Page 173 - The New Gold Standard

Support Frontline Empathy
In support of Brian’s comment about the difficulty of pars-
ing distinctions between established preferences and situational
choices, Ritz-Carlton has a cache of stories highlighting the haz-
ards of missing subtleties or inaccurately gauging preferences.
These examples include situations like that of a housekeeper who
noted a guest’s preference for mariachi music because he left that
music genre blasting in his room in Cancún. The same guest
started being greeted consistently with mariachi music in his
room in Ritz-Carlton locations like Cleveland or Philadelphia.
Turns out, he had it on in the first hotel only because he thought
it added to the local flavor, not because he was a fan of the mu-
sic. Additional stories of failed execution include a bottle of wine
that was reportedly sent as an amenity gift to a speaker for an Al-
coholics Anonymous event and a gift that was delivered to the
head of a major delivery company using the delivery services of
his competitor.
While mistakes will be made, Ritz-Carlton leadership works
consistently on removing those types of defects both to enhance
customer experience and to be efficient from a cost perspective.
By focusing on the details of a guest’s preferences, the Ladies and
Gentlemen of Ritz-Carlton consistently deliver Wow experi-
ences, which are highlighted in upcoming chapters. The ability
to “deliver Wow” is buttressed by leadership that offers technol-
ogy, processes, and training to collect and operationalize knowl-
edge acquired on behalf of guests.
With concerns about personal data, Kevin Walsh says, “We
are committed to protecting the guest’s privacy. We are careful
about the nature of information we have on our guests in our
Mystique system, and all elements of customized service are done
with the greatest of sensitivity. A lot of times, guests will give us
photographs. The guest relations staff will then ask if we can keep
the photo on file for the next time they come to visit. If they don’t
want us to keep it, we delete the picture from their profile.”
Kevin adds, “We want to build on the relationship we have
with our guest and not detract from that. If we did a Google

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