1. Guest Service Gold

2. Making a Difference Activity
You will take a moment to think about the quality of service you provide to your guests. Write about a time when you tried and succeeded in making a difference for a guest.
You will write this on page 1 of your packets.

3. Guest Service Factoids
You will rank certain responses for the following question “Do you know the four main reasons for guests never staying at a property again?” The students will rank four different responses with #1 being the highest.
This is found on page 1.

4. Gold Formula for Success Activity
You will fill in the blanks for certain hotel hospitality terms.
This is found on page 2.

5. Stepping Up Your Game Be Warm and Engaging Be Helpful
Be Polite and Professional
Be Yourself
Make a Difference
Smile Genuinely

6. Drawing
Draw in how you felt today when you arrived at school and what you should look like when you arrive at school.

7. How Do You View Your Guests?
For each of the four points of engagement write down some ways you would make guests feel: Important, Valued, Respected, Special.

8. Unlock Guest Opportunities
Identify some “golden opportunities” where you could easily provide an experience guests would remember for years to come

9. Connect with Your Guest
Keep it real
Make the effort
Use your heart
Read the need
Provide a surprise
Follow through
Be a guest hero
Never forget: Guests who feel you connect with them will remember you!

10. Exploring the Seven Elements
Authenticity: Keep It Real!
You must always be authentic in your dealings with guests. Guests can tell when you are merely playing a part and when you are truly being yourself. So make it simple; be yourself.
Guests can tell when you are merely playing a part and when you are truly being yourself. So be yourself!

11. Forget the Act
You will read the scenario and answer questions considering how each of the people should view and react in this situation.

12. Reflection
While dealing with a guest situation similar to the one given, have you ever had an ah-ha moment.
Answer the questions.

13. Intuition: Read the Need!
Determining what a guest needs before they even know they need it is a true skill.
It is a creative and intuitive soft skill, one that you develop by being attentive to the information a guest shares with you. It also requires you to take a moment to stop and think about creative ways to make the guest’s experience unique and memorable.
Determining what a guest needs before they even known they need it, that is a true skill!

14. Guest Mind Reader Activity
Write down how you “Read the Need” based on what you noticed during your observation.

15. Empathy: Use Your Heart!
Exceptional guest service has to be delivered from the heart, especially in situations involving a personal crisis for your guests.
You need to reach deep into your heart to find empathy for your guest. Only then can you determine how to help with the situation. When you arrive at work, and particularly when you have to handle a delicate situation, you have to be capable of putting your mood on hold so you can focus on the guest.
You need to reach deep into your heart to find empathy for your guest. Only then can you determine how to help with the situation.

16. Serving vs. Caring for Guest Activities
What do these two words mean to you>
Serving
Caring

17. “Mood Ring” Activity
Complete the mood ring activity in you packets.

18. Champion: Be a Guest Hero!
Consistently providing outstanding guest service is a talent everyone can learn if they really want to champion their guests’ needs.
Guests facing unusual or unexpected situations may need you to provide assistance based on your knowledge of the local area. This is when you have your chance to be a guest service champion! Stepping in to provide the help they need requires the combined use of skills such as creative problem-solving, active listening, and good communication, along with the ability to show care and concern for the guest’s situation.
Making a guest feel special and welcome is such an easy thing to do. All it takes is a willingness to care about others!

19. Be a Champion Activity

20. Delight: Provide a Surprise!
Surprising and delighting guests is about making a creative effort.
Finding ways to surprise and delight your guests makes their stay more enjoyable and your job more interesting—especially if you continuously look for ways to improve the quality of the guest experience. The acts themselves can be big or small, based on the situation and the need.
Like follow-through, it can’t be formulated or forced. It has to be an opportunity recognized, acted on, and accomplished—preferably without the guest having any idea the surprise is coming.
Finding ways to surprise and delight your guests makes their stay more enjoyable and your job more interesting!

