Probing Techniques

Guidelines in using the Probing Technique

Request permission and then ask a few closed questions to get the client’s response and to know his inclination. [Explain that you are asking these questions to be able to subsequently match your product/service with his need].

Subsequently, ask open questions to get more details. Do not ask too many questions which may irritate the client. It is recommended to provide some info about your company/product after asking a few questions.

Note: Questions using ‘Why’ and ‘Who’ are tricky and should be used with caution.

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Ask and Ye shall Recieve

The seller’s task is to translate the value from his product to the guest’s mind. The selling process becomes easy if the guest’s needs are identified before proposing your solution. Asking the right questions will help the customer identify his needs. Though there are a wide variety of questions, the most important types of questions are:

Closed Questions… where the expected response is a YES or a NO.

Leading Questions… Can be considered as a type of closed question where you get a desired response which can be either a Yes or a No. If you are able to get three Yes’, it is possible that the customer’s apprehensions and resistance will be reduced.

Open Questions… where the customer is led to give a detailed answer. The simplest way to achieve this is to use the 6W+1H (What, Why, Where, When, Which, Who + How).

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Trends in Online Hotel Marketing

Around the world, hoteliers are seeing the benefits of online advertising as they increasingly drive bookings through property websites. As a result, they are ramping up the marketing spend in that area, according to survey results by market intelligence provider TravelClick.

Two-thirds of the global hoteliers polled (66%) are now spending on Facebook advertising, and almost one-quarter (23%) have increased their Facebook ad budget for 2014. Some hoteliers are slow to spend on Facebook advertising because it is currently seen more as a brand awareness tactic than a direct-booking tactic. Online marketing spend is a growing trend with three-quarters of the surveyed hoteliers (76%) focusing on metasearch, and within that a third are increasing that spend for this year (32%). Similarly, more than four in every five hoteliers polled (84%) invests in ad words with one in three (32%) increasing that spend for 2014.

When asked which social media channels drive the most bookings to their property websites, the overwhelming leader was TripAdvisor with more than three-quarters (78%) of respondents singling out the travel review site. Both Facebook and Google+ were also named as sites that drive bookings with 11% of hoteliers selecting each of those social networks. Hoteliers should consider TripAdvisor as a key social media platform to strengthen their brand as this channel is now becoming fully integrated into the social media marketing mix.

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Thank you Capt Nair

What can I say as a eulogy for a gentleman who has inspired thousands of hoteliers? I had the pleasure of working for The Leela Hotels & Palaces for over six years between 2002 – 2008 and on several occasions, I was fortunate enough to have had many memorable interactions with this fine hotelier.

His most defining characteristic was arguably his passion for life and hotels… many a time at the Yali Lounge Gazebo at The Leela Goa where I worked as the E.A.M. F&B, he would regale me with incidents in his life wherein he thought larger than life itself and attracted success therein.

One such incident stood out for me: In the 1950’s when India was perceived as an impoverished country, Capt. Nair visited the U.S. of A to promote his company Leela Lace. On checkin into the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, he asked at the reception where the senator who he was to meet was staying. When told that he was in a suite, Capt Nair asked for the next premium category of suites and checked into this superior suite. In the evening, he called the senator who invited him to his room for a pre-dinner drink and business discussions. Capt. Nair instead invited the senator to his suite and obviously impressed the senator with his level of opulence and style in keeping with the superior suite he had selected to stay in. The business was his for the taking thereafter!

To me this story always embodied the spirit of Capt. Nair… today his hotels are a testament to his vision and ‘larger than life’ image.

Thank you Captain Nair!

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Proactive Hotel Security

Business and recreational travelers demand safe and secure hotel accommodations and responsive and friendly customer service. How can hoteliers ensure that their property provides as secure an environment as possible, while maintaining friendly customer service?

Maintain security minded customer service – Front desk staff and valets are trained to embody a customer first, customer service model. While maintaining friendly, responsive interactions with customers is crucial, it is also important to vigilantly follow all security protocols. What happens when a nicely dressed man asks the valet for his car or stored bags? As a matter of course, does the valet validate the request against identification, room card or ticket, or do they take the man at his word that that the Gucci luggage and Mercedes Benz are indeed his own? Does the front desk require identification when providing replacement access cards to those who have misplaced or lost their cards?

