In response to “Where the Bloody Hell is Service?”
I saw an article recently in the Sydney Morning Herald entitled, “Service, where the bloody hell is it?” Gave me a chuckle I must admit. The article https://www.smh.com.au/travel/service-where-the-bloody-hell-is-it-20110414-1deuo.html (also published in the Melbourne Age) by Jane Fraser suggested that Australian hospitality businesses display endless examples of poor training and poor service standards, and that the industry needs “some lessons how to be hospitable.”
What is this word, “hospitable” anyway!? Definitions include, “receiving or treating guests or strangers warmly and generously,” and “…characterized by warmth and generosity toward guests or strangers…”
Perhaps part of our industry’s problem is a failure to grasp this simple term. Seems to me that once we add “industry” to the word “hospitality”, it then implies a commercial element that may in fact conflict with the term itself. If the word hospitality indicates “warmth and generosity”, the addition of the terms “business” or “industry” immediately changes the meaning to what could be construed as exploitation for gain or profit.
Think about our common industry vocabulary, e.g. “we need to upsell… increase our average spend…. Reduce labour costs… ” These phrases, if not tempered and used with caution can send terribly conflicting messages to the young staff, those often tasked with being hospitable! (Reminds me of a great article “On the Folly of Rewarding A and Hoping for B”…. careful that you do not Reward profit and Hope for hospitable behavior!!).
There is therefore a good argument to suggest that “Job One” for hospitality industry managers and owners is to ensure that hospitableness is always the priority, and to acknowledge that if genuine hospitality is offered to guests (along with a few other business basics) commercial benefits will follow (repeat business, word of mouth). Great rooms, or fantastic food served inhospitably more often than not will lose customers in the long term.
Reminds me of this fantastic idea known as the “Service-Profit Chain.” (see below). If you haven’t heard of it, it’s an incredibly logical, yet ingenuous concept devised by a group of mainly Harvard academics which provides very compelling evidence that in service businesses, the focus must be NOT on the ‘financial’ side of the equation but rather on the people side – the employees FIRST, customer SECOND. With the right work environment, the right people and strong, consistent managers and leaders, customers will be naturally looked after (hospitably) and the financial benefits will follow.
FIGURE 1 - The Service Profit Chain
(by Heskett, J. L., Jones, T., Loveman, G., Sasser Jr., E., & Schlesinger, L. (1994). Putting the service profit chain to work. Harvard Business Review, 72(2), 164-174.
If you were to return to the Building Blocks of Service Excellence that I proposed in the last article, I suggest we all now draw a big circle around the outside of these blocks and label the circle “Hospitableness”. Seems simple. But many, including the writer of that aforementioned article in the Sydney Morning Heard, do not believe that this simple idea is happening very well in the Australian hospitality industry.
I’m always happy to discuss my articles in further detail, or to talk about training and service quality improvement programs for your business. I can be reached on [email protected] / [email protected] or on 0411828757.
In Service!
Dr David Solnet
Leader, Hospitality Management Cluster | Senior Lecturer in Service Management
Director, Industry Partnerships and Engagement
The University of Queensland | School of Tourism | Faculty of Business, Economics and Law
Brisbane, Queensland 4072 | Australia
m. 0411 828 757 | f. 07 3365 8716 | e. [email protected] | w. www.tourism.uq.edu.au
Email [email protected]
Web www.shiftdirections.com.au
Mobile 0411 828 757
