TRENDING
Luxury TRAINING
“ Experience ” is a big buzzword in hotels these days , and the drive to provide it to customers is spreading to luxury brands that want to turn the experience of their luxury product into customer loyalty . That drive is a business opportunity for the Dorchester Collection , which launched the Dorchester Collection Academy in February . Beth Aarons , formerly area director of HR for Dorchester Collection ’ s U . K . properties , is global director of the academy .
“ With a very commoditized market , as many business are nowadays , the one thing businesses can do to differentiate themselves is to make sure that they ’ re providing an exceptional service experience that sets them apart from everyone else ,” she says .
Aarons describes the types of companies that have sought advice as airlines and private jet companies , retailers , car and catering companies – companies that share the same client base and want to subscribe to the Dorchester ’ s customer-centric philosophy of service . The academy has some clients lined up .
“ These customers know their product and train in
THEIR CUSTOMERS ARE LOOKING FOR MORE THAN JUST THE PRODUCT EXPERIENCE ; THEY ACTUALLY WANT THE SERVICE EXPERIENCE THAT GOES WITH IT .
BETH AARONS their product incredibly well ,” Aarons says . “ However , they realize that their customers are looking for more than just the product experience ; they actually want the service experience that goes with it . That ’ s where we come in .”
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The academy will offer tailored programs to businesses . “ We have meetings to get to know ( the company ) first , we will often go and see them in situ , and we ’ ll organize to meet with them and some of their teams ,” Aarons says . “ We ’ ll learn a little more about them through observation and discussion with some of the people on the floor , and based on that insight and some supporting information and documentation , we ’ ll be in a position to pull together a proposal .”
The academy will also offer leadership classes and single “ open-market ” sessions of less than two hours .
It ’ s being housed at Dorchester ’ s corporate offices in London ’ s Barclay Square . Aarons , who declines to name revenue goals , says they aren ’ t laying plans for expansion – yet .
OF THE RISEplants
Interstate ’ s zucchini squash spaghetti with spigarello hazelnut pesto |
Tim Turner Studios |
Vegan and vegetarian options are now par for the courses on many menus . Interstate Hotels & Resorts in January introduced 27 such items at 75 U . S . full-service hotels , and while it ’ s a six-month promotion , Vice President of F & B Operations Bradley Moore says |
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experience shows they will probably remain on the menu much longer ( hotels choose at lease one vegetarian and one vegan option to serve at each meal and in catering ). “ Previously , less than 2 % of our hotels had any type of vegan options ,” says Moore , who describes the initiative |
as a “ huge shift for our hotels .” “ This promotion marked the beginning of a significant cultural change in how we concept , create and deploy these kinds of promotions ,” he adds . “ Our focus right now is on getting this right and learning what will work for future initiatives .” |
14 hotelsmag . com March 2018 |
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