Keycard access review – With a few pieces of hardware and minor programming, it is possible for a criminal to gain undetectable entree to millions of key card protected hotel rooms. Hoteliers should remind all guests of the security safeguards they offer and remind guests to use their lock bars and chains and dead bolts when retiring for the evening. Room safes or securing valuables at the front desk should also be recommended if available.

Establish evergreen background screening protocol – Background screening should be an evergreen process. Re-screening employees annually can help hoteliers maintain the high level of quality staff they desire.

Control after hours access – For maximum safety, posting security personnel at front entrance and other access points is vital. Also ensure that your up-to-date closed circuit system is tracking all of the hotel’s public areas, including the parking lot, gym, restaurants, loading dock, etc.

Assess location and local crime statistics – CAP Index is recognized as the authoritative leader in quantifying the overall likelihood of crime or loss affecting a location’s safety, operational goals, or profitability. This knowledge is power and can lay the groundwork for your hotel’s safety and security plan.

Security officers that welcome and protect – Hotels must foster an inviting atmosphere for guests while ensuring safety and security. Presenting security personnel in a customer service role with officers dressed in upscale business clothing rather than traditional police or military style uniform, makes for a more accessible presence.

Bolster public/private initiatives – Establishing public-private programs that further police and security cooperation in the protection of people and property helps to enhance safety and security. When private security works in partnership with law enforcement to respond to these issues, police officers have more time to focus on solving crimes and enforcing the law.

Maintain emergency response plan and team – The collaboration between law enforcement and private security needs to extend beyond on-the-spot information sharing. Proactive security efforts and emergency planning initiatives should also involve everyone with a vested interest in safety and security. Existing plans should be reviewed annually, and evacuation and response drills, as well as and other training sessions should include those external groups as well. Involving everyone in planning and training will allow plans to be as situational as possible, and also help ensure a more efficient implementation if the worst case scenario does occur.

Part of emergency response and event management plans require the ability to ramp up staff at a moment’s notice. Ensuring that your security team is ready and available when you need them can pay enormous dividends in minimizing the real world impact of a crisis to your brand, staff and guests.

Commitment to ongoing training – Security professionals require continual quality training if they are to be as responsive and knowledgeable as possible. Given that security personnel are placed in the front line of an hotelier’s security force, it is vital that they have all the latest tools needed to handle emergency and crisis situations. Security professionals should be able to access training in a way that benefits their lifestyle whether it is online or classroom training.

Contributed by Bob Chartier, V.P. AlliedBarton Security Services

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Shared Vision

Ramiah addressing the corporate team of Auromatrix Hotels, Appollo Finance, Aloft Starwood & Sparsa Hotels General Managers and Finance Heads… Chennai, 14 Mar 2014

In a recent presentation made out to the corporate team of Auromatrix Hotels, Appollo Finance and Aloft Starwood and Sparsa Hotel General Managers and Financial Controllers, my theme revolved around the fact that a “Shared Vision enhances Profitability”.
  • Bill Marriott famously once said “I want our associates to know that there really is a guy named Marriott who cares for them“. He understood that if his team were to share his vision, they needed to know of his existence as a caring, understanding and existing personality!
  • Ricardo Semler who pioneered the Semco story and articulated his success in empowering and creating a common vision believed in a decentralized, participatory style and has let his employees set their own hours, wages, even choose their own IT. In 1990, the Brazilian economy went into a severe downturn, forcing many companies to declare bankruptcy. Workers at Semco agreed to wage cuts, providing their share of profits was increased to 39%, management salaries were cut by 40% and employees were given the right to approve every item of expenditure. How has he fared? Semco’s revenues have jumped from $35 million to $212 million in NINE years, with an annual growth rate of 40% and the firm grew from several hundred employees to 3,000—with employee turnover of about 1 percent.
  • Henry Ford said once that “if everyone moves forward together, then success takes care of itself“

Beyond a point, an employees primary need has less to do with money, and more to do with how he’s treated and how valued he feels. If you are losing good people, look to their immediate supervisor/manager. Findings through a survey by Marcus Buckingham & Curt Coffman revealed that “People leave Managers, not Companies.”

Is a shared vision possible? If so, then is it also possible that senior resources who hold the reins of a hotel company re-look at these phrases?

