Tips To Set Benchmark Hospitality Metrics For Better Customer Service

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The hospitality industry is showing promises of health growth in 2015. Recent insights from sources such as Ernst & Young (EY), Deloitte, and PR Newswire bear testimony to this industry trend. EY points out that the positive investment climate and growing confidence in the industry are spurring this growth. Deloitte identifies strong demand, international growth prospects, and positive economic outlook as contributing factors. PR Newswire determines that Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) as well as changing demands are significant. Despite some economic downturn, the hospitality industry has seen steady progress.

PRNewswire points out that the growth in the travel and tourism industry alone is set to increase by 3.9% in 2015. With such high expectations of growth comes the need to deliver quality and good service, as well as an attitude of gratitude. Benchmarking is increasingly being used in the hospitality industry to assess best performance, quality, and other aspects. The term benchmarking in business terms is a measurement of quality of an organization’s policies, products, programs, strategies, and so on. It also includes the comparison of these components using standard measurements with their peers.

Benchmarking Helps Businesses Adapt

Benchmarking is an effective tool in identifying best practices and adapting them to improve performance. In benchmarking, a metric of performance is first derived by measuring performance. The metric is then used for comparison of best practices within the same industry, or with others. In the hospitality industry, benchmarking helps a business keep track of new and changing trends. It also helps assess whether strategies the business is applying are successful.

Changing Trends Means New Demands

Changing trends in the hospitality industry refer to new demands. The SmartMeetings (SM) magazine has found that the number of travelers, including business travellers, in the 18-34 age group (Millenials) are increasing steadily. This means that the hospitality industry has to offer more tech-savvy and personalized services. The industry also needs to cater to international travelers, being equipped to offer health-friendly services. The demand for eco-friendly practices and immediate response for posts on social media are new trends as well. Benchmarking hospitality helps businesses stay in tune with these trends.

Benchmarking Helps Businesses Stay Informed

Apart from customer satisfaction, benchmarking also helps hospitality businesses remain informed about operational challenges. Businesses can get to know where they stand in terms of labor costs, customer satisfaction and ability to manage multicultural talent. As the hospitality industry is expanding globally, businesses need to stay informed about labor laws and effective cultural communication. With benchmarking, a business can improve training and service quality in a global context.

Benchmarking Helps Businesses Fix Gaps

Benchmarking can help hospitality businesses fix several gaps. For instance, metrics done by a business consultant may reveal that a business is lagging behind in fulfilling guest preferences. To address this issue, the business could train sales staff to analyze guest related data. This would help improve marketing. If in case profitability is low, the business can resort to yield management. Yield management helps match room rates according to demand. When demand is high, it keeps room rates high, and vice-versa. Benchmarking therefore promotes marketing performance.

The First Step

When benchmarking hospitality for your organization, there is a must-do first step that cannot be forgotten. You must determine the most appropriate and accurate competitive set for your business. Establish a group which has similar attributes based on offering quality, location, hotel size, brand image or other attributes. Then, you will be prepared to properly benchmark customer service for the hospitality industry in your area.

Hospitality benchmarking can also help assess vacation trends, redesigning needs, adding services like Internet, in-room checkout, online booking and so on. Thus, benchmarking is a necessary tool for analyzing and adapting best practices in the hospitality industry. If you are already in the industry, it is never too late to start outdoing the competition.

Another Benchmark Hospitality…

If you are in the hospitality industry, you may be concerned about finding out who your competition is. Perhaps that is what Benchmark Hospitality means to you. Benchmark Resorts and Hotels are some of the top performers in the hospitality industry, and they definitely have a top CEO at the helm. Why? Well, that is a question you are going to have to find the answer to if you want to compete with them and come out ahead. With premier locations, romantic wedding services and indulgent culinary experiences, it is clear that Benchmark is very good at what they do. So remember if you want to compete, use the benchmarking metrics mentioned above to find areas of your business requiring improvement.

Image from https://pocketfriendlystudy.wordpress.com/2014/12/22/why-should-you-choose-a-career-in-the-hospitality-industry/

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