Taking Guest Satisfaction into the 21st Century

Getting feedback from guests is widely recognised as being one of the most valuable tools in helping to maintain service standards in the hospitality industry. Accommodation providers at all levels need to know how customers rate their service, the quality of their rooms and whether expectations are being met, and thanks to the advent of the digital revolution the methods used to accurately canvass guests has gotten much easier.

Gone are the days of printed customer survey forms and blunt pencils in every room – the 21st Century way of asking for feedback is instant and integrated, thanks to Diversified Technologies (DivTech) and its eGuestSurv Guest Satisfaction Managment System (eGuestSurv).

“Diversified Technologies is a Johannesburg-based information and communication technologies company which specialises in the provision of innovative and pioneering business solutions to the hospitality industry,” explains DivTech’s Eddie Scheun. “In developing eGuestSurv the company has found a way to fully automate the process of gathering guest feedback data while offering accommodation providers the chance to view results in real time, with system administrators receiving instant alerts and notifications of any low ratings or guest comments.”

Scheun says the process starts when eGuestSurv sends guests with email contact details an invitation to participate in an online survey. “Completed surveys are stored in the system where low rating alert and guest comment notification checks are performed before being sent via email to key staff members and administrators,” he says, adding that system updates happen instantaneously, and users and administrators are able to respond to guests immediately using a two-way messaging system, with all messages logged and viewable in the guest’s profile.

eGuestSurv’s real-time dynamics have helped it to rapidly become the guest satisfaction management system of choice for some of South and southern Africa’s top tourism brands, including Southern Sun, Fair City, Three Cities, An African Anthology, Maropeng, Lonrho Hotels and Signature Life Hotels. Renowned safari company Islands in Africa and Peermont Hotels, Casinos and Resorts have also recently taken the eGuestSurv option, as have Rani Resorts and Orion Hotels.

“We’ve been avid eGuestSurv supporters since December 2010,” says Michelle Abraham, head of marketing at Rani Resorts. “The system is very user friendly, and because our hotels are remotely located, it makes it so much easier for us to be able to obtain our guests’ feedback in a proactive and efficient manner.”

Jegie Padmanathan, Peermont Chief Operations Officer – Hotels, says that guest comments and feedback, including complaints, are of primary importance when trying to streamline and improve service delivery products.

“We had been looking for a service provider that could give us an all-in-one product with easy, instant, real time access to ratings, guest comments and reports, as well the ability to react, respond and give feedback to guests immediately and when Diversified Technologies offered eGuestSurv we jumped at the opportunity..

Since the roll out of eGuestSurv throughout our organization, our response time and ability to identify trends have increased exponentially, offering us the opportunity to develop and evolve the product to our unique, company requirements and possible future projects.” says Padmanathan.

With its unlimited access to survey results from an equally unlimited number of respondents, eGuestSurv is slowly revolutionising service standards reporting in the hospitality industry.

“It’s such a simple process to manage,” explains Scheun. “Both the problematic and poorly performing service areas and those which are exceeding expectations are quickly identified, and because you are able to incorporate eGuestSurv’s survey results into staff performance management programmes it assists greatly with skills development and training.”

Finally, eGuestSurv’s list of benefits is rounded off nicely by the fact that the system is completely paperless, with no need for printed guest feedback forms or lengthy print runs, making it environmentally friendly to boot!

For more information contact:

Claudia Sinclair

011 792 7488

claudia@divtech.co.za

www.divtech.co.za

The Marion on Nichol's new leading man - Trilok Bhunjun

The Marion on Nicol introduces her leading man, newly appointed General Manager, Trilok Bhunjun.  Born in Mauritius Trilok has been based in South Africa for over 20 years and has worked in most of our leading hotel chains.  This hotelier, who is passionate about the industry, is committed to delivering on The Marion on Nicol Boutique Hotel’s brand positioning and brand promise, whilst motivated to drive and empower staff, ensuring delivery of consistent standards and achievement of the bottom line without compromising service quality.

www.mariononnicol.co.za

Arik Air tours 747-8 Intercontinental and factory during trip to Seattle

Sir JIA Arumemi-Johnson, owner and chairman of Arik Air, was in Seattle last week to tour Boeing facilities and preview Boeing's newest and largest airplane -- the 747-8 Intercontinental.

"It was great to have a chance to come to Seattle to see the airplane in person," said Sir Johnson. "We've seen a lot of sales pitches, charts, and diagrams of the airplane lately, but there's no substitution for seeing the real thing -- it was an absolutely beautiful airplane."

