Guest Experience Management & Leadership
Leading service at both levels: the shift that opens and the experience across the property.
- Price
- From €399 per leader per day
- Duration
- Agreed with the hotel
Consistent service depends on two levels of leadership saying the same thing: the supervisor who opens the shift and the manager who answers for the experience across the property. Guest Experience Management & Leadership trains them together. It covers the daily work (briefings, coaching, feedback, performance and escalations) and the part that usually goes uncovered: mapping the guest journey, measuring it, and settling what each department answers for. Participants learn to lead service while the hotel is working, and to design it before the guest arrives.
The outcome
The person running a shift and the person answering for a department work to the same standard: problems close where they start, and service stops depending on who is on.
Targeted Groups
This programme is designed for:
- General managers and hotel directors
- Heads of guest experience and operations
- Department heads responsible for service delivery
- Newly appointed supervisors and team leaders
- Shift leaders and duty managers
- Front office, F&B, and guest-services supervisors
- Senior staff being prepared for supervisory roles
- Owners involved in service strategy
Course Objectives
By the end of the programme, participants will be able to:
- Set and communicate clear service standards
- Run effective shift briefings
- Coach and give feedback to team members
- Manage performance and accountability
- Handle escalations and difficult guest situations
- Lead by example and uphold professional standards
- Map the full guest journey across touchpoints
- Identify and prioritise key moments and pain points
- Select and use experience metrics and indicators
- Connect guest experience to revenue and loyalty
- Hold each department accountable for its part of the guest experience
- Lead and align teams behind one standard
Targeted Competencies
Participants will develop the following competencies:
- Service team supervision
- Coaching and feedback
- Shift briefing and communication
- Performance management
- Escalation handling
- Leading by example
- Guest-journey mapping and analysis
- Experience measurement and reporting
- Cross-department standard-setting
- Data-informed decision-making
Unit 01
The Service Team Leader's Role
- Moving from team member to team leader
- Responsibilities of a service supervisor
- Leading by example in service operations
- Building trust and authority with the team
- Balancing operational and people responsibilities
- Communicating with management and other departments
Unit 02
Setting and Maintaining Standards
- Translating brand standards into daily practice
- Running effective shift briefings
- Monitoring service quality on the floor
- Identifying and closing service gaps
- Maintaining standards during peak periods
- Documentation and handover between shifts
Unit 03
Coaching and Developing the Team
- Coaching techniques for service staff
- Giving clear and constructive feedback
- Recognising and reinforcing good performance
- Onboarding and training new team members
- Supporting individual development
- Managing different personalities and motivations
Unit 04
Handling Pressure and Escalations
- Staying composed under operational pressure
- Handling escalated guest complaints
- Supporting the team during difficult situations
- Decision-making in real time
- Knowing when to involve management
- Reviewing incidents and learning from them
Unit 05
Guest Journey and Service Design
- Guest-journey mapping concepts
- Identifying touchpoints across channels
- Finding pain points and service gaps
- Designing signature moments
- Personalisation and consistency
- Managing omnichannel experiences
Unit 06
Measuring and Improving Experience
- Experience metrics and indicators
- Collecting and interpreting guest feedback
- Benchmarking against standards
- Prioritising improvements
- Service-quality assurance
- Continuous improvement methods
Unit 07
Ownership at department level
- What each head of department is accountable for, in writing
- Where the guest crosses between departments, and who owns the handover
- Resolving at the point of failure instead of escalating
- Reviewing an incident without looking for someone to blame
- What should reach the general manager, and what should not
- Reporting that shows where the experience is breaking
You'll see it in your own numbers
- First-Contact Resolution by department
- Ninety-day retention among new starters
We measure this
- Shift-to-shift consistency: the spread between your highest- and lowest-scoring observed shift. This is the signature measurement of the programme
- Standards adherence scored by department, before and at ninety days
- Whether departmental sentiment in your review data converges or stays uneven
What it won't fix:
A leader without the authority to hold the standard. This supplies the method; the mandate has to come with it.
Every DolceVita programme is individual and tailored: one participant at a time, online or at your property, in live service. Content, pace and case material are calibrated to the competencies and the role of whoever is being trained.
From €399 per leader per day
This is the starting price. The final one depends on how many leaders we work with, the time it takes and what your hotel needs.