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我们真的关心客人的感受吗？Do We Really Care How the Guests Feel？
(2006-10-20 11:54:30)
标签：
2006年9月 |
分类： 专栏作家EricXu |
我们真的关心客人的感受吗？
Do We Really Care How
the Guests Feel？
“Heaven
and earth, and all things are manifestations of existence, but
existence, itself, comes from non-existence.” (“Tao Te Ching”;
translation by Lionel Giles). In his masterpiece, which was
complied some two thousand and five hundred years ago, Lao-tzu
unveils the profundity of his philosophical theories, from which we
have been benefiting till today. All things in this world are in
constant change, blooming with vitality. When existence grows,
non-existence declines, and vice versa. If we don’t pay sufficient
attention to “existence” which is within reach, nor conduct
in-depth study, we’re unable to make it attain to the higher level
of being that is “non-existence”. Life goes like this, so does an
enterprise.
Grand
Hotels magazine has published several passages in relation to
readers’ experiences and comments, negative as well as positive, of
a number of hotels and F&B venues, in the hope that
the suggestions can reach the management of related hotels or
departments with responsibility. We hope they can contact us to
arrangement for direct dialogues with the readers concerned,
obtaining first-hand information of how customers really feel about
their service. This is attempted to help the hotels improve
themselves, and the best way to do so. It deserves due attention
from the management of the establishments, urging them to carry out
necessary studies on the “gods”, that is, consumers, in a most
serious manner.
Probably
every hotel is engaging in daily business, launching marketing and
advertising campaigns, fighting a price war, handling customer
complaints, short-listing suppliers or developing relationships
with figures active in social and business arenas as well as with
government authorities. But this should not be a reason for the
hotels not to spend time on inquiries about how guests feel and to
share their feeling, which is crucial for hotel operation. If we
cannot take a step more than our competitors, our business will
remain as it is, with little chance of a leap in qualitative
change.
Sun-tzu
said: Whoever is first in the field and awaits the coming of the
enemy, will be fresh for the fight; whoever is second in the field
and has to hasten to battle will arrive exhausted. Therefore the
clever combatant imposes his will on the enemy, but does not allow
the enemy's will to be imposed on him. (“Art of War”; translation
by Lionel Giles). Be the “first in the field”, or take the
preemptive action, is of vital importance in fighting a war, be it
in a real battlefield or in the business arena. With no careful
research conducted on the market and consumers, a hotel will have
to “allow the enemy’s will to be imposed on” it instead of imposing
its will on others.
Readers
who extol hotel service in Grand Hotels articles deserve to be
cherished. Related hotel departments should have a bigger
obligation to converse directly with these readers, asking them why
and in which respects they think the service is good, and how to
make the service better. Has the customer department followed up
guests who left comments in the suggestion card? Similarly, hotel
management should take guests’ pertinent comments on the hotel or
F&B very seriously.
“Watch
with the omnipresent eyes, and nothing is indiscernible; listen
with the omnipresent ears, and no sound escapes; think with an
omniscient heart, and there is nothing one does not know.” This
line was from the famous strategist Gui-gu-tzu of China’s Warring
State Period, who is deemed a master in persuasion even in today’s
standards. The ancient strategist hoped he could make the best use
of as many of information channels as possible, which would enable
him to be well-informed and omniscient, and capable of taking a
preemptive action under any circumstance. Grand Hotels serves as
the best provider of information, from which hotel managers are
anticipated to benefit.
Here is
something I want to share. Mr. Randy Lee Svendsen, one of the
devout members of Grand Hotels Reader’s Club, mentioned in our
interview with him that Laris in Three on the Bund is his “favorite
restaurant”. The favorable comment encouraged David Laris the owner
to have a tête-à-tête with Randy, enquiring in detail after the
latter’s impression and suggestions of the fancy restaurant. It’s
clear enough that Mr. Laris doesn’t simply rest on Randy’s praise,
but venture further for the whole story behind. With such admiring
sincerity and respect for his work, it is somewhat difficult for a
restaurateur like David Laris not to “impose his will” on
others.
How to
build a way of one’s own and be the “first in the field”? It’s no
easy job to every single hotel manager, and success is hardly
achievable without perseverance. Don’t be so much engrossed in the
trivia that you ignore what is basic, that is, your guests. It is
those managers who really care for the customers that are capable
of leading his/her hotel up to the height only a roc can
reach.
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