When a business has successfully branded itself it has gotten its customers to associate certain ideas and feelings with its name and logo. As Walter Landor, a top advertising executive, states, a brand promises its customers satisfaction and quality. At your Hotel, the goal is to have your guests associate the Hotel name and logo with your Mission Statement. For instance, the Beacon Hotel in South Beach’s is to have their guests associate the Beacon with 5 Diamond Customer Service. The Beacon brand promises quality accommodations served with a genuine smile and personalized attention.

Simply put, a brand is a promise. By identifying and authenticating a product or service it delivers a pledge of satisfaction and quality. — Walter Landor, advertising executive

What tools are needed to accomplish the Beacon Hotel’s mission of 5 Diamond Customer Service? The first step is for employees to arm themselves with a positive attitude. You can’t provide personalized attention with a big smile if you don’t have the right attitude. Employees should be attentive to detail and consistent in their helpful, cooperative and friendly attitude. Consistency in this attitude, from managers to employees, will help you say in your words and actions to the guests that your Hotel is a symbol of quality and excellence.

Another important aspect of branding is image. You can’t deliver quality and excellence if you don’t take care of your image, not only of the hotel, but even the image of individual employees. What does this mean? Employees should have impeccable grooming and always conduct themselves in a way that reflects your hotel’s standards of excellence. Uniforms must always be presentable and name tags should always be worn. When you are your Hotel you are a brand evangelist, so carry yourself knowing you are part of a team of employees focused on delivering a promise of excellence.

A sincere and voluntary smile doesn’t cost anything to deliver but it can be a hotel’s most valuable asset in creating a first impression. A hotel can have all the ingredients for success — a great location, venues, recreation and quality facilities — but if there is a lack of joy and excitement, the guest will not feel welcomed.

Here are the basic components of service with a smile:

• VALUE: Guests experience value when they feel they have received a fair return on their investment. Guests expect the experience we have promised them, from before the time they step foot in the lobby. Guests value their experience when they feel they are treated with kindness, warmth and genuine friendliness. What better way to show this than with a smile?
• FACE: Your face is your most important tool — don’t ever forget it! Your face allows you to offer a certain level of grace and respect in all transaction —personal and professional. Any exchange, the give and take of energy and resources, establishes some result. A smile makes a transaction much more memorable.
• ENHANCEMENT: Like it or not, we all communicate through body language. We send messages through our mannerisms, posture, attention and movement. Body language demonstrates attitude. Guests base their impressions on our attitude. Serving guests without making eye contact, with hands in pockets, a hung head send out a very strong message: Don’t bother me; you are not important; I don’t care. This attitude sends out the signals that a guests’ business is not valued and that they are not respected. Enhancement involves attention to behavior and attitude. A smile elevates the level of service and sets the tone for the experience the guest seeks.
• THE SMILE: The smile is a simple muscle contraction, brought about by joy, pleasure, relief, confidence, and a commitment to service. A smile communicates accessibility and a feeling of welcome and care. Plus, a smile is contagious. If you smile, guests will too!

It is the ability to direct individual accomplishments toward hotel objectives. Teamwork is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.

How can you be a team player at your hotel? First, an employee must be aware of the hotel’s mission. For example, the mission at the Beacon Hotel in South Beach is to be the Ocean Drive leader in providing Five Diamond Guest Service. Additionally, the Beacon is focused on staying ahead of the competition. A Beacon employee must be committed to this mission and must have the initiative and drive to contribute his/her own part in order to reach hotel goals.

A team player must have respect and integrity. People, both guests and employees, are the cornerstone of your Hotel’s success. All employees and guests must be treated with respect and dignity. Respect means listening to others’ ideas and responding appropriately. As a team we must establish an environment that fosters personal and professional growth and achievement. Communication must be frequent and candid. We must support others with tools, training and authority so that as a team we are successful in achieving our responsibilities, goals and objectives. In carrying out our work team players must have integrity — actions are based on a strong sense of what is right. Integrity means never compromising ethical standards or quality of service.

A team player must also have discipline. As a team we work towards a common goal, and so we must carry out our duties in
a responsible and timely manner. Tasks must be completed at the convenience of the team and with the purpose of reaching team goals, rather than for personal convenience. An employee must also have ambition and innovation. A successful team player has personal goals that fit within team goals and it is the desire to reach these goals that keeps a team player working hard and continuously improving. Team players offer new ideas and take risks, as this is the only way to achieve improvement and growth.

Each team player must also be a leader. You are a leader by focusing on the end goal, establishing a shared sense of goals, and shaping an environment of openness. Leaders perform based on a view of long-term success and empower those around them by sharing knowledge and by rewarding individual effort. At any hotel, leadership is not for the few, it is a mandate for all. Everyone must find a way to lead, and hotels should be dedicated to providing opportunities for leaders to grow, develop and enhance their contribution to the Hotel.

Enter The Beacon Hotel, South Beach:

Our mission at the Beacon Hotel is to be the Ocean Drive leader in providing Five-Diamond Boutique Hotel Service. To reach our goal it is necessary to go beyond simple courtesy. It is not enough to greet the guest, or to answer calls in a timely manner — the kind of service the Beacon aims to provide service that includes anticipating guest needs and making sure these needs have been taken care of by following-up and following a problem closely until there is a satisfactory solution for the guest.

The key to this is simple: make careful observations, pay attention to details and document guest needs, concerns and solutions. Documentation will help you prioritize tasks and keep focused and organized. This documentation is also a learning tool as you can always go back and reflect on your performance to continue to grow and improve. The purpose of the Beacon Hotel is to stay in business forever by building long-lasting relationships with our employees and our guests.