Exchanging information
3 W ork in pairs. Student A, look at the information on this page. Student B, turn to File 10, page 106.
Read the documents from the hotel files. Make notes. What, if anything, can you find out about the following? Share your information with your partner.
1 recent changes to working conditions, including salaries and overtime
2 cost-cutting
3 custom er feedback - positive and negative 4 new technology
5 the following members of staff: Alexandre Huchet, Franỗoise Lagarde, Rachida Gadouche
Student A
From: F ra n ỗ o ise L a g a rd e
To: A le x a n d re H u c h e t ... w e can o ffer a g e n e ro u s sa la ry , p lu s ten p e rce n t co m m issio n on net p ro fits, w h ich w ill be re d u c e d to th ree p e rce n t p .a. w h en p ro fits in c r e a s e b eyond o u r ag re ed ta rg e ts.
We lo o k forw ard to working with you,
F ra n ỗ o is e Lag ard e
D istric t M an ager, H ow att H otels
Interim report - Alexandre H u ch e t
Over the last six months, I believe I have made a number of useful changes to improve staff motivation and staff retention and increase profits.
■ Staffing
All the staff now w ear the same uniform and badge. I have also introduced a method of job evaluation in order to identify jobs which have similar skills and introduce flexible working arrangem ents. If we are short-staffed in a particular area, other em ployees can do the work and we don't need to employ any temps.
I have introduced a Kaizen approach to staff management which means that employees now work in team s and share their responsibilities. In the new system, teams and individuals in teams can make their own decisions, which means they work more efficiently. We have also bought new software which will monitor employees' time and productivity so we can see who might deserve a raise or promotion. We have increased pay to take inflation into account but the salaries have stayed at last year's levels. The new flexible working arrangements have made it possible to reduce staff overtime by 30 percent.
■ Finance
I have made a number o f changes to reduce costs.
I have replaced the previous a la carte menu with pre-packaged frozen foods purchased in bulk from a local supplier. We are able to serve the same items for only 60 percent of the previous cost. As the number of tourists visiting Paris continues to rise, there will always be a shortage of bed-nights in the capital, so I have reduced discounts for internet bookings and commissions to tour operators. I am working towards a paperless reservations system so we can reduce the number o f staff at the front desk. In addition, dinner reservations can now be made from the in-room television screen, which can also be used for hotel information services.
AT ■-k i&. - I
Is the hotel well managed or not? What changes, if any, need to be m ade? Work in pairs. Prepare a presentation
° f up to ten PowerPoint slides outlining your conclusions.
Give the presentation to the class.
W riting a report
4 Write a report of 200-300 words describing the problems in running this hotel together with your recommendations.
Use the model in the Writing bank on page 101 to help you.
KEY WORDS
adm inistrative work bed-night casual labour cost-cutting dem anding em pow er evaluate incentive occupancy rate policy refurbishment rewarding
run out of staff retention stocked See DVD-ROM M ini-dictionary
0 0 R U N N IN G A H O T E L
Grammar: question forms
Vocabulary: customer service terms, personal qualities, multi-word verbs Professional skills: handling telephone conversations
Case study: improve customer service
Speaking
CU STO M ER EXPECTATIONS
1 Do you agree that 'The customer is always right'? Discuss your ideas with partner.
2 Talk about your own experiences of r .1 r •ằ
good or bad customer service in one or more
a store a travel agency an airport a call centre J of the following places.
f a hotel a restaurant
Listening
CUSTO M ER SERVICE EXPERIENCES
* * ^ ™ nc* |' * p p ô ằ ? w h ! d ,^ dld " ch
4 d B Which of the speakers 1-4 use the o h r a ô . u i - ■.
2i 3 or 4. P b e b w ? Listen a9 ain and write 1,
Problems
_ _ f T h e y J h a d n o i d e a w h a t t h e y w e r e d o i n g . _ _ T h e r e w a s n o r e c o r d o f t h e r e s e r v a t i o n . ___ T h e r e d id n ' t s e e m t o h e a n y n e t w o r k a t a ll ___ T h e r e w a s a m e c h a n i c a l p r o b l e m . ___ A ll t h e t a b l e s w e r e t a k e n .
