Hotel Communication in a Customer-Centric Hospitality Business

Historically, society and its great leaders have attached great importance to communication as the primary means of achieving their objectives and implementing their strategy. It is said that, before every battle, Napoleon would summon one of his corporals, a somewhat slow-witted man, and explain his battle plan to him in detail. He would explain it as many times as necessary until the not particularly sophisticated soldier understood it, because he knew that if he was able to grasp the details of the strategy, it would be easily understood by his senior officers. In our times, communication has become a fundamental aspect of the successful performance of any organisation and, as such, it must be incorporated and given significant weight within the strategic process. We have always considered communication to be perhaps the foremost skill a leader must possess today. Its management must be geared towards positioning our services and differentiating us from the competition. Communication is the process through which a sender transmits a message to a receiver, according to rules known to both parties. It is the action and effect of conveying a message; the means through which things connect with one another. A hotel's image depends almost entirely on how effectively we are able to communicate it. It must be closely linked to service management, simply because service itself is communication. This makes it a practice that contributes to the differentiation and positioning of our hotel and its services, fundamentally expressed through the attitude and behaviour of its employees. It is through service management that the image can be modified by working on the elements of identity. Image is the set of identity elements that are, in some way, imprinted on those who receive information about what the hotel does and how it operates. Identity is made up of those elements that convey information about what our hotel is and how it operates. The function of communication could be summarised as its role in controlling the behaviour of group members; activating and stimulating motivation; defining and conveying to employees what they must do; showing them how their performance evolves over time; and identifying ways to increase and improve their results. It is a primary source of social interaction in pursuit of the achievement and satisfaction of needs, and it provides the information required for decision-making. It is useful to clarify the difference between information and communication. While the former consists of a transfer of messages, whether or not aimed at transforming people's knowledge, attitudes or behaviour, and is one-way—or, in other words, does not require feedback and may be static—the latter consists of an exchange, is relational, and exists only as a result of interaction between two or more participants. Returning to the elements of identity, these vary within a hotel; however, in order to make an impact on the target audience, they require constant monitoring, timeliness, relevance and essential consistency in their management. In this respect, the actions of employees—both service staff and support staff—are decisive. Elements of identity include human resources policies, training, management approaches and styles, shared culture and values, CSR, economic and financial policy, public relations, commercial policy and practice, product and service presentations and promotions, relationships with institutions, trade associations and government bodies, as well as other activities such as events and congresses, workshops and conferences, campaigns, media presence, publications, and so on. None of these elements should be addressed in isolation. They must all be developed in harmony in pursuit of effective image communication, in which employee behaviour and attitude must both reflect and, in turn, be a primary influence on that communication. Our product-service offering constitutes the total package of benefits and value that our guests acquire. It includes what is delivered and received, as well as how it is delivered and received. Service work and management in the hotel must follow the “path to glory”, from the product-service itself through to its differentiation, where communication is the true protagonist in the outcome and in the positioning achieved by our hotel.

I would like to share some notes by SANLOZ holonic, which set out three elements or requirements that must be met for effective communication.

KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS among the members of the organisation for communication. This will initially generate the commitment of all members to develop effective communication.