Is it time hospitality stopped being sorry for everything?
As companies reopen, a growing trend is emerging of a hospitality industry that finally stands up for itself.
For as far back as I can remember in my career, hospitality has been an industry in which ‘the customer is always right’. I know all the phrases. Usually starting with ‘I am sorry’; followed by ‘you feel that way’ or ‘that this happened’ or ‘this caused you to feel unhappy’. All designed to placate and calm someone as you apologise for their emotions. Rules to show empathy not sympathy; and see things from their point of view, no matter how dystopian that may be. All whilst balancing the dichotomy of protecting brand reputation and revenue. A submissive attitude with staff trained to accept blame for everything happening in someone’s life before they even step foot in a venue.
Hospitality has always been an amazing, but naturally subservient business. It does, after all, rely on serving others. As they pay for a service, lo shall ye provide it; meagre servants of demand. As consumer choice boomed and businesses vied for custom, service became pinpoint targeted to individual customer focus. In turn, you could argue this made the industry more servile than ever before. Businesses clamoured for loyalty from every guest, often failing to recognise you cannot satisfy 100% of people 100% of the time. Accepting someone did not like what you provided, was a simply absurd notion.
But now there is a growing movement; one that is, dare I say, of limited tolerance. One that understands how standardisation does not sit comfortably with individualism. As livelihoods are threatened every day, the previously silent struggles of businesses are becoming social media flash points. What some see as chastisement of behaviour, becomes warning to others of what is and isn’t tolerated, as brands start to push back against unacceptable behaviour.
Take for example the growing campaign against no-shows (where someone books but fails to arrive, cancel or even notify the company in any way). The industry was so accepting of this that entire revenue management strategies revolved around it, especially in hotels. Overbooking became standard industry practice as it was almost guaranteed some people would not arrive. Budgets and forecasts were built with dedicated revenue forecasts for non-arrivals. But that practice is not possible in the current climate; the risk of everyone arriving and being over capacity is too great a chance to take; especially if local authority enforcement are on the prowl and spot a growing queue outside your venue.
Businesses now scold this no-show behaviour through social media channels. Bringing their usually private struggles to the public arena and demonstrating the real impact such behaviours have. Owners openly talking about the costs this creates; the barriers it causes in running any form of profitable business; and the very real fact that things need to change in consumer behaviour. Accountability is shifted back to the patrons. Measures such as deposits are becoming common practice to ensure people arrive. But this further extends to behaviours of those who do arrive; those few who fail to comply with legal requirements or berate staff. The same staff battling hundreds of pages of guidance, changing goalposts and local authorities seemingly enforcing rules differently.
It is not a new phenomenon. It has been around for several years. The difference now being how the lockdowns and rules and regulations have, in a strange way, given businesses license with the general population to become firmer in their stance. Businesses are at limited capacity with increased demand, and can therefore be more selective in those they accept patronage of. And the public in the main seem to accept that. If anything, lockdown has created a society where rule-breaking is no longer someone simply being cheeky or having a laugh, it is a matter of social and legal consequence and sympathies are stifled. It is an age where personal responsibility has become a matter of public accountability.
For someone who has always advocated customer rights, it seems weird to say it openly, but I agree with this shift in service approach. And consumers seemingly agree. They are not vacating these businesses in their droves. In fact you could possibly argue this is helping business as consumers seek out places that are fully compliant and not bending the rules constantly. Not to mention that guilty pleasure of reading business owners sass back at guests who have clearly been unfair or negated to mention important aspects of their own behaviour.
I am not saying here that customer service should be abandoned. Clearly not. But the standard of always accepting blame; being a punching bag of sorts for seemingly unwarranted and unfair comments, is waning. What is emerging is a standard of hospitality that is clearly defining rules of what is and isn’t acceptable. One where failing to adhere to the rules could mean your custom is unwelcome. A hospitality industry where focus is not so much on the comfort of the individual, but on the majority of compliant patrons instead. It is one where businesses are standing up and saying ‘this is what we do, and how we do it. If it doesn’t suit you, then we are not for you’. It is a movement where brand values are standing strong; where businesses are taking pride in what they are, how they do things and what they offer. One where hospitality seems to finally be accepting that not every customer is for their business. And that’s fine. One that takes pride in what the brand is, standing strong and true to what it does. Rather than trying to placate every single person over every single detail.
For now, this does seem mainly reserved for the independent businesses; the non-conglomerates for whom each penny counts and who you would think would be the least likely to openly lambast behaviours for fear of loss of trade. But could this shift to larger businesses too? Could it soon be that you see multi-national corporations taking a stronger stance in their customer service policies and refusing to simply bend to the demands of consumers increasingly seeking tailored experiences that match their every whim? Unlikely, but still a possibility.
But one thing is clear, hospitality is starting to ensure personal responsibility of those that are their patrons and take pride in difference. To understand that, as each person is individual, so is their business. A kind of ‘you do you and I will do me’ approach that finally accepts you can be loved or hated in equal measure. Is this now the ‘new normal’ for hospitality and customer service where we simply stop being so sorry about everything and taking pride in who we are, what we do and what we stand for?
