IV. Activities

Exercise 1. Study the following scheme and say how CLS helps to improve customer service:

Computerized Lodging System

Front Office From the reservation to the registration, individual, delegate, walk-in ‘house’ account folios are checked and updated automatically.		Housekeeping Tracks and maintains the physical status of your rooms. CLS’ “Zone Maintenance” option allows management to customize reports using a unique room ordering scheme.
Guest History Tracks guest history status, records special requests, VIP services, room preferences, etc. with an automatic link to Reservations and Sales modules.		Yield Management Provides immediate impact and feedback on Average Daily Rate (ADR) and is integrated to the CLS Front Office system.
Software Integration Upon checkout and after the night audit, guest information automatically updates the Guest History, Company History, City Ledger, Travel Agent and other modules.		Back Office Accounting Front office revenues update back office revenue journals. Accounts Payable is integrated with the General Ledger.

Your guests may not be able to see your CLS Property Management System at work, but they will certainly feel the results!

CLS Software can direct your staff in their day-to-day duties throughout your property making them more efficient in their delivery of services to your guests.

From the registration desk to the cashier window, your guests will feel pampered by your pleasantly efficient staff and improved guest services.

CLS’ Property Management System is a result of over 20 years of on-going software development within the hospitality industry. Experience with over 2.000 installations has contributed to the sophistication and ease of use for which CLS Software has become known.

CLS’ seamlessly integrated modules provide your staff with the most feature rich PMS package available. Improve productivity and increase occupancy – automate your property with CLS Software today.

Exercise 2. Here are thirty words or phrases which are used to describe hotels and their facilities. Write each word or phrase in the appropriate column below. There are six words in each.

Appetizing	Grand	Popular family
Beachside	Gourmet	Romantic
Beautifully decorated	Highly recommended	Spacious
Bright	Home cooked	Tastefully furnished
Central	Hospitable	Traditional
Cheerful	Ideally placed	Tranquil
Conveniently situated	Majestic	Welcoming
Delicious	Mouth watering	Well appointed
Elegant	Peaceful	Well located
Nourishing	Picturesque setting	Well run

Rooms	Location	Food	Hotel	Atmosphere
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Exercise 3. Add more words of your own in the scheme above and describe location, rooms, food and atmosphere of a hotel in a positive way. Then make the same list of words with the opposite meaning. Speak about good and bad experience you had when staying at a hotel.

Exercise 4. Render the text.

Defining Customer Service: the Customer’s Perception is Our Reality

You might not be able to define service, but you know it when you find it, and so do our customers.  Countless seminars, books, and articles have been written on the subject of service.  Every company touts service as its goal. Service is elusive and intangible but it is the life’s blood of the hospitality industry. In today’s competitive marketplace service is the most important thing a company has to sell.  It truly makes the difference when two businesses have the same product.  If service was just smiling or getting food onto the table on time it would be difficult enough, but we know it is much more complex than that.  We’ve been told over and over, every time we come in contact with a customer, that we make a good impression or a bad one for the organization we represent.  The gurus have taught us that these are called the “moments of truth”.  The first moment of truth takes place with a genuine and personal touch as soon as the guest walks in the front door.  This sets the tone for the rest of the experience.  Let’s face it, serving techniques can be taught; sophistication has to be acquired. 

Customer service is difficult to explain, and difficult to understand. The people who know best what customer service is, are customers, because they are the ones who know what they want.  That’s why it is the customers we should be listening to.  The customer’s perception is our reality. We all know that successful service is not a one-time event; you have to work hard at it.   It is a production and it goes on stage every day at the same time, and it’s live.  There’s no practicing; there’s no rehearsing. Executives around the world recognize service as the most important tool a company can use to differentiate itself from the competition.  Therefore, they also realize that the most important people in any company are those who provide service.  It is important for us to remember that guests are at our property to spend money, and we should not deprive them of that opportunity.  This is an industry where we have to constantly train, and when we’re done training, train again, and then train again.  It is human nature to under-learn and over-forget.  Hospitality employees will tell you, “I already know that one.”  That’s great, but it doesn’t matter if they know what to do, it matters if they do what they know.

We’ve all heard the phrase, “You never get a second chance to make a first impression.”  The first thirty seconds sets the tone for the entire experience.  The most important first step for anyone in our industry is creating a bond of trust and credibility with our guests.  This is what we call rapport.  The essence of rapport is commonality.  People like people who are like themselves.  If it’s true that almost everything you become and accomplish in your life is with and through other people, then the ability to create rapport with other people is the most important skill you can learn. The main challenge in our business is to manage these millions of moments of truth every day.  That means managing hundreds of encounters with customers each and every shift, because it is in fact service that determines how much money they are going to spend and how much you’re going to make.  It is hard to be enthusiastic about something you don’t know anything about and you can only sell something to the degree that you believe in it.  You impress your guests when you are able to answer all of their questions with authority. 

Caring is the golden key. You have to care that your guests get the best service and the best value, and that they have the best time they could possibly have.  When the guests know you care about them, that’s when they’re on your team.  There is nothing better than having the guests be on your team; it’s a win situation for everyone. Service, service, service.  We spend a lot of time and money on training and retraining our employees about the importance of customer service, but we really never tell them how simple it can be.  In fact, it’s so simple it’s mind-boggling.  I have what I call the Simplicity Rule of Customer Service and it goes like this: “All you have to be is hospitable.” In this industry, profits are not made by focusing on the larger details; profits result from focusing on small details and caring about the guests.  You need to forget the macro, and focus on the micro.  After all, when you really think about it, “It’s the small things in life that are big.