Customer service
___ g e s t u r e o f g o o d w i ll
___ c o m p l i m e n t a r y b o x o f c h o c o l a t e s It s h o w s t h e y c a r e ,
o n t h e h o u s e
_ f r e q u e n t - f l y e r m i l e a g e c r e d it
5 What could the people responsible in the two b d
done to improve those situations? Disci ■<=. . f , customer service situations have USS your'deas with a partner.
C U S T O M E R S E R V I C E
Vocabulary
PER SO N A L q u a l i t i e s
6 Com plete the Em ployee Code of Conduct with the words in the box.
appropriate com petent loyal reliable welcoming
)
Employee Code of Conduct
The Prestige Group of Hotels trains all its staff in customer care, particularly in the importance of having the right professional attitude and behaviour. Employees with a good professional attitude should:
• be warm and 1_______to guests when they arrive and throughout their stay.
• be 2_______to the organization and not criticize it in front of guests.
• wear 3_______clothes and make it a priority to be well-dressed and well-groomed.
• be 4____ __so that others can count on you and be a good team player.
• know your job and work in a 5_______and efficient manner at all times.
7 W rite th e o p p o site o f the personal qualities 1 -12 b elow using the p refixes in the b o x. Use a d ictio nary to help you.
dis im in un
1 ____ appropriate 4 _____ com petent 7 _____ efficient 1 0 _____ friendly 2 ___honest 5 ____ loyal 8 ____ patient 11 _____personal 3 ____ polite 6 ____ reliable 9 _____respectful 1 2 _____welcoming 8 C o m p lete the sentences b elo w w ith the ap p ro p riate form (positive or negative) of
a d je ctive s from Exe rcise 7.
1 His clothes w e re ________ for a waiter. He wore jeans and a not very clean T-shirt.
2 The receptionist obviously had no idea what she was doing and was totally_______ • 3 In our country, it is ________ to address older people by their first names.
4 Our staff are v e ry ________ . Nothing has ever been stolen from the guests' rooms.
5 The hotel is part of a chain, so the rooms are the same everywhere and it all feels a b it ________ .
6 The food is excellent but the service is ________; some nights it's good and on others it's awful.
7 I couldn't believe h o w ________and well organized the staff were. They sorted out all my problems.
8 The atmosphere w a s ________. The receptionist didn't smile or speak to me when I walked past and nobody offered to help me with my bags.
Speaking
s h o w i n g y o u c a r e
9 What could customer service staff do as a 'gesture of good will' in the following situations? Discuss your ideas with a partner and feed back to the class. Use the ideas from the listening in Exercise 3 to help you.
1 A f a m i l y h a v e t o w a i t a l o n g t i m e t o g e t s e r v e d in t h e r e s t a u r a n t a n d t h e f o o d is n o t o f a g o o d s t a n d a r d .
2 T h e r e c e p t i o n i s t f o r g o t t o m a k e a r e s t a u r a n t r e s e r v a t i o n a n d t h e r e s t a u r a n t is n o w fu ll.
3 A p a s s e n g e r o n a l o n g - h a u l f lig h t (2 0 h o u r s ) h a s o r d e r e d a v e g e t a r i a n m e a l b u t t h e r e a r e n o n e a v a i l a b l e .
4 A g u e s t c o m p l a i n s t h a t h e r r o o m is d ir t y a n d s m e l l s o f . t o b a c c o s m o k e .
G O O D A N D B A D C U S T O M E R S E R V I C E C o n d u c t a w e b q u e s t t o f in d e x a m p l e s o f g o o d a n d b a d e x a m p l e s o f c u s t o m e r s e r v i c e in t r a v e l a n d t o u r i s m f a c i l i t i e s ( h o t e l s , t o u r i s t a t t r a c t i o n s , t r a n s p o r t , e t c . ) . R e p o r t b a c k t o t h e c l a s s .
i
o \ C U S T O M E R S E R V IC E