Portland Hotels

“Customer Journey", F&B Standards Workshops and BSC system

At the beginning of 2005 we were asked to develop a Mystery Guest programme for Portland Hotels. We based our assessment principles on how a customer would experience the stay at the Hotels and therefore called the programme "Customer Journey". The assessments are carried out quarterly. A benchmarking system was established which enabled us to monitor each Hotels' performances in the various service areas.

The "Customer Journey" identified certain areas of improvement and the Hotels were able to respond to the findings. In some F&B areas service inconsistencies provided such an opportunity to improve and we arranged workshops with the Hotel F&B teams to establish operational service standards. The standards were set based on the customer needs and the F&B team's capacity and ability to fulfil the set parameters. The standards are now used as a continuous training support for new employees and ongoing on-the-job training.

The company was also interested in establishing a "Balanced Score Card" (BSC) system. This business performance measurement system goes beyond conventional assessment methods and provides essential indicators to drive present and future company performance. The system also serves as a catalyst for major organisational change and therefore is a powerful strategic management tool. The BSC system was built on the foundations of the existing performance measurement system thus the implementation was very efficient and effective.