Choice's New 'Care Agent' Tries To Raise Bar On Service

By Staff -- HOTELS Magazine, 1/1/2007

When Choice Hotels International hired Mark Weiner last June to fill the newly created position of vice president, customer care, he immediately set out to explain to franchisees the connection between guest satisfaction and economic reward. His research very clearly stated there is a double-digit premium in RevPAR performance for hotels with higher customer satisfaction scores. This evidence made it much easier for Weiner to drive Choice’s service initiative called “Be Our Best,” a multiyear certification program that embraces the basics of hotelkeeping and focuses on service delivery fundamentals before, during and after the guest stay. “The ROI for this program is healthy,” Weiner says. “We would not be doing this if the money was not behind it. We have correlated the relationship between guest satisfaction and RevPAR performance. It is clearly there.”

At the core of the “Be Our Best” program is the desire to provide consistent service to every guest and to work hard to improve guest satisfaction scores for staff service. For example, Weiner says, Choice research determined front-desk staff were using several different methods to greet guests at check-in—some wonderfully executed and others not so welcoming. As a result, one of the key elements of the program is a module that helps staff learn how to specifically give guests a proper welcome and develop rapport.

To teach these methods, franchisees receive a “tool kit” with a facilitator’s guide to train front-desk staff and a separate guide to work with all staff who interact with guests. There are participant guides for both modules as well as a CD-ROM that includes all the training materials, including Spanish versions of the participants’ guide. The kit also includes lapel pins, a tent card to place behind the front desk to help staff remember key points, as well as posters for the back office. What is on the “key points” list?

Remember you are ALWAYS “on stage.”

Use this greeting when guests enter the hotel: “Welcome to the (hotel name). We’re glad you’re here! May I have your name so we can help you?”

Use the guest’s name whenever possible.

Smile and greet within 10 feet.

End every conversation with: “Is there anything else I can help you with?”

Don’t just say “Yes,” say “Absolutely!”

Once training is completed, staff can log-in to Choice’s learning management system to complete an online skill check.

To help motivate line-level staff and franchisees to fully participate in service training programs, Weiner wants to make these steps and procedures more relevant in the criteria used to choose Choice’s Gold and Platinum hotels. These are the strongest performers that get collateral from Choice to advertise their status and also receive a preferred designation highlighted on the brand Web site.

One of the latest additions to Choice’s overall Customer Care strategy is a call-forwarding system to help relieve the burden for overwhelmed front-desk staffers. While another one of the “Be Our Guest” goals is to answer the phone within three rings, attending to the guest at the front desk is just as, if not more, important to drive that “best experience” goal. The system has been adopted by 300- plus hotels and forwards reservation calls to the central system and operators who are best trained to handle reservation requests. The end result is improving the experience for the guest during the stay and providing the same result for the booking guest before his stay.

Looking ahead, a systemwide goal is to put a stronger focus on Choice’s most loyal customers with recognition and acknowledgement. So Weiner is working to create a better information system for call center staff to identify best guests, marry that with their customer profiles and ensure they are rewarded with upgrades or enhanced services. Weiner also wants to improve the system at Choice’s Privileges Service Center—again to better identify loyal guests and provide better service such as answering the telephone faster and by the top agents.

Many of these initiatives were launched in earnest in November at a regional conference, and Weiner will be working with brand leaders and the company’s ownership council to define what is next. He hints that he is interested in teaching staff how to better promote the various nuances of the Choice rewards program. “They have bought in and see the connection between service and results,” Weiner says. “The fact that we have developed the Cambria brand shows we now are more about focusing deeper on the service experience.”

Weiner points to the new Cambria Suites focused-service brand pledge as a big part of the positioning of Choice brands and what their customers want. “The pledge says, ‘We want you to feel great about your experience so you will come back. If you are not totally satisfied with your stay, it is on us,’” Weiner says. “That powerful statement gets a lot of mileage with operators. We are ready to deliver this promise and a new-build set of properties like Cambria is a great way to start.”