At Your Service

Excellent guest service is at the heart of the hospitality industry, but delivering it consistently can be tricky. Faiz Alam Ansari, complex general manager of Aloft Bengaluru Cessna Business Park and Sheraton Grand Bengaluru Whitefield Hotel and Convention Centre shares his successful strategies with Vinita Bhatia.

- David Mathews

Ask hoteliers the definition of the hospitality industry and they are likely to tell you that it is a service-oriented business encompassing hotels, restaurants or bars. Ask them how they gauge the success of any entity in this domain, and they will throw about terms like ARR, ADR, RevPAR, etc.

However, the true measurement of success lies in the very word that sums the business – hospitality. It lies in the service extended to guests who choose to visit a hotel, restaurant, bar, spa, etc. After all, customers choose to become patrons of these establishments and a key reason for this choice is the service extended to them.

Today, every general manager worth their salt knows that great service is vital in the competitive hospitality business. The challenge, however, lies in articulating it in clear tangible terms and outlining the processes to follow it so that associates know how to deliver it to guests. It is just as tricky putting in place metrics to gauge its efficacy.

At the outset, this might look simple. However, the hospitality industry, given its people-centricity needs a slightly different approach. Here are some tips from Faiz Alam Ansari, complex general manager for Aloft Bengaluru Cessna Business Park and Sheraton Grand Bengaluru Whitefield Hotel and Convention Centre, which he has implemented during his 20-year career.