Unit 5- Dealing With Crisis

Unit 5 • •

Dealing with crisis Proper listening & only necessary responses

(When the guest is angry, the hotel personnel can only use minimum talks to minimize the anxiety of guests. Just sober responses are encouraged). "Crises refine life. In them you discover what you are." - Allan K. Chalmers

Crisis Meaning and Definition 1. (n.) The point of time when it is to be decided whether any affair or course of action must go on, or be modified or terminate; the decisive moment; the turning point. 2. (n.) That change in a disease which indicates whether the result is to be recovery or death; sometimes, also, a striking change of symptoms attended by an outward manifestation, as by an eruption or sweat.

Crisis communications guide (01 June 2006 00:00) The Problem A Premiership football team staying at your hotel fall ill with suspected food poisoning the day before a crucial game. They lose the match and media attention focuses on your hotel. It later turns out that the players were suffering from a form of gastroenteritis. Expert Advice Reputation is vitally important to every hotel. It can take years to build, but can be lost in a flash. Luckily, the Marriott West India Quay, the London hotel at the centre of the recent Tottenham Hotspur "food poisoning" mystery, had the mechanics in place to react to the incident quickly when the story broke. Marriott's experience illustrates the importance of having guidelines for dealing with the media as part of an overall crisis management strategy. Original research by Davies Tanner has found that while 94% of the companies we contacted in the hospitality industry had crisis management plans to deal with incidents such as terrorist attacks, fire and food poisoning, only 12% of these included a procedure to deal with the media - in other words, a crisis communications guide.

The implications for a hotel if a negative story surfaces, especially one involving celebrities or high-profile guests, can be catastrophic. If the incident is then managed badly, it could have a further detrimental effect on the hotel's image and reputation. This is why a crisis communications guide is vital whatever the size of your operation. A crisis communications guide sets out processes and procedures that can help the business move quickly in the face of media scrutiny. It will include phone numbers, land and mobile, of those who will act as your PR team, be they internal or external, and lines of communication to ensure that only people with the correct information and authority are speaking to the media. You will want your facts to reach particular audiences - such as Caterer and Hotelkeeper as quickly as possible; and these will also need to be clearly identified. Your crisis communications guide will identify personnel who have been media-trained to deal with these events. It will have key messages and procedures for managing interviews under different scenarios from a fire in the hotel to a celebrity exposé. Media training is necessary to give key members of staff the confidence to handle press enquiries, and can also highlight areas of weakness within your organisation. Media training will teach staff how to get key messages across in an interview, and body language skills. Check list • • • • • • •

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Do prepare. Make sure you have a communications guide as part of your overall crisis management plan and ensure it's regularly updated and rehearsed. Don't bury your head in the sand and hope a problem never occurs. The way you handle a crisis can say a lot about you and your company. Do ensure a clear chain of command is in place, and that each key member has media training. Don't rely on just one person - inevitably they will be on holiday when disaster strikes. Do keep members of your staff informed at every stage of a crisis. This will ensure that they know what they can and can't say following an incident. Don't keep members of your staff in the dark during any incident. You will need the support of all your staff throughout a crisis. Do always tell the truth, once you're in possession of all the facts. Admit when you've made a mistake, and explain how you will investigate what happened to ensure that you look proactive. Don't try to mislead the media. You'll be found out, and could be made to look incompetent. Do keep the media informed and tell them when you will go back to them with further information.

Beware! Don't keep the media in the dark and fail to return phone calls. The media hate an information vacuum, and if you create one, they might fill it with their own interpretation of the story. Contacts Robert Wright Davies Tanner 01892 619100 www.davies-tanner.co.uk

Crisis Communications in the Hospitality Industry Your tour bus driver is pulled aside and ticketed for drunken driving while taking a busload of hotel clients to Epcot Center. A 4-year-old girl drowns in your hotel swimming pool while a lifeguard who was supposed to be on duty was talking with his girlfriend in the parking lot. A member of your kitchen crew retaliates against an obnoxious diner by pouring an unspeakable body fluid into the diner's soup—and gets caught when the diner calls police. It could happen to you. And just when you think it couldn’t possibly get any worse, there’s a reporter on line two. Here’s a list of 10 Commandments you should follow during a crisis in the hotel industry.

