Customer service is becoming more and more sophisticated in today’s world, says Mike Wallace, brand manager for Danubius Hotels Group. In an exclusive Thought Leader column for Spa Opportunities, Wallace talks about what you can do to ensure your staff is up to the challenge.

Improving customer service requires hard work and dedication, by Mike Wallace

Customer service is steadily becoming more sophisticated. Greeting and smiling are not enough, as we all know when we see the smile but feel a lack of sincerity. Now – especially in the spa environment – it’s about emotional intelligence. The more people go to spas, the higher the expectations become.

From the spa manager’s perspective, maintaining service consistency is a challenge, but there are certain tools that are instrumental in ensuring that customer service levels improve.

Staff selection is not easy if you are inheriting a team – if you can start from scratch it’s much better. Read between the lines of the CV, check their references and really pay attention to your first impressions, as these first impressions will be similar for guests. Don’t just ask yourself whether a candidate can do the job, but ask whether they can do the job on a consistent basis over a period of time. Check their past record for ‘job hopping’ and remember to scrutinise their communication skills.

Induction training is critical, and the expectations regarding your spa’s approach to guest communication should be absolutely clear. Make sure the induction is carried out before the staff member is allowed in front of the guest, otherwise, it’s not fair on the guest, it’s not fair on the new employee – and it allows a perfect opportunity for bad habits to sprout.

Short, regular training sessions of about 30 minutes are more effective than full one-day sessions once or twice a year. Role playing, filming role playing and giving feedback are important tools.

The biggest challenge I find is keeping the staff’s body language and behaviour front of house separate from how they behave at home or in the staff canteen. Without constant reinforcement, there is always a tendency for standards to slide.

It’s not customer service in the treatment environment that tends to be the challenge, but the before and after treatment, the behaviour as staff move around the spa, the reception desk, and the lifeguards – these areas need just as much (if not more) attention than the treatment training itself.