‘Passion for Service’ was a programme developed for
Mercure Hotels. Its aim was to develop and implement a tailored customer experience that matched the individual character of each of its spa and leisure hotels, delivered through the leadership team of each hotel
Mercure Hotels is a mid-market hotel brand with a unique network of hotels and spas of character and individuality that reflect the local culture and style of their setting. Customer feedback highlighted that in most of their hotels, the customer service experience was good but it was not consistent across their portfolio. It also did not reflect the individuality of their properties or their setting. In particular, the management team identified that leaders across their hotels needed to get creative, and harness the passion for service in every hotel, for every single guest.
The Challenge
Mercure asked Impact Innovation to:
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Raise awareness in Managers and team members that the customer experience is a key factor in delivering increased customer loyalty and increased brand reputation
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Create a customer focused culture which not only improves the existing experience but delivers and maintains consistency across their portfolio of unique hotels
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Develop Managers into ‘Passion for Service’ coaches with the skills, confidence and capability to deliver the “Passion for Service” programme in their hotels
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Build and develop a brand that actively attracts new hotels into the Mercure UK network
The programme
The ‘Passion for Service’ programme was designed to:
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Develop a set of customer propositions for key moments of truth within the customer journey (arrival, bar, restaurant, breakfast and departure) with leaders and teams from across the business, to create differentiation for the brand as well as boost personalised service
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Bring together key staff already recognised for delivering great service in their hotels, to develop a vision for service that reignited their passion, and then the passion of their colleagues
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Develop a set of service standards and behaviours as the foundation for delivering great service in the hotels - building on what worked well already
The propositions, standards and behaviours were piloted alongside a service leadership programme for General Managers supported by Passion for Service Coaches, who where trained to be recognised service leaders at different levels of the organisation.
Uniquely, the outcomes of the pilot were used to design the implementation approach for the programme. This included a one day Passion for Service induction for all staff and four mini Passion for Service behaviour sessions, delivered locally in the hotels by the General Mangers and Passion for Service Coaches. To signal the intent and the importance of the programme to the success of the business, the programme was launched with an experiential Passion for Service extravaganza for over 200 key staff.