When a guest arrives at your hotel for the first time, you want them to feel welcomed as soon as they walk through the door. That’s why it’s so important to have exceptional reception and guest relations teams ready and waiting to help. These teams make the first impression for the hotel so it’s important that everybody has a positive attitude and the right set of skills.
The guest relations department (sometimes called the guest services department) is especially important when it comes to making guests feel at home from the moment they arrive.
What does the guest experience department do?
Guest relations officers are part of the squad whose goal it is to deliver an excellent experience for each and every guest. While they work with the concierge and reception teams, guest relations is an independent department that has its own hierarchy, set of responsibilities, and goals.
The main duty is to provide excellent service to ensure that each person is satisfied with their stay. From check-in to check out, you will be focused on the daily comfort of your guests.
They may have to collaborate with other departments to meet the needs of the guests. If someone has a special request, like a wedding proposal, the guest experience team will help make it happen.
Valentine Carriere, guest relations manager at Hôtel Le Meurice in Paris, describes this daily devotion to their clientele.
“At a hotel like Le Meurice, it’s all about attention to details. Normally, we might greet a guest with a bottle of wine or champagne. However, some of our guests don’t drink alcohol but they are still paying for a premium experience. So our challenge is to arrange amenities for those guests that are just as thoughtful and welcoming,” she says.
As a guest relations manager, you should be a constant presence near the front desk so you can help customers with questions or concerns and collaborate with the front desk staff to ensure all processes go smoothly.
Another important function of guest relations officers is to respond to any and all complaints or concerns your guests might have.
You might have to deal with the complaints in-person, but you may also receive complaints over the phone or through email. It’s important to stay on top of things and remain in contact with the guest until the issue is resolved to their satisfaction.
What is the career path?
Guest relations is a more nuanced role so you will need some experience to do the job. The best way to get the job is to first spend some time working at the front desk of a hotel.
This experience in reception will get you familiar with how a hotel operates and prepare you to join the guest relations team.
After gaining experience on the guest relations team, the next logical step in the career path is to move back to the front desk in a supervisory position.
What skills or education do you need to become a guest relations manager?
“Being a guest relations manager isn’t about having a certain type of educational background. In my department, all of us have quite different profiles and have had different experiences in education. So there is no single path to the role,” says Valentine.
“But, the main skills you need for the jobs are number one: a strong command of English because we speak and write in English all day. Second would be an adaptable, positive attitude because it is important to be open-minded and ready to respond to whatever your guest needs.
It’s also important to have a strong background from the front desk. For example, you need to understand the billing process. And room allocation experience is very helpful in case you need to help the guest change their room at the last minute,” she says.
If you think you’ve got the right combination of experience and skills to handle the role, check out the open jobs in guest relations available on Hosco today.
