A hotel , a restaurant or a cruise ship delivering constantly great service will always have loyal guest. Same applies to a hair dresser, a doctor or a tailor when they not only do their job but deliver service. Have a conversation with your guest, Go this extra step, build a bond – when they truly, honestly care. Gain trust and respect. Excellent service requires foremost motivated, trained and skilled staff. Service techniques as well as organizing and planning service right requires professionals. This is an investment that starts slowly paying back but once maintained it consistently pays back over a long time resulting in a constant flow of profits. Almost everybody – 99% percent – will agree with the following points but maximum 5% percent will be able to mange to implement them.

1) Low operation cost

Once staff is able to provide excellent service the operation cost will go down. The right service techniques – I hardly see them anymore – enable less staff to provide more qualified , guest satisfying service with fewer employees. Two qualified waiters can easily do the job better than 9 part timers that stumble over their own feet , bump into each other , mess the service up, and run around like in a chicken house raising the question in the guests mind if there might be a reason to join the panic.

Breakage will go down and equipment will be handled to last longer. When I see todays dishwashers in action I feel pity for them to deal with the mess the service staff drops at their door step. More dishwashers – labor cost - are needed to sort and clean the plates , cutlery , glasses and left overs dropped of in an unorganized way. More equipment breaks or ends up by accident in the garbage.

The techniques – or the lack of techniques – result in more running for the waiters – again more labor needed – longer waiting times for the guest, unprofessional, disturbing service and more items dropped at the table and inside the restaurant. It has a negative effect on the atmosphere that a designer had thought of a long time and an owner paid a lot of money for.

2) Low staff turnover

The pride to be able to deliver excellent service in a team of professionals and establishing and maintaining guest relations creates the wish to stay. It goes along with working in a team, good management and a fair pay. Not a tremendously high pay – a fair pay is all it needs. It is an environment to teach and coach young people and create the feeling of a profession with a future.

3) Reputation

Excellent service will be always be recognized, appreciated and boost the reputation of the hotel or restaurant. Acknowledgment and praise by guest on social networks, mouth to mouth and in media will be heard of. Excellent service is excellent PR and will attract new and more guests. Employees will be proud to work there. Others will want to work there – less HR advertising needed.

4) Efficient Management & employees

Excellent service organized and executed frees time for management and staff to concentrate on fine tuning, improving, streamlining as well as proper planning and strategy for all departments and last but not least time for guest relation and employee relation. It takes a burden from their shoulders, lets them mentally slow down and their relaxed eyes can focus again on improvements. In many hotels it feels like the manager is most appreciated when he runs from meeting to meeting, gives instructions on the way, and works long hours because without him who would get the shop running? He actually works long hours because he believes it is expected that he works long hours. How efficient he is in this hours doesn’t count. It becomes a process oriented work environment not a result oriented one. And – as the manager is the prime example – gets copied by the staff.

The best managers are totally calm, humble, in control, don’t necessary need meetings because they meet everybody anyway during their day and don’t work too long hours. They are efficient – get everything including profits and guest and employee relations done in a tenth of the time than the hectic managers. They make things look easy! And that is the feeling the guest should get. Therefor these effective Managers are often labeled - lazy. People who are not efficient and organized can’t understand it. It leaves the impression that many of todays Managers, Vice Presidents and CEO’s favor the chicken house they have grown up in.

5) Financial Profit

The summary of all of the above is Profit. There are more benefits like teamwork, team spirit , less sick days and I am sure the list is far from complete. To convince owners and investors profits will be always the number one reason. Important also for employees. Who wants to work for a place that is loosing?

6) Loyal guest.

The guests, the client, the patient will return, they will advertise your venue, they will bring their events and functions to your venue once they trust you. Great service is the feeling of being appreciated as a guest , recognized by staff, establishing relations. This only works with a low turnover of staff. As this guest will have a relation to persons in the hotel that they value and who makes the guest feel good. It has much more effect than any loyalty program . This guest is willing to pay more for the service feeling. For the recognition. This guest is not so interested in the financial advantage of a loyalty card. It will be sometimes an appreciated addition, sometimes an offence to be thrown in the big pot of millions of loyal customers who just have a card. It will never be the main reason for the guest to return.

7) Pride

Pride is important. A guest who is proud to be your guest is all you need. A Hotel or Restaurant known for its excellent service will make every owner proud. Staff – fairly treated, sharing your values and developing – will grow a life long lasting feeling of pride. Your staff will be loyal because they decide to be loyal – the trust and they respect their boss , they trust the team . Only once this is achieved you will be able to win truly loyal guest. I know - try to explain this to an owner! But I have seen it working otherwise I wouldn’t mention it – I wouldn’t believe it myself Pride sometimes gets confused with arrogance, self over estimation – but pride in it’s pure form is a value that you share, an appreciation , a bound. Pride in its pure form is a very strong positive feeling that touches people around you. It gives you the same pleasure being proud of a close friend , a team member or a family member being successful. It is a feeling that is easily shared and never forgotten. Pride is dignity.

Also here some definitions:

Pride: “a feeling of deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from one's own achievements, the achievements of one's close associates, or from qualities or possessions that are widely admired.”

Pride: “consciousness of one's own dignity.”

One great example of excellent service is the Goring Hotel in London. Consistently providing great service over a century. Stable Management, loyal clients and low staff turnover. Top performance in all departments. Besides room revenue also a top ,record, F&B revenue in a competitive market like London and I am sure top profits . Do you see them advertising or even discounting ? I don’t believe they will ever consider this option. They properly have never heard this words. Many people haven’t heard of the Goring Hotel either. Some hotels are still so excellent that they can effort elegant silence.