Takeaways

1.     Throughout this course, I have learned a lot about customer complaints and service recovery. Every complaint is a gift. If they stop complaining when facing issues, it means they have given up hope on the business. Therefore, every complaint gives the company an opportunity to solve a problem and transform the unhappy customers to satisfied customers. I also apply the knowledge I learned in class in my workplace. Since I work at the front desk at a gym, sometimes I receive complaints from our clients on various issues. I usually thanked them for reaching out to us, and then checked the problem to see if there was any confusion or misunderstanding involved. If there is, I always apologize and fix the issue right away. If they misunderstand something, I still apologize for the confusion caused, but explain to them what might be wrong on their end. Finally, I will make sure I talk to my supervisor and come up with a solution to prevent future mistakes.  

2.     I also learned about the labor relations in the hospitality industry. I did not know that the restaurant employees do not have a single paid sick day. However, I am glad that NGOs like ROC is taking actions to change the current situation.

3.     The course gives me a precious opportunity to conduct an informational interview with the restaurateur Michael Thompson at ShopHouse. He gave me many advices in terms of professional development and different perspectives on relevant hospitality issues.

Takeaways

In this class, I learned a lot that’ll help me in my career in hospitality industry. I will talk about my top three takeaways in this post. The first one is on Customer Relationship Management. CRM is a vital part of service management. When used effectively, I’ve learned that it adds value for guests and can be very influential in guest satisfaction. HGRM case gave examples of the benefits they gained from their CRM system such as greeting guests by name and giving guests the opportunity for personalization. Even little details like those made a big difference and got positive reviews from guests. The second takeaway is about Search Engine Marketing. I’ve learned that Pay-Per-Click is easy to create but it’s costly and therefore companies should aim for using Search Engine Optimization effectively to improve their content. Our activity in class showed how important it is to use the correct keywords. SEO takes time and it’s hard to implement but done correctly, it drives more traffic to your website. My third takeaway is on crisis management. I’ve learned that it’s important for hotels to be prepared and have certain procedures ready to follow in crisis situations. However, you cannot plan for everything. When a crisis hits, hotels should be truthful and apologetic in the way they communicate with the press and the public because any wrong comment(s) has a potential to damage the brand’s image, which was evident in the videos we saw of Atlanta hotels.

Volunteering for the SINC Conference, by Molly Rubel

Yesterday, Monday, November 16, I volunteered to table for the Sports Industry Networking Career (SINC) Conference in the lobby of Duqués Hall. The SINC Conference is a two-day event that provides educational and networking opportunities for students and young professionals interested in the sports industry. In order to make the most effective use out of the space we had available, I printed out flyers about the conference and had my computer open to the SINC website. This ended up being very useful because people walking by were able to quickly grab a flyer or glance at the screen even if they did not have time to stop by and talk to us about details of the conference. Even though nobody registered on the spot for the conference, in the hour we spent tabling 18 people asked to join the listserv to get emails about the conference. I added all of their names and email addresses to a sign up sheet that the SINC marketing team will add to their database. Overall, I think that the tabling was a success because even if these 18 students don’t end up buying tickets, it still increased brand awareness and spread word of mouth buzz. Additionally, I think that we had a prime location for our table because we were able to reach our ideal target audience of business school students.

Dining experience @ Momofuku CCDC, November 15, 2015

 

Yesterday, a friend and I decided to finally visit Momofuku CCDC which opened almost a month ago at the DC city center area. Momofuku is a New York based restaurant chain since 2004, and it keeps expanding its business in many major cities in US and Toronto.

We went into the restaurant around 6:30pm knowing that there would be a long wait, we got on the waitlist, and the receptionist kindly took our phone number and informed us that we will receive a text message when our table is ready. I think Momofuku CCDC chose a good location to attract guests. here are many things to do including shopping at the City Center or grab a coffee at nearby coffeeshops, great ways to kill the waiting time.

Since it was a Sunday night, there wasn't much to do around dinner time in the area, most shops were closed as well. We chose to join the another line for the sister bakery Momofuku Milk Bar right next to the noodle bar to get their signature cookies and soft serve(picture 1).

Around 8pm, we got a table and got to eat finally. The atmosphere in the restaurant is great, there are many japanese art designs on the wall. I really liked the noodle bar in the center of the restaurant (picture 3). Our server was very friendly and passionate, she was able to give us great suggestions on food orders. So we ended up with getting a good combination of dishes for us two to share.

The overall experience for this first visit was great. I am hoping to come back again next time soon, and hopefully it will be a shorter waiting time.

The Association of Meeting Professionals November Monthly Meeting

This Tuesday, I attended the November monthly meeting of the Association of Meeting Professionals. The meeting location is at Hyatt Place on K Street. When I got there, there is place to pick up my name tag. And I met two GW students who are from Professor Levy’s other class. The meeting started at around 7pm. The host gave a brief presentation about the hotel. I learned that this Hyatt Place hotel was built recently. It is only 6 months old. After the mini presentation, some members of the association went over some “housekeeping” notes, and talked about some upcoming events.

We were divided into four different groups. For my group, the theme of the meeting is to teach us how do we respond to emergency situations when we see an unconscious person. I didn’t quite understand why we had this theme since it had nothing to do with the meeting industry. However, I learned that last month one member had a stroke during the meeting. The association realized that people need to have some basic knowledge in terms of must-know first aid tips.

During the meeting, I also met Tasha who is the sales manager at MGM Grand in Detroit. When she knew that I am a student at GW, she encouraged me to apply for the internship at MGM Grand Hotel in summer.

Overall, it was a great experience. I met some professionals in the field and learned some basic first aid techniques (which I didn’t expect at all before I went!)