Delivering Better Customer Service

There is at least one silver lining to the recession – better customer service. Just as companies are dealing with slumping sales and sinking employee morale, skittish customers want more attention, better quality and greater value for their money. These same customers are very aware that their support is important to companies, especially as others decrease their spending. As the economy continues to present challenges, expect more companies to upgrade their service or face deeper trouble. More and more companies are emphasizing - in both words and actions - that they have to pay more attention to the people who pay the bills - their customers.
 
The latest travel industry example is the return of the Red Coats at Delta. These premier customer-service employees, who were eliminated in  2005 as cost-cutting measure, are touted to be the “best of the best” airport agents with top customer service skills and the power to resolve problems on the spot, said Gil West, Delta’s senior vice president of airport customer service. The agents now tote electronic handheld devices to resolve problems and print boarding passes, meal vouchers, Sky Club passes, travel passes and other coupons. A key role for Red Coats will be re-booking passengers and handling other problems when Delta’s operations at their worst during thunderstorms or other events.
 
Hoteliers are continuing to deliver high levels of service at the front of house by trimming costs in the back of house in ways their customers are unlikely to detect. They’re increasingly combining purchasing power to get better deals across properties that are within the same chain but may have different owners. Some hotels in the Four Seasons chain are joining forces to buy goods and services such as coffee, valet parking agreements, and overnight cleaning contracts that each hotel once bought on its own. JW Marriott hotels are teaming up to buy landscaping services that would be costlier if contracted separately. Ritz-Carlton is doing laundry at night to save electricity and replacing fresh flowers with potted plants. With occupancy rates falling, Ritz COO Simon F. Cooper notes, “you have to get better because you’re forced to.”