Introduction

This workshop gives the participants the opportunity to create a hospitality experience that goes beyond the hotel industry norm of SOP-Customer Satisfaction. Click here for information about Heart-Based Hospitality. When given the opportunity senior managers choose to be extraordinary rather than normal.

Workshop Type 1: For a New Hotel

In this workshop, the participants will be guided to create a new mission statement and vision statement – one which makes loving-kindness, compassion, and heart-warming care the essence of the hotel’s hospitality experience.

The workshop will encourage the participants to think beyond the norm of the SOP-Customer Satisfaction guest experience, reimagine hospitality, and consider what they would like the hotel’s guest experience to be like; what core values it should be strong in and that will make the hotel successful; and how they would like the spirit of hospitality to be unique.

The workshop will introduce the participants to the 11 Elements, which include an extensive vision statement deepening and staff development programme that they and their Team Leaders can use to deepen the staff in the essential core values of hospitality (unconditional love, loving-kindness, compassion, and heart-warming care), and to develop the spirit of hospitality in the new vision statement.

The workshop will also enable the senior managers to experience the common errors made when communicating a new mission and vision.

Workshop Type 2: For an Operational Hotel

If the hotel already has a mission and vision statement and a set of core values the participants will review them and discuss how they could be improved so that the hotel’s hospitality experience is closer to the essence of hospitality described above. It is very likely that the participants will change a lot of the hotel’s current mission and vision and core values.

 Contents

  • A game to show what mistakes tend to be made when communicating a new mission and vision.
  • A group discussion of many ideas that show how the times have changed, and also show what level of guest experience the hotel could and should be aspiring to achieve. The participants are encouraged to reimagine the concept of a hotel hospitality experience. This part of the workshop includes a discussion about the kind of leadership behaviours, thinking, and activities that will be needed to recreate the hospitality experience.
  • Activities to create the mission statement and vision statement.  The focus will be on creating a mission statement and vision statement, which they can be passionate about; which will create hospitality that embraces the essential core values of true hospitality (unconditional love, loving-kindness, compassion, and heart-warming care); and which can make the hotel much more special.
  • A discussion of the meaning of the keywords in the new mission and vision statement, and especially the meaning of each core value so that the participants know what the mission, vision, and each core value will look like and feel like in practice.
  • A discussion of effective ways to achieve the mission and vision. This will include the 11 Elements.

Results

This workshop challenges the participants to think a lot about what they want as a team. Apart from creating a unified direction that all the participants agree on, the workshop also creates noticeable team spirit and enthusiasm for the new direction. Much of the workshop is carried out in small groups, which change during the workshop. This format alternates with full group discussions. Every participant gets the opportunity to express their thoughts and feelings and nobody is left out. This is conducive to very effective team building.

Once the participants have created a new mission and vision statement that includes the essence of hospitality, then it will be possible to create Heart-Based Hospitality throughout the hotel.