Michigan State University Extension
Tourism Educational Materials - 33200016
06/06/02
Tourism: Greeting the Guest
Tom Quinn
Michigan State University
Extension Bulletin E-1381 January 1986 Reprint
Tourism is a people-pleasing business. Beautiful lakes,
forests, parks, rock formations, historic sites, resorts,
museums, and recreation facilities are of little value
unless the people visiting them feel welcome and are
treated courteously. Tourism is people oriented and
people dependent. Visitors must be pleased with what they
see and experience in their contacts with local people.
The name of the tourism game is HUMAN RELATIONS.
A people failure in any tourist related business spells
disaster. The finest motel, restaurant, gift shop or ski
resort cannot survive if its employees have a negative
attitude toward tourists. Visitors expect a pleasant
experience. A positive attitude of the local people
toward visitors, and their courtesy, warmth, friendliness
and sincere willingness to serve are the basis for that
pleasant experience.
People remember their travel experiences for a lifetime,
often as their fondest memories. It is the job of the
tourist business employee to make these memories as
pleasant as possible.
Attitude, technical competence, appearance, and
personality are four important qualifications that a good
tourist business employee must possess. This bulletin
briefly outlines each of these qualifications.
Attitude
"YOUR ATTITUDE SPEAKS SO LOUDLY I CAN'T HEAR WHAT YOU
HAVE TO SAY." The attitude of local people towards
tourists is a signal to tourists of how enjoyable their
visit is going to be. It is unfortunate, but true, that
the visitor often perceives an attitude of "We like your
money, but we really don't want you." The ingredients of
a tourist-acclimated attitude are as follows:
Pride: Pride in the job and the community spells success
in any tourist business. No matter what the job is, it is
an important one for the tourist industry, the individual
employer, and the home community. Be proud that people
are interested in your area. Satisfaction comes from
knowing you are doing all you can to make people feel
welcome. Pride makes for friendliness and openness in
dealing with tourists. Take pride in the job. It's
important and it shows.
Patience: Tourists can be the friendliest people you will
ever meet. They can also be the most trying at times. It
takes considerable patience for a tourist industry
employee to overlook the frequent grumbling and snapping
of road-weary travelers.
Patience is a virtue. Before snapping back at demandings
tourists, try to understand what they have just gone
through--driving many miles to reach your area, road
weary and perhaps the victims of car trouble or
unexpected expenses; maybe even restaurants with poor
service, bad food, or unexpected high prices. It takes
real patience to deal with people who have gone through
any (or all) of these experiences and convince them that
you have an enjoyable time waiting just for them.
Judgment: It takes sound judgment on the part of the
employee to know what to do and how to deal with
different tourists. The needs, wants, and desires of
people are different. Some tourists want their daily
itineraries planned for them. They appreciate it if you
make room reservations for them, or reserve a fishing
boat, or arrange a guided tour. Other tourists want to
plan their own activities and may become upset if you try
to help them too much.
Listen carefully to what the tourist says. How a tourist
responds to being told of local attractions indicates
what kind of help a tourist really wants. It takes good
judgment to know how to serve people with varying wants
and needs.
Adaptability: Tourism service is a team effort. A tourism
employee must be able to get along and cooperate with
fellow workers. It takes a team effort to provide the
tourist with an enjoyable experience. The tourist is
quickly aware of friction among employees. Ill feelings
among co-workers cast a negative cloud on the visitors'
sense of enjoyment. Tourism employees must adapt smoothly
to their working environment. Personal differences must
be put aside in favor of presenting the tourist with a
picture of a cooperative team effort.
Flexibility: Tourists are noted for changing their minds.
They are discovering new interests and attractions. They
frequently change their minds as to what they want to do
and see. The tourist industry employee must recognize
this changeability and be willing to make last minute
changes and fulfill unexpected requests. Willingness to
change is important.
Technical Competence
A second qualification of a good employee in a
tourist-related business is technical competence.
Employees should develop human relations skills and
acquire the information base necessary to perform their
jobs well. It takes concentrated effort to learn the
technical information needed to be successful in the
people business. New employees should spend a
considerable amount of time learning their jobs before
greeting tourists for the first time. A person would not
consider working as a secretary without first learning to
type. Likewise, a tourist facility employee should first
have knowledge of local attractions, be able to give
precise directions on how to get to the attractions, and
develop good communications and salesmanship skills.
Knowledge of Attractions: Michigan has one of the largest
tourist industries in the United States. It abounds in
natural and man-made attractions. It is the job of the
tourist business employee to first find out what are the
visitors' different interests. After visitors indicate
what interests them, direct them to local attractions
that will appeal to them. Here the tourist guide has to
do some homework. You cannot "sell" local attractions if
you have never seen them. It takes first-hand experience
to become really enthusiastic about an attraction and
"sell" it to visitors. Be observant and note things that
may interest the actual tourists. Become a tourist
yourself, and see the sights in your community through a
tourist's eyes.
