Historically, most every hospitality and guest service training program in the industry has addressed the concept of service recovery. Typically, these programs have given our frontline staff a process to follow when fielding guest complaints.
These processes usually include listening, taking ownership of the complaint, empathizing, and apologizing, all of which are of course important. But there's one key ingredient missing in most of these programs, and unfortunately it's the one ingredient that our people really need to cope with these difficult situations. While some programs might touch on the concept of 'Don't take it personally,' helping the staff to build their Power of Release is an area where most hotels could use additional focus.
Industry guru Peter Yesawich, Ph.D., just last year said that 'This is the decade of the vigilante consumer,' although personally I don't ever remember providing hotel guest service to be an easy task, not even during those 'good old days' when I started at the front desk 25 years ago. So rather than just saying 'don't let it bother you,' help build your front of the house staff's Power of Release so that they can better-handle the inevitable encounters with difficult guests.
The Power of Release is nothing more than the ability to let go of negativity and to choose our reaction when encountering difficult people, rather than letting their negativity invade our psyche, and carrying on their negativity when encountering the next guest in queue. So when we get home after a shift, and whomever is there awaiting us asks 'So, how was work today?', we'll first think of the understanding, kind, and appreciative guests that comprise most of those we encounter, versus remembering the one single 'jerk' who we just couldn't make happy despite our best efforts. It's long been a mantra in our business that one should 'leave their problems at home before you come to work,' we need to also extend that by adding 'leave our problems at work before you come home.'
While it is an easy concept to understand intellectually, and it's obvious that we shouldn't let others destroy our internal state of well being, the ability to actually let go is very to internalize. It's been said that 'The longest journey is from the head to the heart,' so let's get started on the journey.
The first step in building up our Power of Release is simply to understand that hospitality just isn't always well received. Imagine for a moment what it must be like for one of your newer front desk associates to encounter their first extremely negative guest. Chances are that your budding new hospitality superstar got into this business in the first place because the 'really like dealing with people,' and came to work with a smiling face and positive attitude to start their exciting career in the hotel/travel business. Chances are also that it was never mentioned in the interview nor listed in the job description that part of what is required is to stand there being yelled at in public by guests who are sometimes unfair, disrespectful, confrontational, and who even challenge your authority to back-up what you are saying. So to help manage your staff's expectations, it is essential to help them understand that while the vast majority of guests will leave the front desk with a smile on their face and a satisfied heart, there definitely are some whom we can simply never please.
Next, we need to understand that while there are definitely some guests who are inherently difficult and mean, such as those mentioned above, most of those who voice complaints - even the seemingly unfair complaints - are really nice people who are just going through a difficult situation. When we start to imagine the circumstances and situations that the guest who is screaming at us might have encountered in their life's journey that day, it certainly helps us re-humanize our guests and to develop Situational Sensitivity. In the end the lesson is as old as the ancient Sioux Indian prayer that says: 'Oh Great Spirit, let me judge no man until I have walked in his moccasins for two weeks.' The truth is that we just never know what is going on in the lives of those we encounter on the other side of the front desk, so maybe the best thing we can do is to be forgiving and forget it!
The third step in building your Power of Release is realizing that we can and do choose our reactions to what others are saying and doing all around us. In the words of noted New Age physician and philosopher Dr. Deepak Chopra, 'We are infinite choice-makers... If I were to insult you, you would most likely make the choice of being offended. If I were to pay you a compliment, you would likely make the choice of being pleased or flattered. But think about it: it's still a choice.' The reality is that no guest can make us angry, upset, frustrated, or mad without us choosing to allow them to do so. Yet as we become masters of our own emotions, we can make the choice to ignore their behaviors and thus immunize ourselves from their negativity.
The fourth step and final step in building your Power of Release is to recognize and acknowledge those times during which you really do become upset or angry during a guest encounter, and to create your own 'release rituals: to help you let go afterwards. Even the best practitioners of releasing negativity sometimes do find themselves choosing the wrong reaction and finding themselves feeling that 'fight or flight' physical stress reaction as a result of a negative or difficult encounter. In this case it is important to acknowledge your waves emotions and take time to allow the surf to settle down again. For the frontline staff, this usually means that they will need to take a break, even a very short one, just to re-center themselves. It's time to take a walk or have a drink (water, of course!), and perhaps just sit quietly in a dark office focusing on happy thoughts of our families, pets, friends, and vacations. So our supervisory team needs to be sensitive to these needs and allow for it.
By addressing concepts such as the need to build our Power of Release in your service recovery programs, you'll be equipping your frontline staff with the tools they need to truly be successful hospitality superstars over the long run, and helping them avoid burn-out and cynicism that all too often creep into the personas of seasoned veterans. You'll also be exposing them to a very powerful too for use in their personal lives as well.
So focus on Power of Release at your next departmental meeting, and put your staff to work cleaning out their closets from negatively and making room for happy thoughts!
About the Author
Doug Kennedy has been a fixture on the hotel industry conference and lecture circuit since 1989, having presented over 1,000 hotel/travel industry workshops, conference sessions, or keynotes. He is the former President and Co-Founder of HSA International, which he exited after 15 years to found The Douglas Kennedy Company. His consulting and training clients have represented all segments of the lodging industry from select/limited service to upscale/luxury to specialty/niche.
Besides his monthly column at Hotel & Motel Management, Doug's articles have been reprinted Internationally in 14 publications. He is the author of a number of books, manuals, and multi-media training programs including audio and video scripts, netconferences, and webcasts. Visit www.douglaskennedy.com for more details or e-mail Doug directly at Douglas@douglaskennedy.com.
This article was originally published in Hotel & Motel Management magazine.
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