Lets get personal: differentiate through empathy

- By Nick Hurkmans
Once, hotels distinguished themselves through their tangibles. Palace-like decorations in Grand
Hotels were meant to impress even the worlds most prosperous individuals. Later, exclusive
shampoos and the state-of-the-art technology were used as differentiating products to attract and
retain guests.
That time has passed. Personal service is key now. Of course, I know service has always been and
always will be the main pillar of our industry, but since a couple of years the personal service craze
has struck the hospitality industry more than ever. A fully personalized service is the standard now:
hotels are expected to create a home from home-experience, WOW-moments are being
introduced, and the so-called moments of truth have nearly become sacred rituals.
Regarding this new trend, it is crucial for companies to gain a broad knowledge about their guests.
More information enables hotels to focus on the guests preferences, and thus delivers a more
personalized experience. But, as McGuire states, the larger the organization [] the more difficult it
becomes to deliver a personalized service (McGuire 2012). There are simply too many touch points
that cannot be combined to create a full picture of the guest. An integrated CRM-system throughout
the entire hotel could be a solution for this problem. Imagine an enterprise-wide, single-view-profile of
the guest at the fingertips of every employee (McGuire 2012).
Once this is established, we should look at the way in which employees use the information and
interact with the guest. As soon as a guest enters the hotel, you are about to establish a relationship
with each other. With regards to this, we should realize that relationships can only exist between
individuals not with target markets. This is why Don Peppers, a founding partner of the Peppers &
Rogers Consultancy Group, stresses the importance of treating your guests individually (Peppers
2014). Unfortunately, this thought does not comply with the current practices, wherein hotels use
standardized processes designed around target markets needs and wants and wherein
employees communicate through memorized scripts: every guest gets the same treatment. Just filling
in the gaps should result in a personalized service:

Good afternoon, <<fill in name>> ,
How was your flight from <<fill in place of residence>> ?

If we combine the available data about a guest with real interaction with empathy, we could reach
the full potential of personalized service (Communispace n.d.). Especially in this digital world, where
all communication is via internet, people yearn for real-life interaction. A sincere human being that is
able to interact and move peoples hearts, will in the end create guest loyalty. Only through this
interaction we are able to know what the guest wants. But even more important, we know also why
1
he
wants it, giving to opportunity to be a step ahead the next time. Now that is personalized service.
While I do agree with McGuire that data management can deliver a more personalized service, I do
not think it is the total solution. Managing data in such a way that every employee can enter and
understand it, is step one. Interact with a guest individually not as part of the target market is the
next step. Hotels have to be more flexible in their processes to really being able to customize their
services for them.
And to end, please remember: In the end, it is not data that moves people, its people that move
people. (Communispace n.d.)


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We have climbed up the knowledge pyramid. Now the hotel does not only have information and knowledge,
but also understanding of the needs and wants. (Deckop 2006)

Resources:
Communispace, The Collaborative Advantage, Available at: www.communispace.com/collaborative-
advantage/.
Deckop, J.R., 2006. Human Resource Management Ethics, Information Age Publishing Inc.
McGuire, K., 2012. Delivering Personalized Service with Master Data Management |
hospitalityupgrade.com. Available at:
http://www.hospitalityupgrade.com/_magazine/magazine_Detail.asp?ID=747 [Accessed
January 5, 2014].
Peppers, D., 2014. Building Customer Relationships in Four Steps | LinkedIn. Available at:
http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20140103113441-17102372-building-customer-
relationships-in-four-
steps?trk=vsrp_influencer_content_res_name&trkInfo=VSRPsearchId%3A165685956138892
8052984%2CVSRPtargetId%3A5823751430565003264%2CVSRPcmpt%3Aprimary
[Accessed January 6, 2014].