{"id":24857,"date":"2016-10-19T13:25:00","date_gmt":"2016-10-19T13:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kepner-tregoe.com\/the-road-to-the-bellagio-5-keys-to-world-class-service\/"},"modified":"2025-07-10T14:40:21","modified_gmt":"2025-07-10T14:40:21","slug":"the-road-to-the-bellagio-5-keys-to-world-class-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kepner-tregoe.com\/nl\/blogs\/the-road-to-the-bellagio-5-keys-to-world-class-service\/","title":{"rendered":"The Road to the Bellagio \u2013 5 Keys to world class service"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>What is it about \u2018five star\u2019 hotels that excites us? Why do we pay a premium in order to otherwise receive the same overall benefit \u2013 a good night\u2019s sleep and a centrally located base? In today\u2019s article I discuss the concept of proactive problem management \u2013 in what I would call \u2018the road to the Bellagio\u2019<\/p>\n<h4>They understand their customer\u2019s taste<\/h4>\n<p>For a service organization, it\u2019s all about adapting your specific offerings to the customer taste. This means your service catalogue, delivery, and execution of its items must be not only to a certain standard, but actually surprise the customer with an experience. Harvard Business Review\u00a0 calls this delighting the customer, and it\u2019s been a back and forth battle to determine if delighting your customer is worth it\u00a0in a world where quick, generic service is often becoming the norm, and\u00a0disappointing\u00a0your customers through poor service or amenities is unavoidable regardless of which\u00a0competitor you chose. I think the world has changed, my clients ask me to design more in their process, and taking a tip from the hotel industry, it\u2019s not about the mint on the pillow, the perfume in the air, or the late checkout that keeps me coming back \u2013 it\u2019s knowing that these items will be provided consistently, and when I need them most. After the most grueling of days, somehow, some staff member was able to witness me walk in, pull up my room number, and be empowered to make a call to deliver a small cheesecake with\u00a0raspberry coulis to my room. These are not\u00a0bells and whistles folks,\u00a0this is understanding what I need, what I like, and predicting when I need it. The consequence is that while yes I am delighted, my trust is solidified that I chose the right brand, and put my money towards a supplier that gave me more than just a bed.<\/p>\n<h4>They scale depending on the season<\/h4>\n<p>When a major event is happening in a hotel environment, staff, services, food, catering, and resources are all scaled to meet potential demand. Prices vary economically to ensure that the hotel has a solid booking utilization, and that the staff that are on hand are not wasted. Consider your service organization \u2013 when a major change is about to be released, surely you get your staff ready, but that\u2019s because it\u2019s an IT initiated change to the environment. Are you being insensitive to your (internal\/external) customer base by not scaling up your resources when their projects have hit a snag, during <u>their<\/u> predicted busy time? Are you tracking how much work throughput as measured by simple items such as telephone calls answered, or emails sent might be causing stress on your customer? If you recognize when your customer is in trouble \u2013 you can step in to provide solutions they themselves did not think of. We can refer to this as customer driven innovation \u2013 where simply modelling the methods, madness, and output of your customer can drive you as a supplier to invent new ways of servicing your customers and this in turn can create a new internal product, and lead to success.<\/p>\n<h4>They pivot based on pre-determined plans<\/h4>\n<p>Take for instance one famous world leader in entertainment and amusement resorts. They take the first two principles in this article to the very next level. When guests wake up in hotel rooms any given morning, they immediately begin receiving data and compare it to historical baselines:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Did guests wake up later or earlier than average? Is this telling of an event other than weather we did not anticipate? How can we modify the number of greeters and ticket collectors at the gate?<\/li>\n<li>How much breakfast was eaten? Is this out of standard? Should we plan for more popcorn or turkey leg stands at common areas of the park? If so \u2013 should we adjust the time earlier since less breakfast was consumed than normal or should we adjust the time back, because it seems that lots of people have already eaten?<\/li>\n<li>Are there gatherings at one area of the park that surpass \u2018normal\u2019 population density \u2013 if so, let\u2019s launch the mini-parade in a nearby underpopulated area to balance out load.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Many of these examples are things your event management teams may already handle \u2013 that is checking loads, areas of concentration, and\u2013with the help of problem management\u2013tracking and trending data to understand underlying concerns.<\/p>\n<h4>They practice being seamless \u2013 \u201cThe Swan Principle\u201d<\/h4>\n<p>When a team of individuals at an upper class hotel or resort interact, they don\u2019t put you on hold and tell you they can\u2019t help you before transferring you to different agents. Instead they provide a seamless transition of help that eventually gets your concern resolved. Often times the request was handled by one person, the delivery by the next, and the follow up by a third, but it always seems like a magical and seamless interaction between you and the staff.<\/p>\n<p>How can your environment improve its handoffs, escalations, call backs, and assistance so that the right level of expertise is involved with the customer for only as long as they need to provide their expertise? It seems like a single person handling an entire case is a good idea, but in reality that model is inefficient and customers don\u2019t demand it as much as we think they do. Instead, focus your teams on providing consistent updates to each other. A principle of the KT approach is to use common language, formats, and templates to be able to do this \u2013 but that shouldn\u2019t stop you from trying to start your own schema and asking people to adhere to it.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span class=\"bold_green\">\u2026taking a tip from the hotel industry, it\u2019s not about the mint on the<br \/>\npillow, the perfume in the air, or the late checkout that keeps me<br \/>\ncoming back \u2013 it\u2019s knowing that these items will be provided<br \/>\nconsistently, and when I need them most.