Find out what to look out for in customer service if you work in the hospitality sector.
Service is the first impression a guest has of your business, whether it's a hostel, hotel, guest house or other establishment. And it's at this initial moment that some customers are lost. Work towards excellent service and the reputation of your business and your professionals will be outstanding. To help you, we've put together 6 tips for good customer service.
Hire good receptionists
To recruiting professionals For receptionists, look for qualities such as friendliness, organisation, good communication, agility and experience in the field. Remember that these professionals will be the face of your company and, as such, should reflect its values and essence. Make sure they can speak several languages, which is so important in the hotel sector.
To help them and to make the image of your space more uniform, you should have a customer service manual, with tips and rules for personal service, by phone, email or message, procedures, solutions to certain problems, among other information.
Reduce waiting times
Waiting time is one of the main reasons why customers are dissatisfied and go elsewhere. Be agile, punctual and organised and you'll see that the waiting time at reception will decrease. You can also take a longer break between check-in and check-out to ensure that the rooms are ready to receive new guests, take advantage of waiting times to advance paperwork, offer directions to places to visit, activities to do and show off the rest of your hotel's facilities.
Exceed guests' expectations
Exceeding a guest's expectations and anticipating their needs in order to surprise them will help create a close relationship between guests and the hotel and generate more positive feedback at the end of their stay.
You can offer your guests some gifts, such as souvenirs traditional, welcome them with some wine or sweets typical of the region, offer an upgrade on a special occasion, such as an anniversary or honeymoon, and discount or free access to certain hotel services.
Simplify payment methods
Allied to tip number 2, the payment process should be simple and quick to reduce waiting times and not make customers impatient, especially if they are tired from travelling.
How many times have you lost guests because you don't accept payments with certain cards? If you're a REDUNIQ customer, you have access to solutions that will make your business run faster.
The main advantages of REDUNIQ are to accept card payments - including the international cards of tourists in need of health care - accept payments for Contactless - saving around 21 seconds per transaction and avoiding the formation of payment queues - and installing POS terminals, for example, regardless of your bank and, if you already have a POS, you can join this solution without having to change it.
If you have foreign customers, make sure your POS has DCC - Dynamic Currency Conversion -a solution offered by REDUNIQ, which consists of paying with your customer's currency of origin. How does it work? Firstly, the POS automatically recognises whether the card is issued in one of the convertible currencies. Then, if the payment is eligible for DCC, the TPA displays the amount in the currency of origin and in euros, and the transaction is carried out in the currency the customer has chosen.
Finally, in addition to REDUNIQ being compatible with the main PMS and hotel management systems used by various hotels in Portugal, gives it an innovative and revolutionary feature that allows guests to guarantee bookings in the case of "no show" transactions, when the customer has not used or cancelled the reservation, and "late-charge", when identifying last-minute consumption after the customer has left.
Show concern after the sale
Everything contributes to customer loyalty, so don't forget about them as soon as their stay is over. Be available to answer questions, inform them of news or promotions through newsletters or send them a message or an email wishing them a happy birthday. The customer will feel special and, even if they're not there in person, that you care about them.
Use feedback to improve
Carry out customer satisfaction surveys to assess the quality of service, room service, cleaning, staff and other services in your business. From this information, you can improve, eliminate or create new solutions.
What's more, the customer will feel that their opinion is important and taken into account.
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