Jabian Helps Client Define Brand Standards for the Guest Experience

The Client:

With over 710,000 rooms and 4,800 hotels across nearly 100 countries, our client is a global player in the hospitality service industry; representing 12 brands across Europe, the Americas, Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and Greater China.

The Challenge:

Our client had a desire to raise awareness and compliance with brand standards by simplifying the communication of the critical and core standards. They have 35,000 lines of documented brand standards across all of its hotel brands. Our team’s focus was on one brand with 3,400 lines in the US alone. Hotel General Managers were not able to consistently meet the brand standards as it was not clearly understood which standards impact the overall guest experience. We worked with the Brand Standards team to narrow down the 35 standards that directly relate to the guest experience, in hopes to provide a consistent and positive hotel stay for all guests at this brand.

The Strategy:

We created a tool, “The Playbook”, to set expectations for the appropriate behaviors and actions of staff to consistently create a positive guest experience. Through site visits, interviews with hotel General Managers, and research into the brand standards and compliance scores, we determined the areas of focus for a positive guest experience and which brand standards supported those experiences. We then developed a Playbook around those foundational experiences:

  • Guest-staff interactions
  • Internet connectivity
  • On-premise dining
  • Hotel and area knowledge
  • Maintaining clean hotels

For each, we outlined the expectations of what could happen if there was 100 percent compliance with the relevant brand standards. The Playbook includes leading practices General Managers could use to motivate their staff to ensure a positive guest experience while complying with the brand standards.

The “Playbook” Sample Pages

The Outcome:

The “Playbook” is a tool that hotel General Managers can use to engage with staff and enable compliance with brand standards, ultimately driving guest satisfaction numbers upwards. The leading practices included in the “Playbook” can be used to positively influence the behavioral mindset of hotel staff and bring forward the hospitality philosophy of critical brand standards. Once the “Playbook” is used across this brand consistently, it can be expanded to additional geographies and brands. Empowered staff will deliver positive guest experiences which improve guest satisfaction, loyalty, and ultimately revenue.

Insights