5 Take Their Breath Away How to Boost Guest Numbers in a Tough Economy by Chip R. Bell
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large brokerage company added a new twist to their toll-free telephone cue — “...punch 6 if you’d like to hear a duck quack!” Word of the playful feature spread and soon thousands of people were calling daily just to hear the duck. The company had to remove the unique feature because it overloaded their phone system and ran up a huge tab! The story communicates just how bored today’s customers have become. Want proof? Companies like Nordstrom and Starbucks are considered the “best of the best.” Why? Because they focus on customers (like remembering preferences); they design service processes around customer convenience, pay attention to the details, deliver consistency, and ensure customers receive very friendly service. Most innkeepers would ask, “What is the big deal? Is that not what plain old good service means in the first place?” Another occurrence has elevated customer standards for service. They have become over-stimulated. Television has become both high definition and multimedia. The nightly news shows the weather report, ball scores, stock market numbers and a crawling headline simultaneously on the TV screen. Even the little league ball park is cloistered among giant billboards. Hitting a home run makes a bragging sponsor as noteworthy as a budding sports star. That steady stream of sensory arousal risks making a historic inn seem humdrum and plain vanilla. If A+ service now only gets you a B– on your guest’s report card and if over
stimulated guests crave excitement along with their gourmet breakfast, what’s a bed and breakfast to do? Besides, at a time when value-added (taking what guests expect and adding more) has gotten way
Most innkeepers would ask, “What is the big deal? Is that not what plain old good service means in the first place?” too pricey, maybe it is time try valueunique. Focusing on inventive service, not just great service, means re-examining everything about your guests’ service experience. It means serving with imagination, not just generosity.
you think the large claw-footed tub is still located outdoors. Everything is plan ned, crafted and managed to make you believe you are also the guests of Patrick and Sarah. The mattress and box springs of all the large beds are designed and built by local master craftsman Bobby Brown. The beds are so luxurious and cuddly guests often almost miss breakfast. Furnishings are under the attention-to-detail guardianship of co-innkeeper Karen Wibell reflecting her professional background in home furnishings marketing. Gourmet breakfasts are prepared by co-innkeeper
Re-Sense Your Inn Walk in the front door of the Victorian Brady Inn in Madison, Georgia and your spirit is time warped back to 1885 when the elegant home was occupied by Patrick and Sarah Brady. Their pictures hang in the graceful foyer. Sarah’s shoes, found recently in the attic of a nearby home, adorn the large antique armoire in the Sarah Brady bedroom. A verse from an old Shaker hymn is painted in giant calligraphy around the wall at the ceiling of the Saffold Sitting room — appropriately the verse was written around the time the house was built. The bathroom off the McIntyre Bedroom was once an outdoor porch. Today a hand-painted mural, by local artist Molly Lesnikowski, makes winter 2010 • innkeeping quarterly