Emaar Hospitality Group optimises guest service culture programme

In a bid to transform every touch point of the guest experience across all its properties, Emaar Hospitality Group has launched a new guest service culture programme, focusing on inculcating the 'service mindset' further among employees.

The new service culture programme focuses on employees, and includes a series of workshops and training sessions for all employees of Address Hotels + Resorts, Vida Hotels and Resorts and Rove Hotels. On the business level, the programme is expected to build guest loyalty as well as drive long-term value creation.

“Ensuring highly guest-centric experiences has been fundamental to our operations since our inception ten years ago. Service excellence is what sets apart hotel brands, and we are taking the whole ‘guest experience’ to the next level through our ‘service culture’ programme. At the heart of this innovative initiative are our employees, every one of them being a brand ambassador, who will bring add-on value to the guest experience at every touch point. As Emaar Hospitality Group expands its geographic footprint globally and focuses on digital transformation, lending an enhanced human touch is vital in ensuring that we deliver genuine value to our guests,”  said Emaar Hospitality Group CEO Olivier Harnisch.

The new service culture programme is based on the ‘Reverse Thinking®’ approach, developed by Performance Solutions, which focuses on the desired guest experience for determining the optimal staff behaviour, working climate and leadership. This is underlined by research by Bain & Company that revealed that while 80% of companies surveyed believed they deliver a ‘superior experience’ to their customers, only 8% of customers actually agreed. This ‘experience gap’ between the service provider and customers is being addressed through the Reverse Thinking®.

As part of the programme, Emaar Hospitality Group will roll out a collaborative experiential approach – both internally and externally – and empower staff to make sound decisions around those experiences.  A seven-phase programme, this would involve practical training sessions designed to challenge outdated norms. The conclusion should result in helping shape a more robust customer experience mindset for employees.  

By fostering positive staff experience as a fundamental part of the organisational culture, the programme also provides the freedom to act upon guest nuances and insights relevant to each context. All employees thus become aligned to best practices and values across all touch points.

During the rollout of the programme which is expected to take 18 months, all Emaar Hospitality Group employees will live a ‘guest experience blueprint’ through experiential training, activities and workshops, executed by trained internal ‘brand experience coaches’.

The experience blueprint will also be used as a basis for recruitment, ensuring that new staff will connect with the values and service culture of Emaar Hospitality Group. To sustain the service culture, a ‘rewards programme’ has been designed to recognise employees who facilitate the desired guest experience. There will also be regular follow-up activities including daily challenges.