Summary

A world renowned destination spa wanted to create a better onboarding experience for their front desk team. With several unique challenges, such as doubling as both a spa and hotel front desk, as well as with specific requirements to meet Forbes standards, we set out to make this a reality. Ultimately, we created a comprehensive onboarding program that would have their team fully trained and up to speed within two weeks-even with no Forbes or hospitality background.

Background

This destination spa in the high desert is celebrated for its holistic approach to wellness and exceptional guest experiences. With a mission to provide unparalleled service, they recognized the need to address better equip their front desk team to maintain their high standards and ensure a seamless experience for their guests and staff alike.

Challenge

While most of the team had been with the property for at least six months and had learned to navigate the nuances of the software tools, luxury service standards, and frequent, fast-paced demands, new team members struggled to keep up with onboarding. Further, there was no comprehensive onboarding plan for them to follow, and each day was mostly made up on the spot. Finally, all training was verbal, with no formal SOPs to refer to (either printed or digital) in case details or individual steps were missed. Due to the verbal nature of the training, the thoroughness of the education received was highly dependent on the trainer for the day, and knowledge would leave with staff turnover.

Solution

We sat down with the front desk team and worked to identify the key skills, tasks and competencies needed for success in the role. From there, we set up access to an online training environment for practice, and built an onboarding plan that had several key components:

• Daily itinerary, with specific sections with individual tasks to be covered each day in various areas of the business (e.g. software, operations, guest experience, service knowledge, etc.).

• Detailed reference material, so that we could have our team members self-study when things got hectic on the floor.

• Regular knowledge checks, to ensure that the training was being absorbed, memorized and would be competently executed going forward.

• Customized sections (including practice), specific to creating the environment, standards and guest experience curated by the destination spa.

With this process, we were able to onboard a new team member within two weeks, with a comprehensive knowledge of systems, key tasks and skills required to complete the job. We built an onboarding program and knowledge base that would last beyond any individual team member.

Given the complexity of the work required, being both a spa and hotel, this cut down onboarding time by at least 50% and up to 80%.

“We feel so lucky to have had this time working with Annie. She can come back and help us out any time!” —Luxury destination spa leadership