Brand fidelity is the result of a top tier hospitality staff! Share on XAny hotel, just like any business, will only run smoothly when all systems are in the right place, and all standards are continuously being kept high. with day to day operations sometimes taking over, it can be challenging to constantly keep an eye on maintaining these standards – and improving it.
A specialised and tailor made training, especially for your hotel or team, can really help in regaining focus, finding new motivation in your team and continuing to strive for the highest standards of a very well oiled, smoothly running hotel.
So why is maintaining systems and standards in the hotel industry important?
Why maintaining systems and standards is very important in the hotel industry
Creating your brand
Having the right systems in place and maintaining high standards is a direct reflection and creation of your brand, and how people will experience and remember your hotel. Your brand becomes a shortcut in their memory so it is vital that this is a clear and positive one, with a solid message and theme. Your guests and potential clients should know by hearing your hotel name exactly what to expect, what type of experience they would be in for, and what your reputation is, without having to do any background research. Having this background information in their head can entice guests to choose your hotel over a hotel they might not know anything about. Imagine your brand being that friendly face that everyone knows, trusts, and recognises.
Your strong brand will also affect potential repeat bookings, as the guests experience will already be influenced by their perception and previous experience of your brand; and they know that they will get a certain level of service and experience when booking with you.
Especially as a boutique hotel, having a strong brand will really make you stand out from the competition.
Loyalty
Ideally you would want guest loyalty. It will not only generate repeat business, it will make people talk in a positive way about you to family, friends, colleagues and online, and it will motivate other people to book. Keep in mind that when we talk about the ‘brand’ it is the systems and standards that create this. Creating loyalty comes from providing excellent guest experiences, but also on people finding value for money, as well as your online presence and content. Therefore it is vital to know and understand your guests and target audience, so you can focus your brand on them and make it relevant.
How you are losing guests
Although this can be confronting, knowing why you lose guests is key to understanding what systems and standards need to be improved. The most common reasons are cheaper pricing elsewhere, unfriendly staff or mistakes that are being made during the booking or guest stay period.
How training hotel staff helps to maintain and improve hotel systems and standards
Firstly, you might not realise you need training if you feel things are going well. And sometimes training is not about fixing mistakes, it is simply about making things even better than they currently are. That is the first thing our trainer(s) will try to uncover: where are the points you can improve on and grow even further.
Our detailed training consultation phase is known to provide a lot of new insights for hotels – even before training has even started. Sometimes it is simply needed for an outside professional to step in, observe and look at things with a fresh view. Our trainers have worked in many similar setups and will be able to motivate you or your team to aim even higher and uncover new possibilities.
When looking at systems, training is needed simply to check and troubleshoot. It is vital to have a regular team training to make sure everyone is still working with the right processes, following the right structures and clear on tasks, working together and taking responsibilities. Our trainers can provide new insights, practise and create stronger team bonds, as well as making sure the systems that are in place are actually working for everyone.
When looking at standards, skills training can be an extremely important thing to provide your staff with. By putting your housekeeping team through more specified housekeeping training, their skills will be elevated. Think of your service team working even better and being able to provide even more streamlined service – or your front of house team knowing exactly, after a training, the exact types of etiquette for different cultures, or management training for the HR team – how to hire and fire people, how to create schedules and routines for the whole team. There is a long list of modules we can teach and all skill teaching can be tailor made exactly to the level where your staff is at.
How Polo & Tweed can help you
We want to get the best out of your hotel and your teams, so we only have the best professionals in the industry as our trainers. All of our trainers have worked in many different hotel and hospitality and service settings. This makes them understand the sector extremely well and apply all their knowledge, backgrounds and skills accumulated over the years in all of their training.
At Polo & Tweed we want to make sure we provide the exact right training for you and understand that every hotel and business, and even different teams within the same hotel can be completely different – and might need different approaches and styles of training. We take our time to get to know you, your business or hotel. We will find out exactly what the things are you are trying to improve, fix or evolve, and create suitable training solutions accordingly. We have a long list of specified modules we can teach and all these can be mixed and matched to create your specific training package solely focused on your business and your situation.
At Polo & Tweed we care for you and your brand, and can make the experience as personalised and as easy for you as you like. We can arrange meetings, shadowing days and surveillance bookings for us to establish and advice on what type of training is needed, and create a tailor made proposal from there. We often organise return visits too, to make sure all training and changes are implemented correctly, and update staff on missed skills where needs be. All this so you do not have to worry at all, and from initial enquiry to final day you can rest assured we are keeping your team up to date on skills, attitude and work ethic.
We would love to hear from you regarding your Hotel or hospitality business, and how our training methods and our trainers could make a difference to your guest experiences. You can get in touch here and we look forward to bringing your hotel to the next level!