Cayman’s average score in a mystery shopping exercise within a span of tourism-related sectors is six per cent lower than the average for other destinations in the region that underwent the test.
While the Cayman Islands received 72 per cent in the results of the recent round of service quality inspections undertaken by US hospitality consultancy firm, The FreemanGroup, the benchmark average for other destinations in the Caribbean that the FreemanGroup has worked with has been 78 per cent.
These destinations have included St. Kitts, Puerto Rico, Aruba and the British Virgin Islands.
Speaking of Cayman’s score, the FreemanGroup’s Pam Senter said, ‘I hope this number is going to motivate us, rather than discourage us’. Noting that the Department of Tourism has made a big investment in improving the situation, she said she has seen a significant increase in other destinations after training was completed.
She outlined the results of the test the recent annual tourism conference.
The FreemanGroup is helping the Cayman Islands bring its customer service levels for tourism from good to great, through the National Service Excellence Programme, which has been branded as the PRIDE programme after a consultative process amongst the public and private sectors.
The new branded name stands for Personal Responsibility In Delivering Customer Service.
While the destination as a whole received an average score of 72 per cent, within the islands, Little Cayman fared best with 79 per cent, then Cayman Brac with 74 per cent, and finally Grand Cayman with 71 per cent.
The target score on the test is 80 per cent and above.
According to the Freeman Group’s 22 years of experience, a score of 90 to 100 per cent means a tourist will have a definite intent to recommend and return to the destination;
A score of 80 to 89 per cent means probably positive intent to recommend and return;
70 to 79 per cent means probably negative intent to recommend and return;
60 to 69 per cent is a definite negative intent to recommend and return.
Ms Senter explained that three pairs of analysts visited the destination, posed as tourists, and assessed service levels in each of the sectors. Each couple spent four nights in the Cayman Islands.
In April the DoT, FreemanGroup and focus groups met to pre-agree the Top 10 Cayman Islands’ behavioural standards to be used for the inspection. They also pre-agreed on 19 sectors to be inspected.
The analysts interacted with service workers within each of these 19 sectors, and during the interactions the analysts issued complaints and they made requests and they tested their knowledge and then they completed a 10 item behavioural standards checklist based upon the results of that interaction.
They completed 196 interactions during the inspections, which took place in June.
The reasoning behind the mystery shopping exercise is to measure pre-agreed standards from arrival to departure, to target resources in areas of need and readjust training workshops accordingly, and to establish a benchmark to compare progress and monitor the effectiveness of PRIDE.
The sectors included everything from the general public to immigration to airport security and diving.
Out of the Top Ten behavioural standards, the most commonly achieved were:
Telephone calls answered within five rings, using proper salutation (98 per cent);
Employees extend hospitality to fellow employees (95 per cent);
Employee’s appearance creates a positive impression to customers (86 per cent).
The most commonly missed standards were:
Customers’ names are used, when known (19 per cent);
Employees, who receive a customer complaint listen, apologise and agree to a solution with the customer (59 per cent);
Customers are greeted with a smile, eye contact and positive body language (62 per cent).
On this Ms Senter commented, ‘The most commonly missed standards are in the area of name usage, complaint handling and greetings. Well, these are really important standards that make a big impact in the guests’ perception of the stay’. She continued, ‘The most commonly achieved are to do with telephone courtesy, team work and grooming and appearance and may have a less impact on the guests’ perception of the stay’.
The highest scoring sectors were:
Airport dispatchers (85 per cent);
Immigration (81 per cent);
Hotels (81 per cent);
Restaurants (79 per cent).
The lowest scoring sectors were:
Airport Concessions (31 per cent);
Buses (47 per cent);
Information officers (47 per cent)
Ms Senter noted that the Immigration score was the highest one they’ve ever seen.
In speaking about the philosophy of the programme, FreemanGroup Managing Partner Kedrick Malone explained, ‘In tourism if you can connect with your visitors by touching their emotions you have built a bridge between you and the visitors. They will love you forever, and that’s what we seek to do.’
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