Restaurant News Resource - Doug Kennedy Restaurant Industry News

A key principle for finding personal fulfillment in our journey to hospitality service excellence is realizing that when we bring out the best in others, we simultaneously bring out the best in ourselves every day, every shift, and with just about every guest we encounter.

Despite all the negative publicity we read these days about the erosion of customer service, genuine, authentic hospitality is still being delivered daily by frontline superstars.

For five years now I've had the privilege of being a parent-volunteer at my children's public school, which is Hollywood Hills Elementary in Hollywood, FL. Now I might be a little biased in saying that this is the best elementary school anywhere, since Mrs. Roberts is my personal hero, but I do have lots of evidence to make the case that our school is one of the best in our state if not nation.

Having been personally committed to helping save our environment for as long as I can remember, it is exciting to read lately about the numerous hotels and hotel brands that are minimizing their environmental impact, reducing waste, and even introducing 'Green Rooms' as an accommodation type.

In the fast-paced business climate which most hoteliers operate in these days, where e-mails flood our in-boxes and meetings over-stuff our schedules, the last thing most hotel management professionals want to think about is voluntarily taking on any more 'optional' responsibilities.

Being in the business of providing outside training support for hotels representing all market segments, I never cease to be amazed by numerous reasons hotel managers give for not being able to schedule training 'just yet'.

As a hospitality industry trainer, I've often said there's no such thing as difficult guests; just nice people going through rough spots in life. Here's a recent true story to demonstrate...

Like most trainers, I frequently engage participants in interactive activities that hopefully shift some paradigms for the long term.

Historically, most every hospitality and guest service training program in the industry has addressed the concept of service recovery. Typically, these programs have given our frontline staff a process to follow when fielding guest complaints.