertinence, operability and stability. Not strong; there are many overlaps and blind spots in daily management, and management efficiency is low; employees do not understand the system and procedures, so there is no way to talk about implementation, front-line employees do not have a strong awareness of standardization, and work is trivial. Some work seems to be done, but it is not Do, some do, but not in details; various waste phenomena such as running, running, dripping, and leaking in the business process are common, and the results of assessment work are often evaluated and measured by whether they are completed or not.
Affected by the above three factors, domestic hotel services tend to be homogeneous and extensive, and it is difficult to innovate and differentiate services.
02
Service Design Should Have Strategies
At present, many hotels have introduced ISO9000 quality management system, ISO14000 environmental management system, ISO28000 occupational health and safety system, HACCP and other management measures and means while conscientiously implementing the star-rated hotel evaluation standards, and many hotels are learning from Japan’s 5S On the basis of management theory, the “Six Hotel Management Law” has been implemented, that is, “constant classification, regular arrangement, regular cleaning, regular maintenance, regular specification, and regular education”, and even Shandong Building has further developed and launched the “seven regular methods”. , it is of great significance to solve the problem of refinement of hotel on-site management.
But to sum up the exploration and practice of the above hotel service design, most of them use the existing relatively mature management system and management methods to improve the service level. However, some management systems are often limited by various aspects of the hotel, either not closely related to the hotel, or lack of pertinence. The author believes that we can grasp the “three essences” principles of design well, and insist on doing a good job of “three better ones” to design our own services.
1. Based on the principle of “three essences”
“Three essences” refers to meticulously carved products, meticulously designed services and meticulously created environments.
(1) Carefully carved on the product
High-quality hotel products are the key to winning market competition. Hotel managers must correctly understand hotel products in order to design hotel products well.
——The starting point of product design is to prescribe the right medicine and watch the dishes.
Hotel products have strong experiential characteristics, and the quality of their products depends on the degree to which guests meet certain needs or solve certain problems during their consumption in the hotel. According to Maslow’s theory of needs, in addition to physical and safety needs, guests also expect to be welcomed by hotel staff (the enthusiasm of hotel staff), valued (timely service, remembered, and treated exceptionally) during their consumption in the hotel. , leaders came forward, etc.), respected (special courtesy), understood (guests spit wine, embarrassing events), praised, etc.
The needs of guests are differentiated and changing. If the product cannot be designed according to the preferences and needs of the guests, even if the quality of the product is excellent in nature, the guests may be dissatisfied or seriously complained.
——Pay attention to the core needs of guests and continuously increase the connotation of products
The core products of hotels are accommodation and catering, the core products of guest rooms are beds, and the core products of catering are dishes. Managers should pay attention to the core needs of guests for consumption in the store. If the core interests are not well satisfied, the guests will complain and complain; if the core interests are done well, the guests will be satisfied.
If the added value of the product is added on the basis of the core interests of the guests, the guests will be surprised and even moved, and the hotel will turn the first-time customers into repeat customers and create loyal guests.
There is a great example of adding product content. Mr. Wang Dawu’s article in “Hotel World” introducing the catering of Hainan Baoting Narada Hot Spring Hotel (now no longer managed by Narada Group) gave us great inspiration: “The menu of Narada Hotel does not Cooking methods, there is no main ingredient matching, no text art, only the name of the raw material, such a unique menu is probably the only one in the world. Open the recipe, and a series of curious dish names arouse people’s appetite: don’t go home The cow, the chicken sleeping on the tree, the pig with five legs, the duck that can fly, the goose by the hot spring, the fish that can surf, the egg that soaks in the hot spring… Just looking at these names, you know that these dishes are all ecological Farmhouse dishes. There are simple notes below each dish, such as the five-legged pig is a hybrid of wild boar and domestic pig. It is bred in fields and forests and feeds on wild sweet potatoes. Because of its long nose and short legs, it is far away. It looks like five legs. It can be braised, braised, or stir-fried, and it tastes great!”
The competition of catering is largely the competition of raw materials. The hotel occupies unique raw materials, which itself is the specific manifestation of the differentiation strategy.
The dining room is the same. We often admire the luxurious decoration of international brands. In fact, they have also put a lot of effort into their core products. For example, a bed in a hotel room. They will definitely not purchase some finished mattresses and Simmons from the market like many hotels in our country, but will develop a sleep system suitable for their customer source market based on their own research, such as “MyBed” carefully crafted by Sofitel. ”, with the American Sleeper Ultra-light duvet and 4 signature pillows to create the perfect dream for every guest. The L’Occitane and Hermès care products in the bathroom are refreshed with the refreshing scent of verbena.
- The hotel sells a complete product, not a single aspect of the product.
