HospitalityEducators.com Recommended Reading | The Customer Rules: The 39 Essential Rules for Delivering Sensational Service

 

The author of this book has been responsible in his career for the customer service at one of the world’s best known service delivery companies -DisneyWorld. He was responsible for 40,000 people in hotels, theme parks, shopping, entertainment and sports centers.

Disney’s often been used as a training center for leadership and guest service and Lee Cockerell’s book on delivering sensational service is right on.

There are 39 chapters or rules in this 179 page book and they are all direct, common sense in approach in logical.

The introduction states simply “be nice”. He says this means being friendly, polite, pleasant, considerate and skilled. He cautions that rules and procedures will not work if you do not have the right people doing the right job. This is more common sense, but we have discovered in so many businesses that common sense is relatively unknown.

Examples of rules include:
Number 1 – customer service is not a department
Number 4 – do not get bored with the basics
Number 12- rehearse, rehearse, rehearse
Number 17- listen up
Number 24- do not make promises, make guarantees
Number 38- keep doing it better

The other 33 are just as direct and understandable, yet they need to be understood.

I have been in the hospitality industry my entire career and I find this a logical, easy-to-follow set of guidelines for anyone providing service to others.

Highly recommended!

John J Hogan CHA CMHS CHE CHO
HospitalityEducators
Hogan Hospitality

Success does not come by accident or chance.

Contact us for assistance.

John J. Hogan CHA CHE CHO and Kathleen Hogan  MBA CHO are the  co-founders of  HospitalityEducators.com, which was created in 2010 to be a resource for hotel owners and professionals as they sought to improve market share, occupancy, operational efficiency and profitability.

The husband and wife team are transitioning the original membership site concept and evolving the business model today to a focused resource offering consulting, training, and individualized support to both hospitality and other service businesses.   Services include keynote addresses workshops, online support, metrics measurement, marketing and customer service from a group of more than a dozen experienced professionals.   While continuing to serve hospitality, the demand for these types of services is growing and can be personalized.

John Hogan is also the principal of HoganHospitality.com, which provides a range of expert professional services for hotel owners, including professional development for organizations, training, consulting and expert witness services.

 

 

Contact information:  Kathleen Hogan  480-436-0283,

John Hogan

602-799-5375 or service@hospitalityeducators.com

Workshops Available include: 

From the Chalkboard to the Front Line

What They Don’t Teach You at Hotel School

Focus:

• Hotel Profitability
• Hotel Sales
• Marketing Ideas
• Hotel Operations

There will always be an ongoing debate on the comparative merits of experience versus the knowledge acquired in formal educational settings.   The best lessons anyone can learn from hotel schools include an awareness of what really occurs on the front line in the actual hospitality setting.  This keynote transitions the academic message to the real world of running a profitable hospitality business.

Click    here   for Keynotes and Workshops Available 

A Message from J.K. Rowling on Believing

 

While much of the industry is experiencing very strong performance, there are properties across the nation that are struggling.  We receive emails, calls and inquiries from hotel owners, new managers, sales staff and others who feel they are ready to give up.

There is not a single answer to these people and we try to assist them in finding the solutions to their situations.

The Huffington Post  in early May  shared what they titled “an Incredible Message For Anyone Who ‘Wants To Finally Give Up’ from author J.K. Rowling

 “Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times, when one only remembers to turn on the light.”

Rowling, who we may recall, had a very challenging life before her success with  the Harry Potter series and this quote from one of her characters is something we all can understand.   In a Twitter response to answer a question posed by one of her fans, she responded in photos to someone who has “failed to find meaning.”

The author’s multi-tweet reply was magical and included this

J.K. RowlingVerified account‏@jk_rowling

.@BrocaesarTV I would say: look at this.http://twitter.com/jk_rowling/status/595148385482612736/photo/1

Hotels in particular are both very capital intensive and labor intensive.  They need constant attention and can lead to what Rowling called “finding meaning” IF we plan to succeed and keep trying.

Keep believing, planning, adjusting and the success will be there.

Who can argue with Harry Potter?

Success does not come by accident or chance.

Contact us for assistance.

John J. Hogan CHA CHE CHO and Kathleen Hogan  MBA CHO are the           co-founders of  HospitalityEducators.com, which was created in 2010 to be a resource for hotel owners and professionals as they sought to improve market share, occupancy, operational efficiency and profitability.

The husband and wife team are transitioning the original membership site concept and evolving the business model today to a focused resource offering consulting, training, and individualized support to both hospitality and other service businesses.   Services include keynote addresses workshops, online support, metrics measurement, marketing and customer service from a group of more than a dozen experienced professionals.   While continuing to serve hospitality, the demand for these types of services is growing and can be personalized.

John Hogan is also the principal of HoganHospitality.com, which provides a range of expert professional services for hotel owners, including professional development for organizations, training, consulting and expert witness services.

