In how many of the 5 P’s does this hotel excel?

It was 1030 in the evening and my taxi had delivered me from the Gare du Nord to my hotel.

I was immediately impressed by the peeling paint just inside the door but reassured as quickly, by the polythene covered carpet, that a refurbishment was imminent as was my doing a very passable impression of the final moments of an ice dancer’s finishing flourish on discovering that the protective flooring was not anti-slip.

The check in was fairly straightforward and conducted with Gallic brevity apart from the administrative necessity to provide ten times the personal data required by any other country.

The elevator was a unique boutique design made for one person but not for one person and their luggage however the application of some contortionism skills that would have impressed Norman Wisdom in his hey day helped me make it to my room where the next use of the same skills helped me and my luggage make it through the snugly fitting airlock doors, clearly an inspiration for space shuttle design, into the room.

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Can there be such a thing as a self sustaining service culture?

There are many truths in the commercial world but few more central to observed organisational behaviour than the view that

“What the boss believes is important is important!”

So if the boss believes that something, in this case service quality, is important does that mean that the organisation will automatically achieve standards of excellence in service quality delivery and all their customers will be rendered sockless by their experiences? Unfortunately there is no such guarantee attached to the packaging of a belief but it does mean that the organisation has a much greater chance of success than if the boss treats the issue with an air of supreme indifference.

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This is the third of a regular series of blogs written to shine some light into some of the dark corners where both poor and good service is hindering or helping the customer and thereby damaging or improving the performance of the organisation. Much will be founded on the basis of personal experience and it would be good to uncover whether these observations are widely shared. So if they strike a chord with you please let us know.

In developing a list of things for which Nepal is famous, world class service excellence would probably not make it on to the list of many compilers. The Himalayas, Ghurkhas and Buddhism are likely subjects and while the Nepalese are known for being a welcoming, friendly and hospitable people (unless you happen to be the adversary of a Ghurkha!) the idea of finding, in an economically poor country, service that is not only outstanding but leading edge is a surprise.

The International Customer Service Institute will run a regular Q&A session with internationally recognised service quality experts. The first of this series is with Kate Dickens, who has over 17 years experience in service quality and business excellence, and has just completed her second book on Service Excellence.

When we hear the term Service Excellence do we really understand how this differs from good customer service? What are the transitory steps an organisation must undertake before they can deliver Service Excellence? Visit our Learning Section and discover what Kate had to say when interviewed by TICSI on the subject.

Click for full interview with Kate Dickens

Shilpa Asnani
Service Quality Executive
The International Customer Service Institute

Digital media is profoundly transforming consumer behaviour and traditional communications models. While creating new opportunities, its influence has been accelerated by not only the proliferation of hand-held devices, but also the speed at which these devices allow the user to connect, send and receive messages, images and videos. Apple claims up to 30 frames per second for its 3GS iPhone, which is the same as a high definition television!

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