Page 175 - The New Gold Standard

Support Frontline Empathy
understand buying habits, Ritz-Carlton is a leader at leveraging
the information it collects to actually enhance the evolving ex-
periences of its guests. But in a world where not everyone wants
their preferences known or recorded, the tracking of preferences
is a sensitive and challenging endeavor. Staff must discern the
level of disclosure and interaction that individual guests desire
while respectfully honoring their privacy.

C MR. BIV: D
Listening When
Things Go Wrong

While it appears inherently enjoyable to look for preferences on
the part of guests and to craft customized service that delights
them, it is often less pleasant to listen and record the problems
experienced by a guest. In a playful spirit, Ritz-Carlton has iden-
tified one guest it doesn’t want at its hotels: MR. BIV. The Ladies
and Gentlemen are urged to immediately track the presence of
MR. BIV, an acronym for mistakes, rework, breakdowns, ineffi-
ciencies, and variations. In fact, leadership has provided a physi-
cal wooden statue representing MR. BIV created by an engineer
in their Marina del Rey hotel.
According to Diana Oreck, vice president of global learning
and the Leadership Center: “MR. BIV has brought us to the
point where we honor defects. Our approach to MR. BIV is
consistent with research that shows if you handle a problem
quickly and well, you might get a more loyal guest than if there
were no problem at all. While we wish there hadn’t been a prob-
lem in the first place, we believe there is a need to learn from
each imperfection. We want people to report the breakdowns so
we can build solutions to remove them from our hotels, not just
sweep them under a rug. So MR. BIV has been a real way to take
the stigma out of complaints and help us reliably track defects
to make the necessary corrections.”

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