When a hotel concierge is mentioned, the first thing that comes to mind is a suit-clad and stylish professional in a classy hotel rendering different services to guests.
Most of these guests become permanent, and they eventually put up reviews on the internet to help improve your hotel ratings.
The hotel concierge job involves shuffling through different tasks and requests from guests. Sometimes, these requests can be shocking and overwhelming.
Top-rated hotels prepare their concierges for these requests and easily understand guests wants and desires. Think of the concierge as a personal assistant ready to make every experience delightful and seamless.
Hotel concierges have become the mainstay of hotel experience and hospitality in general. This article will help you if you're looking to recruit the best concierge team. We'll review every detail about the hotel concierge, the services they provide, and how you can improve your hotel concierge services.
What is a Hotel Concierge?
A hotel concierge help guests organize their activities and also provides them with useful information during their stay in a hotel.
Sometimes, the hotel concierge only answers questions or act as a personal guide for guests. In other cases, a concierge may be required to provide guests with a detailed itinerary.
Is concierge the same as the front desk?
The concierge is sometimes called the front desk, even though its more of a raised counter and longer than a desk to allow for different clerks, all of which attend multiple guests at a time.
It is important to note that the concierge is not at the front desk, and it is not always near the front desk. In some cases, hotel guests may need to ask the front desk where they can find the concierge.
A Hotel concierge also serves as a point of contact between the hotel and guests, and as such, they should have a welcoming and friendly personality.
Other important qualities that a hotel concierge should have include attention to detail and communication skills. This is because their tasks involve handling guests itineraries and organizing different activities.
Another important skill, especially for hotels that receive international guests, is foreign language skills.
Hotel concierge services list
As mentioned earlier, a hotel concierge is responsible for helping hotel guests with different personalized services to keep them happy.
Even though the job of a hotel concierge is specific for the hotel they work in, they also offer services that may take them out of the confines of the hotel.
Some of the common services that hotel concierges complete regularly include:
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Welcoming new or returning guests
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Developing a network of different contacts within the region
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Managing complaints
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Managing maintenance and housekeeping requests
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Coordinating dinner reservations
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Managing luggage, messages, mail, or deliveries for guests
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Providing information on events, restaurants, and other local attractions
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Organizing transports for guests
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Directing guests to different hotel amenities
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Coordinating travel plans
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Directing phone calls
Importance of Concierge in a Hotel
Increase Revenue
Hotel concierges perform different tasks and services that help in defining the hospitality experience and ultimately help the hotel generate more revenue.
At the most basic level, a hotel concierges services include checking guests in, handling requests, and taking reservations.
In addition to these basic tasks, they also perform a whole lot of other tasks behind the scenes.
Examples of these tasks include managing resource inventories, overseeing cleaning services, and other office work. The ultimate aim of all of these services is to give guests the best experience and improve the hotels rating, thereby ultimately increasing revenue.
Other services that can help increase revenue include:
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Promote your loyalty program: Different guests have asked hotel concierges for perks and discounts in several cases. A concierge can act as a spokesperson for hotels, especially those with a loyalty program. Loyalty programs comprise discounts, rewards, and other incentives, and they are designed to encourage guests to repeat business.
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Arrange a room upgrade: Concierges mostly have all the information about the hotel they work in, making it a lot easier for them to handle room upgrade requests from guests. Your hotel concierge can help guests get the room of their dreams, which can ultimately increase revenue.
Elevate your brand
Hotel concierges play an important role in creating the first impression because they are at the frontlines. Their job involves providing high-quality services for guests in a dynamic technology-savvy environment.
Hotel concierges only have one shot creating a good first impression, which usually happens in a split second.
Guests preferences and expectations change constantly, and even though people have a different meaning of luxury, the first impression is the same for everyone. The first impression acts as a pillar and supports other services in your hotel.
Your hotel concierge can help you elevate your brand by constantly creating an impactful first impression with every guest.
