What makes people choose one hotel over another? Many are basically the same and people don’t know about the customer service skills beforehand. Some are so alike that it seems that they were pre-fabricated and assembled to fit in the plot of land purchased for its construction. They have been designed by large companies who put their “Brand” on all the hotels assuring that they have the same food, the same room design and the same basic amenities. So why should your customer choose your hotel over the one a block away? What can you give them that your competitor does not have already?

Many years ago (He died before I was born…) there was a man by the name of William Castle. He had nothing to do with the hotel industry, he made movies. Castle was famous for this, but what he is truly remembered for is for how he marketed them. He knew his movies were not big budget blockbusters, so to bring in the people that would pay to sit in those chairs and watch movies like “The Tingler” and “House on Haunted Hill” he created an experience that they would never forget. For one film, a certificate for a $1,000 life insurance policy was handed out to every customer. On another, he had an ambulance stationed outside the theater, just in case someone had a heart attack during the movie. In my favorite, he installed electric buzzers in the theater seats and scared people in to thinking “The Tingler” had escaped in to the theater.

You are probably thinking why am I bringing up some obscure movie whacko who did these things when my point is hotel experiences? Well, I think that is the point. You have to be different to attract people in today’s world. We have come to a point in world history where all businesses are franchises or want to be one. Now that is not necessarily a bad thing. I am happy with the fact that I can travel to the farthest reaches of the planet and stay at a hotel that is clean, safe and at a reasonable price. But the reason that I am in Cucamonga is so I can experience Cucamonga! I do not want to walk in my room and feel like I am in a hotel in Massachusetts where I reside. Castle knew this and made people experience things the others weren’t offering them. Why else would people flock to see a movie advertised as being filmed in “Percepto”! In the past year I had the opportunity to work with a hotel where I was what was called an “Experience Specialist”. This hotel had a theme, tailored to the hotel and the area it was located. . . . → Read More: Why “Destination Experience” Changed the Way I Look at Hotels]]> According to Census Bureau data published in September 2004, there were 49,983 Hotels, Motels, Inns and B&B’s in the United States. I work in one of them.

What makes people choose one hotel over another? Many are basically the same and people don’t know about the customer service skills beforehand. Some are so alike that it seems that they were pre-fabricated and assembled to fit in the plot of land purchased for its construction. They have been designed by large companies who put their “Brand” on all the hotels assuring that they have the same food, the same room design and the same basic amenities. So why should your customer choose your hotel over the one a block away? What can you give them that your competitor does not have already?

Many years ago (He died before I was born…) there was a man by the name of William Castle. He had nothing to do with the hotel industry, he made movies. Castle was famous for this, but what he is truly remembered for is for how he marketed them. He knew his movies were not big budget blockbusters, so to bring in the people that would pay to sit in those chairs and watch movies like “The Tingler” and “House on Haunted Hill” he created an experience that they would never forget. For one film, a certificate for a $1,000 life insurance policy was handed out to every customer. On another, he had an ambulance stationed outside the theater, just in case someone had a heart attack during the movie. In my favorite, he installed electric buzzers in the theater seats and scared people in to thinking “The Tingler” had escaped in to the theater.

You are probably thinking why am I bringing up some obscure movie whacko who did these things when my point is hotel experiences? Well, I think that is the point. You have to be different to attract people in today’s world. We have come to a point in world history where all businesses are franchises or want to be one. Now that is not necessarily a bad thing. I am happy with the fact that I can travel to the farthest reaches of the planet and stay at a hotel that is clean, safe and at a reasonable price. But the reason that I am in Cucamonga is so I can experience Cucamonga! I do not want to walk in my room and feel like I am in a hotel in Massachusetts where I reside. Castle knew this and made people experience things the others weren’t offering them. Why else would people flock to see a movie advertised as being filmed in “Percepto”!

In the past year I had the opportunity to work with a hotel where I was what was called an “Experience Specialist”. This hotel had a theme, tailored to the hotel and the area it was located. I was tasked with creating a lasting impression in our guests to make sure that they understood that we were not like the other hotels in our area. To create experiences that they would remember and cause them to think of us next time they travel to our city. Why? Because “Why” is the basic question that all hotels must ask themselves. Because that is the question your guests will ask themselves when they have to choose between your hotel and the one 10 minutes away by the same brand. “Why”, is the key to success in a world where I can travel halfway round the planet and walk in to a McDonald’s knowing that it is going to look, feel and taste the same way it does 10 minutes from my home.

And that’s not what I am in Cucamonga to experience…

In simplest terms, a corporate culture is useful in a customer service sense because it goes toward establishing consistency and it also helps to make the employees happy about working for their company. A happy employee makes work life much better and in turn makes for happier cusomers.

If you’re thinking about instituting a corporate culture in your business to help raise productivity and morale there are a few essential concepts you should try to weave into the fabric of the culture. Think of corporate culture less like the iron hand of the major corporation and more like the caressing and guiding hands of a community or organized religion. There are a few factors that all corporate cultures must have in order for them to be beneficial to the company as a whole.