During the visit to Seattle, Sir Johnson attended the premiere of the all-new airplane, received a program update and visited Boeing's other programs in the Puget Sound area.

"Being in Seattle and seeing the airplane and those who build it, we really got to feel the sense of pride from the Boeing team for the products they build every day," Sir Johnson said. "We look forward to continuing to work with Boeing to determine how this airplane might complement our current fleet and keep us a leader in aviation in Nigeria and across the continent."

The 747-8 Intercontinental is Boeing's newest and largest passenger airplane. The new high-capacity passenger airplane offers airlines the lowest operating costs and best economics of any large passenger airplane while providing enhanced environmental performance.

Rezidor Hotel Group adds to its awards tally

The Rezidor Hotel Group has been named the ‘Best Hotel Investment of the Year’ at the Africa Investor Tourism Investment Awards ceremony held at the Kruger National Park this week.

The awards honour the best in the African hospitality industry.

“It’s an honour to be recognised and rewarded in the industry,” says Andrew McLachlan, Rezidor Hotel Group’s vice president for Business Development in Africa and Indian Ocean Islands. “We will continue to strive to bring a strong portfolio of contemporary hospitality products to the market in the shape of attractive, high-performing hotels, restaurants and bars become well known across the African continent.”

The awards ceremony recognises achievements of various stakeholders within the tourism industry and it forms part of the Africa Investor Tourism and Infrastructure Investment Summit.

This award comes after last year’s Special Recognition Award presented to Rezidor’s President and CEO, Kurt Ritter, at the Hospitality Investment Conference Africa (HICA) held at Sandton in November, for his role in Rezidor’s African expansion.

The Rezidor Hotel Group is one of the world’s fastest growing hotel companies with the largest development pipeline in sub-Saharan Africa. It has two brands in South Africa, Radisson Blu and Park Inn by Radisson. Rezidor is scheduled to open eight hotels across Africa in 2011. Five Radisson Blu hotels and three Park Inn by Radisson hotels in Ethiopia, Nigeria, Mozambique, South Africa and Zambia.

Kenya Airways to acquire cargo freighter

Kenya Airways announced today that it is developing its cargo division further by boosting its cargo capacity. The airline is for the first time set to acquire one freighter and plans to increase the freighter fleet as business demands.

Speaking while opening the Africa Air Cargo Conference in Nairobi, Group Managing Director and CEO Dr Titus Naikuni said that the airline was sourcing for a cargo freighter to be in service by next financial year which starts in April 2011. 

He said that the airline had noted rising demand for cargo services from customers and was keen to support the growth in intra-Africa Cargo growth. “The freighter will be used for operations across Africa destinations.”

It is intended that the freighter will be available both to the wider Kenya Airways network as well as interline partners with regular intra-Africa traffic. He added that the freighter service will be complemented by capacity offered by wide-body aircraft already serving Lusaka, Lilongwe, Harare and Kinshasa routes.

The impending addition of the freighter follows the successful launch of a three times weekly 767-300 service to Rome. “We aim to increase our services to London to double-daily served by Boeing 777-200 as soon as slot availability permits at London Heathrow Airport. From April, we shall also be upgrading our daily Amsterdam service from 767-300 to 777-200 which affords greater cargo capacity,” he said.

This he said would not only take care of increased capacity for Passenger business but also increase the Cargo uptake to Europe.

Dr Naikuni added that International aviation analysts have predicted that air cargo to grow exponentially especially intra Africa and between Africa and Asia with Nairobi increasingly playing the role of a cargo hub for Africa.  He called for the expansion of cargo handling infrastructure particularly at the JKIA as well Kisumu and Moi international airports. 

“As Kenya Airways we have invested in cold room facilities to accommodate the growing horticultural export business. Our new Fast Flexible Fresh (FFF) facility is a 2500 meter square warehouse with the capacity to store between 90-100 pallets,” he added.

According to Kenya Airports Authority Airfreight, in 2010 exports at 196,000 Metrics Tons accounted for 86% of all cargo throughput with imports at 32,800 Metric Tons accounting for the remaining 14%. In 2010, perishables accounted for 85% of total exports and flowers in particular accounting for 41% of the total. Europe remains the destination of choice for Kenyan exports with 68% of total exports and the Middle East at 14%.

