Case Study: Training for the End Goal.

How WaterColor Inn became a four-diamond hotel

By Rebecca Aronauer

Sometimes it helps to have a goal. The goal of the WaterColor Inn, a hotel in Santa Rosa Beach, Fla., was to achieve a four-diamond AAA rating. Stephen Hilliard, the Watersound, Fla.–based vice president of resort and club operations for St. Joe, the hotel's parent company, believed the hotel itself was worthy of the distinction, but its customer service was letting it down. "We have a fantastic resort," he says. "But our team wasn't delivering on the promise of the product."

So St. Joe took action and hired Signature Worldwide, a customer service training company based in Dublin, Ohio. Most of WaterColor Inn's employees did not have any hospitality experience, so Signature helped them with the basics, such as making eye contact, using the guest's name on a regular basis and asking follow-up questions. Everyone on staff went through the same customer-service training, and in December of last year WaterColor Inn was awarded a four-diamond rating from AAA.

Having the goal in mind enhanced Signature's program. Even for a training consultant, "improving customer service" is a vague request. Knowing the hotel wanted AAA recognition "gave Signature a very clear path in terms of the skill sets [the hotel staff] needed to understand," Hilliard says. The hotel also had more employee buy-in, since everyone on staff knew the objective of the training and could understand its importance. Hilliard says, "Having a specific goal, instead of 'We want to provide great service'—whatever that means—made a big difference."