Page 194 - The New Gold Standard

PRINCIPLE 4: DELIVER WOW!
of guest behavior. In fact, Bjoern Hartmann, assistant manager
of guest recognition, The Ritz-Carlton, Berlin, believes that at-
tentiveness is the core of his work. “I pay attention to details,
and whenever somebody asks me about my job description, I
proudly admit that I am getting paid to get the details right so
I can make a Ritz-Carlton stay memorable and unique!”
To get the details right, staff must be encouraged to put
themselves in the situation of others, paying attention to their
practical needs. They must empathize with the guest’s emotional
perspective by utilizing all of their senses—especially sight and
sound—to pick up on guest preferences. Micah Dean, who
works as an attendant/server and departmental trainer at The
Ritz-Carlton, Atlanta, admits, “I try to actively listen when I’m
not being spoken to. Sometimes I hear people talk to each other
just in passing, while I am doing something for another guest.
For example, I could be taking something to one guest and over-
hear another guest say, ‘Oh, that looks good.’ In that case I
wouldn’t wait for the person who made the comment to ask for
the item. The next time the person would see me, I would have
that item just for him or her. Or you may know, for instance,
that somebody loves our chocolate-covered strawberries, but he
or she is going to dinner at 8:00 and won’t be back until after the
lounge closes at 10:00. So I would put some of those strawber-
ries in that guest’s room along with the type of wine he or she
was drinking earlier that night.”
Micah’s comments reflect the importance of looking for op-
portunities to serve others, even when you are not in direct inter-
action with those needing service. Rather than defining the
customer as the person directly in view, service professionals scan
the environment for opportunities to cater to those on the pe-
riphery or those not necessarily asking for service. Micah notes,
“Anticipating your guests’ needs is a simple, almost artistic,
skill—one in which you listen and observe the guests’ habits
while taking a genuine interest in their well-being, whether that

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