Best Practices and up to the minute news on Customer Experience Management and Service Excellence
Best Practices and up to the minute news on Customer Experience Management and Service Excellence
Disney is synonymous with exceptional guest experiences. Behind the magic is a meticulously designed strategy to ensure every visitor feels valued, heard, and delighted.
How Disney does it may be proprietary. That doesn’t mean hospitality leaders can’t deconstruct the special sauce that makes the “House of Mouse” so magical.
Disney’s approach offers invaluable lessons in guest experience, from personalized service to attention to detail. By adopting Disney-inspired practices, hotels and restaurants can create unforgettable moments, foster guest loyalty, and set themselves apart in an increasingly competitive industry.
Disney makes every guest feel special.
Upon arrival at a Walt Disney World hotel room, guests are immediately greeted with their family’s name on the television. When guests enter a Disney cruise ship, a cast member on a microphone welcomes their family through the lobby.
Simple gestures often compound to a larger and more enhanced guest experience. Walt Disney World and Disney Cruiseline guests are often asked if they celebrate special occasions during their booking.
That information is saved in guests’ personal files, and they are often given a pin showcasing their special occasion. Cast members throughout the resort, theme parks, and ships will congratulate those guests. Sometimes, they’ll bring them a special dessert or drink at sit-down restaurants.
These gestures create strong emotional connections to their trip. Guests feel special. The more personal you can make that experience, the better — train staff to chat with guests, asking their preferences.
If you can bring a guest their favorite drink or treat, they’ll melt at such a personalized gesture. That value can go far, creating a lifelong customer.
Have you ever been to Walt Disney World, and somehow cast members know what you need before you ask?
That’s not by accident.
Walt Disney World regularly monitors guest behavior. With all that makes guests different – some things like cleanliness and convenience are consistent. Whether it’s trash cans placed no further than 30 feet away or strategically placed water fountains, Disney has preplanned.
Hotels and restaurants can recreate that concept by training staff to anticipate guest needs.
For example, offer fresh towels close by pools and exercise facilities. Refill guest’s drinks before they ask. The level of attentiveness goes a long way.
Walt Disney World knows how to create immersive experiences. The attention to detail from look, feel, scents, and sounds is remarkable.
Did you know every Walt Disney World resort has a unique scent? Disney’s guest experience team knows scent is the most powerful memory trigger.
It’s quite scientific and genius. Human brains have what’s called an olfactory bulb. It connects to the brain’s “memory and emotion centers.” By tapping into that scent at each resort and classic Disney rides like Pirates of the Caribbean, guests long to recreate that feeling long after they’ve left the theme parks and hotels.
What décor, cleanliness, and scents can you maintain in your hotel or restaurant? These small gestures can create a big impression guests will remember.
Disney empowers its cast members to go above and beyond to create magical moments. Employees are encouraged to use creativity and problem-solving skills and trained to identify and act on those moments.
Empowering your staff to go above and beyond reinforces a culture you want to foster. When employees have to ask permission, they’re less likely to try. They also have no incentive to be creative at the moment.
Everybody wins when employees are happy to make guests happy. Invest in staff training to recognize signs of guest wants and needs. Train your team on what gestures they can provide and empower them to take action.
Walt Disney World has an app called “My Disney Experience” that hosts everything from dining and ride reservations to wait times and a park map.
To streamline the guest journey – and focus on Disney’s signature magic – they provide MagicBands. Guests use MagicBands as their hotel door key to enter theme parks and pay for meals and drinks.
Hospitality leaders can enhance their guest experiences by using similar technologies. Apps can help with mobile check-ins, digital room keys, and restaurant orders. Using technology solutions can lower wait time, simplify checking in, and free your team members’ time to focus on bringing your guests a memorable human connection.
Think of Walt Disney World as a blueprint for guest experience strategies. Remember, you can never duplicate Disney magic – but you can use it as inspiration.
Personalize experience, anticipate guest needs and pay attention to details. Hospitality leaders in the hotel and restaurant industries can learn and provide much to their guests.
Every business is different, but there is something to learn from the unforgettable memories Disney creates. Use Disney-inspired practices to make your own brand of magic.
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