Developing Actionable Quality Metrics for your Hotel
| A very good mystery shopping program is similar to an X-Ray or MRI. A doctor orders it to carefully examine a crucial area of interest, in hopes of being able to prescribe a beneficial treatment. |
Getting the most out of Mystery Shopping
Develop Actionable Quality Metrics |
To get an accurate ‘MRI’ of performance, an hotelier has to develop applicable measurements. An MRI of a shoulder is of little value if you are concerned about the knee.
When developing effective quality measurements for a mystery shopping program (or revising your current program), hoteliers, restaurateurs and spa directors must strike a balance considering the following:
1. Setting service standards that match the property's value proposition
2. Making the scorecard reasonable and achievable
3. Balancing the weight of the major guest-centric components:
Service, Hospitality and Cleanliness
4. Incorporating Service Recovery
1. Setting Service Standards
For the purpose of this report, a Service Standard is defined as a question posed for the purposes of determining quality. The following are examples of Front Office service standards.
Standard #1:
The guest is greeted within 30 seconds.
Standard #2:
The guest is greeted with a smile.
Standard #3:
The staff member is neatly groomed and has a visible name tag.
Note: We will refer to these standards later in the report
If you have ever seen a mystery shopping report, the above are pretty standard fare. So, as an hotelier looking to update, create anew, or revamp your standards, where do you begin?
The first thing is to make sure the guest view remains integral to the standards you select. Using the standards noted above, we would argue that Standard #3 is the least important to the guest (especially if they have a problem to resolve). Filling your standards book with measurements that are not crucial to the guest experience waters down the data.
The next step is to carefully consider your guest needs. If your hotel is a roadside property with an average rate of $59, your guests will demand cleanliness and expect competent guest service.
Conversely, an upscale full-service resort's guests demand great service and expect cleanliness.
Measuring what guests expect is important, however concentrating on what they demand will separate you from the competition. If your property does not meet the basic guest expectations, a mystery shopping program won't help you.
Additionally, if you spend a lot of resources in regards to the major rating services (AAA and Mobil), your own proprietary program should highlight these standards so that the goals remain continually in focus.
2. Reasonable Measurements
The quickest way to undermine a quality assurance program is to set unreasonable expectations. The results will be frustrating to the team (because they will continue to score low), and you will be tacitly allowing an acceptable level of defeat. Moreover, if your mystery shopping program is tied to an incentive program, staff will be de-motivated if they open the report knowing they are already 5-10% in the hole.
Every standard should be achievable. You will get much more traction out of a program where you can credibly demand 100% compliance, instead of hoping for 80%.
3. Balancing the Weight of the Standards
Too often, we see measurement programs that are weighted towards cleanliness and procedures invisible to the guest. The most effective programs have a healthy balance of standards that reflect Service, Hospitality, and Attention to Detail.
| Discipline | Service | Hospitality | Attention to Detail |
| Definition | Tasks and actions | Behavior and demeanor | What a guest touches/sees |
| Example (see above) | Standard #1 | Standard #2 | Standard #3 |
| Optimal Weight | 25-30% | 25-30% | 25-30% |
4. Service Recovery
At least 10-25% of your program should measure Service Recovery. Service Recovery is most easily defined as when the guest really needs you. This would include complaint resolution, and situations of compelling need.
Guests and influencers (people who refer business to you) are not likely to talk about dust on picture frames, but will tell everyone that will listen about what your team did when things did not go right or when they needed you for a Lost & Found inquiry after the stay.
We strongly urge all hotels to test Service Recovery in all departments, including the not so obvious ones like Accounting and Sales and hold the entire team accountable to the same units of recovery performance.
Other things to consider are:
• Staff often create more guest impressions over the phone than they do in person.
• Behavior is often situational; it depends on the employee.
• Standards should always be measured with a 'Yes' or 'No' answer, to eliminate evaluator subjectivity.
• Avoid standards that have several components (like combining Standard #1 and #2 above)
• Cross-section standards to match Core Values and training programs.
When you review your next mystery shopping report, see if you ordered an MRI of the right areas. Then look at the quality of the picture. There should be enough there for you to prescribe a treatment that ensures excellent business health.
This article is Part 1 of a three-part series designed for the hospitality manager with responsibilities in quality assurance who want to get the most out of their mystery shopping program. Upcoming articles are:
Part 2: Converting Mystery Shopping Data into Action
Part 3: Best Practices for effective hotel mystery shopping programs
If you have any questions regarding this article or your current quality measurement program, contact Jim Coyle or Kevin McGovern at (800) 891-9292. Consultations are free.
About Coyle Hospitality Group (Coyle)
Coyle has developed quality measurement programs for over 100 hospitality companies since 1996. Dedicated exclusively to the hospitality industry, Coyle's mission is to provide clients actionable quality insights that provide a strategic and lasting market advantage.
