HOTELS: When fam trips arrive, avoid this mistake
They're your extended sales team, don't bore them to death!
“You’re duty manager this weekend, there’s a group of Italian tour operators coming in Sunday afternoon. Give them a TOH, my business cards, and these brochures.”
Being Duty Manager of our 491-room hotel was a regular occurrence during my tenure as Security Manager.
I often also accompanied other Department Head / Duty Managers on TOH’s or tours of the house when it was their turn to showcase our property to visiting travel agents, travel writers, or corporate procurement people.
The script was simple. Check with the front desk and ensure rooms of different categories and types were put off-market, cleaned, and prepared to be shown to the visiting groups. Touch base with the restaurants and bars to confirm that you knew their opening hours and let them know you’d be wandering through like a tour guide without a flag for the group to follow. Go through the meeting and conference area and ensure they were aware of the group and check whether there were any meeting rooms that were not to be disturbed or that were set up nicely for an evening banquet that could impress potential clients.
It was all very standard stuff and, from my experience visiting other hotels, it was pretty much the same thing everywhere.
It was also horrifically boring and made me glad I wasn’t a travel agent, tour operator, or procurement person that would suffer through the same procedure at 8, 10, or 12 hotels during a short weekend visit to the city.
The biggest mistake you can make when a group on a fam trip comes to your your property, is to think they’re interested in seeing a bunch of rooms and outlets that much different than any other hotel.
I read the note from the Sales Director again. Sunday afternoon. After us, their next stop would be the airport. I knew they’d likely bin the brochures before boarding their flight home.
Our Front Office Manager was a good friend, and always up to try something new.
I asked him if he could call around and find out how many other hotels the group would visit, where they were staying, and where they would be partying on Saturday night.
He was well-connected and came back with a list.
“They will be hungover, tired, and likely looking forward to getting out of town.”, we decided. “They might even fall asleep on one of the beds in a room we show them.”
Stranger things have happened in hotels. Believe me.
I’ll take credit for the idea, but it might have been my Front Office Manager friend’s.
No matter whose idea it was, we had, as Baldrick in Black Adder would say, “A cunning plan.”
We blocked some rooms, I informed the restaurants, and checked in with meeting and conference people, just in case and against all odds that the group told us explicitly that they wanted to go on the standard, horrifically boring, tour of the house.
We were prepared. (I’ll definitely take credit for that part of the plan.)
Then we went to the store room.
It was Sunday, I was Duty Manager and had the key, my FOM friend was the necessary witness needed to sign off on the case of Italian Prosecco we took from the alcohol store.
One of the great features of our hotel was a bar on the 21st floor, overlooking Norway’s capital city, and the beautiful fjord it is located on.
Lucky for us, it was closed on Sunday afternoons.
We put the chilled Prosecco on ice, laid out some champagne glasses on the bar, and went down to the lobby to wait for the group.
Upon their arrival we split them into groups, used elevator override keys to escort them straight to the 21st floor and into the bar.
I told them that they could see rooms and restaurants if they wanted to. We would even give them a brochure if they asked for one.
“But we know you’re tired, so we just wanted to show you this view. This is what people remember from our hotel. Oh, and unless you really want to wander from room to room, we have some Prosecco for you.”
Then we collected their business cards and promised the Sales Director would send them brochures and other information.
They were thrilled.
Obviously.
After all it wasn’t rocket science.
It was hospitality.
Thanks for reading our newsletter!
We help hospitality businesses make jobs more meaningful and experiences more memorable by helping you make the most of the biggest differentiator you have – your people!
Let’s connect and discuss how we can help you.
Stay safe, Always Care
Paul: this is why you are called "The Always Care Community". Your mantra: It is about the relationship before the product. I love how you ended this article: "It's not rocket science. It is called hospitality."