Operators succeed in this challenging market by understanding the difference between a meal and an experience.

Not by being like the operators who offer bundles and discounts. That’s a one-way ticket to nowhere.

When you begin to understand that you no longer just sell meals, that’s when you start the process of increasing guest count.
 

The Experience Economy

In a world where people can find a meal anywhere – including in their kitchen and at the grocery store – how do you go beyond providing meals to providing experiences that people love (and that they post about and tell their friends about), leading to guest count increases?

Attend to:

• Closing the small gaps in your sequence of service.
   
• Showing pride in what you represent – whether your business, like one of my client’s, is a 60-year-old brand revered in its community or a brand-new and exciting concept that no one has ever seen before.
   
• Hiring people who find it easy to show guests how much they care.
   
• Improving every aspect of what happens within your four walls to give guests what they expect today.
   
• Knowing where you can do better to dominate your segment because you understand where your competition falls short.

 

“Why” Has More Value Than “What”

Recently, on a summer vacation, the air conditioning went out in our hotel room. Since it was the July 4 weekend, though, the guy who really understands their HVAC seemed hard to find. So, on returning from our evening activities, they gave us a different room to sleep in while they worked on ours.

By the next morning, however, they could still not fix the A/C. They temporarily installed a smaller window A/C unit and then, later in the day, an even more powerful window unit they felt very proud about. The original room became perfectly frosty.

While it was a little annoying that they had to keep coming in and out of the room all day (when relaxation was on our agenda), that did not put a damper on our appreciation – and it was much better than the alternative.

On the third day, I walked into the lobby happy to report the main HVAC unit had miraculously healed and everything was perfect. The manager walked across the lobby and told me, “I want you to know that we are here to make sure that you have the best vacation you can have and enjoy a relaxing time while you are here.”

Wow! Once I heard that, I felt love for their hotel and the people who worked there, and I knew I’d made a smart decision to stay there.

Why do I want you to know about my room repair? Because the air conditioning was the meal. The experience was the sentiments of “why” they existed to serve.

The why has exponentially more value than the what – so show your guests the why. To drive guest count, you must provide experiences, not just meals.