1. Have a crisis communications plan in place to control the flow of information. Be sure employees understand who is responsible for speaking with the media. 2. Tell the truth, tell it all and tell it fast. See How to Keep the Media Wolves at Bay. 3. Never say “no comment” (even if your attorney tells you to) because it makes you look guilty. Always try to take control of the story and offer the media your side. See Alternatives to Saying "No Comment." 4. Prepare for an interview. Write down the three or four most important points you want to get across to the reporter. Anticipate tough questions and how you will answer them. See Special Report #2: Questions You Can Expect Reporters to Ask During an Interview.

5. Never talk off the record. 6. If a reporter calls about a crisis involving your business that you know nothing about, respond only after the reporter explains what the story is about. Ask what angle they are taking and who they already have spoken to. See The Dangerous Hidden Secrets of Print and Broadcast Reporters. 7. Keep your cool. Never hang up on a reporter, order a TV camera crew off the property or punch out a photographer. 8. Always correct errors. See How to Ask for a Correction. 9. Dump all the bad news at once. See Special Report #28: The News Conference: When to Hold It and How to Do It Right 10.Return reporters’ phone calls immediately. Per

Crisis or Opportunity for the Hotel Industry? - The global economic downturn has affected the hotel industry -- is there an upside to the current situation? Many industry experts say yes. The industry is undergoing a dramatic shift, but managers and executives with the right skills and knowledge will be able to position their properties to be more competitive now and in the emerging marketplace. Hoteliers, managers and executives can take measures now to optimize their operations, respond to current conditions and prepare for a turnaround: 1. Expand your planning beyond 'survival mode.' A turnaround in the hotel industry is predicted for late 2009 or 2010. Be ready for it: Develop an action plan that focuses on the turnaround. 2. Manage your staff's motivation and morale. These intangibles can have a very tangible effect on your bottom line. Make your staff part of your team. 3. Keep the guests you have -- they are your best guests and your best salesmen. Re-focus on guest satisfaction and services. 4. Attract new guests. Customization is a winning strategy in today's direct sales

strategies to develop relationships with new guests. 5. Create a competitive advantage by leveraging technology. A downturn can be the best time to optimize your current technology or invest in new technologies.

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%

ASSIMILATI ON

5

1

6

3

7

4

Narrow Focus

Broad Focus

Narrow Focus

Broad Focus

Narrow Focus

Broad Focus

Neutral

+Disseminat +Service ion

Artisan Sage -SelfDeception

-Verbosity

(20%)

(15%)

+Sophisticati +Agape on

Goal

ACTION

2

+Creation

Role

INSPIRATION

Server -Bondage

(10%)

+Compassi +Persuasion +Mastery on Priest -Zeal

(3-5%)

Warrior -Coercion

(30%)

King -Tyranny

(1-2%)

+Knowledge Scholar -Theory

(15-20%)

+Simplicity +Devotion

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(30%)

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(1%)

(40%)

(10%)

(10%)

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Idealist -Naiveté

Stoic

Spirituali st

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% (5%) (30%) (5%) (5%) Mode +Deliberation +Authority +Restraint +Self-

Actualizati

Cynic

Realist

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(5%)

(30%)

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(7%) +Practical Pragmatist -Dogmatic

(20%) +Clarity

on Caution -Phobia

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(20%) +Insight

Power

Reserved Passion

Persevera Aggression nce

Observation

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(10%)

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(10%)

(4%)

(4%)

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(40%) +Desire Greed

Drago Destruction n -Voracity -Suicide

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(10%) +Grandeur

Body Type

Jupiter -Overwhelming

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(15%) +Agile Mercury -Nervous

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(10%)

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(10%)

(15%)

(15%)

(15%)

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Saturn -Gaunt

Venus -Sloppy

(20%) +Radiant

Mars -Impulsive

Solar -Ethereal

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