Manage business contacts for Hospitality

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I hosted a client who was from Netherlands white gland and uh she had booked via booking.com so when we were talking I asked out of curiosity I asked the client how did you get here because you see there are people who live in nakuru and don't know waffles someone from Netherlands is in waffles so I asked how did you how did you find us and she told me something that was very interesting foreign suits basically I'm in charge of marketing and growth at Waffle suits yes well my journey has been of growth because uh having trained in a different field I started out as an amalo student so I wanted to be a lawyer and then Midway due to some challenges here and there I decided to pursue another Journey that's when I found myself in the hospitality industry I started out from the very low I was a porter for those who don't understand a Potter is someone who carries luggage for the guests that's how I started out and uh when I started out as a porter one thing I loved about the industry was the interactions that you get you know this industry is about relationships meeting people talking to clients getting to know who they are you know how their life is so I fell in love with the industry even if I started as a supporter that's how I grew because having a good rapport with the clients they then recommend you to your manager for some appraisals uh that's how I Grew From A Potter to a receptionist from a receptionist to a reservations manager from my reservations manager to a marketing manager after being a marketing manager I'm now in charge of a whole institution that's how I grew yeah for me I can say it's all about passion this job is all about passion and what really motivated me to want to push myself more is like I said the interaction with clients and the relationships I was making you get to meet clients from different walks of life you meet the the rich the not so rich you meet people with different challenges and funny enough they tend to open up to you if you tend to be close to them so I'd find people coming we share we talk clients could even call me even if they're not booking a room they just call to find out how I'm doing and to share the experiences from another hotel they were what what they're going through in life so that really made me want to be in this industry more because I believed it was more of a calling to me so I'm really passionate about what I do so the most motivating factor to me was the relationships I was building yes foreign I'll tell you one thing the most important currency in this world is the human capital the human capital uh there are those who have the money but they really don't know what to do with the money they are those who have the experience but really sometimes the experience is not needed in that field but there's something called the human capital human capital is basically networking and in this world it's only Network your network is your net worth that's what they say so to me the network that I had is actually what made me rise from the position of a mayor Porter into being in charge of a whole Institution you only grow through Networks if you don't have a good Network then you will merely grow [Music] well you see when it comes to an industry or a company that only deals with product production and no interaction most of those Industries you get there is a there is there is not much you can do in terms of inventions in terms of in interaction because normally the system do most of the work because for instance I'm manufacturing soap so you'll have to make an order for the soap someone will come pick this up and bring it to your place we've not interacted with you if there is bad feedback you'll hardly know where to raise the comments only if maybe I have an online page you'll go and vent there but one thing about our service industry is that the interaction is so high it has minimal system involved because we want you to feel the warmth that doesn't happen in the product producing Industries so here is more of the warm the welcome this is a home setup you know I want you to feel welcomed I want you to feel at home I want you to feel relaxed I want you to enjoy the ambience I want you to enjoy my meals so it's more of an interaction uh industry unlike the other Industries and that is why it is very important for our people in the industry to understand that because you interact so much with the clients you are the ones who make or break the industry because uh there is a survey that was done and people were saying why do people not come back to facilities several reasons were thrown around death you know relocation and all that but what took the media share is the service and the attitude of your staff the kind of service you offer and the attitude of the people that you have will determine if you close or you will grow and that to answer your questions tells you that this industry is more of the interactions you make with the client because that is the ultimate service they'll have in the hotel there's something we call the wow experience our experience means your expectation as a client was met by the experience you got from our place so when the expectation and the experience match now you have a wow experience that is what we Endeavor to have that is our end product that experience can only be achieved by these relationships that we are building with our clients [Music] sure to remain relevant here you you really have to have the best service and the right attitude you must be very welcoming you must be very warm it's not about the beds it's not about the cutleries at your place at home you have this bed right you have these cutleries what is that extra that makes you feel you're at waffles it is now the people the people factor which is very important the point you interact with here that is our stuff that is all that matters in this industry I once last week I hosted a client who was from Netherlands white gland and uh she had booked via booking.com so when we were talking I asked out of curiosity I asked the client how did you get here because you see there are people who live in nakuru and don't know waffles someone from Netherlands is in waffles so I asked how did you how did you find us and she told me something that was very interesting that us as Travelers our Compass is the reviews the reviews that you have online is the compass that leads us to your place if your review is bad your compass leads us away from your place if your reviews are good the compass leads us to your place so if you go to online you'll find that our review we are rated 10 over 10 online that means our reviews are good that is the compass that will guide clients to our place these reviews are not these reviews they give because of the interactions they've had with our staff so they say the staff are warm the food was nice the bed was all well made the people were welcoming those are the compass that will lead more people in this place you know clams are curious human beings eh so when there's a new facility they tend to want to come okay so somehow there's something we call the customer Instinct the customer Instinct will lead a client here even if they were never meant to be here because of that Curiosity this is a new place like the maybe he was just passing and then he saw an a new place he might want to come and experience so that is uh one bit of it which brought people the Curiosity bit to that that works to our advantage because now when they come and they find you are settled you are ready for them they'll stay because they'll be comparing this experience vis-a-vis The Experience they've been having so they're likely to stay that's an advantage but now to the disadvantaged part is that you come to a market that is so crowded and they're just coming and you want to break even so the thing becomes uh somebody had already planned a conference and they already have relationship with other places that they are going you also have a conference facility and you'd want them to come now you see you're fighting between the relationship they have maybe for 10 years with another institution and you who is very new so it becomes a challenge for you to even convince another person to give you to trust you with 70 people for conferencing for one week why would they trust you and they already have a place they've worked with for 10 years that also becomes a challenge to us but by and large it's a good challenge that we take positively and we move on for my stuff one thing I know is I always tell them to number one be honest be very honest with the client you don't have to lie to the client that I'll give you a room that is facing the lake and they actually don't have that room so be as honest as you can with the client be faithful if they give you if a room is five thousand they've given you in excess amount be faithful enough to tell them this amount is in excess don't drop the clients be faithful if you are a housekeeper and inside the rooms and maybe a client has left some cash in the safe be faithful don't pick it it's not yours you know so honesty faithfulness being what I call generally loving and caring you know because we also have kids who come here show them love don't have the what you call the complaining type of attitude just be warm be welcoming and you know because like I said it's about the interaction and the relationships that we make so that's all I tell them just be you be welcoming be honest be faithful the rest will flow and have the right attitude well dealing with people is always challenging in the sense that everyone is different in their own ways so you find like now I have stuff who are under me uh so today you find somebody will not show up because of various reasons some will opt to do a and he told them to do B and that's a challenge it's a big challenge that we are dealing with but uh by and large I can say our focus is more on the client so the challenge I'm facing right now is just the challenge of expansion because you see there's also a limit given the piece of land we are sitting on so the biggest challenge right now I can say I have is the challenge of expansion because we were received very well in the market people are responding positively to what we have so now the challenge becomes how will I take all of them in that's the only challenge I'm facing right now yeah we have contacts we are on booking.com okay let's say we are on all uh we call them OTS online travel agents booking.com Expedia TripAdvisor you can find us there we have our social media handles at Waffle Suites that's on Twitter on Instagram and on Facebook and then we have our emails that is info at wafflesuits.co.ke [Music] or wafflesuites gmail.com and then we also have a phone number which is a zero seven zero four seven zero six eight four three uh they can call and inquire whatever it is they want so we are out there yes hi guys my name is Eric bundu I'm the general manager of the waffle suits and this is Imagine business thank you [Music]