Guest Service: the Path Forward

We knew the pandemic would leave an indelible mark on the industry, but we also knew that we did not want any negative marks left on guest experience or guest satisfaction.

When we started this pandemic journey, a narrative emerged about how this experience was going to change some of our habits permanently. Back then, our general position was that, although we may temporarily adapt to the circumstances for the short to mid-term, as soon as those circumstances are prolonged or changed, it is in our nature to strive to return to a sense of normalcy. Although many instances reference this in history, there has been no stronger recent proof of that than throughout this pandemic.

Maintaining guest satisfaction in the pandemic era was crucial to us. We felt that choosing service options that retained a focus on the guest experience, rather than choosing options that offered a much-downgraded guest experience to save on cost, was risking losing position in the market in the future. We maintained that the need for an empathetic, thoughtful and curated service standard was the right direction to take.

We scrutinized the changes we made and considered how they affected our normal standards. We felt that eventually these changes would be perceived as downgrades, restrictions, and in some cases, affronts to the expectation of our guests.

When the Delta variant was slowly becoming the dominant variant and Omicron was just a possible scenario, we started to rethink our strategy: Could a new emerging variant surface and set the clock back once again, derailing the much-desired recovery? Unfortunately, the answer was a resounding "yes." So much for planning.

But time has proven our view of continuing with the same quality standards right. Even as we are facing the Omicron variant and potential new variants on the horizon, the force of our nature is strongly resisting the restrictions many of us gladly accepted a year ago. It is not merely "pandemic exhaustion" but a strong desire to return back to the path of normalcy.

Discussion for a New Focus

How does this reality shape our future strategy? Though much emphasis has been on the heartbeat of human nature in our dialogue, we cannot ignore the welfare of our teams, who are on the front lines every day, as well as the professional responsibility to look after our guests. This means we cannot irresponsibly allow the pressures of peers and society to dictate our process.

On the other hand, as hospitality professionals, we cannot deny our guests their well-earned needs and expectations. The 2022 traveler no longer readily accepts a downgraded service, not even at a discounted rate. In fact, with the travel renaissance, comes even more expectations. After two years, the traveler can and will rightly demand that hospitality professionals find a way to deliver rather than rely on what are now perceived as stock excuses. It is not an unreasonable expectation. Therein lies the challenge.

Achieving Balance-Weighing Economic Efficiencies Versus Standard Changes

We wanted to bring forward some of the added challenges involved in the execution of the rollout of the "big return to normal." Namely, how do we balance the economic factors against service standards.

During the last two years, there has been much fat trimmed from both top-heavy and bottom-heavy operations. We all know the value of constantly assessing the efficiency of every process. That said, we should not expect our PNL's to suddenly increase on the revenue line and not in departmental costs.

It can be tempting to get accustomed to the economic efficiencies we have all been obliged to operate under in the last two years, but if we want to get back to a higher operating standard, we feel some of these efficiencies are no longer viable.

It is a reality that 2022 annual budgets have often been scrutinized with an overly conservative eye and the expectations set are well beyond industry standards. As we move forward though, it is important that the operation not be permanently set below a minimum service standard for the specific application and segmentation.

It would be foolish to think that we can reset our guests' expectations into accepting a downgraded experience while charging "market" rates. We feel that this type of mindset would lead to our property's loss of reputation and the guest will move on from us very fast.

Staffing Level Changes and Their Effects

A fact one cannot ignore is how the trimming of staffing levels has naturally demanded our teams to wear multiple hats and, in some cases, work well beyond their departmental obligations. We feel that extending that trend beyond the necessary sets a detrimental precedent that will lead to low morale, low retention, and very tense and strained service delivery.  We strongly believe that a gradual back to standard staffing level is imperative to the health of the property as well as the road to a full recovery.

Logically, to reset staffing standards operationally, most of the variable costs will increase. What may not be as straightforward is what the expected increase rate is. It is not, always, an apples-to-apples comparison or arithmetical increase. The math is completely different depending on the tier of hotel or operation that is being evaluated, as well as depending on the threshold of recovery.

A reality for most of us is an uneven market compression throughout the week or month. Having looked at those balances carefully, we find that the extra cost will most likely not be offset by the weekly or monthly revenue generated on a short-term basis.

As an example, a property may be able to give a reasonable standard of service at 35% occupancy and stretch that during the pandemic into a "downgraded service.". This could potentially be maintained up to 55% occupancy level or more depending on your hotel tier and services, but most likely not well beyond that.

In our experience, there is very little difference in staffing cost when occupancy is between 30% and 45%, but once the threshold to over 50% to 65% in occupancy is crossed, staffing levels will need to increase. If the direction is to provide a return to "normal" service levels, or better yet, to improve service levels - and who doesn't want to improve - there will naturally be an increase in costs here, the alternative is to accept a permanently lowered offering of standard.

Our guests no longer accept or expect "what we could or did do to survive" a year ago but rather what we can and will deliver now. Therefore, there should be a different expectation from the bottom-line results from then to now. We feel that to manage and maintain standards throughout the peaks, there is a necessary commitment to a higher cost.

The Supply Chain Effects

Other factors to carefully consider in the conversation is the global supply crisis with the current manpower challenges and global recession. This has been another operational stressor in the efforts to go back to normal standards.

These days, because of the delay in delivery from vendors, many of us have been obliged to increase our operating par levels. This means buying more product than normal to operate. In some cases, these products have also had a higher purchase cost. This is especially true for linen, terry, and amenities in hotels and restaurants.

It is not an impossible challenge if managed carefully by a close oversight of departmental expenses, but it is an important one when considering a return to normal expectation from budgets.

A Final Word

To summarize our thoughts and to answer the question of "what does this all add up to operationally?"

As we talked about in our last HotelExecutive essay, our biggest focus will always be to invest in our teams and service standards. We strive to work in a proactive way in our responses to team and guests' feedback alike.

To implement the changes necessary to get us back to our full potential, we endeavor to control the controllable as much as possible. We feel it is essential to prepare a carefully designed cap-ex budget plan and schedule, which will help with the reinstallation of operating standards. Our mindset is to see this as a kind of opening ramp-up period.

It can be humbling to find ourselves here, but in many ways, we think it is also an opportunity to re-group and be better. When operating under regular assumptions it can be easy to fall into a pattern and perhaps take our guests and teams' needs a little for granted.

Our guests and teams have patiently accepted the limitations imposed on all of us through the pandemic. Our mindset is set to reinvigorate service through a "fresh start" lens and work towards our best normal. To place a positive spin on this trying experience, we also stubbornly hang on to our sense of fun and humor.

By Audrey Laurent Co-Founder & Principal, Mac&Lo Hospitality