subject: A Repeat Visit To A Hotel Is Dependent Upon The Impression You Receive From Staff Members [print this page] There is nothing as important to the feelings of a guest and the all round experience of staying in a new hotel as the first impression. The first impression of the entrance hall and the staff at the front desk should never be the cause of uncertainty and hesitation. It should instill confidence that the guest made a good decision and should be happy with the decision that they made because this hotel is clean, well maintained and staffed by a courteous and valuable group of workers.
The workers of the hotel should be clean, well maintained and trained to help the guests. They should know what they're doing and have the ability to handle nearly every situation that arises. When a staff member has to call someone else off premises to find an answer to a question or to handle a problem, it takes away the confidence and trust that the guest has had in the establishment.
It quickly saps away any confidence that the staff is capable of handling the situations that might come up. It also undermines the belief that the staff on hand has the ability to make the final decisions and casts doubt on their capability to solve problems. Problem solving aside, what men and women really want when they walk into the lobby of a hotel is for a friendly staff member to greet them in a courteous manner and to efficiently and quickly get them situated in their hotel room.
This process can be quick without feeling as if it was rushed and a staff member can be friendly without appearing fake. It merely requires the right person to do it. That is why when you are staying at smaller, family owned establishments, you will find that the person working behind the counter is almost always a family member of the owner. That by itself is not necessarily a bad thing, but because it is a family business, and they were not necessarily looking to hire an individual for that particular job, you are often left with somebody that the job doesn't suit.
It takes a certain kind of person to handle the fast paced customer service that is required to run the front desk in an efficient and friendly manner. Too many things can happen to change a person's mood, and only certain people have that personality that doesn't let little things bother them to the extent of showing it to the guests. That is why looking for the right person and training them to do the job is much better than just plugging in whatever warm body happens to be on the premises.
