Jane Streat, Head of Client Services at Lexington Reception Services, recently paid a visit to the much raved about Ham Yard Hotel, part of the Firmdale Group, which opened on 1 June 2014. Here she talks about the similarities between the guest experience across the Firmdale Hotels and looks at how the team achieves such a high standard of service.
I am a huge fan of the Firmdale Hotel group – for me I like the fact each of the eight hotels is linked to the environment it resides, I love the personal touch and the service is just amazing. They are boutique hotels in great city locations. The team somehow make you feel like you are in a retreat, you feel relaxed and are able to escape the hustle and bustle of city life that’s just outside the door.
Walking into Ham Yard hotel I was met with smiling staff and the most amazing environment. It is warm and relaxed but at the same time it’s fun, cheerful and quirky – you constantly notice something you’ve not seen before, from the light shades made of recycled bottles to the roof top terrace. With its own spa, theatre, bowling alley and library, Ham Yard really has everything you need.
PR Executive, Emily Cramer’s words remain with me: “We want to make it a destination, rather than a location.”
They’ve certainly achieved this – Ham Yard is an idyllic city retreat, with an urban village feel, yet it’s just a few minutes’ walk from London’s busy Piccadilly Circus.
Whilst the design and space is fabulous it’s the whole guest experience that keeps me going back to the Firmdale Hotels, so I caught up with Cariad Kenan, Firmdale Hotels Learning and Development Manager, to find out more about how they get this right. She told me; “A great customer experience is about creating a warm welcome from start to finish, happy, helpful and smiley staff who demonstrate a can do attitude and passion for their roles.”
The Firmdale Group aim to provide prompt and efficient service and encourage staff to use their personalities to bring the experience to life for their guests. Cariad explained how the team at Ham Yard are made up of a cross section of existing employees from Firmdale’s properties and new team members to the company, to represent the brand and ensure consistency of the guest experience.
Their key aim is to create a fantastic product and experience. To ensure this happens the Firmdale Group offer ongoing training, team briefings and share inspiration from managers to demonstrate this and generally to embed this into their culture.
As well as monitoring reviews and feedback the team also carry out regular mystery guest visits to measure the guest experience and operational observations to look for continual improvements. Cariad says, “Listening to our guests is key and one of the main ways that helps us grow.”
She adds: “We listen to our guests and respond, whether this be with training, communication or something else. We’ve always been conscious of offering training at all levels from our operational front line employees to developing the management team.”
According to Caraid a positive guest experience is one where it has created a powerful and positive memory. She says, “It is an experience that satisfies your senses and evokes emotion. Personalisation of service is important to ensure each and every one of our guest’s experience makes them feel special and cared for.”
Competition is rife in the hotel industry but the Firmdale Group continue to standout. Spending the afternoon with them really made me think about how much we can learn about customer service from the hotel industry and apply in our own organisations.
The company is continuously evolving and like the Firmdale Hotel Group we should never stand still – we need to continue to push to be the best and personalising service where we can to give our guests that extra something.