  • The General Manager… a) must take ownership… b) is the owner of the P&L… c) is a stake-holder.
  • The Owner / Investor / Promoter must… a) have empathy… b) understand operational needs… c) care for the operational team

With the Auromatrix Corporate Team, Apollo Finance & Aloft and Sparsa Hotel GMs/FCs

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Election Tourism

As election season peaks, tourists are in for a unique experience — be part of a political rally, meet a leader, take part in a heated political discussion in a village chaupal.
It’s the season for “election tourism” as the political climate in a state with the highest number of seats and the most number of PM aspirants heats up. A tour operators’ guild in Gujarat is hard-selling politically-hot places like Varanasi — from where the state’s CM is trying to realize his prime-ministerial dreams — to both foreign and domestic tourists. They have planned circuits with politics thrown in. The Delhi-Lucknow-Varanasi-Delhi circuit has been marked as “Banaras: The heart of elections” and the Lucknow-Ayodhya-Lucknow circuit is named “UP Central.” Varanasi followed by Ayodhya and Lucknow are the hot destinations.
Tourism organizers are booking trips for people, many of them NRIs from the UK to Middle East.
The mystique of India has been peppered with political excitement. And the colour of Indian elections is sure to add to the glamour. Since tourism is all about innovation, this is working and Tour operators have been attracting foreign tourists by projecting the elections in the world’s largest democracy. Their brochures say: “Mere scale of Indian elections is a factor — 814.5 million voters to choose their representatives in 543 constituencies. The colours of Indian elections such as huge public gatherings, diverse ways of electioneering which includes human mascots, singing and dancing groups besides passive means like posters and banners…”
Tourists will be able to be a part of political rallies, interact with leaders in party offices to discuss on party strategy, ideology and mission and also spend nights in villages where political discussions are at a crescendo.
“Indian elections have always fascinated researchers and policy makers from across the world. No wonder it will attract the common man too. Tourism around elections certainly sounds interesting,” said a retired EC official.

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Initiating Change

Initiating change means getting started, turning pressures for change into change initiatives, and taking first steps to move change forward. Research shows that six competencies define the extent to which change professionals initiate change:

1)       Ensure that key leaders are aligned around major change initiatives

2)       Help people understand why change is important (i.e. create a sense of urgency)

3)       Identify and overcome sources of resistance to change

4)       Help set the direction of change with clear outcomes

5)       Build commitment of key people to support change efforts

6)       Articulate key decisions / actions that must happen for change to make progress

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How to implement new ideas

How should one implement and bring about changes in one’s workplace or company? Some say the top-down approach is good while others feel that the bottom-up approach is best.

However,according to the contingency school, the choice of an appropriate strategy and the implementation diagnosis consist of assessing eight independent variables or factors in the organizations.

  1. Available time (short / long)
  2. Clarity of the need for change (clear to all / clear to few)
  3. Organization size (small / large)
  4. Effects of existing controls and incentives (encourage initiative / encourage focus)
  5. Organizational concentration of relevant knowledge (concentrated at top / concentrated at bottom)
  6. Expectations of people regarding involvement in implementation (none / extensive)
  7. Potential resistance (small / great)
  8. Total power base of change agent (great / small)

Thus, for example, if there is very little time variable, the crisis or need for change is clear to all, if it is a small organization and so on, then the appropriate change strategy is top-down, directive and fast; while if clarity for need to change is not apparent and the organization size is relatively large, then the appropriate change strategy would needs be bottom – up.

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Guests expect Personalization

IHG recently surveyed more than 7,000 international travelers and found during the last 12 months, guests from emerging markets are traveling more than those in developed markets and have the highest expectations for hotels to deliver personalized experiences. Other findings from the report include:

  • Travelers think global hotel brands do a better job than local hotel brands in several areas including safety and consistency.
  • For the majority of travelers the biggest benefit personalization delivers is increased comfort during their hotel stay — 59% of travelers said their hotel stay will be significantly more comfortable.
  • 62% of Millennials said being able to access personal content such as movies or music would motivate them to return to a hotel compared to 55% of travelers of all ages.
  • 72% of travelers over 65 said a hotel that made it easy to make healthy food and beverage choices would motivate them to return, compared to 61% of Millennials.

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