Rwanda’s leading business magazine, The SERVICEMAG unveiled a list of top service providers in the country following a customer satisfaction survey. Multi- award winning Nyungwe Forest Lodge scooped the top slot in the Hotels and Lodges category. The Lodge, located on the edge of the Nyungwe Forest is the only 5-star lodge in Rwanda.
At Nyungwe Forest Lodge, Service Excellence is an experience, created by a series of deliberate actions and starts right at the point of entry culminating into cherished memories as you drive or walk out of the property looking forward to your next visit. Even though “Service Excellence” starts with front-line people, the actions of the front-line people emanate from the top of the organization. “Service Excellence” is driven by and through leadership competency. Dubai World, the owners of Nyungwe Forest Lodge, have put forth their best effort and resources to develop the ideal guest experience.
This takes into account aesthetics, entertainment, sensory perception and most of all personal interaction with front-line service personnel. I hope to use this column as an educative platform to demystify the concept of service excellence.
Every article will end with a Hospitality Service Challenge of the quarter or goal aimed at helping readers put into practice what they have read. These are practical tips meant to help you improve service in your work place!
The 5 Prong Dimension (The bigger picture) The first and most important formula of hospitality service delivery is to understand the process of service delivery holistically by examining and appreciating the different factors involved in the entire process and the impact each factor has on the ‘overall guest experience’ as they will only deliver their full potential and value if they are embedded into the organizational infrastructure.
The 5 main factors of hospitality service excellence, which directly impact and determine customer satisfaction, are:
Policies – the guide of action. It is the overall enabler and conditioner of the other 4 factors and parameter for the allocation of resources (time, money and effort etc.) to the achievement of the organization’s service excellence goals.
Products/Services – the key reason why customers are engaging with your organization, build loyalty or leave to the competitors.
Premises – major contributory factors to the guests’ overall impression of your hotel/lodge and can act as major attractors to new guests.
Processes – one of the most crucial elements in the delivery of service excellence and guest satisfaction. Guests expect a satisfactory outcome after completing a transaction with the organization and it is the efficiency and effectiveness of the processes that contribute greatly to the expected outcome.
People – the main resource of an organization. Their knowledge, competence, level of motivation and skills can positively influence the service quality performance and the success of the organization. In the next issue, we will show how organizations can use performance measurements as well as service recovery systems to maintain “Service Excellence”.
The author is the Hospitality Operations Manager ~ Nyungwe Forest Lodge – RWANDA [email protected]
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