Reviewing What You Do and What You Need To Do
October 2003
In much of the world, the month of October is a “shoulder” month in the travel and visitor industry. The summer’s crowds have left and the winter season is yet to begin. This month then is a good time to analyze your part of the industry’s successes and challenges. Where might you have improved? What could you have done better? What successes may lead to greater successes? To help you analyze the past summer and to get ready for the next high season, Tourism & More offers the following tidbits for your consideration.
- Never forget that the travel and tourism leisure industries depend on people’s free choice. No one has to go on vacation and no one deserves to be poorly treated. All too often, employees in the travel and tourism industry give the unstated impression that they really do not like people. People who do not like people or who are highly introverted should not be working in the travel and tourism industry. Review the fundamentals with staff. Remind staff members that if there are no tourists/visitors then there are no jobs. Perhaps the number one traveler complaint this summer has been that travel and tourism industry employees often seem angry and overworked and take out their frustration on the traveling public. It is essential that we never forget that the traveler/customer never has to return to our establishment. As travel becomes less pleasant, an ever-increasing number of people are choosing to vacation at home.
- Check to make sure that travel and tourism employees are paid fairly and that they leave their personal problems at home. Perhaps the best way to have one’s employees treat the visitor with respect and dignity is to treat staff with the same dignity and respect that we expect them to give to our customers. Long hours and low pay may temporarily look good on a bottom line, but in the end, angry employees make unhappy customers.
- Never analyze your past performance from a defensive posture. The only people who are happy with an excuse are those making the excuse. Our customers do not need, nor want, excuses or explanations. Our customers do want efficient, prompt and pleasant service, clean and quiet rooms, a secure and safe environment, fair prices, and honesty. The last item, honesty, is particularly important. All of your marketing collapses when an employee claims to offer a “quiet” room across from the elevator or an airline agent simply lies to a passenger. The use of “creative” vocabulary rather than honest vocabulary has done a great deal to harm the entire industry.
- Analyze your crowd flow. All too often the industry does not spend enough attention to the issue of crowd management. Long lines in the hot sun do not make for a pleasant experience. For example, people standing online should be able to still use the bathroom facilities easily. Some of the points to consider when analyzing your crowd control are: life-safety issues such as evacuation in case of fire, security issues, weather-related issues, signage, issues of ennui while on line, and anger management.
- Identify the unconscious messages that the public is receiving. Are you offering fair value at a fair price? The public determines the answer to this question through your locale’s cleanliness, your customer service,your level of security, your willingness to listen, and your willingness to right a wrong or mistake with action rather than a mere apology.
- Take the time to review the landscaping and interior of your premises. A clean and pleasant facility tells a visitor a great deal about whom and what you are. Landscaping should not only be pleasant but should reflect the dual principles of CPTED (Crime Prevention through Environment Design) and TPTED (Terrorism Prevention through Environmental Design). Landscaping and interior design should harmonize with the environment that you are creating and facilitate good crowd management.
- Think of which issues most upset your clientele and how you can improve. Some of the major weak spots in the tourism industry are: poor food served at high prices, dirty restroom facilities, long lines, personnel refusing to answer questions, dishonest answers given to customers by staff, lack of security and life-safety provisions, and a false use of environmentalism. Tourists and visitors are not stupid and when the tourism industry uses environmental issues as merely a pretext for reducing costs and providing less service, our customers rightly become angry. Protecting the environment is very important and environmentalism should be practiced throughout the institution rather than merely as a way to provide less for greater cost.
- Seek good consultation and provide training during this season. This is the time of year when you and your staff have the time to reflect and to train. Never assume that you know everything there is to know, especially in this rapidly changing world. Always remember that we need to review and re-evaluate constantly. Many tourism and visitors industries fail simply because they forget the basic principles of tourism, tourism service, tourism security and safety, tourism life skills. Tourism has long suffered from issues of credibility and credibility cannot be established until we are first honest with ourselves.
- Never forget that the key to a successful tourism industry is the willingness to share experiences and knowledge with others. The hospitality industry is based on the idea of caring for others. Travel and tourism when done correctly can be one of the great joys of life. The industry, however, must never forget that it offers an expendable service and that we must win our customers every day. The key to success is not only customer service, but also customer appreciation and love.
