Noteworthy: Service Excellence shaping initiative at international food-and-beverage provider

International food-and-beverage provider Centerplate is collaborating with the Hotel School as part of its company-wide initiative to set goals and objectives to measurably improve guest relations. In a recent article in the Professional Convention Management Association’s (PCMA) Convene Magazine, Elizabeth Martyn ’07, program content author, discussed the Hotel School’s Service Excellence On-Demand Training program and the role it is playing in Centerplate’s new initiative.

Key takeaways from Convene Magazine:

• Centerplate seeks to improve guest experiences through the use of metrics that measure the behaviors of employees and their attitudes, graciousness, and communication skills.
• The Hotel School’s Service Excellence On-Demand Training program is helping the corporation develop standards upon which employees can be measured against and has trained 250 of Centerplate’s management-level employees.
• The Hotel School program, which combines eight online, on-demand sessions with face-to-face instruction from managers who have been coached in the program, teaches a thought process that can be used for any guest interaction—even the unexpected.

“You can’t write a standard for every circumstance and situation that’s going to arise,” Elizabeth Martyn said. “We teach people how to think through the moment of service interaction, so they’re delivering the best service in the circumstance, as opposed to a version of service outlined in a task.”

Read the entire article to learn more about the Hotel School’s Service Excellence On-Demand Training program and how Centerplate’s new initiative is going beyond customer feedback to ensure that its employees deliver a consistently high level of service.