You’ve got dinner plans tonight.
So, you’re trying to get out of the office before 6:30 PM.
“Can you hold down the fort,” you ask your operations manager, Ryan. Ryan’s a recent college grad and isn’t celebrating Valentine’s Day.
He always reminds you how lucky you are to have him.
“Yeah, no problem. I’ve got everything covered. Tonight’s event shouldn’t be too bad,” he responds.
Five o’clock rolls around.
Guests start entering the property. It gets busy pretty quickly and most of the attendees for tonight’s concert are couples.
Before you know it, the usual incidents start entering your incident management system.
But, mixed with your high-priority incidents are more than the usual number of guest services requests.
Today’s a romantic holiday, and you want to ensure that you exceed expectations so that everyone has a wonderful memory.
But, there are just too many guest requests coming into your command center.
Your team has to handle the high priority stuff like altercations and medical situations before responding to what your guests need.
They are struggling with seeing the guest requests and prioritizing them.
That’s not how you exceed expectations, though. Is it?
It’s definitely not.
You might not make dinner tonight at this rate because it’s all hands on deck, and you’re the leader!
But don’t fret, and keep reading; we’re going to share what you need to employ to give your guests what they need this Valentine’s Day.
Let’s make those dinner plans tonight – and any night thereafter.
We want to show you a solution that’ll help you give guests what they need.
But, before we do that – we want to establish some foundation.
So, consider this.
Your team is always responding to fights, medical situations, and housekeeping concerns like protein and wet spills.
They’re doing all of this while simultaneously trying to maintain your additional operations.
You know, the issues or service requests, not the high priority incidents we noted above.
Your staff needs to be able to respond to any number of requests –ranging from wheelchair to food service requests – regardless of the capacity size of your property.
Their ability to swiftly respond to these requests can indeed become grueling.
When these requests are always creating radio traffic, people are showing up to your guest services desk, or guests are calling requests in – what happens then?
Requests start circulating with high-priority incidents.
That’s not okay!
That’s when your day starts getting ugly.
But, it gets even worse. Requests start getting overlooked.
One after another, the requests are missed.
Does this sound familiar?
Things were getting ugly before. But now, it’s dangerous to your property’s reputation.
At this point, it’s all about what your guests see and experience.
Your guests will perceive your customer service efforts to be less than acceptable. They won’t come back in the future.
That’s not good for business or your peace of mind.
But, where’s the actual hold up?
The requests for food service or a wheelchair or transport service are sent, but if they’re event dispatched, they’re not being dispatched to the right person or team.
It’s as they disappeared from your system.
It’s your responsibility, role, and job to provide a safe, secure and memorable experience for your guests.
It’s your job to put the right systems, solutions, and team in place to exceed their expectations.
Are you anywhere close to accomplishing this?
Keep reading.
Once you own this responsibility and ensure requests are met, it’ll prompt your guests to return to your property next Valentine’s Day.
But, if you don’t execute exceptional customer service, you can bet they won’t be coming back.
So, are you ready to exceed your guests’ expectations?
We’ll assume that’s a “yes!”
Amplify your guest services through increased efficiency and by delivering a better overall experience for the people you’re serving every day.
Are you using an incident management system?
We’d bet you have plenty of non-incident requests making their way into your system.
Are you tired of mixing everything together? Does it leave you frustrated? Do you see the inefficiencies created and feel like there’s nothing to resolve?
There is.
Implement request tracking software to give your guests what they need starting today.
Track and communicate guest requests in a separate window or solution than high-priority incidents.
You know the importance of responding efficiently to guest requests and the importance of choosing the right system for your property.
Are you ready to be proactive?
Here are the four characteristics of modernized request tracking software.
Is one of your goals to give your guests peace of mind? Do you want them to know that everything is being handled so they can focus on having a great experience?
You can implement a system that’ll let you do just that.
Provide your guests with real-time information about their requests.
Let them know when their requests are received, dispatched, and completed. Send a text message with updates right to their phone.
It’s the first step in ensuring they have a memorable experience.
Your system can have all the latest and greatest features.
But, it’s useless if requests continue to slip through the cracks. Agreed?
Your team is the major component toward achieving success.
If they don’t get the job done, then everyone suffers.
Give your team real-time details for requests. Ensure all requests are completed according to schedule and to your professional standards.
Send request reminders to staff. That way, they’ll complete each with maximum efficiency.
Let them know when a request was performed and completed by sending them an email or text too.
Now, all bases are covered. No sweat.
An intuitive solution can help you achieve a lot throughout your operation.
This solution is the ideal model.
Take care of all types of requests your property is responsible for managing. Execute appropriate procedures with ease.
Your team must be able to handle anything. They will be able to with the right solution.
You know this: request tracking solutions allow you to track and communicate guest requests separately from other incidents.
This is monumental in your ability to respond to high priority calls while still taking care of the transport and housekeeping requests we’ve outlined above.
It’s a nonnegotiable when implementing these systems.
These solutions are Proactive Operations!
Centralizing guest-specific requests allows your team to perform like professionals.
This ability is Proactive Operations!
Who wouldn’t want that today?
Ensuring nothing slips through the cracks or goes under the radar is vital to guest services. That’s why having request tracker software is imperative – whether it’s Valentine’s Day or not.
Don’t overlook high priority incidents, and never miss another guest services request again. Be the best valentine for your guests.
Always give them what more than they need.