Tom H. C. Anderson - More Than Market Research

Business Guru Tom Peters, inspired by a book by the book Hostmanship: The Art of Making People Feel Welcome (by Jan Gunnarsson and Olle Blohm), wrote about focusing on employees rather than customers and in that way raising customer satisfaction (specifically in the hospitality industry).

Having worked with several clients in the hospitality industry in the last seven years I can’t deny the link between employee and guest satisfaction. However, I have also seen cases where management, due to lack of funds for capital investment have focused on employees and tried to increase service level. This only goes so far in raising guest satisfaction. Good condition, and low wear and tear of hotel, are also needed in order to receive truly good overall satisfaction ratings.

Still, I agree with the strategy overall. I assume by the name of the authors of the book that they are Swedish. Scandinavian workers are generally far more empowered than workers in most countries. Employee empowerment would be the best way to increase employee satisfaction and thereby guest satisfaction.

Case in point, the Starwood - Sheraton Service Promise which received a lot of attention in 2003 and was rather successful with both employees and guests. According to Sheraton, here is how the Sheraton Service Promise works “if a guest should happen to have a problem during their stay, they need only tell a hotel associate and they’ll immediately take steps to correct the problem. Plus, the guest will automatically receive compensation for their problem - an extra step to ensure the guest is satisfied. Since the introduction of The Sheraton Service Promise guest satisfaction scores have reached the highest in the brands history, guest complaints have declined and fewer problems are being reported.”

Unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be as much emphasis on the Sheraton Service Promise anymore. In order to have a successful service promise I believe it is necessary to continually promote it to both employees and customers. Most of the efforts recently have gone toward capital investments like the Sheraton Sweet Sleeper bed etc.

Too bad I think. I like the idea of a service promise and empowered employees. Of course, I wouldn’t want to give up the Sheraton Sweet Sleeper for it.

-Tom