 

 

Contact information:  Kathleen Hogan  480-436-0283,

John Hogan

602-799-5375 or service@hospitalityeducators.com

Workshops Available: 

Workshops Available: 

From the Chalkboard to the Front Line

What They Don’t Teach You at Hotel School

Focus:

• Hotel Profitability
• Hotel Sales
• Marketing Ideas
• Hotel Operations

There will always be an ongoing debate on the comparative merits of experience versus the knowledge acquired in formal educational settings.   The best lessons anyone can learn from hotel schools include an awareness of what really occurs on the front line in the actual hospitality setting.  This keynote transitions the academic message to the real world of running a profitable hospitality business.

Contact John Hogan for more information.

 

 

The Heart of Hospitality Remains Service | A Reminder to us all from HospitalityEducators.com

The Heart of Hospitality Remains Service

by  John J. Hogan, CHA, CHE, CMHS CHO

Co-Founder HospitalityEducators.com and Principal of HoganHospitality.com

Hospitality and tourism arguably make up the world’s largest industry. They play a major role in the world economy and  contribute significant revenues and net wealth to many countries. When we think about it, we recognize that many components of hospitality are based heavily on the personal, “high touch” side of life.

It was a number of years ago that I first learned anything about hotels and hospitality when a high school friend’s family bought a seasonal resort. That family did not remain in the industry, but I learned from another family of hoteliers in that same location about the many disciplines in hospitality.

In our careers, we understand that the need to learn purchasing protocols, how to interpret and anticipate market trends, and keeping current with legal and safety requirements is essential. We recognize that we must evolve with technology, that we must address revenue management, and provide meaningful training to our staff if we expect them to meet the expectations of guests in our facilities.

The hotel industry has evolved significantly in many aspects during the past 20 years. Energy awareness and sustainability are now essential factors in both construction and ongoing operations. Purchasing, design, event planning and sales have changed dramatically. Innovations in culinary offerings have extended to creatively serve groups of all sizes in restaurants, conference centers and banquet events. Entertainment options in clubs, pubs and arenas have grown enormously, as has the need to be more attentive to security in a changing world.

The physical buildings have evolved and range from mega-hotels with casinos in certain markets to bed and breakfasts in communities of all sizes. There are now properties of all sizes and configurations at airports, in mixed use buildings, attached to convention halls, on converted ships, in secondary and tertiary cities and many other conversions and forms.

These hospitality offerings and hotels today are owned and managed by a wide array of groups, ranging from individuals to multinational corporations, Real Estate Investment Trusts and single industry companies of all sizes. Many are franchised; some are managed by individuals, some by third parties and others by family units. Properties can range from a ten-room country inn to a 2,000-room property on the ocean or in a city center attached to a municipal convention center.

While much has changed in hospitality, on reflection we still note that the experience element of hospitality depends not on the size or ownership of a hotel or restaurant, but on the personal, “high touch” delivery individually provided by hospitality staff to guests – one on one.

I recall somewhat “bragging” to the founding partners of the family business mentioned earlier how much I was learning at the large multinational hotel company that had hired me out of hotel school into a management training program in their 1500-room flagship hotel. They smiled and said that I could learn from the major companies how to follow the large company rules and be part of a major corporation, but I probably would not learn how to be a host or a real innkeeper profitably. Those skills and competencies would be developed through time and hands-on experience. I gained what I felt were incredibly important perspectives and experiences in those seasons and something else that I feel I did not learn at university or at big corporate hotels, either. That something was the need to apply innkeeper and host common sense to formulas, percentages, calculations and protocols.

Many brands today have customer service programs and some are quite good in their advertising value and in general guest satisfaction. Those programs may or may not exceed the guest’s expectations or hopes and that is why it is so critical for hospitality associates to truly “care” about their guests. It remains up to each individual hotel associate to deliver that exceptional “one-on-one” experience.

There is not one single, guaranteed way to deliver service.

• There are many private companies, such as ours  HospitalityEducators.com and HoganHospitality.com that have unique programs already developed and ready to customize.
• A good percentage of the major brands have different types of customer service templates and programs.
• The American Hotel & Lodging Educational Institute has a guest service training program, The Guest Service Gold Program,  that shows employees and properties how to achieve a new standard of exceptional service based on emotionally engaging with guests in memorable ways.

Choose the approach or program that works for you, but remember that it is service that builds loyalty and that loyalty is what leads to long term success! 

John J. Hogan   CHA CHMS CHE CHO

Hospitality Educators                 Hogan Hospitality

 John J. Hogan CHA CMHS CHE CHO and Kathleen Hogan MBA CHO are the co-founders of HospitalityEducators.com, which was created in 2010 to be a resource for hotel owners and professionals as they sought to improve market share,occupancy, operational efficiency and profitability.

The husband and wife team are transitioning the original membership site concept and evolving the business model today to a focused resource offering consulting, training, and individualized support to both hospitality and other service businesses.   Services include keynote addresses workshops, online support, metrics measurement, marketing and customer service from a group of more than a dozen experienced professionals.   While continuing to serve hospitality, the demand for these types of services is growing and can be personalized.

John Hogan is also the principal of HoganHospitality.com, which provides a range of expert professional services for hotel owners, including professional development for organizations, training, consulting and expert witness services.

