Enough with the horror stories! We have all heard the cringing examples of unsatisfied guests posting, tweeting, wall-writing, or blogging about their bad experiences online. The first half of this HospitalityNet article summarizes social networking in the hospitality context, most of which we have covered on Guest IQ, and cites some popular examples (like the “United Breaks Guitar” song or the “Yours is a Bad Hotel” PowerPoint).
The second half, however, offers some solace for the hospitality operator. Doug Kennedy points out the positive aspects of social networking that can be applied to staff training. I recently saw a Facebook status update from a Junior at Cornell; he has been hired as the ‘Senior Social Networking Consultant’ for Hyatt as a summer internship.
The article bridges the gap from training to guest experience by turning online postings into ‘teachable moments’ or service recoveries. Kennedy suggests several easy-to-implement and impactful ideas for hospitality operators to start leveraging social networking in a positive light. For example, staff should be trained to weed out the ‘ranters’ and ‘ravers’ who either complain for the sake of complaining or give overly emphatic praises. Instead, staff should analyze the day-to-day mundane feedback which is most indicative of service quality and can directly impact the guest experience. Responding to posts directly online is actually an excellent service recovery tool, and the kicker is you influence hundreds if not thousands of potential guests and show them how much you care.
Maybe in two or three years, the Director of Social Networking will be as ubiquitous as a Director of Marketing or Operations…
Read the HospitalityNet article here.
