This series is about becoming a Guest House Hero…making the transformation from great host to superhero host.
So, let’s first address what makes a great host.
What is the psyche behind being a great host?
Some fun:
You don’t need to be drop-dead gorgeous.
You don’t need to be witty.
You don’t need to be the life and soul of a party type person.
You don’t need to be a performer.
We believe most people already have the latent qualities or personality traits to be a great host.
In our opinion, the most important traits are:
An overriding desire to ensure your guest feels special.
It’s about providing your guest with the utmost hospitality.
It’s about making your guest feel they’ve received value.
And the Cambridge Dictionary appears to agree as it defines “hospitality” as
“the friendly, generous, and welcoming reception of guests, visitors, or strangers. It involves providing comfort, food, drink, and entertainment to make others feel valued and at home”.
Think about any outstanding memory you have of a hotel or guest house stay…or any experience for that matter. Isn’t it almost always the interaction with hosts or hospitality staff that make the stay most memorable and set the establishment apart from the rest?
I’m sure there must have been occasions when a host was an absolute laugh-a-minute joker, or had a fabulous personality…but I don’t remember those experiences so much as the hospitality shown by genuinely caring hosts and staff.
I remember staying at a five-star hotel in Kolkata. The hotel was beautiful. It was a grand old lady of a hotel that had pictures of famous past guests on the walls. But the most endearing and enduring memory was of one of the staff who made our stay special (even to the point of bringing us a herbal tea that was not on any menu but which he personally made up from ingredients in the kitchen to combat a condition one of us was suffering).
I remember staying in another top, very expensive hotel in Bangkok. It was very nice. But none of the staff stood out. They were undoubtedly well-trained and very pleasant as Thais are, but no-one made our stay particularly special.
I will never forget the owner of a B&B in Cornwall who took our money up front and then told us that breakfast would be served at a particular time and that neither she nor her aga waited for anyone!!
The reviews for the guest house we run almost always rave about one particular aspect of their experience…their positive interaction with us as owner/operators.
In many ways the single most significant and desirable aspect for guests choosing a guest house over a big hotel is the interaction with the hosts and the hope, belief or expectation that they as guests will have a more rewarding experience because of the local knowledge and advice that can be imparted by the owner/operator of of a B&B or guest house to help them get the most out of their stay.
(There is no reason guests shouldn’t expect the same of large hotels…and that’s where management and staff watching these Guest House Hero series of videos can up their game and outshine the competition).
Neither of us (as guesthouse owner/operators) are extroverts. Neither of us are life-and-soul of party types. We’re just simple folks. Not jokers. Hell! I can never remember a joke let alone tell one.
But both of us are driven to ensuring that our guests have the best experience possible.
That means listening to your guests. What do they enjoy? What rocks their boat. What are their preferences? In listening to your guest and getting them to reveal their likes, you then have the opportunity to make suggestions (as a local expert) that will contribute to them having the most enjoyable stay.
We’ll cover the importance of communication prior to guests arriving in a following article. We also cover the importance of the initial greet and introduction in a later article and how these aspects contribute massively to positive overall guest experience.
Right now, the important takeaway from this episode is to recognise that you have the innate qualities to be a great host and those qualities together with the tips, secrets and methods shared with you in the rest of this series will ensure you become a Guest House Hero and become incredibly successful with your guesthouse, B&B or hotel.
Note: In a future article we’ll cover pre-arrival and how to ensure your guests feel they’re receiving great hospitality before they’ve even arrived.
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