Below see a great article wirtten by  Steve Temmermand that was on the Hotelmanagement.net site on September 4, 2012

Hoteliers can drive revenue growth by offering not only experiences that customers want, but experiences for which they are willing to pay a premium. Recently, PwC conducted research to analyze the value of different hotel options. The research reveals that issue resolution and in-room amenities are features most sought by customers. 

Unlike traditional methods of consumer research, PwC’s Experience Radar 2012 measures the features that customers value as they select a hotel, not just features they like. The difference is that valued features are those for which customers are willing to pay more. The study is based on responses to an online survey from a sample of 900 U.S. consumers—600 leisure travelers and 300 business travelers. 

Experience Radar 2012 identifies certain, important features that guests have grown to expect from their hotel experiences. These are the must-have features, with low economic returns. Notable features that customers do not want to pay a premium for include style and décor, flexible cancellation policies and reward points. 

In contrast, Experience Radar 2012 also identifies features, such as issue resolution and in-room amenities, that guests find important and for which they are willing to pay a premium. Leisure guests reported they were willing to pay a 20-percent premium for best-in-class issue resolution, while business guests reported they were willing to pay an 11-percent premium. Also, this feature affects a hotel’s ability to retain customers.

Eight out of 10 leisure guests are influenced by well-handled issue resolution during a previous stay when rebooking.

On the other hand, failure to resolve customer issues can have lasting and broad-reaching consequences. Sixty-six percent of guests surveyed indicated they are not willing to rebook after a bad experience. In addition, they make sure their entire network shares the same sentiment because 80 percent of those surveyed report sharing bad experiences with others within a month.

The report finds a divide between leisure and business guests in willingness to pay extra for certain amenities. Leisure guests reported a willingness to pay a 30-percent premium for a hotel offering what could be called top-tier, in-room amenities, such as Wi-Fi and high-definition TV. While 84 percent of business guests value these same types of top-tier amenities, they reported an unwillingness to pay a premium for them. 

These findings suggest that hoteliers may be able to drive incremental revenue by enhancing their guests’ experience.  In particular, guests value an ability to address issues as soon as they arise.

To celebrate the end of Summer, service activity #2 is being mailed out to all of the hotels this week. Please keep an eye on your mailbox for the next activity. This activity will center around the H.E.A.R.T of Radisson. Yes I Can! Trainers with questions can contact HSSC.  Don’t forget to take pictures and send them into the blog! We can’t wait to see if you have H.E.A.R.T.

Today on the Radisson Facebook Page one of our guests left this great Yes I Can! Story about Jody at the Radisson Hotel Saskatoon.

Thank you to the Radisson at Cross Keys for sharing this wonderful customer service story! This story showcases Teamwork & Yes I Can attitude.

On Wednesday August 1, 2012  a guest, checked out of his two rooms a day early due to a family emergency.  The guest got all the way to the airport when he noticed he did not have  a special piece of paper that would allow him to obtain an airline voucher. The guest called the hotel saying they were on their way back to retrieve this piece of paper and that their granddaughter was playing with the paper and had crumpled it up earlier in the day.

 Prior to the guest arriving; Housekeeping looked everywhere and could not find any paper, not even from the trash that came out of the room, Olya who was the Housekeeper for their room confirmed this as well. When the guest arrived Ms. Peggy D (Executive Housekeeper) and Olya came out and spoke with the guest.

 Yuri from housekeeping and Olya took it upon themselves to get into the trash dumpster to go through the trash bags that came from the guest’s floor and still could not find any paper that resembled what the guest lost. While Yuri and Olya were doing this Heather (front desk) called the airline to see what she could do. The first person she spoke with said they could not do anything; the guest was required to have the number that was given. That person gave Heather another number to call, which was customer relations. Heather insisted in the new number and finally reached Joyce from the airline. Heather explained the situation to Joyce, how the paper was misplaced and that our Housekeepers had gone all the way to try and retrieve the paper by going into the dumpster. Joyce was so touched by the hotel’s commitment to service that she felt she had to make everything possible to get the guest the ticket.  After she successfully got the guest the ticket, she told Heather she would send a letter to the management of the hotel and she herself become a loyal guest of all Radisson hotels.

Congratulations to Radisson Cross Keys for Caring and having a true HEART for our guests!  

The TOUR continued south, along the Florida coast to the beach front Radisson Suite Hotel Oceanfront, Melbourne, Florida.  Each of the spacious 168 suites offers spectacular views of the Atlantic Ocean, which together with the service that the team provides helps them  consistently achieves high marks in TripAdvisor. 

 Ambassador Ben Gardeen knew this was going to be a special day when he woke up and as he looked into the ocean and beach, saw huge letters spelling out “Yes I Can!” on the beach below his 15^th floor ocean view suite! 

The morning meeting with the experienced team focused on finding ways to continue to drive high scores and achieve the 2012 President’s Award. 

General Manager, Raed Alshaibi provided a buffet lunch to all employees prior to the rally.  At the rally, Raed thanked his team for great service scores and reviewed their current Medallia results with them.  Several guest comments and reviews were read out to the staff and the name “Charlie” kept coming up.  Raed shared how Charlie Gatz, front desk guest service representative has exemplified the Yes I Can! Behaviors with each guest each day.  His focus to “surprise and delight” included personally touring a couple of “potential” guests, who stopped by the hotel to check rates.  Charlie personally toured them around the property, including the ocean view suites.  The guests booked their reservation on the spot and then booked for 12 more stays in the future!  As Raed stated to his employees “we make memories” here at the Radisson Suite Hotel Oceanfront! 

