A Muse of Luxury Hospitality, Signature – “Wow” Stories

*My article A Muse of Luxury Hospitality, Signature-«Wow» Stories was originally published on Luxury Hoteliers Magazine (2nd Quarter 2017 – Page 44) and International Luxury Hotel Association https://www.luxuryhotelassociation.org/2017/07/a-muse-of-luxury-hospitality-signature-wow-stories/ . It […]

A Ritz-Carlton “wow” story

A pioneer hotel chain that adopted this experiential marketing storytelling principle early on is Ritz-Carlton hotels. Ritz-Carlton’s website section Stories That Stay With You, which comes with […]

Δ. Σιμόπουλος: Ιστορίες φιλοξενίας και σύμπαντος στον ίδιο ουρανό που έβλεπε ο Δημόκριτος και ο Πρωταγόρας

1992. Ο επίτιμος διευθυντής του Ευγενιδείου Πλανηταρίου κ. Διονύσιος Σιμόπουλος θα βρεθεί σε μία κρουαζιέρα στο πλοίο Stella Solaris μαζί με ένα από τους πρώτους επτά αστροναύτες, τον Scott Carpenter, […]

Converting your “Zero Stars” into a 5-star experience

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«The Cloud Keys» Tips for the Leverage of an AirBnB Experience

The following is a guest experience consultancy article from my role as Guest Experience Expert at «The Cloud Keys«.

There is a room that allows you to sleep in a Swiss mountainside at 6,463 feet above sea level, without walls around you and without ceiling. The room is a bed with two bedside tables, a reading lamp and magnificent views to the Graubünden mountains. You can make a reservation at the price of $ 250 per night, from spring until autumn but always with the risk that your booking may be cancelled last minute if the weather cools down. There is no bathroom, only a public toilet and a locker room 10 minutes away from the hotel while a unique experience takes place every morning when a butler delivers you sandwiches and coffee to the heart of the Swiss mountains!

Riklin brothers used the words «Null Stern», namely «Zero Stars», to describe this venture and redefined the minimal hospitality experience (cover photo). The mantra of their very special lodge is «the only star is you». There are no ceilings, there is no reception and staff; what is there is a unique in its genre hospitality experience. This hospitality story is reflective of how we can manage the landscape of hospitality with the basic actualization of the «experience», which enables the differentiation and the surplus value creation in the touristic product. The «zero stars» is the case for the AirBnB hosts too.

Taking for granted the economical rate that the guest pays, it is important to accentuate that we are talking about experiences that do not focus on materialistic resources and serious economical investments, but on creative differentiated ideas and tangible innovations that infiltrate into the story that we invite our guest to live.

Besides, we should not forget that the hoteliers, the lodge owners, the managers of them and any other hospitality provider, we are, first and foremost, storytellers: people who convert the features of their lodge to benefits through the experience that they offer every time, namely the way they choose to narrate their story (The feature is the tangible, tactile difference between one room category and another while the benefit is how this feature gives value).

Here, you are going to find three ideas for hosts of rooms with «zero stars» ; ideas that will facilitate them convert the stay of their guest to a 5-star hospitality experience!

As close to your guest as it gets!
Personalized monogram sewed onto a bathrobe

13900652_1741630136096126_2057024578_n-264x300Store in your linen closet some bathrobes for each lodge that you manage and place them, according to the number of people that you host each time, in a clearly visible spot in the bathroom.

Providing bathrobe is itself an amenity that gives a new quality to the guest experience and paints their impressions in a positive manner from the very first moment when he enters the apartment and sees the space and its comforts. The provision of the bathrobe exudes comfort, the homey warmth, the «home away from home», the guests’ own room with their own intimate and personal things.

The sewing of the monogram is easy with three rows of strings. We sew onto the bathrobe the monogram of the guest and concurrently we write on a a piece of paper «This is for (guest’s name) …» and we pin it with a small safety pin on the bathrobe. After the departure of the guest, we remove easily the threads with a little scissor.

Such a personalized service is what we call a «4 star service at a 3 star price». The idea of the monogram on bathrobes is an amenity that has personal texture; a small design detail that wins the guests’ appreciation that you took time to add value to their experience.

One of the key codes and principles of communication in the top hotels around the world is addressing the guest by his name each time. Indeed this practice is measurable and evaluable. For example, in the inspections made by Starwood and the Leading Hotels Of The World, one of the points checked and graded is whether the hotel employee called the guest by his name at least twice. If this does not happen, the hotel loses points from its overall score; the latter ensures the «ticket» and stay of the hotel in the family of Starwood or any other brand hotel chain behemoth.

A goodnight «kiss»
An experience basket!13936667_1741629949429478_280767897_n-300x300

Place a small straw basket on the bedside table of the bed. Within place a hard copy of the weather forecast for the next 3 days, 2 bottles of water with 2 cups, a small bunch of flowers, 2 masks for sleeping (select white color to wash them together with the clothing of the bedroom -sheets, pillowcases, etc.) and two small treats, such as a nougat (you can find it in the market at the price of 0.50 €), some must cookies or a small chocolate bar (opt for a nibble/ desert that has connotations with your regional/local culinary heritage).

Next to that, you can place a small note, for example «my grandmother used to hide this Greek delicacy under my pillow. With this Greek flavor I wish you goodnight.»

A bedtime story that surprises in a beautiful way the guests, brings them closer to the culture of the place and makes them enjoy the warmth of the host and the Greek hospitality.

A tailored message
The guest wakes up in the morning, checks his inbox and finds a message «Dear x, yesterday you mentioned that you are a jazz musician. Tonight there is a jazz night on Lycabettus Hill with panoramic views across Athens. I thought you might be interested in it! Have a lovely day in our city! Alexia.»13933423_1741629909429482_945759035_n-1-300x200

«I thought you might be interested in it» and a reference to the profession of the client and his personal interest.

This is an attitude and service culture and innovation that offers experience and luxury to your guest. Luxury, moreover, is not always construed as expensive amenities, rooms with breathtaking views and decadent spa treatments, but as the desire to create moments for the guest that will respond to the need that each traveler has- both the luxury and the non-luxury traveler -to feel unique through his emotional connection to the place and its people. Furthermore, the experience, primarily, is such a personalized approach to each different guest portrait.

In the next booking in your calendar, try to operationalize one of these ideas, and try to weave your own story, and ultimately what you feel too easily and forget too hard: the hospitality for your guest, that wonderful experience which indicates that someone thinks of you, over and above money.

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