Top Lessons from the New Series ‘The White Lotus’
The latest satirical miniseries from HBO is par for the course from the network that is par excellence for dramatic television. While it’s mostly focused on the intricate relationships and intersections of its well-drawn cast of characters as well as its thematic focus on rich versus poor, as it revolves around a heavenly Hawaiian resort, it is worth the watch for any hotelier.
For those who haven’t yet caught up on all six episodes, let’s just say that an entirely separate article could be written about the smarmy, jaded, hilarious and increasingly unhinged hotel manager, Armond, but there are far more important lessons to glean from The White Lotus. Namely, the series touches upon more than fifty shades of the phrase, “The customer is always right.”
When election season rolls around, we love to talk about ‘the silent majority’, but this show highlights ‘the very vocal minority’ in that when a hotel guest repeatedly requests something from a staff member through a progression of similar questions, it should be immediately clear that the underlying message is that this matter is of the utmost – and emotional – importance to said guest.
Often, staffers aren’t empowered to grant such requests, instead offering an apology and hiding behind hours of operation, availability or another company policy. Other times, they aren’t trained on how to improvise a suitable ‘yes and…’ to counteroffer a guest with appropriate compensation. And yet other times, it’s the manager or supervisor on the receiving end who is too harried to give the necessary amount of mental energy to such incessant requests from a disquieted customer.
Whether it’s a roadside motel or a tropical beachside paradise, guests want experiences, and they ask questions in order to maximize their own experiences. In the opening episodes, there are several key instances when the characters persistently ask for a way to augment their vacations, and it’s when those requests aren’t satisfied in a meaningful way that said guests act out into unpredictable ways, ultimately damaging the hotel’s reputation or leading to additional corrective measures – that is, more labor needed to address the situation.
The show demonstrates that the reverse is also true. When characters are indeed presented with a compromise in the form of a duly profound experience, said guests become overtly enamored with the host property. Building upon the aforementioned adage, if the customer is right, then proving them correct will make them truly yours – brand advocacy at its finest. This is what we often call a ‘wow’ moment and hoteliers should look for ways to create them both grand and minute.
What we stress through this is that, even in the operationally erratic times that are the post-coronavirus era of hospitality, you have to develop the right services, training and technologies to build experiences that optimize a guest’s satisfaction.
To draw upon examples from the series without any spoilers, develop a flexible protocol to always have a fitting alternative ready for when a guest’s specific request cannot be met. If you cannot guarantee a specific room request, then offer another that’s a true apples-to-apples equivalent. Or better, ensure that your technology is fully functional so that requests of this nature are tracked and rendered, with proper team accountability throughout to reinforce training where need be. The same can be said for spa appointment availability.
For those resort properties offering a bevy of spa, dining, golf, activities and other onsite experiences or area attractions, you must do your best to not leave these as laissez-faire additions that guests attempt to purchase at check-in or whimsically on the morning of when they want said experience. In a labor-efficient market, activities and appointments need to be booked as far in advance as possible to make sure a guest’s experience does not suffer any setbacks after they have arrived. For this, there’s now a myriad of integrated pre-stay software to help automate these upsells. Or you can go the lo-fi method by making members of your front office team personally email or call guests in advance to develop a thorough itinerary for their stays.
To conclude, The White Lotus is the new obligatory proscribed television for hoteliers this Autumn 2021 with plenty of other lessons besides a discussion of how to effectively service guests. And if anyone has their own Armond-esque stories, we’d love to hear them.
