Just before Christmas Jane Streat, Head of LRS, hit the road and met up with three of her fabulous reception team, who work across different client sites.
In the second of our three mini blogs we’d like to introduce you to Roberto. Here Jane catches up with him about his career and asks what he enjoys about working in reception services…
J (Jane): Hello Roberto, thanks for taking the time out of your busy day to talk to me. So tell me, how long have you worked for Lexington & what attracted you to us?
R (Roberto): I’ve been working for Lexington for three months and a week. The learning and development programme, strong organisational values and the family feeling within Lexington attracted me.
J: How long have you worked in the industry?
R: I have been involved in reception services since 2008 – six years now and I’m looking forward for many more.
J: That’s great to hear…. And what brought you to reception services?
R: I love meeting new people, interacting, and ensuring a great service is provided. It gives me a feeling of accomplishment that other jobs can’t. It’s a passion.
J: What’s your most memorable moment from working in reception services?
R: Being selected as employee of the year by all my colleagues back in 2011. It is an amazing feeling to know that I am valued by my co-workers – I must be doing something good!
J: If you could invite anyone into your reception who would you like to walk in and why?
R: Probably my mother, she is always nagging that she would like to know what I do for a living. I feel proud of my job and I’d like her to see where I work.
J: How do you cope with Monday mornings?
R: Monday mornings are tough until the moment I come into the office. I struggle to wake up but the trip to work does a good job of doing that. I love the people I work with and doing what I do – coming into the building makes me smile, fires me up and I feel ready to take on the week.
J: When things get busy/hard in work how do you and your colleagues keep each other going?
R: We work as a team and we offer support to each other. There are days that you can be sharper than others, and your colleagues/managers support makes all the difference.
J: If you could go back in time and see yourself the day of your first interview what one piece of advice would you give yourself and what top tip would you offer to others?
R: I would recommend anyone in that position to be genuine and open. Ensure that the interviewer captures the real you. It is important in order to be matched to the right organisation and job role.
J: You’ve worked for LRS for three months now, what’s your favourite thing about working as a part of the LexyTeam?
R: How Lexington lives up to its values. The support is constant and the positive attitude of the management team is inspiring.
J: What’s been you biggest challenge working in this industry?
R: Moving from the hotel industry to the corporate industry was a change in terms of pace, knowledge and procedures – I needed to adapt my approach slightly. The reporting structure also changed as I went from having one divisional manager to having two and a client. Luckily all of them have been very supportive whilst I made the transition and we work well together.
J: Where have you personally experienced the best customer service?
R: Recently in Mexico DF, I requested a cab to go to the airport. From the moment of the call until the drop off it was great. Booking the service was astonishingly good with updates of waiting time, providing details of the driver and receiving a message on my phone with estimates. The driver offered a complimentary bottle of water for the ride, asked about music preferences on the radio and if we were comfortable with the temperature inside the cab. On arrival he wished a pleasant journey and refused to take a tip. I can’t stress enough on the smoothness of the service and thirty-minute drive – all of this for just ten pound. Try getting that in London! Finally I received a message asking if everything was OK and requesting some feedback, which I answered with a 10/10.
J: What’s the funniest thing that’s happened to you whilst working in reception?
R: Once, when working in a hotel reception, I had to deal with 15+ Jedward groupies and their mothers who thought they who had the wrong hotel name. It was funnier for my colleagues than for me – dealing with crying, shouting, singing Jedward fans. After some time, they (Jedward) came out and I was given a big hysterical hug from a woman. She wouldn’t let me go for a good ten seconds probably, as a manoeuvre of immobilisation, so her daughters could pass the security velvet chain!
J: That must have been an experience! So what makes you happy at work?
R: Having a team that shares values and goals so they’re working together in harmony to achieve exceptional customer service, whilst having fun at the same time.
J: Final question for you, sum up good customer service in three words?
R: Proactive, efficient and human.
J: Roberto, it’s been a real pleasure talking to you, thanks again for your time.
