Customer Service – Warner Leisure Hotels
Customer Service and ghostly goings on
Warner Leisure Hotels have been an Astro customer for many years. I have visited many of their hotels in my role supporting their network infrastructure. I have only stayed with them three times prior to this year. The first time was over 20 years ago at Sinah Warren when my daughters were young. This was before Warner Leisure Hotels changed to adult only breaks. It was a great holiday and we all have good memories of the holiday and can still remember the names of some of the entertainments team. Family holidays are all about creating lasting memories so that was a resounding success. From memory I believe this was 1993 and may have been the last year Sinah Warren was a family holiday location so it was never an option to return.
“…and as anyone that knows me will confirm I cannot resist bidding in charity auctions.”
Our four night break at Warner Leisure Hotels, Littlecote House Hotel was the result of a string of events. I have been doing some pro-bono work for The Collett School in Hemel Hempstead and decided to take a table at their annual Champagne Gala Dinner in November. The Gala Dinner featured an auction and as anyone that knows me will confirm I cannot resist bidding in charity auctions. The majority of times I donate the auction items to other charities for their auctions – hopefully that qualifies as recycling!
So, in November last year I bid for a three night weekend or four night mid-week break and on this occasion I thought I was just bidding to help increase the value of the bids. I didn’t expect to win. Having won the auction I promptly forgot about it until around March this year when I remembered that the break had to be taken by the end of May. We hadn’t had a holiday for four years so I decided to take the four night break rather than give it away.
“All of the team members we met obviously wanted to be there. They wanted to be doing their jobs and they genuinely wanted to deliver a great customer experience.”
So, on Monday 23 May at 3pm I was approaching Littlecote House down the long drive in the brilliant May sun. It is an amazing house with an incredible history, some of it very dark. I chose Littlecote House Hotel from the 13 on offer as it was within easy reach of home should we need to get back to our daughter in an emergency. The house apparently has 32 ghosts. One of our own engineers has had a very disturbing experience while working in the loft. The history whether embellished or not all adds to the interest of the house. But, what has this got to do with customer service?
From the moment we arrived at reception we felt the great customer service (see our earlier blog ‘A Passion for Customer Service’). All of the team members we met obviously wanted to be there. They wanted to be doing their jobs and they genuinely wanted to deliver a great customer experience. You could feel it! We went to the bar for a drink and to get our bearings before dinner. The bar staff were all young but very engaging and when asked spoke with a sense of pride about their work. Every time we went to the bar we enjoyed the experience, even though the team changed throughout the day and over the period of our stay.
“Britain certainly has got some exceptional talent and it isn’t just on the TV.”
The customer service in the restaurants was also excellent with waiting staff, team leaders and management all very engaging and informed and there to help at all times. I heard several other guests saying that they were amazed that a dining room serving a few hundred people (a guess) in the space of 90 minutes could maintain such a high quality service and excellent quality food. But they did, consistently at breakfast and dinner.
The service was fast, efficient and very attentive and the waitress anticipated regular requests very quickly. Problems were dealt with efficiently and I only heard one customer complain as a result of a mistake in the kitchen and that was very quickly remedied to the satisfaction of the customer.
And last but by no means least, the entertainments team were fantastic. The visiting cabaret acts were very good but the resident entertainments team stole the show. They worked very hard making sure everyone had a great time almost on a personal level and then were on stage performing West End quality shows. Britain certainly has got some exceptional talent and this has nothing to do with Simon Cowell.
“We really did feel the excellent customer service from all of the teams involved. Thank you Warner Holidays, especially the management and staff at Littlecote House Hotel.”
The entertainments team have to learn a new show in a matter of days. They have to learn and rehearse in and around other tasks throughout the day. Then maybe only a few hours after their rehearsal they get up and perform in front of a live audience, remembering their lyrics, harmonies and dance moves. That really is talent! However, it would be unfair to leave any of the team out. I can honestly say the entire Littlecote House Hotel staff were working in concert to deliver a great customer experience, from the housekeeping team to the entertainments team. Everyone.
I talked about the Disneyland team communicating effectively and staying in role in my previous blog. Just like Disneyland the Littlecote House Hotel team clearly understand their customers’ needs. To deliver this level of customer service every team member must be confident that their fellow team members are all doing their jobs effectively. No superheroes required because the whole team is working as one with everyone in role.
When IT teams work like this projects are completed with minimum fuss. To the point of being boring. I speak from experience because as a relatively small business we have always supported much larger organisations. We have successfully completed some very large projects with very aggressive timescales. When we analyse our most successful projects, the common themes always include effective communication on all levels; every team member knowing their role and every team member staying in role. No superheroes required!
We left Littlecote House Hotel planning to return next year if not before. It was a very relaxing break and the perfect place to spend our first holiday in four years. We really did feel the excellent customer service from all of the teams involved. Thank you Warner Leisure Hotels, especially the management and staff at Littlecote House Hotel.
“The IT industry can learn so much from all of these examples.”
This closes this series of blogs featuring customer service. IT teams can learn so much from all of the examples. IT engineers and technicians can so easily get wrapped up in the technical issues and forget what the real issues are. The issues our customers really care about and the issues that stop them sleeping at night. We can easily overlook what it is we are aiming to achieve on behalf of our customer. My British Gas engineer clearly bucked this trend giving my family an unforgettable customer service experience and securing my loyalty.
The hospitality industry has to constantly focus on customer service and adapt to their customer’s changing needs. From my experience, Warner Leisure Hotels are clearly achieving this. TGI Friday’s (from the first blog in this series), Warner Leisure Hotels, Disneyland and all other successful hospitality organisations are always focused on providing excellent customer service to ensure their customers want to return. IT companies must do the same and consistently if we are to survive and thrive.