Spin the Bottle Service: Hospitality in the Age of AI

by Kirsten Moxness, Paul Moxness, Katherine Guntner (Editor)

Overview

Airports, hotels, bars, and restaurants all present opportunities for hospitality to touch the life of a stranger. In our increasingly data-driven world, we've created systems to quantify, digitize, and calculate how to get the most out of these moments of interaction, but is data really the only way to know if we're truly being of service?

Smart hoteliers and restaurateurs understand the power of personal interactions, and as the drive to digital speeds up, the ability to craft a meaningful human interaction will be a big differentiator in the market battle for guest satisfaction and retention. Using examples from over thirty years of international travel and experience in the hospitality industry, Kirsten and Paul Moxness explore key elements of creating personal experiences for guests, including:

• Making genuine gratitude a natural and contagious habit
• Respecting upgrades and freebies, and handling necessary downgrades
• Encouraging supportive teams and empowering each employee to provide exceptional experiences
• Taking a compassionate and proactive approach to safety and crisis management and resolving problems

Digital cannot replace human interaction, and hospitality is all about making memorable moments of personal experience. Spin the Bottle Service is here to show you that making the most of the touchpoints beyond digital can be as easy as a twist of the wrist.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781945783128
Publisher:	Imagine Flux
Publication date:	06/23/2021
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	154
File size:	10 MB

About the Author

Kirsten Moxness is an entrepreneur and expert in the fields of massage, wellness, and relaxation. She founded SlowMotion, a Copenhagen-based clinic for massage and wellness in 1993. During her 11 years at the helm, she helped propel massage into one of the most popular employee benefits in Denmark. Her many client companies included the largest law firm in Denmark, multinational pharmaceutical companies, and a global IT company's call center. With government ministers and members of the Danish Special Forces divers amongst her individual clients, she literally had the top legal minds and government officials in the palms of her hands as she led the way helping companies focus on wellness to improve employee health and job satisfaction simultaneously. After moving to Brussels, Belgium, with her husband, Paul, Kirsten provided massage and wellness services at Aspria Royal La Rasante, Brussels' most exclusive sports and wellness club.
Paul Moxness likes to say he had a four-decade gap year in Europe that included a 30-year career at a company that didn't want to hire him. He is recognized as one of the world's leading experts in hotel safety and security. Paul was a founding member of the OSAC Hotel Security Working Group and has contributed to multiple UN, OSCE, EU, and other public private partnership initiatives around the world. He was awarded a Carlson Fellow, the company's highest individual honour for leadership in 2014. After being named IFSEC's #1 Global Influencer in the Security Executives Category, Paul retired from Radisson Hotel Group in 2018, where he was global Vice President of Corporate Safety and Security. Although his career always involved safety and security, at Radisson he was amongst the first Europeans certified to conduct Yes I Can! service training, and over the years he also gained extensive experience in loyalty program, e-commerce, and general hotel management.

Table of Contents

• Before We Begin...
• About Kirsten and Paul
• Introduction
• Hospitality in the age of AI: It's the people, stupid
• Where does "Spin the Bottle Service" come from?
• Kirsten's globetrotting parents
• Paul's Dale Carnegie dad and service-minded mom
• Great Teams Make Great Experiences
• How to honeymoon South African style
• Rosemary's Restaurant: The strip mall restaurant that outperformed the best on the Strip
• Bushman's Kloof: A team approach to caring
• Communication and Understanding
• Helping guests navigate available options
• ABC: A simple communication cadence
• An unfortunate series of events in Norway
• Getting Recognition Right
• Tullin's Café, Oslo: Playing your song was their tune for success
• The River Inn, Washington, DC: Always a smile for us
• Skinny Duke's Glorious Emporium, Kelowna: Revisiting that '70s basement party
• Something Special: Freebies and Upgrades
• K*Rico, NYC: The best table in the house
• Fairmont Hotel Vancouver: Upgrade or upsell
• British Airways: Downgrade with an upside
• Navigating Cultural Differences
• Le Trappiste, Brussels: The brasserie that closes when tourists arrive
• Les Garnements, Paris: Don't ask if they'll be busy
• Learning to bypass bias: From Kuwait to Shanghai
• Fancy Doesn't Have to Mean Cold and Formal
• Top Délice: A treat at the retreat for Brussels' elite
• San Daniele, Brussels: Comfortable perfection
• Franchise: Creating a Personal Touch at Scale
• Hertz: Pink cars and the personal touch
• Feedback and Follow-Up: Our Two Favorite F-Words
• The Curious Café in Kelowna
• Maxine DeHart: Ramada Hotel, Kelowna
• Children Are Also Customers
• Agadhoe Heights: Superstar service for a kid
• Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas: A minor issue of underage alcohol service
• Hyatt Regency, Huntington Beach: Three glasses to go
• Not Picture Perfect: Resolving Problems
• Scandinavian Airlines: A series of unforced errors
• Air Canada: Above and beyond
• When It Goes South: Safety and Crisis Management
• When crises come calling, remember The Martian
• When the spotlight shines, don't hide in the shadows
• Genuine Gratitude: The Glue That Holds It All Together
• Job well done: Creating a culture of gratitude
• The problem with automating gratitude
• La Bussola Restaurant, Kelowna: Going a step further
• Why is it easier to be grateful during trying times?
• Start Spinning the Bottles
• Tactical tips towards practical progress
• Risk assessment: Where are we now?
• Gaps and vulnerabilities
• Plan of action
• Making it happen
• Engaging with expertise
• Conclusion
• Hospitality: It's the people, period.
• Annexes
• Risk assessment
• Gaps and vulnerabilities
• Plan of action
• Engaging with expertise
• Acknowledgements
• Special thanks
• Places we return to
• About the Authors
• Reading Group Discussion Questions