Every level is done well in order to be a high-quality product. For example, if a guest is dining in a restaurant, even if the dishes are very delicate and delicious, if a fly suddenly flies into the restaurant, the evaluation of the hotel’s products will be greatly reduced, and even the evaluation of the core products (dishes) will be affected. Therefore, in daily management, hotel managers should often emphasize that “100 links are good, and one link is not good.” This is to establish the idea of carving products carefully.
——To do a good job in the core of hotel products The core of hotel products is to create a reason for guests to really consume.
If meeting the core needs of guests is regarded as “delivering charcoal in the snow”, high-quality service and elegant environment can only be regarded as “icing on the cake” at most. It is the core of hotel products, and it is necessary to focus on improving the ability of hotel products to meet the core needs of guests.
——Improving other levels is the space for innovation and improvement
Once some products are fixed, hotels still have the opportunity to increase the overall value (such as added value and potential value) of the products through their own efforts to attract customers, which is not contradictory to doing well with core products. Hotel managers often face the dilemma of aging hardware and not yet in the period of renovation and renovation. Although the hardware has become a “foregone conclusion”, it is not idle and waiting.
The overall value of the product can be increased by increasing the value at other levels to increase guest satisfaction. For example, the hotel’s guest room hardware cannot be transformed and upgraded, but breakfast can be featured and given to guests for free to provide guests with a characteristic nutritious breakfast to make up for the guest’s dissatisfaction with the guest room hardware; if the hotel’s air conditioning is not effective, it can be Apologize to guests by delivering free frozen drinks, etc.
(2) Well-designed service
All successful hotels value the thoughts and feelings of their guests very much, and good service is just designed to be a little more than what the guests expect. In real life, we often hear people talk about good service or good service, it seems that to provide good service, you must satisfy customers unconditionally. In fact, the quality of the service is often relative to the customer’s expectations for the service.
Bad service is when guests are treated below their expectations, and good service is when guests are treated beyond their expectations. Good service is cost-effective service, and the secret is to be the best at many things that cost nothing. “You’re offering a little more than the customer expects” is simple, but it’s subtle. What is most needed is to know how to see through customers, to view their own services from the perspective of customers, and to design every “real moment” between guests and the hotel.
Service design mainly includes the following aspects: the setting of service items should be in place, the arrangement of service time should be reasonable, the design of service procedures should be scientific, the selection of service methods should be appropriate, the formulation of service standards should be appropriate, and the service skills of employees should be proficient. .
(3) Carefully build the environment
The environment is an important part of the product, and some products and services are difficult to provide without the environment. For example, many of the popular theme hotels in recent years are distinguished from other hotels by creating certain scenes and atmospheres. The Venetian Hotel extends the style of Venice and the famous canals of Venice into the hotel. Tourists can take a gondola boat to roam along the waterway in the shop corridor of the hotel. Shops and restaurants are lined up. The dome of the entire commercial area is painted with blue sky and white clouds. The changing lights make the dome show different scenery in the morning, noon and night, leaving a deep memory for some guests who have never been to Venice. All this is something that other hotels cannot do of.
The Venetian hotel is a big investment with a lot of money that most hotels can’t do. However, hotels can make full use of local cultural and historical resources to create unique scenes and atmospheres, and they will also receive good results. For example, the Shanghai Chief Mansion Hotel, which is located on Xinle Road (the former French Concession) in the historic area of Shanghai, was designed by the famous French designer Rafael in 1932, and it was a joint-stock company of former Shanghai beach figures Huang Jinrong, Du Yuesheng and others. where the office is located. The whole architectural style reflects the historical celebrities who had social status at that time, and also contains rich historical and cultural atmosphere. There are more than 300 genuine century-old historical collections in the hotel. Back to old Shanghai in the 1930s and 1940s.
2. Adhere to “three is better”
Hotel services and products “there is no best but better”, how to do better, we can implement it according to the following three good points:
(1) A little better than yesterday
Due to factors such as the hotel’s own hardware and management ideas, there will be one or another problem in the hotel’s products and services. If managers can take the initiative to find problems, take problems when they are opportunities, take effective measures to continuously improve and make up for deficiencies, can they occupy a favorable position in the competition.
(2) A little better than the competition
The needs of guests are constantly improving, and the services of competitors are also constantly improving. Therefore, the service of the hotel must be continuously improved, otherwise, it is only a matter of waiting for the door to close, sooner or later, sooner or later.
Thinking about what they can’t do and what we can do, that’s the focus of service design.
(3) A little better than the guests’ expectations
In order to impress guests and shape their loyalty, the service provided by the hotel must be a little better than the expectations of the guests. We did it for our guests; our guests thought we did a good job, and we need to do better. Only in this way can the charm of high-quality service design be reflected.