Customer Hospitality Is Bigger than Guest Service

Douglas Kennedy
10/14/2024

In the lodging industry, we tend to think of our customers as “guests,” reflecting a foundational concept that many of us were mentored on long ago, which is “Treat our guests as you would those visiting your own home.” However, customer hospitality is the philosophical concept on which we should build our entire company culture, as this concept reaches far beyond our guests. Why?

First, vacation rental companies have so many more “customers” who never actually become “guests.” The most obvious examples would be homeowners and local realtors. But there are so many others that can serve as the source of leads for new owners, such as remodeling agencies and tradespersons, but also any locals involved in tourism.

Furthermore, a strong hospitality culture is first established by the ways in which leaders treat their staff. Perhaps Mr. Marriott said it best: “Take good care of your employees, and they'll take good care of your customers, and the customers will come back.” Strong hospitality cultures are also deeply rooted by the decorum by which colleagues treat one another.

As a trainer, I’ve often shared that the spirit of hospitality is reignited each day when we greet our first coworker. It is nearly impossible to authentically deliver hospitality in guest- and owner-facing encounters when we do not interact that way in the heart of the house. Some even go as far as to refer to their colleagues from other departments as “internal customers,” which I think is a great idea.

Each month as I make the rounds conducting on-site training, I get to peek behind the public areas and pass through the back-office hallways and corridors. I just love it when I observe front-line staff holding eye contact, smiling, and greeting their colleagues from other departments as they pass by.

One example that really hit with me was when I recently walked the corridors of the Nizuc Resort in Cancun, a property where I have conducted training for over seven years. I have often written about how much I love the heartfelt gesture that all colleagues do when they pass by a guest, which is to place their right hand over their heart as they make eye contact, smile, and then either greet verbally, if close enough, or nod if further away. When I returned last month, I asked to share a meal in the employee café, so I got to walk the back hallways and even go into the men’s locker room. I watched in amazement as I saw how employees greeted one another with the same “hand over heart” gesture. It should not be surprising at all that this resort was just awarded the coveted Forbes Five Star designation.

At its finest, customer hospitality should extend even further, to the suppliers and vendor-partners that all companies rely so heavily on. Not only to help build strong relationships, so that our vendors come through when we face special needs or challenges but, more importantly, to make hospitality a habit for all.

Now, there are those who may read this and think that providing customer hospitality requires being fake, scripted, or disingenuous. Yet those who truly understand hospitality at its core know you cannot fake it. True, you can fake “customer service.” You can mandate that a script be said and force staff to fake smiles, but anyone will see right through that. This is why authentic hospitality must be delivered from the heart.

There are also those who feel that interactions with guests or customers are transactional in nature. For sure, the term “customer relationship” does imply that business is being conducted between the parties. But based on my experiences, when I look back on my own guest and customer relationships, I easily recall many who became dear friends. I remember well a guest named David, who I met while working as a bellman at my first hotel and later bumped into when he checked in to my second hotel, where I was now a front desk manager.

We got to know each other when stayed there several days a month for an extended period. One day, I mentioned I was getting married. When he asked to be added to the invitation list, I figured maybe he wanted to send a gift, which he did, but he also showed up. I stayed in touch after I moved on from that hotel job, and we grabbed dinner together a few times when he was back in town. One day he found out that my mother had passed away, and knowing how close she and I were, amazingly, he made a special trip to my hometown to be there for her funeral. I can think of countless “internal customers” who became dear friends, and after three decades in the training business, some of my closest personal friends started out as clients.

I’m sure all readers can immediately think of certain guests with whom they established personal connections, but I will close with a story about something I observed personally.

While conducting training at an all-inclusive resort in the Caribbean, I had just completed an after-work run on the beach and stopped by the bar for a virgin pina colada. As I enjoyed my beverage, I looked up to see the bartender suddenly lock eyes with an approaching guest, then immediately run outside the bar toward the woman. As they met, they embraced in a long bear hug and then both broke into tears. It was then I overheard the bartender say, “I know, I miss him, too.” I soon realized the back story was that this couple had for years been vacationing at this resort and now the wife was returning for the first time alone as a widow. THAT is customer hospitality.

Building your company culture on the foundation of customer hospitality, and not just “guest service,” will no doubt be good for business. Guests will do the two things we want most of all, which are to come back next time and to tell others good things about us on social media. But even more importantly, your staff, and you personally, will also benefit from being part of a team that truly values hospitality at its core, which is, of course, treating others with kindness and generosity.

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