Several of us stayed at the Chicago Hilton last week while at the AME Annual Conference and I believe we were all impressed with the level of service. Dave Hogg of the HPM Consortium, who also happens to be the chair of next year's AME Conference in Toronto, said it best with the following from his own newsletter.
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In striving to be ‘World Class’ all we have to work with are People, Processes and Technology / Equipment. And those that find ways of combining these three elements while focusing on their customer’s success will outperform their competitors. It matters not whether you are running a hot dog stand or a huge hotel. Most principles are the same.
The Chicago Hilton is a very large hotel of over 1,500 rooms combined with 234,000 square feet of conference space. It’s a little like an ocean liner on land. But what was impressive to your editor was the precision with which facilities were transformed by an army of highly motivated ant-like and purposeful workers.
Being a customer of the hotel, one gets the chance to see the rubber-hitting-the-road outcomes (if you look) such as how all services are provided. While they were impeccably delivered everywhere, what I found most impressive was cheerful, honestly helpful, self-confident people who made direct eye contact with you as they expressed a cheerful Good Morning or other acknowledgement. And they did it 24 hours a day – and it came from people at all stations in this complex. All you had to do is appear as though you were unsure and they were upon you to provide help.
In the security office I asked to photograph a poster entitled: “WOW Service Basics” but was told I needed to get approval. So off I went to the executive offices of this huge hotel to get a copy. As I encountered the reception desk the receptionist just received an urgent call and asked me if she could locate one of the top executive to respond to the call. I said fine, off she went.
As I stood there executives were moving in and out of the office area and every one of them, seeing me standing there, stopped to see if I needed help. In fact it got almost to humorous by the 8th or 9th time I was asked that I was thinking of pinning a sign on my chest saying I was being looked after. When she returned I told her how impressed I was with the hotel, after which she scurried away and came back beaming. She said ‘this is our bible’ -- this is what we live by and we even coach each other on when we slip. Those very words said a lot to me as they indicated the existence of a top management who must be relentless in walking their talk as well as their commitment to training while building a team-based environment where everyone looks after each other.
The above condensed set of guidelines that they live by and refer to as their “WOW Service Basics,” is supported by – what else – a CAN DO ATTITUDE which is very much related to Henry Ford’s CANDO steps which are now 5S.
When you look at them – think of how you might apply some or all of them to your own environment. Here they are… Helping every guest and team member be their best.
One of the major tours by the attending manufacturers was a full scale look at how a huge hotel does its processes.