There are many fine brochures on local tourist
attractions. Give these freely to visitors and encourage
them to go, see and enjoy the attractions in the area.
Know the location of churches, retail stores, gasoline
stations, the Chamber of Commerce office, parks,
playgrounds, and picnic areas, campgrounds, banks, eating
places, motels, medical facilities, numbered county
roads, etc.
Skill in Giving Directions: It is one thing to know where
something is and quite another thing to direct someone
there. Directions should be given very carefully and
precisely.
Learn how to give directions.
Use familiar terms when giving directions. Avoid using
names of people's houses or farms. The tourist does not
know where "Millington's subdivision" is or where the
"old Coot farm" is located.
The best directions include accurate distances and easily
recognizable landmarks. Stop signs, traffic lights,
churches, conspicuous stores, gasoline stations, railroad
tracks, crossroads, etc. make good reference points that
the tourist can understand.
Specific distances should be given. "A little piece down
the road" may mean anything from one block to thirty
miles or more. If the attraction is one and seven-tenths
of a mile away, tell the tourist. If the tourist employee
does not know how far away it is, they should not guess
at the distance. Bad information is worse than none at
all. Do your homework and find out the exact distances
and directions to all local attractions.
An ample supply of maps should be kept on hand. When
giving directions to an attraction, draw the route on a
map, pointing out landmarks along the route and
indicating interesting side trips. If not enough maps are
available to give to each party of tourists, plenty of
paper should be available on which to draw the route to
local attractions.
Most tourists have little sense of direction. They are in
a new and unfamiliar place and usually have trouble
telling north from south. So it is a good idea to give
directions indicating turns by "left" and "right."
The following is a good example of how to give
directions:
"I'd be happy to tell you how to get to Little Deer Lake.
Turn left out of our parking lot here. Go to the third
crossroad, that is two and one-tenth of a mile from here,
and make a right-hand turn. This will be a well
maintained gravel road. Travel down this road for seven
miles until you come to a railroad track. One quarter of
a mile after crossing the railroad track there will be a
dirt road going to your left. This is the Little Deer
Lake Road. The lake is one-half of a mile down this
road."
To reinforce the above directions, draw a map.
Salesmanship: Your job as a tourist business employee is
a sales job. You are selling the local area and the
products of your employer. You are successful only after
a visitor purchases a product and is satisfied with it.
The product might be a ride on a sightseeing bus, a
scenic attraction, a piece of apple pie, or a souvenir.
It is sales that bring in the money needed to keep the
business going and pay salaries. Visitors alone do not
bring profits--sales do.
Be enthusiastic. Selling begins with recruiting
potential customers. People must be interested in your
product or service before they will buy. Before visitors
can be expected to spend time and money in your
community, they must first become interested in looking
at the community and what it offers.
Once you know people are interested in what you are
offering for sale, ask questions of them and listen
intently to their answers. This will help you sense their
buying motives, purchasing ability, and real interests.
It would be futile to try to convince someone who is
afraid of heights to climb to the top of the fire tower
south of town. Likewise, if people cannot afford luxury
accommodations, don't suggest lodging in that price
range.
When responding to objections about a product, use a soft
sell approach. Stress the positive points. This will help
turn objections into advantages. A salesperson should
know everything possible about the product.
When it's time to close the sale, ask the visitor to
purchase that ticket or see a local historic site. Help
the visitor to "buy the area" as much as possible. After
convincing visitors to stay in the community a little
longer, make motel or dinner reservations for them, and
help them plan their sightseeing itinerary.
After they have "bought," their buying decisions should
be reinforced. Sharing the customer's excitement about
their new purchase makes them feel that they have made a
wise decision.
Employees in tourist related businesses should practice
"missionary selling" in addition to direct selling. In
missionary selling, the sales effort focuses on building
good will and a positive image of the community. It
involves making an extra effort to make sure visitors are
satisfied, giving special attention to service, and
volunteering information on the history, attractions, and
activities of the community. A favorable impression
brings repeat business and new business generated by
word-of-mouth advertising.
Appearance
Appearance is extremely important in the tourist
business. Before anything is said to or done for the
tourist, the tourist judges employees on the way they
look. Visitors may get their first impression of the
community by the appearance of the tourist workers--the
way they dress, act, and smell.
Appearance has much to do with the way visitors treat
tourist employees. Tourists tend to doubt what people
with messy hair and sloppy clothes have to say. Visitors
have little faith in the information given to them and
have a negative attitude on the whole community.
Dress neatly and simply. Wear clean, unwrinkled clothes.
Keep your hair clean and well combed. Use makeup and
jewelry sparingly. Bathe regularly. Avoid smoking,
chewing gum, or eating where you can be seen by visitors.
Always strive to look the very best you can.
Personality
A fourth important qualification of an employee is a
tourist-oriented business related to the personality of
the individual. A good visitor-oriented personality comes
from a knowledge of human relations. A human relations
personality is smiling, friendly, and pleasant; it is
courteous, adaptable, and sociable; it is following the
rules of simple etiquette; it is outgoing, communicative,
and helpful; it is good taste and getting people to trust
and feel comfortable with you.
