The most crucial skill for anyone in the hospitality industry is the ability to be hospitable. This is another way of saying they have excellent customer service skills. Anyone in the hospitality field will tell you dealing with customers take high-level skills that not everyone has or wants to learn. These skills are particularly important in an era of social media; one wrong customer service interaction can land your organization in very hot water online. So, hiring for customer service skills is not only a smart way to staff up, it’s a clear imperative.

Best Customer Service Skills – 2019 Edition

Finding a new employee with general people skills is important. Being a “people person” is job one in the hospitality field. But what does this mean, exactly and how can employers screen candidates to find this type of mindset? When screening candidates look for the following characteristics.

Patience

Patience really is a virtue, particularly in the hospitality field. It’s this one character traits that can both help your staff diffuse a potentially hostile guest or give them the energy to train others. Many times, customers ask for help from your staff when they are frustrated; patience can go a long way toward soothing ruffled feathers.

Attentiveness

Attentiveness is also the ability to listen and pay close attention to someone beyond ourselves. It’s a selfless characteristic that allows the hospitality worker to provide unparalleled customer care, no matter how their day is going. Every guest wants this kind of attention, and in fact, it really is what they’re paying for.

Communication

Communication is an important skill set, no matter the job. Being able to articulate the problem and a solution will go a long way toward improving the guest experience. It also helps employees troubleshoot problems and improve service delivery.

Time Management

Time management is a lost art these days; it seems like more of us are running behind and struggling to keep up with daily tasks. That’s why time management is so important in the hospitality industry, where each of us likely has more tasks than time. For the employer, finding employees with time management skills improves the overall efficiency of the organization. Customers will be cared for more quickly and tasks will turn out completed on time and under budget.

Flexibility

Flexibility is necessary in hospitality because the unexpected is always an element in food service, hotels, or other types of businesses in the field. Having the ability to think on your feet is a gift; being able to go with the flow whenever things change is a magnificent character trait.

Tenacity

Tenacity gets people through a lot of tough days; in hospitality, you need this skill to handle everything the business can throw at you. Tenacity is the willingness to get things done, even when it’s hard. If you have an employee who has the work ethic to succeed at all costs while taking good care of your customers, you have a magical combo that will put your business on the map, long term.

What if we were to tell you Gecko Hospitality has stellar candidates standing by who have all of these traits? Contact our leading hospitality recruiters today to learn more information.