Contact information:  Kathleen Hogan  480-436-0283, John Hogan 602-799-5375 or  service@hospitalityeducators.com

Click here for Keynotes and Workshops Available 

Great Motivational Quotes | Thoughts from HospitalityEducators.com

There are times when we all need to take a moment to step back, catch our breath and “listen” to the words of others who can inspire or motivate us.

Here are ten quotes that will take less than ninety seconds to read.

Listen. Read. Think. Pause.

____________________________________________

Success does not come by accident or chance.

Contact us for assistance

John.Hogan@HospitalityEducators.com or 602-799-5375

www.HospitalityEducators.com  was created to help hospitality businesses address problems via a training and information resource site to help you increase your Hotel’s revenue, market share and profitability.

KEYS TO SUCCESS™is the umbrella title for my 2015 programs, hospitality services and columns. This year’s writings focus on a variety of topics for hotel owners, managers and professionalsincluding both my “HOW TO” articles, HOSPITALITY CONVERSATIONS™, Lessons from the Field™,Hotel Common Sense™ , THE P-A-R PRINCIPLE™ and Principles for Success.

Feel free to share an idea for a column at john.hogan@hospitalityeducators.com anytime or contact me regarding consulting, customized workshops, speaking engagements … And remember – we all need a regular dose of common sense.

John Hogan, Certified Hospitality Educator (CHE), Certified Hotel Administrator (CHA), Certified Master Hotel Supplier (CMHS), Certified Hotel Owner  (CHO),

John Hogan is a successful hospitality executive, educator, author and consultant and is a frequent keynote speaker and seminar leader at many hospitality industry events. He is Co-Founder of www.HospitalityEducators.com , which delivers focused and affordable counsel in solving specific challenges facing hospitality today.

Consulting Expertise and Research Interest

1. Developing Academic Hospitality programs
2. Medical Lodging Consulting
3. Sales Management and training
4. Turn-around and revenue management
5. Professional Development for the Organization and the Individual
6. Customer Service
7. Making Cultural Diversity Real

If you need assistance in any of these areas or simply an independent review or opinion on a hospitality challenge, contact me directly for a prompt response and very personalized attention.

www.HospitalityEducators.com is a membership site offering a wide range of information, forms, best practices and ideas designed to help individual hoteliers and hospitality businesses improve their market penetration, deliver service excellence and increase their profitability.

www.HoganHospitality.com

Expert Professional Services for the Hotel Owner, Innkeeper, Manager and Hospitality Industry Associations

CONTACT

John Hogan, CHE CHA CMHS CHO

United States – Phoenix, Phone: 602-799-5375

www.hoganhospitality.com / Email: john@hoganhospitality.com

http://www.linkedin.com/in/drjohnhoganchache

Hotel staffs can have fun while training, too! A tip of the hat to Southwest Airlines, and insights from Hospitality Educators.com

Some people tend to think of training  at times as dry, repetitive and unimaginative.  While positive messages do need reinforcement,  the well known culture of Southwest Airlines proves that one should not lose sight of enjoying their work.

In several of our blended learning training programs, we use You Tube shorts as reminders of what can be done with a fairly small budget.

The example below shows the Crowne Plaza Hotel at the airport in Providence RI sharing their appreciation of one of their biggest clients.  While the video does not show “training” in it’s traditional classroom setting, the enthusiasm and shared values of the entire staff is displayed in ways by literally dozens of people in all departments.

Thank you for the influence, Southwest, and well done, RI Crowne Plaza!

 

John J. Hogan   CHA CHMS CHE CHO

Hospitality Educators                 Hogan Hospitality

 

 John J. Hogan CHA CMHS CHE CHO and Kathleen Hogan MBA CHO are the co-founders of HospitalityEducators.com, which was created in 2010 to be a resource for hotel owners and professionals as they sought to improve market share,occupancy, operational efficiency and profitability.

The husband and wife team are transitioning the original membership site concept and evolving the business model today to a focused resource offering consulting, training, and individualized support to both hospitality and other service businesses.   Services include keynote addresses workshops, online support, metrics measurement, marketing and customer service from a group of more than a dozen experienced professionals.   While continuing to serve hospitality, the demand for these types of services is growing and can be personalized.

John Hogan is also the principal of HoganHospitality.com, which provides a range of expert professional services for hotel owners, including professional development for organizations, training, consulting and expert witness services.

Contact information:  Kathleen Hogan  480-436-0283, John Hogan 602-799-5375 or  service@hospitalityeducators.com

Keynotes: 

• It’s the Size of Your Idea,  Not the Size of Your Budget
• 15 Timeless Philosophies in Leadership and Hospitality
• Becoming a Class of One
• Where is Your Desk? 
• THE Service Code
• From the Chalkboard to the Front Line –  What They Don’t Teach You at Hotel School  
• Understanding Brands  Maximizing the Equity in All of Your Hospitality Brands
• Russell Rules – Teams Win 
• Pilgrims to Pioneer

Workshops Available: 

•  Lessons From the Field:   A Common Sense Approach to Effective Hotel Sales 
• A to Z Steps to Profits
• 45 Proven Ways to Succeed in Hospitality in Any Economy
• Hotel Sales Action Steps to Succeed – Anytime, Anywhere 
• 10 Hotel Mistakes to Avoid in Selling