Have you ever been to someone’s house and while using the restroom realized there was precious little toilet paper?  This is one of the most uncomfortable positions to be in that I can recall.  What do you do?  Yell?  Maybe, but that would be embarrassing.   I think most of us would simply make the best out of what we have and make do with what we have at our disposal.

I believe this is a great example of the importance of hospitality, and hospitality is critical to delivering great service to customers.  You see, a hospitality approach would be to pay attention to details and have an extra roll of toilet paper right there in the bathroom, just in case.  Hospitality is doing things so that others in your care don’t have to.  It’s being cognizant of others’ comfort.  It’s being proactive and looking for possible places where people might have trouble and then putting solutions right at their fingertips.

So how do you do it?  Here are three things to ensuring a hospitality experience.

1. Fix rough patches: Make note of points of pain and make sure the next customer doesn’t have that problem.
2. Prepare contingencies for things that could happen (that extra roll of TP for example).
3. Look for ways to proactively serve by being attentive to peoples’ signals. Do they look lost, do they seem uncomfortable, do they seem to be looking for something?  Be proactive and don’t be afraid to help.