Every Time
Field Notes 016 · On consistency
Hospitality should never leave a guest wondering whether they are welcome.
That may sound obvious, and I have indeed said this many times before, but it happens more often than we realise.
Recently, I visited the same hotel on two consecutive mornings.
On the first, we were welcomed warmly. We asked whether we might have a coffee and pastry, despite not staying at the hotel. Nothing felt too much trouble. We were invited to sit wherever we liked, our order was taken, and we left feeling genuinely welcome.
The following morning, we returned.
This time, a different team member greeted us but the welcome felt… unwelcome. At first there was hesitation and from there it unravelled a little further.
We were directed elsewhere to order and found ourselves explaining again to another member of staff that we’d visited the previous day and had been welcomed to sit in the courtyard with a coffee and a pastry.
The interaction did recover, but, as seems to be my nature, I was the one making the effort.
For a brief moment, we had wondered whether we belonged there at all. It felt awkward but I knew that the welcome we’d received the previous day was the way it was meant to be, so I pushed the uncomfortable feeling aside. The courtyard was the same, the coffee was great. Truth be told, we had hoped for another delicious pastry but because our welcome felt like an inconvenience, we politely declined.
That unwelcome feeling stayed with me, not because anyone had been unfriendly, but because the welcome depended upon who happened to be on duty.
Consistency is one of hospitality’s greatest responsibilities. Guests shouldn’t experience inconsistencies, certainly not ones that make them question whether they belong.
Guests don’t distinguish between reception, the restaurant or housekeeping. Nor do they separate one shift from another.
They experience one business, one culture, and that should feel the same every time.
Consistency doesn’t happen by chance. It is the result of alignment. Alignment around the purpose of the business and the experience it hopes every guest will have. The strongest teams share an understanding of what hospitality looks and feels like. They don’t need to deliver the same words, but they do need to create the same feeling.
Consistency isn’t about asking every member of staff to behave identically.
It is about ensuring every member of staff understands the same intention.
A guest should never have to explain why they’re there before they are made to feel welcome.
That decision should already have been made.
The warmth may be expressed differently, of course, personalities will always vary.
But the values should never change.
The finest hospitality feels consistent because the team share an understanding of what it means to welcome someone.
There needn’t be a script. There does need to be a shared understanding of what welcome feels like.
Hospitality is delivered by individuals.
It is remembered as one experience.
Consistency, like inconsistency, is organisational. What happens behind the scenes is always felt front of house.
/Heidi