Easing guest departure through new technology

Case study

Harriet Marshall is general manager of the 70-bedroom midmarket business and leisure Helms Park hotel in London. Since she started at the hotel two years ago, she has made a point of meeting guests and spending time talking to them. She believes that her hotel should be a home-from-home, and wants to ensure guest requirements are met as closely as possible. She is gradually instilling this philosophy into her team.

As part of this approach, Marshall has recently spent time watching guests as they check out between the busy times of 7.45am and 8.45am each day. Her concern was that the front-office staff were struggling to cope with the high requirement placed on them during this period. They consistently find themselves asking for extra help from other staff during this busy time to ensure that they are able to provide as fast a checkout service as possible.

Marshall is not convinced that this is the best solution for the guest or the hotel. Watching guests, she sees frustration bordering on anger at this log jam.

Some anxiously glance at watches, while others raise their voices as requests are made to quickly retrieve luggage from the rooms and guests are told that there is a 10-minute delay for taxis to the airport. If a guest leaves angrily, the receptionist is deflated - she is trying her best, after all.

Marshall, meanwhile, wonders whether these guests will ever return.

From a financial point of view, Marshall knows that taking staff off other duties will increase costs and reduce efficiency, and potentially service, in other parts of the hotel. But all the effort put into ensuring that the guest has a comfortable and enjoyable stay becomes irrelevant if the last impression is poor.

This case study is a work of fiction and consequently the names, characters and incidents portrayed in the article are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.