Country house hotels could be left at the back of beyond if they don`t

Transcription

mysteryshoppersurvey
Country house
hotels could be
left at the back
of beyond if they
don't ramp up
their service offer.
John Keenan
reports
W
hile there may have been
little more than a blade
of grass separating
the top three venues in
this month's Mystery
Shopper survey, other country piles
will have to stoke up their service
efforts - or risk planners taking a hike.
Offering picturesque views and
tranquillity, country house hotels
attract not only leisure travellers but
increasingly, meetings and events
business. But these venues need to
pull out the stops to win the confidence
of meeting planners - they may face
tough times ahead with venues in
urban locations increasing their appeal
due to ever greater awareness of
the financial and environmental cost
of travel. Efficient and professional
enquiry handling is, according to
BDRC research, a key driver in the
venue selection decision - and an
area where country house hotels have
considerable room for improvement.
Having
tracked
convention
centres,
management
training
centres, academic venues, sporting
venues and luxury London hotels
in the past, BDRC carried out three
mystery calls to fifteen country
house hotels this month. Presented
with varying event scenarios, each
venue was rated on over 40 service
criteria from the initial connection of
the enquiry call, right through to the
actions taken by the venue to follow
up the enquiry. The findings reveal
that enquiry handling standards are,
with an average score of 44 points,
the lowest compared to all other
types of venues tracked so far.
Ashdown Park Hotel and Country
Club achieved the highest overall
score for the handling of enquiry
calls. There was little difference
20
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Top performer: Ashdown Park & Country Club
Off the
beaten track
Overall service performance
(Max 100 points)
67.5
Ashdown Park Hotel & Country Club
Hendon Hall Hotel
64.5
63.2
Stapleford Park
Oakley Court Windsor
61.5
Dillington House
58.3
Totworth Court
48.0
Hatherley Manor
46.3
country house Average
43.9
Hall Garth Hotel
43.5
Leigh Court
42.7
38.3
Audleys Wood Hotel
New Hall Hotel
34.0
Royal Court Hotel
29.8
Bosworth Hall
24..8
Hoar Cross Hall Spa Resort
Ardencote Manor Hotel
23.5
20.2
March 2008
MYSTERY SHOPPER.indd 2
25/2/08 12:56:38
in performance between the frontrunners. Scoring more than 60
points, runners-up Hendon Hall
Hotel, Stapleford Park and Oakley
Court Windsor were close behind
the winner, whose first position was
the result of a consistently good
performance across all four service
areas. Two thirds of all venues did
not even achieve half of the points
available. The weakest performing
properties were Bosworth Hall, Hoar
Cross Hall and Ardencote Manor
Hotel, all three scoring less than a
quarter of the total points available.
Showing an otherwise average
performance, Leigh Court gained top
position for Connection. In second
position for this service area was
Totworth Court, closely followed by
Bosworth Hall and Ashdown Park
Hotel. Hoar Cross Hall, placed near
the bottom of the league table lost
most points because of the length of
time that mystery callers spent in the
IVR/touchtone system. Ardencote
Manor were in last position for
Connection as a result of excessively
long call transfers coupled with the
need for two of the enquiries to be
completed in a second phone call.
Once connected to the conference
department (or someone capable
of handling the enquiry), Hendon
Hall Hotel were top of the table for
Service Delivery with call handlers
collecting all necessary contact
information and enquiring about the
basic requirements of the event. All
venues could improve when it comes
to summarising the call, referring to
other possible business needs and
proposing follow up actions. Far below
the group’s average were Bosworth
Hall and Ardencote Manor House,
