the importance of a great first impression

My clients give me all kinds of feedback on their hotel stays (I am a luxury travel consultant). Sometimes I get an email sharing an extremely positive impression of a stay: my client was surprised with an upgraded room I was able to arrange; the concierge offered great recommendations and went the extra mile in making reservations; the room was beautiful, and every need was anticipated.

Other times I hear that a hotel has fallen short of meeting a guest's expectations. I've gotten several of those reports in the past few weeks, and there was an interesting common denominator to the stories that were told to me: things fell apart from the very beginning of their stay.

The first five seconds of a guest's stay at a luxury hotel are absolutely critical. In recent weeks, clients have mentioned doormen who stood there and did not offer to take their luggage from the trunk of their car or taxi ... and who then left them to carry their own luggage in to the front desk. I was told of a valet parker who greeted my client with a curt, "Going to be here long?" What these guests experienced was an indifferent greeting.

Don't get me wrong. Not all guests want this service. Many guests prefer to get their luggage out of the car themselves and roll it to their room themselves. But staying at a luxury hotel means being given the choice.

When you think about it, a doorman or valet parker is perhaps the lowest paid employee in an entire hotel. It seems like such unglamorous work — opening doors, parking cars, carrying luggage. But if a hotel wants to be known as providing smooth-as-silk service, these are perhaps the most important members of the hotel's staff. They are entrusted with creating the first impression that every guest will have. A warm, sincere, and helpful greeting at the front door ... and at the front desk ... is the single most important facet of a great stay at a five star hotel.

The Peninsula Hotel in Hong Kong is known as one of the world's greatest hotels, offering superb service. To sit in the lobby having Afternoon Tea, you get the chance to experience the reason why. There are two uniformed — and well-trained — doormen at every door (pictured above). They open the doors for each visitor and welcome them to the Peninsula with a smile.

Four Seasons is known as one of the world's greatest hotel companies. Every time I go into a Four Seasons hotel — whether in Bangkok, New York, Paris, or San Francisco — I am greeted with the same words: "Welcome to the Four Seasons." Though the doormen wear different hats (a pith helmet in Bangkok, for example), the greeting is warm and sincere.

Nobody experts perfection, 100% of the time. We are all human beings, prone to making mistakes, doing the wrong thing, or saying the wrong thing. There are some people we click with and other people with whom we don't. No hotel will ever make 100% of its guests happy, 100% of the time. Take a look at tripadvisor.com sometime. Read the negative impressions some reviewers give of some of the best five star hotels in the world, and you'll know what I mean. But here's my theory of luxury hotel service: if you get the first five seconds of a guest's experience right ... that's the foundation of a great stay. (Hotel managers take note: here's where to invest your time and resources in recruitment, training, and compensation).


luxury travel consultant (search here on Google)

copyright (c) 2007 by David J. Ourisman. All rights reserved. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.
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