Page 176 - The New Gold Standard

PRINCIPLE 3: IT’S NOT ABOUT YOU
In addition to registering these “opportunities,” as they are
called in the Mystique system, Diana adds, “Incidents of MR.
BIV that were registered in the database the night before are typ-
ically shared in lineup. Let’s say you didn’t enjoy your dinner last
night at the restaurant, but you’re going to be with us for three
more days. I want to make sure that when you come in contact
with the valet, that Lady or Gentleman can say, ‘I understand
that you didn’t have a positive dining experience last night. Is
there anything we can do?’ Looking at the breakdowns openly
and communicating those findings to the staff allow our Ladies
and Gentlemen to go out of their way to make sure that the
problem doesn’t resurface for that guest, and in the process it
helps us regain that guest’s confidence.”
The additional benefit of maintaining a database of break-
downs is that it affords opportunities to be proactive so that
processes can be modified and training can be delivered. Accord-
ing to Simon Cooper, “Accurate collection of breakdowns, swift
analysis of trends, and resolution of process problems is funda-
mental for us to be in a position to give a guest a Wow experience
at the Ritz-Carlton.” Simon cites specific concerns: “A huge chasm
occurs when a guest comes in and does not have a good arrival
process . . . or goes to the room and finds the drawer in the dresser
wasn’t emptied from the last guest . . . or pulls down the sheet and
there’s a tear . . . or has a cup of coffee served cold . . . or is given
a room key that doesn’t work. When these breakdowns occur, it is
hard to get to a place where we’re going to have an engaged guest.
The only way across the chasm over the long term is to know what
goes wrong and make it right. It is fundamental.” Guests expect
excellent assessment and eradication of errors as the minimum
price of entry in a Ritz-Carlton hotel. It’s very hard to get to a
positive emotional connection with guests if those fundamentals
are not satisfied. Satisfying fundamentals occurs only when staff
members own the responsibility for reliably recording incidents.
Much of the focus by Ritz-Carlton on tracking service break-
downs emerged from early leaders who studied defect manage-

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