Our guest today created what has become one of the top 25 hotels in the world, according to TripAdvisor, for five consecutive years without a single negative review.
Sounds impossible, right?
Well, once you hear this story, you'll understand how they did it.
Today, Christian de Boer, Managing Director of Jaya House Hotels, joins us to share how he rethought everything to create and provide a radically guest-focused experience. In a world where everything can start to sound the same, Christian's approach really stood out to me as inspirational on what's possible when you are laser-focused on taking care of your guests.
You can listen to us here on the podcast, and I’ve summarized a few of my top takeaways below.
Things have changed in travel
Christian emphasizes the impact of platforms like TripAdvisor and Google on the travel planning process - and his business.
What I do is showcase that there's a different way of running a hotel.
Traditional sales is a waste in hospitality
Christian argues that traditional sales efforts are unnecessary now.
We have no sales team. We've never traveled anywhere. We're not part of the likes of Virtuoso, Signature, or any of the other ones because I don't think that's worth it anymore.
Your guests are the best sales and marketing
Christian is a big believer in the power of word-of-mouth marketing, which provides a much higher ROI than sales teams and sales trips.
For me, it's a lot cheaper to simply impress them than to travel to any city in the United States or elsewhere in the world.
Takeaway: Delighted guests are your best form of sales and marketing.
Put this in action:
Consider redirecting sales budgets to the guest experience.
Design and deliver experiences that guests will want to share with others.
Encourage guests to share their experiences on their favorite digital platforms.
Monitor and respond to guest feedback to constantly improve your guest experience.
Go above and beyond to delight your guests
Unlike others who give lip service to the power of word-of-mouth marketing and delighting guests, Christian goes all-out with over-the-top service - that actually doesn’t cost much in many cases.
Of course, breakfast is included [at our hotel]. I mean, who doesn't eat anything or doesn't drink a coffee in the morning?
We know the temperature could easily be 100 degrees Fahrenheit here at times. So why don't we do the guest’s laundry? All of it. Not one piece, two pieces, but whatever they want to give us, one basket or two baskets or their whole suitcase.
Why don't we try to impress the guests and give them a one-hour massage every day? And so if somebody stays, if one couple on their honeymoon stays with us for four nights, that's eight spa treatments they'll get, if they want to.
Why do hotels in the West nickel and dime about early check-in as if it's a big deal? Why, if I stay in a hotel and I ask if it's okay perhaps to check out at two, they always say, 'Oh I need to ask the manager.' Why is it so difficult? You have empty rooms, what are you going to do with them? Why not make me happy? So early check-in, late check-out, not a problem.
We give our guests every day a tuk-tuk from 7 a.m. till 10 p.m. anywhere in town. So we can bring them, we can pick them up if they go for dinner or any other stuff. All of the guests get a little Nokia telephone to call us if after dinner they want us to pick them up.
Takeaway: Offering unexpected, complimentary services can dramatically increase guest satisfaction and loyalty.
Put this in action:
Identify common pain points for travelers and address them directly.
Consider offering lower-cost complimentary laundry and flexible check-in/check-out times.
Consider going above and beyond and offering amenities such as free spa services.
Stay creative in expanding and refining your offerings.
Listen to my full conversation with Christian today on the Hospitality Daily Podcast - or, you can watch the entire, uncut conversation here:
More for you
If you’d like, you can hear more about guest experience from other past guests, including these conversations:
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Thank you for reading.
-Josiah
