Anyone who arrives onsite.
Sounds to simple? Allow me to explain:
Internal guest can be defined as an employee. It is important we as owners, leaders and service providers show care and service excellence amongst our team members, vendors and stakeholders. Even if they aren’t paying with money, they are offering value and contribute to the business success.
External guest is the person who is a paying customer or unemployed visitor. Some businesses make the mistake of only focusing on the “guest experience” for those who spend money.
What I’ve found with two decades dedicated to luxury service operations is you may not know who that person is who you can positively impact.
While there are some grey areas and room to dispute this theory, more often then not, when you treat others well, they are more likely to return, more likely to recommend and more likely to spend more in the future.
At a top 1% luxury hotel, I witnessed service standards drop when the service professional thought “oh it’s just a local… not a guest.” Turned out that local was coming to plan an event, future revenue, far greater than just coming for a coffee and bathroom break.
Service with a Smile applies to anyone who crosses your path. May you leave them better than when they first approached you.
Do you have any stories you can share where you have experienced this?