Hotel Management: Training Sessions and Recommendations to Improve

Scenario: Imagine you are the training director of a hotel chain, Noe Suites. Each Noe Suites has 100 to 150 rooms, a small indoor pool, and a restaurant. Hotels are strategically located near the exit ramps of major highways in college towns such as East Lansing, Michigan, and Columbus, Ohio.
You receive the following email message from the vice president of operations.
Email
To: ____(Insert Your Name), Training Director
From: David Turner, Vice President of Operations, Noe Suites
As you are probably aware, one of the most important aspects of quality service is known as “recovery” – that is, the employee’s ability to respond effectively to customer complaints. There are three possible outcomes to a customer complaint:
The customer complains and is satisfied by the response
The customer complains and is dissatisfied with the response
The customer does not complain but remains dissatisfied
Many dissatisfied customers do not complain because they want to avoid confrontation, there is no convenient way to complain, or they do not believe that complaining will do much good.
I have decided that to improve our level of customer service, we need to train our hotel staff in the “recovery” aspect of customer service. Specifically, the training will focus on responding effectively to the customer's complaints such that the customer is satisfied by the employee's response.
One theme that emerged from these last focus groups was that we had some weaknesses in the recovery area. For example, last month in one of the restaurants, a waiter dropped the last available piece of blueberry pie on a customer as he was serving her. The waiter did not know how to correct the problem other than offer an apology.
I have decided to hire two well-known consultants in the service industry to discuss “recovery” – that is, how to effectively respond to customer complaints. In addition, the consultants will provide an overview of different aspects of quality customer service.
In total, the consultants will deliver 3 training sessions. Each session will last three hours. The training sessions will be offered
Session 1 - Morning Shift
Session 2 - Afternoon Shift
Session 3 - Midnight Shift
Overall, approximately 20-40 employees will attend each of the training sessions.
My expectations are that following this training, the service staff will be able to respond to customers if/when they have a problem with the service(s) provided by our hotel/restaurant.
Because you are an expert on training, I want your feedback on the training session. Specifically, what recommendations do you have for improving the training?
Best,
David Turner
Vice President of Operations, Noe Suites
Instructions
After reading the case, answer the following FIVE questions: (Note: be sure to reference your textbook when completing these questions).
1. Training Modules. Based on what you learned about program design, consider changes you would make to improve the training program. Specifically, consider the design of the program. There are three training sessions, but they are all the same. The only difference is when the training session will be offered: morning, afternoon, and evening. Each session will last for three hours and approximately 20-40 employees will attend.
Develop a training module that explains what the training participants should do during the three hours. For example, should they listen to presentations? Do role plays? Read and discuss case studies? Create a table similar to this one:
Training Module Description Time Spent (180 mins or 3 hours)
Training Overview & Icebreaker Trainees will listen to a presentation that describes the purpose, goals, and overview of the training session. Trainees will complete an icebreaker activity - specifically, they will state their name, position title, and describe their best guest experience at a hotel. 15 mins.
Hotel Guest Metrics Trainees will listen to a presentation about the metrics the hotel uses to evaluate the experiences of hotel guests. 15 mins
Hotel Guest Strategies Trainees will learn about specific strategies they can use to improve the guest experience. Specifically, they will learn about the following strategies they can use (1) during guest check-in, (2) at the hotel restaurant, (3) when a guest complains about their hotel room, and (4) during guest check-out 45 mins
Hotel Guest Scenarios Trainees will participate in role-plays - including checking in guests, servicing guests at the hotel restaurant, responding to a guest complaint, and checking out guests. During the role-plays they will be evaluated and rated on their interaction with guests 90 mins
Quiz & Wrap-up Trainees will complete a quiz about the strategies they learned during training. Finally, they will write out three actions they will complete at work to improve the experiences of the hotel guests 15 mins
2. Prework. Using your textbook, define prework (Hint: the definition of prework is included in Chapter 5). What is it aiming to achieve? Next, consider this case and describe the prework assignment the training participants will complete. Make sure you state the goal of your prework assignment.
3. Application Assignments. Using your textbook, define application assignments. (Hint: the definition of application assignments is included in Chapter 5).
4. Learning Objectives. Using your textbook, define learning objectives. (Hint: the definition of learning objectives is included in Chapter 5). Write 2-3 learning objectives for the training module you created in Question #1.
5. Room Arrangement. For the training session you created in Question #1, what kind of room arrangement would you use for this training? There are four room arrangements discussed in your textbook: fan-type seating, classroom-type seating, conference-type seating, and horseshoe arrangement. Describe why you selected the room arrangement(s). That is, why do you believe the room arrangement(s) you selected will make the training more valuable?
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