21. Surprise, Surprise Activity

22. Delivery: Follow Through!
Delivering personal attention and often unexpected guest experiences doesn’t end with the experience, it happens in two parts—the initial delivery and the follow-through—to ensure all went well. Follow-up is very necessary if you want the guest to know the service you delivered was genuine and sincere.
Guests warm to the thought of service that continues even after they have left the property. The employee who can assist with unusual situations and make sure guest satisfaction extends beyond the guest stay has a good understanding of when and how to follow through. No corporate formula can force that; knowing when to follow through and make sure the situation has been handled to the guest’s satisfaction is a skill you can perfect through experience.
Follow-up is necessary if you want guests to know the service you deliver is genuine and sincere.

23. Guest Service Doesn’t End at the Door Activity

24. Initiative: Make the Effort!
Guest service is the perfect opportunity to show initiative. By actively listening to your guests and looking for the chance to make a difference in their stay, you can pay personal attention to each guest’s needs. It is the personal touch you add to the guest’s experience that shows you want to make a difference in their stay.
It is the personal touch you add to the guest’s experience that shows you want to make a difference in their stay.

25. Blue Sky Activity

26. The GOLD Elements
The basic elements of emotionally engaged guest service have been defined previously, but how they are combined to produce the ultimate guest experience has not.

27. Ask yourself: What does the ultimate guest experience look like?
The answer is: Whatever you want it to.
The final outcome will depend on the effort, thought, and creativity you put into applying the seven elements of guest service. You should always be on the lookout for ways to customize the guest experience as well as ways to raise the quality of the service you provide to each and every guest.
You must be prepared every day to provide above-and-beyond guest/customer service.

28. Ask yourself: Am I prepared for providing above-and-beyond guest service?
The answer is: Probably not, but you could be.
Take a good look at yourself and decide which skills or areas of knowledge you need to improve to perform your job as a guest service professional to the very highest standard. Make a list of skills you wish to develop, build a plan for improving each one, and look for opportunities to work on your plan.
Find available resources for use to make a guest’s experience unique and personalized. Talk to your leaders and express the need for their help in accomplishing this goal. Look for top- performers and learn from them.
You should also have a plan for providing individual guest service experiences to an unusual or diverse groups of guests.

29. Ask yourself: How well do I communicate with others?
The answer is: Everyone can always improve their communication and listening skills.
The key to exceptional guest service begins with information gathering. Start by listening to determine exactly what is the situation, then ask probing questions to gain more information. Once you have a good idea of what the guest needs or wants, it is time to make a plan.
Be sure to find ways to improve your communication skills so you can deliver exceptional quality guest service during each and every guest interaction.

30. Ask yourself: How can I provide each guest with an exceptional guest experience?
The answer is: By always looking for opportunities to deliver the best guest service possible.
The opportunity to provide service to a guest that is unique to the situation happens all the time. The problem is, we often choose not to recognize the opportunity or take a risk to provide a guest experience that is outside of what is typically part of normal job duties. If guests are important to you and you want them to feel appreciated, then take a chance to make a difference.
Maintain the highest level of service excellence in challenging, emergency, or crisis-level situations.

31. Ask yourself: In an unusual or crisis situation, can I provide the same level of guest service as before?
The answer is: It may not be the same service as before, but you can customize it to fit the situation you are dealing with.
In challenging situations such as a hurricane or power outage, your chance of providing exceptional guest service may not be possible due to the lack of essential services. However, it doesn’t mean you can’t find creative ways to problem solve the loss of key services. Being able to divert guest attention away from the items you can’t provide by replacing them with those you can is a good way to provide awesome guest service.
Being able to provide the best guest service possible at all times is important, even during challenging situations.

32. Ask yourself: At what moment do I usually recognize I can go the extra mile for a guest?
The answer is: The minute you understand what they need and how it can be achieved, that is is the time to act.
Learning to recognize opportunities when you can make a guest’s stay memorable, more comfortable, unique, or exciting will require a little effort. However, once you master the skill, it will make not only the guest’s experience special but provide a more enjoyable work environment for you.
Getting involved personally and professionally is needed when providing gold-level guest service.

33. Ask yourself: At what point do I decide to get involved?
The answer is: The moment you recognize the guest’s need is when you need to step in and help.
Great guest service will only happen if you get personally involved in providing it.
Typical guest service follows the simple rules of smile, use the guest’s name, make eye contact, and actively listen. Changing typical guest service into Guest Service GOLD® requires you to be engaged with your guests, unlock what the guest needs, and to provide an exceptional guest experience.