Hospitality Expos - Doug Kennedy Hotel News

KTN to offer call auditing, assessment, and coaching to its client base through LogMyCalls

As we have said, there is no doubt that non-verbal signals such as eye contact, body language, and facial expressions strongly help convey meaning during human interactions. Yet the words we choose also impact interpersonal communications.

Although there is no doubt that non-verbal signals such as eye contact, body language, and facial expressions strongly help convey meaning during human interactions, the words we choose also impact interpersonal communications. Therefore it’s important to help your hospitality and guest contact staff to choose their words carefully when interacting with guests, prospects, and even their 'internal' customers from other departments.

A key principle for finding personal fulfillment in the never-ending journey to hospitality service excellence is realizing that when we bring out the best in others, we simultaneously bring out the best in ourselves every day, every shift, and with just about every guest we encounter.

Like most trainers, I frequently engage participants in interactive activities that hopefully shift their paradigms. With one such activity, I give participants a list of like-hotels in a location they’ve never been to, and then have them each place a group sales or reservations inquiry call. Afterwards, each participant reports back to the overall group on their experiences and observations.

Although 2011 has provided a quicker rebound in terms of hotel occupancy and overall RevPAR, most hotels are still looking for ways to further increase their ADR. One great place to start looking is your hotel’s front desk.

If you are like most hoteliers, chances are that your property is having one of its best years in recent memory. Yet with the recent stall in the economic recovery, it is important not to assume that next year will automatically be just as profitable. Even if the overall economy continues to rebound, it is important to continuously raise the bar as we set new goals for 2012 and beyond. In the hotel business as in life, we must always reach for higher goals, lest we become complacent and satisfied with what we have already achieved.

As a hotel industry trainer and consultant, it continues to be fascinating to observe firsthand the extreme differences between how various revenue management and distribution marketing executives view the voice reservations channel.

Who are my 'true' competitors? This million dollar question is often a central discussion point in boardrooms, during the development of annual sales and marketing plans, in the creation of promotional campaigns and during weekly revenue strategy meetings. From quiet philosophical conversations to heated debates, this question remains a point of contention; however, I believe it’s simply a matter of perspective.

Although most of my career focuses on the training of hotel industry sales staff on the supply side of the meetings and conventions business, I sometimes change roles to the demand side when it is time for KTN to conduct our own conferences and meetings.