All hotel employees are responsible for creating repeat guests

Who says that the promotion of hotel services is a job for only the sales department? Increasing sales and growing the business are responsibilities that must be placed in the hands of all the employees at a property, especially the front-line staff: bell staff, van drivers, front office, food and bar servers, housekeepers, maintenance, yard and pool staff, etc. In short, all the people on the staff who come in daily contact with guests must be involved in promoting the hotel.

All employees must realize that selling all services of a property is part of the job regardless of specific duties assigned. Everyone must participate. From the laundry room through housekeeping, staff members have the best opportunity to sell the guest on a return visit.

Two of the most important items in getting a guest to return are staff attitude and clean rooms. A clean-looking, friendly and smiling housekeeping staff can make guests want to return. A friendly “hello” from a housekeeper goes a long way in creating guest satisfaction. A bell person or van driver who looks fresh and is friendly and helpful is in a strategic position to sell for the property. It is not unusual for a bartender to be a great salesperson through the manner in which he or she greets guests and engages with them when they visit the property's bar.

A real key to providing excellent guest satisfaction is front-desk employees, who in most cases are the official greeters for the property. When checking in a guest, do they really look at the guest with a smile and a nice greeting or are they looking down at the computer? Even in a very busy restaurant greeters and servers need to offer pleasantries and smiles to help make guests really enjoy being there for a meal. It really means so much to diners to make them feel good while they are there for the meal, and it is up to the staff to make that happen by the manner in which they provide service.

To make all this happen and to ensure that all staff personnel are on the sales team, there needs to be regularly held training sessions conducted by sales and management staffs to explain and show how all employees are responsible for continued growth in sales.

For a tip sheet called "Ten Techniques for Achieving Exceptional Guest Satisfaction" (from "A Hotel Manager’s Handbook" by Vincent Magnini), email: [email protected].