Improve guest experience
Your hotel concierge can help you increase revenue and elevate your brand, but you are not the only one to enjoy the benefits of their services.
Guests are mostly at the receiving end, and the hotel concierge help to improve their experience in the following ways:
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Teach guests the local lingo: It is the utmost duty of every hotel concierge to ensure that guests enjoy every aspect of their visit, including what the city has to offer. An easy way to go about this is by removing the language barrier. Your hotel concierges will teach guests a few local words before they go out to different places in the city.
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Fix sticky travel problems: In some cases, concierges can double as for-hire or private chauffeurs, allowing them to act as driver and personal assistants. They can help arrange excursions and tours and fix other travel issues with this.
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Track down lost or forgotten items: Guests forget items when they check out for many reasons, mostly because they are usually in a hurry. Leave the job to your hotel concierge if you have a guest who forgot a pair of shoes, misplaced their passport, or forgot something else.
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Share travel tips on avoiding traffic: Theres a limit to the information you can get from Google Map. A concierge can help you navigate the city, recommend ridesharing, or a reliable public transit to use. A concierge can also help you get a ride to your destination even when ridesharing services are experiencing price surges or during peak hours.
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Plan activities or book restaurants before arrival: The guests relationship with the hotel concierge does not begin only when they arrive on the hotel property. As soon as a guest books a room, the concierge will provide different services even before they arrive. This includes planning activities, booking restaurants, and more.
Handle Unexpected Requests Or Situations From Guests
There are many other services that hotel concierges provide, and they are always ready to handle unexpected requests or situations from guests. Some of these services include:
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Help with medical needs: A concierge can assist guests with health needs, especially those that forgot their prescription or have a last-minute hospital appointment.
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Organize events (birthday party, wedding proposals, etc.): Hotel concierges are usually involved in planning events, especially birthday party, and wedding proposals.
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Custom itineraries: Some guests usually dont know what to do during their visit, but concierges will go out of their way to create a custom itinerary based on the guests interest.
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Provides Instagram-worthy shots: Guests have different needs, including taking awesome shots for the gram. Concierges can help them take these shots or show them the best spots where they can take them.
Use Technology To Improve Hotel Concierge Efficiency
Every hotel needs at least two things to survive:
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a good online presence to handle reservations and other processes
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and the ability to deliver quality services to visitors checking in and out of the hotel
Hotel concierges help to ensure that guests receive the best quality services in a hotel.
With technology and automated processes, you can improve hotel concierge efficiency to get the best from your hotel concierge.
Automating hotel tasks is great for improving customer experience and satisfaction. In addition, it helps in providing more consistent, reliable, and quality services.
Hotels operate with a very complex system that often involves the collaboration of different departments. Therefore, an effective means to track various operations is a necessity.
A hotel property management system (PMS)is a perfect tool for improving hotel concierge efficiency and overall hotel operations.
A hotel PMS also simplifies administrative tasks and hotel reservation management. The key important functions include payment processing, rate and occupancy management, housekeeping, channel management, reservations, and front-desk operations.
Hotel PMS systems improve hotel concierge efficiency
One easy way to improve your hotel concierge efficiency is with the use of hotel PMS systems.
You need Booking Ninjas, an all-in-one PMS that is built on Salesforce to enhance property management. This will save you time and allow you to focus on revenue generation.
Booking Ninjas stands out for many reasons. It is cloud-based, meaning that you can access the system and data anywhere Also, the system offers different personalization and customization options to easily meet unique needs.
Booking Ninjas utilizes a unique CRM platform to increase your efficiency at handling your hotel guests. With this, itll be a lot easier for your hotel concierge and other staff to focus on providing better customer service.
Conclusion
We have provided all you need to know about hotel concierge and how you can improve your hotel concierge efficiency.
Hotel concierges have become the mainstay of hotel experience and hospitality, and with a PMS like Booking Ninja, you can easily improve your hotel concierge efficiency, as well as customer experience in your hotel.