the latter failing to collect any contact
information at all, thus removing any
possibility of future follow up action.
In addition to assessing the
factual aspects of how the enquiry
was handled, the more subjective
area of ‘Manner and Approach’ was
evaluated. Scoring on average less
than 10 out of 25 points, country
house hotels performed far below
average compared to venues tracked
in the past. Stapleford Park claimed
first position with 21 points for
Manner and Approach, with Oakley
Court Windsor, Ashdown Park Hotel,
Hendon Hall and Dillington House also
dealing with the call in a respectable
manner. However, most of the other
hotels showed poor standards,
not achieving even half the points
available. This was a result of staff
Manner & approach of staff
(Max 25 points)
21.0
Stapleford Park
19.7
19.7
18.3
Hendon Hall Hotel
Dillington House
16.3
Hall Garth Hotel
11.3
COUNTRY HOUSE AVERAGE
9.6
Hatherley Manor
8.0
New Hall Hotel
8.0
Audleys Wood Hotel
7.0
4.3
Royal Court Hotel
3.7
Leigh Court
3.0
2.7
Tortworth Court
2.0
-1.0
Bosworth Hall
Enquiry handling/service delivery
(Max 27/30 points)
Hendon Hall Hotel
20.8
20.5
Stapleford Park
20.5
19.5
Dillington House
18.0
Hall Garth Hotel
17.5
Hatherley Manor
16.0
14.7
Audleys Wood Hotel
14.3
13.7
New Hall Hotel
Tortworth Court
12.7
Leigh Court
11.7
10.2
9.8
Royal Court Hotel
Bosworth Hall
7.8
7.8
Follow up - post enquiry (Max 25 points)
Tortworth Court
21.0
Dillington House
18.0
15.7
11.0
7.0
Hendon Hall Hotel
Hatherley Manor
6.3
6.0
Leigh Court
Stapleford Park
5.8
2.7
Audleys Wood Hotel
2.3
Hall Garth Hotel
1.7
New Hall Hotel 0.0
Royal Court Hotel 0.0
Bosworth Hall 0.0
0.0
Ardencote Manor Hotel 0.0
Continued on page 22
March
2008
21
21/2/08 08:41:01
mysteryshoppersurvey
Continued from page 21
Call connection/transfer
(Max 20/23 points)
Leigh Court
22.7
Tortworth Court
19.7
Bosworth Hall
18.0
17.3
Stapleford Park
16.7
Royal Court Hotel
16.3
Hatherley Manor
15.3
Audleys Wood Hotel
15.3
15.0
Hendon Hall Hotel
14.8
Hall Garth Hotel
13.7
12.3
New Hall Hotel
10.7
Dillington House
10.7
Half Page Bus Tourism Ad:Layout 1
not allowing sufficient time for the
enquiry, or providing minimal details
of what the venue could offer the
customer. Bosworth Hall achieved a
negative score because staff failed to
clarify availability and rates.
Five of the fifteen country house
hotels failed to follow up the enquiry
and subsequently scored 0 points.
Overall, 60 per cent of all mystery
calls did not receive a follow up call
or material. Therefore scores of 10
to 14 points for five of the venues is
a credible performance, although
still some way off the 18.1 average
Follow Up score achieved by regular
participants in the MBT programme.
In top position for this service area
was Tortworth Court Hotel, closely
followed by Dillington House.
This research was conducted
exclusively for M&IT by BDRC,
using its well established Meetings
Benchmark Tracker programme.
10.7
8.0
11/2/08
14:06
Page 1
AT YOUR SERVICE.
We don’t just want your event to take place in Yorkshire, we want
it to be an unqualified success too. You probably already know that
Yorkshire is the perfect conference destination - based at the very
heart of the UK with thriving cities, inspirational countryside and
an unbeatable combination of venues. What you may not know is
that we also provide one to one support to ensure that your event
is a success.
For more information, call Nick Bond on +44 (0)1904 773 337 or
email nbond@ytb.org.uk. Visit venueyorkshire.com for instant
venue information and to order your copy of Conference & Incentive
Yorkshire 2008.
From bid support, advice on social partner programmes and
accommodation booking to familiarition visits and site inspections,
we go the extra mile to make sure that you don’t have to.
22
March 2008
21/2/08 09:30:10

Country house hotels could be left at the back of beyond if they don`t

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