Perishables constitute the vast majority of exports from Kenya with flowers being the greatest contributor followed by fresh fruit and vegetables.   Africa in general remains a net importer with imports outstripping exports. JKIA is an exception in Africa in that its airfreight exports are greater than imports. However the potential for Airfreight is substantial.  GDPs of African countries are growing at impressive rates and investments in infrastructure as well as growth in consumer culture fuelled by increased purchasing power will translate can only translate into a brighter future for African Airfreight.

The Peninsula crowned Top SA Resort

The Peninsula All-Suite Hotel has been voted as the RCI Best Large Resort 2010 at the prestigious RCI Awards 2011.

This is the fourth year that the Peninsula All-Suite Hotel has received this acclaimed award, certifying itself once more as one of South Africa’s premier hotels.

“We take great pleasure in receiving the RCI Best Large Resort award once more. It affirms that our service standards are as high as ever and that we can look forward to yet another great year ahead”, says Peninsula All-Suite Hotel GM Chris Godenir.

 RCI represents an international timeshare exchange company and its annual “Oscars” awards celebrates  the companies’ valued club partners, developers, affiliated resorts, top timeshare sales professionals’ successes and acknowledges the important role they play in the Vacation Ownership Industry in Africa.

Situated along Cape Town’s Atlantic Seaboard, the Peninsula All Suite Hotel represents a landmark on the Platinum Mile of the Sea Point promenade. All 110 suites have full views of the Atlantic ocean and - from studios to luxury suites - all contain separate lounges, kitchens and balconies. Along with two restaurants, a Sauna and two swimming pools (one heated), the Hotel also provides wireless internet access, a Business Centre, complimentary Shuttle service within 8km radius and secure on-site parking.


www.threecities.co.za

Jet Airways clock up more and more awards

Johannesburg: Jet Airways, India’s premier airline which launched its Johannesburg-Mumbai route in April last year, has earned three prestigious awards in as many months.

These awards all recognize and honour the best in the airline and travel industry internationally and within India, and are added to a list of some one hundred accolades and prizes conferred on the airline since 1993.

Jet Airways has five flights per week between Johannesburg and Mumbai and in December last year was declared the ‘Airline with the Best Business Class Service in the World’ at the Business Traveller Awards 2010 in Los Angeles.

 “Clearly, Jet Airways is the best way to travel from South Africa to India,” says Rajiv Malhotra, General Manager of Jet Airways in South Africa. “There is no better business class service between Johannesburg and Mumbai.”

Renowned for the warmth and hospitality of its acclaimed in-flight service, a reflection of the high standards of the airline's rigorous in-flight training procedures, Jet Airways has emerged victorious over several of the world's leading airlines, and, over domestic airlines within India.

In early February, Jet Airways was selected as a Power Brand among leading corporate enterprises in India.

Says Malhotra: “Power Brands of India is a list of the top 200 brands of India and the award is constituted by Planman Marcom.”

In January, the airline was adjudged the winner of the coveted Customer and Brand Loyalty Award 2011 in the Domestic Commercial Airlines Sector for the fourth consecutive year, and on 13^th January, Jet Airways Group Chairman, Naresh Goyal, was  conferred the prestigious “Hall of Fame” Award at the Hotel Investment Forum India 2011 in Mumbai.

“This marked the first time that a non-hotelier was accorded the prominent award – certainly a departure from tradition by the Hotel Investment Forum India,” adds Malhotra.

The airline offers its Premiere (Business Class) guests a world-class in-flight product, including unique, herringbone-configured 180 degree-flat seats, superb in-flight entertainment, fine wines and an overwhelming selection of Indian and international cuisine.

Mr Sudheer Raghavan, Chief Commercial Officer, Jet Airways, says: “The Business Traveller Awards 2010 are widely respected across the tourism and trade industry and we were delighted to receive this international honour.

“At Jet Airways, we are committed to offering our guests the very best travel experience in the skies, and awards such as these stand testimony to the quality of our services and encourage us to further raise the bar in customer service excellence.”

Jet Airways currently operates a fleet of 95 aircraft, which includes 10 Boeing 777-300 ER aircraft, 12 Airbus A330-200 aircraft, 55 next generation Boeing 737-700/800/900 aircraft and 18 modern ATR 72-500 turboprop aircraft.

With an average fleet age of 4.97 years, the airline has one of the youngest aircraft fleets in the world.

Flights to 71 destinations span the length and breadth of India and beyond, including New York (both JFK and Newark), Toronto, Brussels, London (Heathrow), Milan, Johannesburg, Hong Kong, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Colombo, Bangkok, Kathmandu, Dhaka, Kuwait, Bahrain, Muscat, Doha, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Jeddah, Sharjah, Riyadh and Dammam.