Emotional Intelligence

9-16-13

After reading the chapters, my initial thoughts were that we are not very emotionally intelligent at the hotel. Lesson number one is to build a thick skin because guests may and will treat you poorly. I now realize the hospitality industry revolves around emotional intelligence, especially with our guests. Emotional intelligence in the hospitality industry is a key factor in service. My hotel was recently AAA Diamond Rated. One of the key Four Diamond rating factors in the system is service. The word for word four diamond criteria from the AAA rubric is: “Hotel provides a meticulous degree of personal attention and guest awareness by identifying and anticipating guest needs with an unconditional desire to be of service”. It is crucial for us to try to read our guests and anticipate what they are telling us, both verbally and non-verbally. This can be the difference between a return guest and a nasty public review.

I had touched on empowerment in my last journal submission. It is important to further expand on this idea especially because it ties directly into emotional intelligence within the company. A manager that empowers his or her employees will allow them to make mistakes. At the hotel we have an interesting way about approaching this. We do not believe in ‘punishments’. We want our employees to take ownership of situations. As long as they can explain to us why they took the action they did, we will not 'punish' them. This is empowerment at its finest. It allows us as managers to see who we could potentially promote in the future and builds confidence within the