Chapter 13:

I was once hired to consult for an art museum to help weave The Hospitality Mentality across their visitor experience team.  When reviewing the content with senior leadership, a lightbulb went off for one of the directors as the topic marinated amongst the group.  With a surge of energy, she exclaimed, “There are so many things that our guests can do instead of visiting us, and the fact that we even see a single human being walk in the door each day is nothing short of a miracle!”  While the museum is in a large city with a significant metropolitan population and a thriving tourism industry, she immediately began listing everything that someone needs to do just to get to the point of visiting – they need to decide to visit, then convince their family or friends, factor the cost of visiting into their budget, then make sure everyone leaves on time, then they sit in traffic on the way to the museum, and then pull into the parking garage.  We can’t remove those steps from them, so the next best thing is to make sure that every guest-facing team member is fully aware of the degree of intentionality that guests have – just to become guests.

How does this tie into the philosophy of The Hospitality Mentality?  If we had to condense the entire book into a few sentences, we can identify what the top-level mindset is that must be acknowledged before moving deeper into strategy and tactics.  As you took in each step up until this point, hopefully this theme, which was first presented in Chapter 3, resonated throughout the book:

The Hospitality Mentality is when you recognize that your guests don’t need you and their alternatives are plentiful, and your actions show your guests that you know this.

That’s it.  That’s the top-level statement that every single person who works for your organization should know beginning on day one.  The first part is not surprising - you know that your guests don’t need to visit and they have other options - but it’s how every staff member portrays their knowledge of this fact and considers it with every guest interaction that determines the strength of The Hospitality Mentality across your business.  When the philosophy is understood, the rest of the pieces fall into place much more easily.  The regular and ongoing reminder of the effort that guests make to visit your facility can serve how you answer questions, respond to requests, or take matters into your own hands to create an experience that is worthwhile, meaningful, and memorable.  When you connect this philosophy with the mission and vision of your organization, it serves as the number one reason to wake up and come to work.

How the philosophy connects with guest loyalty

On Monday, March 23rd, 2020, in the middle of the night, I was lying in bed, wide awake, staring at the ceiling.  In most of the world, anything related to hospitality, tourism, and leisure had just shut down.  The previous week was spent watching my income come to a screeching halt, as the businesses that I serve were shutting down.  What first seemed like it would be two to three weeks turned into several months, but at that moment I wondered what life in this industry would look like on the other side, not just as an operator, consultant, or supplier, but for the guests who visit these businesses for brief escapism from the hardships of daily life.  The escapism that the industry provides no longer only applied to the standard stresses of life like work, school, social pressures, and so on, but includes quarantine, the threat of illness, and everything associated with the severe threat of COVID-19.

Not only that, but who would be visiting these places again?  The businesses that were forced to shut down did so because they were deemed “non-essential;” they fostered large gatherings that contradicted this new idea of social distancing, and also included multiple high contact touchpoints that were nearly impossible to avoid.  While the industry ultimately pivoted to accommodate what can only be described as “the new normal,” it was clear that the composition of the audience would not be the same, at least not in the short term.  In late March, amidst the stillness, we all had many questions and very few answers.

While my mind raced, wondering how the industry could possibly recover from such an event, this two-part thought came to mind, which prompted me to immediately pull my phone off the nightstand, open my LinkedIn app, and post the first thing that came to mind:

The first guests to visit you when you reopen are your most loyal.  Make sure they know you know that.

The philosophy of The Hospitality Mentality had gained new magnified importance, especially when you connect it with guest loyalty.  Your loyal guests will be the ones to save you, and it’s a two-way street.  My mindset that went into this status update was that when it came time to reopen, whether it would be weeks or months down the road, planning to welcome guests again, genuinely asking: Who will be there?  The prediction suggested that those who knew that you had their best interests in mind, particularly when it came to their health and safety who would uphold high sanitation standards, would be the ones who would line up outside your door, gates, turnstiles, or entry, fully ready to be your guest again.  And those guests, of course, would be your most loyal, based on how they perceived your business in the “before” world.

But this is a two-way street because just like any guest who visits under normal circumstances, they did not have to visit.  Their alternatives were still endless, with even more critical competitors entering the spotlight.  Fear, uncertainty, anxiety, and financial distress became a dark cloud in the “everything else” category of the concentric circles of competition discussed in Chapter 3.  And if they chose you over all of the other options, what will you do to show that you recognize how powerful it is that they showed up?  This statement went beyond acknowledging their loyalty internally, it required direct acknowledgment, appreciation, and recognition for the guest simply for being there.  It didn’t mean throwing them a parade or giving them a $5,000 Amazon gift card, but by ensuring that you deliver a hyper-personalized experience all while maintaining enthusiasm and anticipating that they had a heightened sense of concern for the world around them.  This would allow you to amplify their loyalty in a way that would accelerate the return to normal.  Throw in a few “wow” moments that surprise and delight, and this would demonstrate that The Hospitality Mentality is ingrained into your culture.

When we look at the components of what makes up loyalty in The Hospitality Mentality, we see the main drivers as repeat visitation, positive word of mouth, and coming to your defense.  When businesses began to reopen after being forced to close due to the pandemic, many of those who returned immediately were demonstrating super loyalty.  This level of allegiance to your business goes leaps and bounds beyond what any repeat visitation program could do – the stamps on the punch card, the rewards points, and the bounce-back coupons were not the ones bringing guests back.  Businesses that saw these super loyal fans bolting out of their homes and to their doors were able to harness this level of loyalty through the experience that they provided.  If they embodied The Hospitality Mentality’s philosophy before shutting down, they were much more likely to have guests waiting to get in when they reopened.  And when it came time to reopen, those who embraced the philosophy - and showed appreciation for their guests - generated substantial praise, which fueled their loyalty even further.

Your guests don’t need to visit you, and your competition is endless.  You know it, but do your guests know that you know it?