“Setting the Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business” is restaurateur Danny Meyer’s new book. In a speech at NYU, Meyer explained his philosophy:
“The customer is not always right. While the customer is not always right, he/she must always feel heard.”
Meyer said his business strategy is built on both good service, defined as the technical delivery of a product, and “enlightened hospitality,” which is how the delivery of that product makes its recipient feel. He argued that hospitality is the distinguishing factor for success in this new, service economy. In the information age, competitors know how to offer the same products and services, but the culture and experience companies create for their customers will help them stand out. “It’s all about how you make the customer feel. You must make customers feel that you’re on their side,” he said.
To create this hospitable culture, restaurants must hire the right people, said Meyer. He hires “51 percenters” – staff with a high “hospitality quotient (HQ)” whose skills are 49 percent technical and 51 percent emotional. The emotional skills that are required to create a high HQ are: (1) optimism and kindness, (2) curiosity about learning, (3) an exceptional work ethic, (4) a high degree of empathy, and (5) self-awareness and integrity.
Meyer reinforced that the first and most important application of hospitality is to the people who work for you, and then, in descending order of priority, to the guests, the community, the suppliers, and the investors. “By putting your employees first, you have happier employees, which then lead to a higher HQ. A higher HQ leads to happy customers, which benefits all the stakeholders. The cycle is virtuous, not linear, because the stakeholders all impact each other.”
In an interview with Amazon, Meyer discusses “hospitalitarians” and the restaurant version of defensive design:
[A hospitalitarian is] someone with a very high “HQ”—or hospitality quotient. It’s someone whose emotional makeup leads them to derive pleasure from the act of delivering pleasure…
Don’t judge a restaurant by the honest mistakes it makes; do judge a place by how effectively and thoughtfully it strives to overcome those mistakes!...
People will generally forgive an honest mistake when someone takes responsibility for it with genuine concern.
Mark Hurst has invited Meyer to speak at GEL and yesterday posted an excerpt from the book where Meyer describes the difference between “service” and “hospitality.”
The Ritz-Carlton hotels are deservedly famous for their focus on service; they don’t call it hospitality. But as a guest there, I have occasionally sensed a rote quality in the process, when every employee responds with exactly the same phrase, “My pleasure,” to anything guests ask or say. Hearing “My pleasure” over and over again can get rather creepy after a while. It’s like hearing a flight attendant chirp, “Bye now!” and “Bye-bye!” 200 times as passengers disembark from an airplane. Hospitality can not flow from a monologue.
Service Untitled - Douglas
on 09 Feb 07I wrote about Danny Meyer on my customer service blog:
http://www.serviceuntitled.com/index.php?s=Danny+Meyer&submit=Search
He is a really interesting guy that knows quite a bit about hospitality and how to do it right.
TeesMyBody.com T-Shirts
on 09 Feb 07In my 11 years in retail I was never told nor have I told anyone else that “the customer is always right”. I think they only say that in the movies.
Patrick D
on 09 Feb 07I like the quote about fixing mistakes. It’s funny, I find that at a restaurant or pub, if they make a mistake and go out of their way to fix it (or even if I make a mistake, by ordering a dish or a beer I don’t like)...that really makes me love the place.
I wonder if it would be a good business tactic to make some small mistakes intentionally, so you have a chance to show the customer how willing you are to fix them. Of course, that only works if the person is actually willing to point out the problem—I know a lot of people who won’t even say anything if the waiter brings them the wrong dish!
Highrise
on 10 Feb 07“The customer is not always right. While the customer is not always right, he/she must always feel heard.”
Totally.
David
on 10 Feb 07Good article.
At the end of the article it says: Meyer describes the difference between “service” and “hospitality.” However, I see no such explanation other than a story about Ritz Carlton that doesn’t explain the difference at all. Am I missing something?
John Bransford
on 10 Feb 07I”m a Basecamp user and with a paid account ect. I can’t figure out where or to whom we report bugs and problems. Is there a support email and how would I find this.?
Matt Gillooly
on 11 Feb 07“Don’t judge a restaurant by the honest mistakes it makes; do judge a place by how effectively and thoughtfully it strives to overcome those mistakes!...”
Why not judge against the honest mistakes? Some people do make more honest mistakes than others, and for my dollar, I’d like to avoid those service providers.
Anyone who is deciding to spend their money on a service gets to determine the qualities that matter to them. That is the aspect in which the customer is always right… they are always right about where the money goes.
Even though I think Mr. Meyer is right that “People will generally forgive an honest mistake when someone takes responsibility for it with genuine concern,” I don’t think he, or any other service provider has the power to tell consumers what criteria are appropriate or inappropriate for judgement.
ML
on 11 Feb 07David: The first sentence of that excerpt is “The Ritz-Carlton hotels are deservedly famous for their focus on service; they don’t call it hospitality.” Meyer calls it service when things are rote: “when every employee responds with exactly the same phrase”...hospitality is a dialogue.
JB: support [at] basecamphq [dot] com is the Basecamp support email.
Leith @ Birth of a Startup
on 12 Feb 07I totally agree with the statement “The customer is not always right. While the customer is not always right, he/she must always feel heard”. Its not about changing your business direction every time there is a dissenting voice, but to listen, acknowledge, invite feedback, and make changes where it makes sense and will have a positive impact on your business. Its a good thing to remember.
Matthew
on 12 Feb 07I’ve been a fan of Meyer’s for quite some time.
In a culture undergoing what I think is a customer service crisis, his views, while not entirely new (putting employees first, for example), one can only hope that his strategy will continue to resonate.
Anonymous Coward
on 12 Feb 07This is a very fine philosophy; as some one who worked in the food service industry for 15 years before switching to high-tech services, I can really relate to his remark about treating employees right. This is a rare thing in either industry, and I think it accounts for a lot of the bitterness and underlying hostility in service workers in general.
The thing that I take away from this are that honesty and sincerity are as important as putting out a good product and providing good service.
Damon Billian
on 13 Feb 07Thanks for highlighting this great read.
“This is a rare thing in either industry, and I think it accounts for a lot of the bitterness and underlying hostility in service workers in general.”
I’ve seen this before & walking on employees on leads to decreased morale & passive-aggressive behavior towards customers and management.
This discussion is closed.