We all have an understanding of competitive advantage, but as we noted in a previous blog, it’s easier to understand than to put into practice.

What about for the hospitality industry? For the hotel and accommodation sector of the hospitality industry, which includes more than 127,000 businesses and employs 1.6 million people in the UK alone, the descriptive word is key – hospitality.

I came across a 2009 study released by Cornell University in their Cornell Hospital Quarterly publication that says just that. The study conducted research from 369 guests at 6 Norwegian hotels and found that hospitality was the most frequently cited reason for returning to a hotel, and the factor that was most responsible for a guest’s satisfaction rating.

The researchers identified four main categories of importance when rating satisfaction level of accommodation; distinctiveness, hospitality, relaxation and refinement. Atmosphere was also determined to have significant impact on a guest’s overall satisfaction with their stay at a hotel, but the atmosphere is subjective, as is dependent on the four categories listed above.

If you are interested, we encourage you to read the research document. When all considered, it is common sense to understand that perception of hospitality is a leading indicator of customer satisfaction, but in many cases in strategy and management, it’s easy to get distracted by daily problems and forget some of the core, strategic functions of your business.

As the report suggests, one of the easiest and simplest ways to improve hospitality offering is to offer an optimum level of training for your staff. Employees deal with customers at fundamental levels in the hospitality sector, and each interaction a guest has with an employee will significantly shape their experience. Tone of voice, attitude, and employee empowerment are suddenly not just considerations for the human resources department, they have a powerful impact on client satisfaction levels and could be part of your competitive advantage.

In improving hospitality, revisiting employee reward and motivation programs are important. Having a rewards system that is flexible and that encourages outstanding treatment for clients and customers that is above and beyond expectations allows employees to compete to provide the best service. If you are interested in seeing employee motivation in action, check out the rewards programs offered by Four Pillars.

Employee training and hospitality work hand in hand, and investment in employee training will result in return on investment in terms of customer satisfaction. Employee’s attitudes and the work environment also translate into the atmosphere of the hotel, and are also extremely important concepts to keep top of mind. Although increased customer service or hospitality could benefit any business, the article stresses the key importance it has on satisfaction. Maybe your hotel is the greenest, maybe it’s in the best location, no matter your current competitive advantage, increased focus on customer service is a guaranteed way to increase customer satisfaction.

Tags: competitive advantage, employee motivation, four pillars hotels, hospitality study

This entry was posted on Friday, August 27th, 2010 at 10:29 am and is filed under competitive advantage. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.