The Importance of Customer Service in The Hospitality Industry

In this day and age, service has become transactional. It’s no longer expected for you to be remembered and recognized as a repeat guest and remembering a name? Now that is unheard of. Occasionally, we’re guilty of that too. As a hotel company, we can get hung up in the hustle and bustle of check-in and forget to stop and acknowledge each and every person for what they are: a guest who chose to stay with US.

That’s why at Stoney Creek, we are working overtime to make sure that everyone who stays at our property knows just how valued they are and why it is so important to make sure our staff is properly trained in providing customer service that goes above and beyond. Whether it’s taking care of small tasks like remembering names or providing recommendations for things to do in the area, our employees should be able to make each and every customer feel welcome and appreciated. By doing so, we hope to not only create repeat guests but also give them a positive experience that they remember even after they’ve checked out.

­How we are working to improve Customer Service in our Organization

We know how the saying goes: Nobody is perfect. While we understand we will never be perfect, here are tactics that we’re using to get as close as we can. If it means guest satisfaction, you can bet we’re going to work as hard as possible.

• Listening carefully to our customer feedback – Stoney Creek works very closely to monitor our customer feedback, both positive and negative, in order to help us better understand what our customers want and need, as well as identify any potential issues before they become bigger problems.
• Respond quickly and empathetically – Whether a complaint, concern, or praise, it is crucial that we respond quickly and empathetically in order to ease any frustrations that our guests may be feeling about a given situation.
• Asking guests to leave reviews – If we don’t know about it, we can’t fix it. That’s why we urge all our guests to leave reviews either through our post-stay email survey or from our review partners, such as Google or Trip Advisor. We know that spreading the word- especially from the guest’s point of view- is key to our growth as a hospitality company.
• Learn from our mistakes – Finally, it is important for us as a guest-centered company to view negative customer experiences as learning opportunities. By reflecting on what went wrong, we can work to identify areas where our processes or products could be improved upon and work to make changes going forward.

At Stoney Creek, we’re learning every day. That being said, we know that we’re heading in the right direction based on guest experience feedback from hotels like Galena, IL:

We recently returned from our mini vacation at Stoney Creek Inn – Galena – October 2022. As we have come to expect from Stoney Creek Hotels, our stay was very relaxing, our suite was awesome, the staff was professional / friendly and welcoming.
Although we thoroughly enjoyed the Galena area fall foliage and shopping, it was our stay at Stoney Creek that was the “icing on the cake”. To sum up our review of Stoney Creek Hotel – Galena, all I can say is:
Best Place to Stay!!! (Thank you Trevor Harris / Brock Gobeli and team !!!)

-TripAdvisor Guest Review October 28th, 2022.