The Florida sun greeted the Yes I Can! Tour team as they arrived at the Radisson Resort at the Port Cape Canaveral.  The sun couldn’t have come at a better time as this 284-room resort immediately gives you the sense of arrival to paradise with its large grotto style pool and lush landscape. The hotel has played host to the Carlson Rezidor Business School in 2011.

This beach community, made famous for the NASA shuttle launches, is also a major port for many cruise lines transporting tourists throughout the Caribbean. The hotel receives many of the cruise ship guests before and after their cruise vacations by offering parking and shuttles to the port.

The morning managers meeting immediately began with a deep dive into how the hotel could begin to regain its rank at the top of the brand where it once lived for many years. The discussion among the managers, many of whom have been with the hotel for 10 + years, focused on how to improve scores given the increased guest touch points the hotel now has catering to the leisure traveler. This change has been a result of the economy in Cape Canaveral losing much of its NASA shuttle related business. Like the rest of the community, the hotel has had to adapt from serving predominantly the business traveler, to now serving mainly the leisure guest.

The employee rally was attended by 40 engaged staff. Encouragement and empowerment was expressed by the tour team management team around Doing it Right, Making it Right, 100% Guest Satisfaction and follow through.

 General Manager Joe Panackia, presented the Yes I Can! award to room attendant Alison Raber.

With numerous Yes I Can! stories under their belt, the trio of executiveRaj Rana, district director Jan Kirst and Ambassador Ben Gardeen arrived in Jacksonville, Florida.   The Radisson Hotel Jacksonville was the first stop in a series of three hotel visits the team is making in “the Sunshine State.”

 Jacksonville is a market that has seen a lot of pain after being badly hit by the weak economy and tourism almost completely falling off. The good news is the city is now seeing a rebound! Rev Par and market share for the hotel is up for the first time in recent years.

The hotel ranks in the Top 10 for the brand in Guest Service Index (GSI) with the employees performing magic every day. Yes I Can! is second nature to this staff who are consistently reaching for more.  In the first 10 minutes of the managers meeting, the Yes I Can! Team realized the success that this was built on.

 The managers meeting focused on the circle of influence, as despite their high scores, the hotels’ full potential can be realized once renovations are completed.

 CJ Douglas, the hotel’s general manager reminded all department heads that it is everyone’s responsibility to ensure all employees feel fully empowered to resolve any guest issue. CJ even said that if she had some “pixie dust of empowerment,” she would sprinkle it on all the employees as a reminder.   In CJ’s words, “it’s always best for an employee to handle a guest issue themselves than call me.

The Radisson Jacksonville was almost sold out this day, but the participation level at the staff rally was high, with most employees except for critically manned positions attending the meeting.  The team made a point to acknowledge to the staff that the service that they provide is cutting edge. At the rally, the Carlson Rezidor team and general manager thanked the team for achieving such a fantastic Service Performance Index score of 9.16, again ranking the hotel at within the top five for the brand.

When Ambassador Gardeen asked the staff, “who has been through Yes I Can! training?” the entire room raised their hands, again showing the devotion this staff has to their hotel.  CJ recognized Kelsey Lardner, front desk guest service representative for her unending delivery of Yes I Can! Service, including being a key catalyst to ensure that all guest’s personalized welcomed by their name as they walk into the hotel lobby.  Guests have expressed their appreciation for Kelsey’s unending smiles by having recognized her over 65 times in Medallia over the past year.  

The Yes I Can! Tour arrived at the beautiful lakefront Radisson Hotel Admiral Toronto on the hottest day of the summer … a steamy 40 Degrees Celsius. The morning meeting started off with 12 Managers and a bit of a stumble for the General Manager, Dermot McKeown who on his morning jog fell, and broke 2 fingers. Although he had to go to the emergency he arrived with bandaged fingers and excited about the Yes I Can! Rally.

The afternoon staff rally started with the Greater Toronto Waterfront  Quartet singing acapella – revving up the room with delightful sounds of harmony. The room filled with over 80 employees – where the General Manager opened the rally by doing an excellent job of comparing the Quartet to the Yes I Can! Culture they have created where “ They are all singing the same song … but they all have a different part  to play” The other incredible statistic is that everyone of these 80 employees have all been through  Yes I Can! Training.

The winning YES I CAN! story went to three people Johnny McGaughin, Scott DeRuyter and Aaron Gomes…where together the three of them averted what could have been a horrible day when the Chef who was to be in cooking breakfast had a car accident and could not get to work. This is where Johnny stepped into the kitchen and started cooking breakfast and Scott and Aaron went into action to prepare the buffet and support and serve the guests. They did not miss a beat and the guests never knew what was going on behind the scenes. General manager Dermot McKeown felt so passionately about this story that reflects the essence of YES I CAN! – passion, service with a heart and teamwork - that he agreed to have three awards awarded.

The Yes I Can! tour arrived on the final stop of the Canadian Tour to the beautiful city of Halifax.  It is hard to believe the tour started almost 12 weeks ago on the west coast of Canada in the beautiful city of Vancouver … and the tour has literally traveled from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean with many stops in between.

Executive David McMillan and District Director Charmain Stoyand have had the pleasure of working with several committed Ambassadors including Derek Robertson and Sandy Russell.  For this last hotel in Canada, Ambassador Jennifer Mawson joined the team.

During the morning managers meeting the GSI scores were reviewed and some time was spent looking at the success this hotel has had in the question: “Did what ever it took to meet my needs“ where they score of 8.91.

The staff rally opened up with the General Manager Kathy Perrier welcoming the 25 employees and expressing how proud she was of each and every one of them. David McMillan spoke to the success of this team and their fantastic SPI score of 9.00. The Yes I Can! Winner was Chantal Snelson for her Yes I Can! spirit.