1.    Goal Oriented:

The entire point of having a corporate culture is to direct the employee base towards a common goal. We want to achieve great things with our business and the way we do that is to have an goal setting mechanism that is both easy to understand and easy to communicate.

Corporate cultures must be goal oriented from the ground up. The smallest person on the totem pole needs to know that he should have the goal of setting his sites high and climbing the corporate ladder while the higher ups need to have a structured goal set to bring in more revenue.

As it is in life, it is in business. Goals are important and the best way to achieve them is to set them out in a structured way and commit to them.

2.    Team Building:

All for one and one for all, that’s the team building motto. We want our employees to try and work with each other the best they can. Team building could be part of your corporate culture by having company picnics or sports teams. The closer knit relationships you have between employees and the company the more likely it will be that employees will work hard to make the company better.

Host regular events and have group discussion meetings. Make sure that you’re company is transparent and tries to include everyone in the major processes. The more an employee feels that he is an essential part of a team the happier he will be to perform for that team. The end result is better performance all around.

3.    Take Ownership and Responsibility

It is important for everyone working in a company to feel like they are responsible for something. Empower your employees with your corporate culture and make them feel as though they can make decisions on their own. You also want to make sure that they will fess up to poor decisions they . . . → Read More: Customer Service Skills for Businesses: Corporate Culture]]> It seems to be a trend in corporations these days to establish a baseline “culture” within their organization. It’s called the corporate culture and it is useful in both training employees as well as developing long term loyalties to the corporation.

In simplest terms, a corporate culture is useful in a customer service sense because it goes toward establishing consistency and it also helps to make the employees happy about working for their company. A happy employee makes work life much better and in turn makes for happier cusomers.

If you’re thinking about instituting a corporate culture in your business to help raise productivity and morale there are a few essential concepts you should try to weave into the fabric of the culture. Think of corporate culture less like the iron hand of the major corporation and more like the caressing and guiding hands of a community or organized religion. There are a few factors that all corporate cultures must have in order for them to be beneficial to the company as a whole.

1.    Goal Oriented:

The entire point of having a corporate culture is to direct the employee base towards a common goal. We want to achieve great things with our business and the way we do that is to have an goal setting mechanism that is both easy to understand and easy to communicate.

Corporate cultures must be goal oriented from the ground up. The smallest person on the totem pole needs to know that he should have the goal of setting his sites high and climbing the corporate ladder while the higher ups need to have a structured goal set to bring in more revenue.

As it is in life, it is in business. Goals are important and the best way to achieve them is to set them out in a structured way and commit to them.

2.    Team Building:

All for one and one for all, that’s the team building motto. We want our employees to try and work with each other the best they can. Team building could be part of your corporate culture by having company picnics or sports teams. The closer knit relationships you have between employees and the company the more likely it will be that employees will work hard to make the company better.

Host regular events and have group discussion meetings. Make sure that you’re company is transparent and tries to include everyone in the major processes. The more an employee feels that he is an essential part of a team the happier he will be to perform for that team. The end result is better performance all around.

3.    Take Ownership and Responsibility

It is important for everyone working in a company to feel like they are responsible for something. Empower your employees with your corporate culture and make them feel as though they can make decisions on their own. You also want to make sure that they will fess up to poor decisions they have made and try to learn from them.

We have a saying in the company I currently work for that goes: “I am the problem.” Basically what it asks the employees to do is to first look in the mirror and figure out if there is anything they are doing themselves that is causing a problem in the service. This should be a company wide policy. If everyone is looking at themselves and trying to make their work better, productivity will inevitably improve.

4.    Simple Symbolism

How do we get all these ideas across to such a wide landscape of people and backgrounds? Companies today can be huge. People can come from all different walks of life and speak multiple languages. It is important to try and reach a broad audience with your corporate culture and the easiest way to do this is with simple symbolism.

Metaphors and symbols are important tools in your communication tool box. They can be used to express complicated concepts in an easy to understand personal way. For example, for the team building concept it might be prudent to use a symbol like the Goose. When geese fly together they naturally form a V in the sky. They do this because it creates an aerodynamic path of least resistance. There is always a goose up front and whenever he gets tired of slicing through the air another goose steps up to take his place. They all work together for the betterment of their group and all of them are able to fly easier. They work as a team.

5.    Help yourself, help the company

People need to know that there is no “I” in team. They need to understand that what’s good for the company is also good for them and vice versa. Incentive programs are perhaps the best way to go about this.

Here’s an example: one of my hotels was trying to push a particular rate program they had just developed. No one was buying it through reservations even though it was such a great deal. The general manager decided to place an incentive at the front desk for anyone who could sell this particular rate. If you sold the rate, you made an extra five dollars each time. This sky-rocketed the revenue from those special rates and the employees were happy to do it.
What’s good for the employee is good for the company.

As you can see, having a solid corporate culture will improve your productivity. Better productivity improves customer service and better customer service improves sales. Try developing a corporate culture of your own and see what happens to your company.