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h4>They say sorry<\/h4>\n<p>In the effort to continuously improve, hotel and resort staff seem like they can take quite the verbal beating sometimes. In that industry, staff are trained to diffuse a customer by effectively listening to, writing down, and reading back concerns <em>before<\/em> clarifying them with the customer. They basically help a customer understand that they appreciate the time taken to make the complaint, and how frustrating it must have been for their anger or emotional levels to reach such a fevered pitch. Once they are done, they offer an apology, and make a commitment to get something done. The commitment often includes some type of basic compensation, and often times a follow up from the general manager, or at minimum an email to let you know that the concern was handled.<\/p>\n<p>How often do you manage your continuous improvement cycle in a way that is impactful and visible to your customers? How can they be ensured that their hard-earned dollar, or unit of time is spent wisely trusting you and your staff with handling their day-to-day, minor, or major incidents? Make your thinking visible by reporting on projects and their expected outcomes, help people understand transparently what you are doing to help them achieve a better experience.<\/p>\n<h4>In summary<\/h4>\n<p><strong>In this article I discussed the 5 keys on the road to the Bellagio. They are<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>1. Segmenting your customers based on preferences and needs<\/p>\n<p>2. Innovating based on observable customer behavior<\/p>\n<p>3. Statistical monitoring and contingent planning<\/p>\n<p>4. Seamless service and team-based problem swarming<\/p>\n<p>5. Visible continuous improvement efforts<\/p>\n<p>By adhering to these principles, and starting change efforts around improving internal behavior to match these keys, you will be well on your way to earning your next star. The goal from HBR remains the same which is, don\u2019t focus on bells and whistles. But the messaging has never been clearer, which is that your customers expect more. And, what happens in Vegas might be more appropriate for your customer service environment than you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What is it about \u2018five star\u2019 hotels that excites us? Why do we pay a premium in order to otherwise receive the same overall benefit \u2013 a good night\u2019s sleep and a centrally located base? In today\u2019s article I discuss the concept of proactive problem management \u2013 in what I would call \u2018the road to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[124],"class_list":["post-24857","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-other"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.7 (Yoast SEO v27.7) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Road to the Bellagio \u2013 5 Keys to world class service - Kepner-Tregoe<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A consistent business traveler examines and compares customer service through the eyes of a hotel guest vs. the world of IT Service Management.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/kepner-tregoe.com\/nl\/blogs\/the-road-to-the-bellagio-5-keys-to-world-class-service\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"nl_NL\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Road to the Bellagio \u2013 5 Keys to world class service\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A consistent business traveler examines and compares customer service through the eyes of a hotel guest vs. the world of IT Service Management.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/kepner-tregoe.com\/nl\/blogs\/the-road-to-the-bellagio-5-keys-to-world-class-service\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Kepner-Tregoe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-10-19T13:25:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-07-10T14:40:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Anna Sza\u0142kiewicz\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kepner-tregoe.com\\\/nl\\\/blogs\\\/the-road-to-the-bellagio-5-keys-to-world-class-service\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kepner-tregoe.com\\\/nl\\\/blogs\\\/the-road-to-the-bellagio-5-keys-to-world-class-service\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"The Road to the Bellagio \u2013 5 Keys to world class service\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-10-19T13:25:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-07-10T14:40:21+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kepner-tregoe.com\\\/nl\\\/blogs\\\/the-road-to-the-bellagio-5-keys-to-world-class-service\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1337,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kepner-tregoe.com\\\/nl\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Other\"],\"inLanguage\":\"nl-NL\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kepner-tregoe.com\\\/nl\\\/blogs\\\/the-road-to-the-bellagio-5-keys-to-world-class-service\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kepner-tregoe.com\\\/nl\\\/blogs\\\/the-road-to-the-bellagio-5-keys-to-world-class-service\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Road to the Bellagio \u2013 5 Keys to world class service - Kepner-Tregoe\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kepner-tregoe.com\\\/nl\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-10-19T13:25:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-07-10T14:40:21+00:00\",\"description\":\"A consistent business traveler examines and compares customer service through the eyes of a hotel guest vs. the world of IT Service Management.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kepner-tregoe.com\\\/nl\\\/blogs\\\/the-road-to-the-bellagio-5-keys-to-world-class-service\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"nl-NL\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/kepner-tregoe.com\\\/nl\\\/blogs\\\/the-road-to-the-bellagio-5-keys-to-world-class-service\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kepner-tregoe.com\\\/nl\\\/blogs\\\/the-road-to-the-bellagio-5-keys-to-world-class-service\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kepner-tregoe.com\\\/nl\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Road to the Bellagio \u2013 5 Keys to world class service\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kepner-tregoe.com\\\/nl\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kepner-tregoe.com\\\/nl\\\/\",\"name\":\"Kepner-Tregoe\",\"description\":\"Problem solving &amp; 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