One of Crown Resorts Australia’s strategies is to improve the international recognition of Crown Towers Melbourne (the most prestigious of its Melbourne hotels), and one major goal was achieving a 5-star rating in the Forbes Travel Guide.
To achieve a 5-star rating, a hotel must achieve a minimum 90 out of 100 rating during Forbes’ anonymous inspections that assess hotels against 526 standards in nine classifications. Of the nine classifications, three relate specifically to customer service: Courtesy and Manners; Graciousness, Thoughtfulness, and Sense of Personalized Service; and Guest Comfort and Convenience.
To achieve this goal, Crown Resorts Australia dramatically modified its customer service training by implementing “drip-feed” training that is short, punchy, and emphasizes just one aspect of customer service at a time.
Program Details
For more than 12 months, Crown Resorts Australia reviewed and amended its customer service training so every delivery incorporates Forbes’ criteria and the company’s own Customer Service Standards: Excellent Standards, Outstanding Service.
The two main components of this training are:
- Bite-Size Training: Developed by Crown’s Training professionals, this is delivered by hotel managers and supervisors. Participants from varying roles attend, and each session is packed with interactive activities such as role-playing, spot quizzes, and games. Each session is short (15 to 60 minutes), and concentrates on one aspect of customer service (titles include “Anticipating Guests’ Needs” and “Smile: You’re on Stage”) and one take-away learning.
- Deep Dive Training: Developed and delivered by Crown Training professionals, each session runs for approximately 60 minutes, and is tailored to a specific role and specific behavior. For example, maintenance staff might identify and practice how to use a guest’s name in at least three different ways when interacting with them or housekeeping staff might research Crown’s food and beverage outlets so they can answer guests’ questions about Crown’s offerings.
Flexibility, continuous improvement, and responsiveness are built into the program as because Crown develops short sessions after consulting with the business. Resources are shared with other Crown hotels, and the company is duplicating the program in Crown Towers Perth and plans to implement it in other Crown hotels.
Results
- In 2017, Crown Towers became the first and only hotel in Melbourne and one of just two hotels in Australia to be awarded a prestigious and rare global 5-star rating from Forbes.
- Crown’s composite score of 93.97 percent outperformed 15 other prestigious global brands.
- The hotel achieved 100 percent in 10 of the 25 score groups, including six the company focuses on in the training (Guest Services, Hotel Phone Services, Business Service, Housekeeping Daily Service, Courtesy and Manners, and Staff Appearance).
- Customer service satisfaction—which had been sitting at 94 percent for some time—increased to 96 percent.
- Crown Towers has been invited into several high-end travel programs, including Fine Hotels and Resorts, and Virtuoso.
