What happened to trust and empowerment
Nobody takes a job intending to be a lousy employee
“I’ll have to call our General Manager and ask if we can let you see the meeting room.”
The front desk agent shrugged and looked at me like she wished I hadn’t asked if I could see the room I would be presenting in the next morning. She hesitated, half-hoping perhaps that I would withdraw my request.
It was a small hotel and not surprising that they didn’t have meeting and event staff around on an evening with nothing going on in their small conferencing area.
Although they had probably chosen to work in a hotel because they were service-minded, friendly, outgoing and liked interacting with people, none of the employees were trusted or empowered to open a meeting room after hours.
When I didn’t withdraw my question, the agent went to the back office in the reception area. A few minutes later, she returned.
“The General Manager said it’s OK. Come with me.”
There have been many discussions about why people don’t choose careers in hospitality anymore.
Some say it’s because young people don’t want to work anymore.
Others say it’s the long hours and low pay.
Still others will tell you that it’s working weekends and holidays that turn people off.
Perhaps one of the reasons is that employees feel untrusted and disempowered.
What happened to trust and empowerment?
Many hotels don’t even control their own prices anymore. The manager of a new hotel carrying one of the franchise flags from one of the world’s largest hotel companies was giving a tour of the property to a group from the local chamber of commerce.
“My company has a lot of visitors”, one person in the group said. “Could we get a corporate rate?”
“Yes, of course”, the manager replied, “but you need to know that if our booked occupancy is above about 80%, we can’t control the price. You will have to pay the going rate, or we have to call the reservations office and ask them if we can give you your rate. We can’t override anything.”
First, it was the frontline staff that was disempowered.
“I’ll have to call a supervisor.”
Then, it was the next level.
“Let me talk to my manager.”
Now, even managers are being disempowered. Who’s ultimately making the decision that will impact what the guest experience is? Someone in a reservations centre or a revenue management centre halfway around the world that has no knowledge of the local business community or the relationship between the guest and the hotel, or the local company and the hotel? Perhaps it’s simply an algorithm?
“People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
The quote, attributed to Maya Angelou, is true no matter if we’re speaking about guest experience or how disempowered employees feel when they’re not able to perform the magic that they know will provide a guest with an exceptional experience.
If we want people to choose careers in hospitality, we have to trust and empower them to provide those magical, memorable moments.
Stay safe, Always Care
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