VacantReady

Over the last week we have been featuring highlights from Jonathan Tisch’s blog book tour for his recently published Chocolates on the Pillow Aren’t Enough - Reinventing the Customer Experience.

We are delighted to have been asked to participate in the tour. After all, it’s not every day that we have the opportunity to chat with a hotelier of such high regard. This is day three of Jonathan’s “live” book review and so far the participating bloggers have facilitated some outstanding dialogue.

Jonathan’s comments have revealed both his mastery of the topic and his passion for offering strategies for actually reinventing the customer experience at all touch-points. The book is worth a read for every organization trying to differentiate their products through delivering better interactions with customers, guests and visitors.

Thanks to Rachelle of Fleishman-Hillard, and David of the Experience Economist for your tireless efforts in coordinating such an interesting session. Of course, special thanks to Jonathan Tisch for giving us all an opportunity to pick his brain about developing strategies to create better customer experiences.

There are still four blogs to go, so be sure to check out the tour schedule.

Read on to review our own questions for Jonathan Tisch, hot off the press:

VR: Jonathan, the book maintains that brand loyalty is shrinking and customer skepticism towards traditional marketing is at an all time high. The hospitality industry has been somewhat slow to embrace the potential of online social media such as blogs and social networks to create legions of brand-champions. Do you believe there is an opportunity for organizations to leverage social media to connect with and inspire customers in new ways? 

JT: There is so much information available on the Internet. With customer ability to search the large travel websites, and now search even further with the blogosphere, it will become incumbent upon all organizations to understand how they can benefit by these new forms of media. 

Traditional media, though still important, are becoming less so. Whereas traditional outreach is more of a shotgun blast, new media allow for fine tuning and targeting your message to your audience. Even though the lodging industry is late to the game, it is certainly in their best interest to find ways to use the new media to their best advantage. New media not only allows consumers to know more about their product, but it does so in ways that are more relevant to their lives.

VR: Connecting with individual guests and visitors on a personal level is such an important component of the guest experience in any hospitality organization or tourism destination. In your book you mentioned that the Loews organization has successfully implemented a new people skills training program called “Living Loews”. What strategies can an organization use to ensure that they are recruiting talent that has a higher propensity to “fit in” and succeed within the culture of the organization in the first place?

JT: There are so many tools available to the individuals who work in the HR portion of our business. By employing methods of prescreening, you as an organization can disqualify individuals that may not have hospitality in their DNA. 

We as an industry are very specific about taking care of individuals or families, whether they are traveling for business or pleasure, and we want to fill our organizations with the kind of coworkers who understand the whole notion of hospitality. 

Our business is different than others because individuals and families are leaving the safety and security of their own homes and entrusting us, the hotelier, to deliver an experience that is first and foremost safe, but one that also allows them to accomplish their particular goals on that particular trip.  The only way that we can deliver on our value proposition is by having coworkers who have a propensity for hospitality.

VR: Vancouver & Whistler are preparing to welcome the world for the 2010 Olympic Winter and Paralympic Games. One of the many challenges that we have to overcome is a general decline in positive attitudes towards service, in particular the retail sector. Since training is so critical to every organization’s ability to deliver consistent, memorable customer experiences, what “organic”, or grass-roots initiatives can a destination or even a nation employ to improve their overall attitude about service delivery?

JT: It’s important for the general public, and really the business leaders of any community, to understand the significant economic and social contributions that the travel industry makes to one’s economy and to the general business climate of a particular state, city, or town. 

What we have learned through these kinds of big worldwide events that garner international attention is that they can be a tool and a vehicle for showing the world about a particular destination and its assets.  Those assets are physical, in terms of demand generations, but they are also emotional, in terms of the people that are making up the community where these events are taking place. 

It is really going to be important for areas like Vancouver or Beijing to follow in the footsteps of Australia and Spain, and have a vision for what the Olympics can do for tourism moving forward once the Games are over.

VR: Viewer Question, from James Sherrett of Work Industries

With the Olympics looming in the fast-approaching future we’re faced with a serious labour crunch in all industries, notably the hospitality industry. The proposed solution I have heard so far from our provincial government is to import labour from Southeast Asia to staff positions. A specific visa type has been created.

* If so, how did you deal with it? What were the net results for the people and the society they became part of?

JT: The travel and tourism industry has the ability, when properly funded and understood, to be a vehicle for job creation and economic development. As in any sector, at times there are shortages of labor and we have to reach out to the community of individuals that are willing to fill out these particular jobs. 

It’s important to understand the tourism industry is an integral part of economic expansion. Communities that are enlightened have learned to support it, in terms of dollars for promotion, as well as build up and expand the tourism infrastructure. Doing so will help other communities to grow and be prosperous well into the future.

And what would you say to somebody who says “Well, this is just taking jobs away from nationals?

It’s not taking jobs away from nationals because nationals in these communities tend to be working already.  In the areas where you’re seeing economic expansion due to travel and tourism, unemployment tends to be fairly low.

And do you think this provides a snapshot of what staffing means in a global economy?

Travel and tourism is the largest industry in the world. As more countries understand the potential for travel and tourism, we are going to see economic expansion. However, it has to be done in a way that acknowledges the environment and treats people who work in the industry with respect.

Have you ever personally or in one of the organizations that you’re affiliated with, been in a situation where you’ve had to look outside the local community to fill positions?

Our hotels are market-driven and we are responsive to the demands of the marketplace. We do what is necessary to ensure that all our positions are filled and that we can offer the type of service our guests have come to expect from Loews hotels.

Each and every coworker at Loews Hotels contributes to creating the best possible experience for our guests; it’s upon these experiences that we’ve built our business and staked our reputation.

Linkage
There are still four blogs to go! [Blog Book Tour Schedule]

Permalink | Authors • Bloggers • Vacant Ready