This week the guest speaker at our “Customer care” workshop was Bettie-Marie Burger-Smit, General Manager of the Brandon House Hotel in New Ross. The workshop was part of the training and mentoring programme that we are delivering for Wexford Local Development at the moment.
Bettie-Marie has been General Manager at Brandon House hotel for four years now. She gave us an entertaining and insightful account of how the Brandon House Hotel moved from “the worst place I’ve ever stayed” to “Definitely a hidden treasure worth discovering”, as evidenced by Trip Advisor in the space of four years.
Bettie-Marie talked us through her ten step action plan, which is impressive and clearly works. However, the thing that stands out in my mind was that these changes were not brought about by investment or new staff, but by a change in attitude. The whole ethos of the hotel is now customer care.
What they did
| Staff Involvement |
They involved the staff in the process of improvement. When only one of the seven managers said that they would like to spend a weekend in the hotel in 2007, Bettie-Marie knew that there was a serious problem. If the staff wouldn’t choose to stay there, why would anyone else? The staff receive regular in-house training, so that the focus is always on the customer and improvements. |
| Staff Empowerment |
Staff are empowered to deal with small issues themselves. Each staff member can spend €5 on a customer to make them happy, without checking with a supervisor first. This prevents a small problem escalating to a large one. |
| Food improvement |
Improved the food. This took time. However food which was deemed to be “dire from start to finish” in 2007 is now being proclaimed as being “of a very high standard. Far ahead of hotel food, in fact of a very good restaurant standard”. That is quite a turnaround, and for a hotel, a very important one commercially. |
What they didn’t do
| Sack anyone | They have the same receptionists, bar one, that they had four years ago. Yet four years ago these staff were deemed to be “totally clueless from check in to check out”. Now they are delivering “the warm welcome at reception set the tone for the entire weekend: warm and friendly”. |
| Invest in major refurbishment |
The rooms were re-painted and throws were purchased in a department store. The spend per room was less than €100. Yet the hotel rooms have moved from “old and dated” to “clean and comfortable”. |
The secret? Attitude
Attitude is everything. Attitude is within, it cannot be purchased. Start with well trained staff, consult them, train them, and empower them. Happy staff will strive to make happy customers.
Many thanks to Bettie-Marie for sharing her story. Do you have any customer care tips that you would like to share?
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