The latest news regarding the overall panorama of hospitality and tourism has been very positive, especially in the lodging industry, which interestingly is demonstrating higher occupancies, and RevPAR being driven by increasing ADRs all across the board. This presents a double-edge sword scenario, (keeping in mind that this is not happening to all establishments, but those in a strong market, which I observe almost all of us are in one) as on one side of the blade, the industry is experiencing a lot of business, so we have the power to decide who we take in (when it comes to reservations and front desk). On the other side of the blade, it tends to create this attitude of “take it or leave it” because we have other people behind you waiting to do business with us without hesitation. I am experiencing both sides of the story here in many service-orientated businesses I deal with, but of course we want to focus on the hotel and similar businesses for the purpose of this article. Here is a great example of this, and I am going to use the front desk/reception area as the key focus, given this is where the majority of the moments of truth are occurring.
Prior to the Great Recession, we either witnessed or experienced the “take it or leave it” attitude given the state of the market at that time.
via Empowering the Front Desk to Be Part of an Innovating, Engaging Experience , by Marco Albarran.