The Listening Fast Track as a Key Ingredient for Success in Hospitality Management

It can be said that communication skills are just as important in all career paths, not just hospitality. But this factor is crucial for anyone in the hospitality industry as it can be the lever for their careers. The base of hospitality is through listening, through communication. Nothing is more important in the hospitality management than listening. Possessing listening skills is the key element to become successful in this industry. To properly serve the customers and make them satisfied, it takes ongoing attention and consideration to know what they want, how they feel to give them happy experiences at the establishments. And not just with customers, listening also can be used with colleagues as it is way to bond and establish a good relationship. The benefits hospitality managers get for listening has been discussed in the chapter and I agree with all the ideas the author has pointed out.

In my opinion, this topic is a great addition for the course as it shows me the root of the customer service, starting with listen to the customers. And it is nice to know the key points to achieve these listening skills. Pay attention, understand the message, understand the person speaking and remember what you hear, it all seem like common knowledge, but when apply it to real situations, it can be a great tool at work like improving my customer service, avoid making similar mistakes, and it can also be used to bond with friends and build a closer relationship with them. This topic helps students realize the basic of customer service is to listen, put attention on what matters. To be successful in any careers, it is always important to listen and understand what your tasks are, and excel at it. What I found interesting about this topic is that I never consider it as important in this industry as it supposed to be. Listening skill to me before was just as any common skills there is and that it is optional for you to pick up. But it turns out to be way more important than that as it is consider one of the key ingredients for success in hospitality management.

This topic definitely will be helping me a lot for my career in the future. As someone who really wants to work in the service industry, it is essential for me to pick up this skill as soon as possible. Not only does it help me in improving my customer service but also can be a lever for my career in this industry. A back of house interview with Copthorn Hotel Dubai’s Sri Widodo mentioned some topics in this chapter. In the interview, beside the general content, Widodo also discussed about the important of communication in general and listening in particular. When asked how he motivates staffs, Widodo (2018) responded: I invest great time in having random, simple and meaningful conversation with colleagues. I listen to their concerns and work with the team even in carrying out simple tasks. I encourage and coach them, give honest and sincere feedback and never make false promises. It can be seen that Widodo uses his listening skills to listen to his employees, helps guiding them and motivate them to be better at work, therefore building a good relationship with his employees. This proves that listening is not just for customers, but employees should also be heard about their needs too.

A hospitality establishment can only be great if the teamwork is strong, and for the teamwork to be strong, it depends a lot in communications. Listen to your managers, listen to your staffs, listen to the customers, and the establishments can become great success in the industry. It is valuable for a hotel manager to have the required knowledge to deal with customers’ needs and it start with listening closely to what they want. By knowing what the guests want, a hospitality manager can meet or even exceed customer’s expectation, give them good experiences at the establishments. Listening skills can be used as a motivational as well as a customer service tool. As a hospitality manager, it is important to acquire listening skills, and become a good listener, not just to customers also to employees, as it can boost the relationships and teamwork and make the establishments a strong family.