Big Opportunities Come in Little Service Gestures

Find out how taking time to make little moments can score big with guests.

The time was twilight and we had a water view from our table – an almost perfect setting, but it was incomplete. We were sitting at the only table in the restaurant without a lit candle. I couldn’t help but wonder: Why use the tablespace for an unlit candle?

None of the servers seemed to notice, nor could we get their attention until several minutes later. We were disappointed that this little gesture was an oversight and a detail that did not seem important. Little efforts can score big with guests.

Those hotels and resorts that do take the time to invest thought and effort in the smaller moments and gestures will score big in the overall guest experience.

The gestures of service

In Park City, Utah, the Peaks Hotel provides several nice gestures that make guest stays so much more enjoyable. Many hotels offer the newspaper selection and perhaps a “provided with compliments of” sticker, but the hotel adds an extra touch.

When the newspaper arrives each morning, a welcome sticker is attached on the front page with the statement, “It is our goal to make your stay a comfortable and enjoyable experience.” A further statement notes that receiving the paper is a guest choice, there are two newspaper choices, and the opportunity not to receive it as well. Even with the small touchpoint of a newspaper, it shows extra effort.

A second thoughtful gesture is a door-to-door delivery of hot chocolate and huge homemade cookies. Many hotels offer tea, cookies, and other items like this in the late afternoon in lobbies or other central areas.

But an enthusiastic staff team takes this delicious cart around to each room in the late afternoon, knocking on each door offering the goodies.

Guests may have just returned from a long day skiing or other snow activities. It’s an extra effort for guests who may be too tired to walk to the lobby. Personally going door-to-door puts humanity in hospitality.

The “table touch” gesture

Todd Rosenkrantz is the restaurant manager of the elegant Stein Eriksen Lodge in Upper Deep Valley, Utah. He has developed another wonderful way to make tiny moments into big memories.

In the Troll Hallen Lounge, while guests enjoy appetizers and drinks, Rosenkrantz visits each table to ask guests if they are enjoying themselves and if all is as they expected. He calls this the “table touch.”

He makes the rounds and “touches” on each table which in essence is touching each guest experience with a personal and memorable welcome. Rosenkrantz is warm and welcoming and makes guests feel like each short visit mattered. He’s engaging, involved, and enthusiastic – even though his role did not require that.

This was a little gesture by someone in management who recognized the value of the guest connection for his employees as well as his guests. Gestures like these don’t take much time but they do take the cake.

“Gesture development”

Maurice Dancer, chef concierge of the Pierre New York (a Taj Hotel), and his staff bring a level of personalized service through the simplest of communications that make positive and memorable impacts.

Maurice, a Les Clefs D’Or concierge, and his team uncover guest interests in advance of their visits and make many recommendations based on their preferences.

When guests check-in, they receive individual and personalized letters from the concierge team, summarizing a recommended itinerary and those reservations that are confirmed for each day of the visit.

Guests who are celebrating special events receive handwritten notes of welcome with personalized messages and a thoughtful amenity.

These may be little things. But handwritten notes, personalized letters, and proactive communication efforts add polish, professionalism, and service commitment that make a difference.

Thoughtful gestures add to the guest experience

In the Café Pierre Bar, an elegant, complimentary snack assortment is delivered to each table while drink orders are made.

Olives are part of the assortment, and it’s always interesting to watch guests enjoy olives in hotels or restaurants that serve them. Most don’t know how best to handle the olive pits.

While eating olives can be delicious, there is that awkward moment of removing the pit from one’s mouth and placing it “somewhere” where it does not look disgusting.

If ashtrays are on the table, they get mixed in with “ashtray stuff.” If saucers are on the table, they share space with the cups. Or, perhaps they end up back on the side of the serving dish they originally came from, quite unappealing.

Pierre provides an olive pit dish to solve the problem. It is small and unobtrusive but its purpose is clear. This small gesture, via this well-thought-out one-inch round dish, made pit removal and placement more discreet and all olive and non-olive participants benefited.

In the elevators, The Pierre features elevator attendants who do a lot more than push buttons. They recognize their opportunity to be ambassadors of the hotel, even in such close quarters, and each time guests go up or down, guests feel like they have a personal escort. 

This small touchpoint opportunity becomes a big touchpoint memory. These employees know that little outreach gestures can mean a lot and they know appropriately when and how to make the guest connections.

Even after guest visits are complete, Dancer and his team are still on duty. They make notes about important guest dates like anniversaries and birthdays and weeks or months later, may send a congratulatory note or card to show guests they are remembered and appreciated.

Once again, a little gesture, little thanks, an email or clever note, even after guests leave the premises reflects a service commitment above and beyond the daily routine. 

Guests pay attention to small gestures like these and reward hotels with their loyalty and referrals.

Who is in charge of “gesture development” in any hotel or hospitality environment? What are the existing services that can “grow bigger” in-service impact with just a little bit of extra thought and care? Making memories just a tad more meaningful at less than obvious touchpoints is simple once this strategy is mobilized.

The “gesture development” checklist:

• Challenge each department to define all touchpoints, all points of contact, for the guest experiences within their control.

 

• Evaluate each touchpoint and determine if there is any meaningful action, courtesy, or communication that could make that point of contact more meaningful or memorable(handwritten notes before, during, and after a guest arrives, etc).

 

• Look for less than obvious ways to express interest in the guest. Explore solutions and ideas that add convenience and pleasure to the guest experience (like the little olive dish).

 

• Train employees to look for things that may be amiss or incomplete and then immediately address them. These may change depending on the time of day (candles should be lit prior to sunset and kept lit!)

 

• Motivate management to keep gesture development top of mind and consider assigning that role to a different employee each month.

 

• Touch guests through words as well as actions. Take time to appreciate guests for their business and engage them beyond the routine parts of hospitality service ( “the table touch”).

 

• Remember that small gestures of thanks, convenience, or thoughtfulness toward employees can go a long way toward thoughtfulness toward guests. What goes around comes around.

 

Signal your intention and attitude for exceptional service delivery through gesture gyrations. 

Minor moments become major memories with minor efforts and major commitments. Light a flame of interest in this untapped service area. Focus on experience and the glow of appreciative guests.