Part of a personality is how well one understands the
personalities of others and can adapt to them. You have
heard the old saying that the customer is always right.
The personality of the tourist-oriented employee must
accept an occasional cantankerous customer and be able
to turn hostility into positive good will.
With a little effort and thought, personalities can
change. People can learn to be more friendly and outgoing
if they really try. The key to personality development is
to first find out how other people perceive your
personality. Take an inventory of your personality traits
and note personality changes you would to make. Then work
on making these changes.
Summary
Your business is pleasing people. People have an
insatiable thirst to explore places not familiar to them.
They travel, visit, and always want to know what is on
the other side of the hill. Human beings have a basic
desire to travel.
Tourism is a major factor in the economy of Michigan.
The skill of the people in the industry determines its
success. Attitudes, technical competence, appearance, and
personalities measure the viability of the tourist
industry.
Visitors must be satisfied with what they see and
experience in their dealings with local people. The
tourist industry is people oriented and people dependent.
After all--what is a lodging facility without people?
Hospitality Checklist
Always Sometimes Never
Visitors are greeted as soon as
they arrive............... ____ _____ ____
I try to make guests feel
welcome...................... ____ _____ ____
I greet guests with a smile....____ _____ ____
My customers are my first
concern.................... ____ _____ ____
I am glad to help visitors in
any way I can.............. ____ _____ ____
I aim to please my customers.. ____ _____ ____
Visitors receive my undivided
attention................ ____ _____ ____
I know my customer's name and
use it................ ____ _____ ____
I listen carefully to what
tourists say........... ____ _____ ____
I promote friendliness.........____ _____ ____
Visitors know exactly what they
want to see and do in my
community ... ____ _____ ____
I volunteer help and information
even though it may not be
requested......................____ _____ ____
I provide accurate information.____ _____ ____
I give precise and easily followed
directions.................... ____ _____ ____
My appearance is at its best...____ _____ ____
I bathe daily..................____ _____ ____
My hair is neatly kept.........____ _____ ____
I use a deodorant daily........____ _____ ____
I am honest in my dealings with
tourists.................. ____ _____ ____
The tourist is quickly aware of
friction among employees..... ____ _____ ____
Tourism service is a team
effort.................. ____ _____ ____
I try to "sell" my local
community.................. ____ _____ ____
I tell visitors what there is to do
here during the off-season... ____ _____ ____
I invite guests back to the
area...........................____ _____ ____
I enjoy my work............... ____ _____ ____
TEST YOUR HOSPITALITY I.Q.
Each question has one or more correct answers:
1. All tourists should be greeted by:
a) a warm friendly smile,
b) a high pressure sales pitch,
c) an indifferent attitude.
2. A tourist is:
a) valued only for his/her money,
b) a uniquely different type of person,
c) a welcome guest visiting your community.
3. Promotional literature is:
a) costly and should be kept where tourists can't get
to it,
b) a useful selling aid,
c) dull and boring.
4. The best directions are given by indicating:
a) turns using points on the compass (north, south,
east, west),
b) exact distances,
c) locally known landmarks such as the "old Johnson
place."
5. Most tourists appreciate it if you:
a) volunteer information even though it may not be
requested,
b) ignore them unless they ask for your help,
c) tell them all your personal problems.
6. The money that tourists spend in your community:
a) creates local jobs,
b) adds to the tax base,
c) provides local services that otherwise would not be
possible.
7. The name of the tourist game is:
a) money,
b) endurance,
c) human relations.
8. Your attitude toward tourists:
a) is not important to your community,
b) is a signal of how enjoyable their visit is going
to be,
c) can easily be hidden from them,
d) speaks louder than your words.
9. The way to deal with a demanding tourist is to:
a) treat them the same way they treat you,
b) yell at them if they are behaving rudely,
c) smile and be patient with them.
10. The greatest competition for the tourist dollar comes
from:
a) other states and foreign countries,
b) nearby communities,
c) competition within your own country.
11. Your appearance:
a) has very little to do with how visitors treat you,
b) is a reflection upon your entire community,
c) is nobody's business but your own.
12. Tourist employees and businesses must:
a) cooperate and work together for the benefit of all,
b) do their own thing and ignore everyone else,
c) make negative comments to tourists about other tourist
businesses.
Scoring: Give yourself 2 points for each correct answer.
The highest possible score is 30 points. Question number
6 is worth a maximum of 6 points or 2 points for each
correct letter. All other questions are worth 2 points
each.
28-30 points Excellent hospitality I.Q.
24-26 points Very good hospitality I.Q.
20-22 points Some improvement needed.
0-18 points What business did you say you were in?
Answers: 1-a; 2-c; 3-b; 4-b; 5-a; 6-a, b, and c; 7-c; 8-b
and d; 9-c; 10-a; 11-b; 12-a.
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