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Thriving with customer care at the Carlton George Hotel |
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The economic outlook might be gloomy but for Duncan Johnston, manager of The Carlton George, Glasgow’s leading boutique hotel, there’s plenty to be up beat about.
The reason for his optimism is people – his people to be precise.
Years of working in the hotel industry have convinced Duncan that people are the greatest asset a business can have so you’d better look after them.
It’s for that reason he’s currently putting his staff through One Hundred Thousand Welcomes, Scotland’s most exciting customer service training programme.
“If you want to thrive and not just survive during these difficult times, then your biggest advantage is your people. There are certain things I won’t stop doing as a business and training my staff is one of them,” he says.
Eight of Carlton’s 40-strong staff team have just completed Delivering Service Excellence. An intensely practical one day programme, it is designed to equip people working on the front line of Scotland’s tourism industry to deliver outstanding customer service.
“The benefits of doing this programme are almost instant,” says Duncan. “It digs into the real stuff people encounter in their working lives and gets them thinking in ways they may not have done before about how to give consistently exceptional service.”
“We had Fiona Young as our trainer who I’ve known for a number of years and the feedback from staff has been great. We have our own customer service promise here at The Carlton George and there were some excellent ideas to ensure our service remains exceptional time after time.”
The Carlton George has around 20,000 visitors a year and has a strong track record in great customer care. It was a finalist in the Customer Care category of the Scottish Thistle Awards in 2006.
The previous year it won the Staff Award in the Scottish Hotel of the Year Award, while its rooftop restaurant – Windows – has become one of Glasgow’s most acclaimed places to eat.
Duncan now intends putting the rest of his frontline staff through One Hundred Thousand Welcomes training. He is also considering Leading Service Excellence, the programme’s two day course for leaders and managers. |
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