Personality Development in The Hospitality Industry

Authors:

Kimberly
Rhodus, Graduate Student

Michael
J. Bradley, Ph.D., Associate Professor

Department
of Recreation and Park Administration

Eastern
Kentucky University

www.recreation.eku.edu

Personality Development in The Hospitality
Industry

Personality development is an important subject that
affects every sphere of human endeavor. It contributes to the success or
failure of everything which involves human beings. In building relationships in
the family, business, career, and personality we
possess, matters a lot. The hospitality industry has a lot to do with taking
care of the needs of the public, and it
is important for all those who work or do business in the sector to focus on
building the right personality that would enable them to succeed there. Without
this, it would lead to failure and dissatisfaction of customers (Importance of
personality development in hospitality industry, n.d.).  

Working in the hospitality industry requires the
employees to be able to handle just about any customer and to do so politely and professionally.  Hospitality employees are always going to be
in contact with customers.  It is a business of taking care of people, their
needs, and desires.  Good communicators
are essential for this line of work. The employees must be able to communicate
and give information to customers at any given moment while at work.  The customer may be demanding or rude with
their request, and if this happens, the
employee is required to be patient and to
be able to communicate efficiently without any prejudice.  They must be sure their communication with
the customer is clear, and the customer
understands what the employee is telling them. 
All, the while, the employee must maintain a professional and polite
manner.  Some employees might not like
this next statement but must be remembered, “The customer is king and must be treated as such.”   The hospitality industry is a competitive
world and to lose a customer because of bad service is unacceptable.

Another essential part of working in the hospitality
industry is having compassion.  The
employee must always show kindness and have empathy for their customers.  Having and showing this trait will help to
ensure return business as well as a happy customer.  When the employee shows compassion, it helps
to make the customer feel a sense of ease and belonging.  Positive behavior will make the difference in
a bad situation getting resolved where the customer feels better, instead, of
the situation getting worse and the customer becomes even more angry.  When having employees that can show
compassion and be polite through it all, will generate return customers and new
customers from word of mouth. 

Dressing nice and showing inner beauty is another
trait associated with the hospitality industry.  Always, showing a neat and clean appearance
gives off a good impression to the customer. 
Not only does this affect the customer
but the employee as well, it gives them the confidence of looking and feeling
professional and will more likely conduct themselves as such.  The inner beauty is a trait of being calm,
optimistic, serene in their demeanor and this will relax the customer, and this
is what all employees strive for with the customer.

When, an
employee develops these traits and strives to perfect them, not only is it an
important attribute to the customers but themselves as well.  Learning to communicate properly, be
compassionate, and dress nice for the job in the hospitality industry will not
only improve the customer-employee
relationship but the employee will feel great about themselves.  No one is perfect, so the employee must
remember this and know mistakes can happen. 
It will be the way the mistake is handle and fixed that is the
difference in an employee who is knowledgeable and trained well as opposed to
one that is more self-centered and not worry as much about the customer.  Providing ongoing training for employees is a
great way to ensure they continue to be professional, up-to-date on the
ever-changing world of hospitality and it ensures the customers are being treated wonderfully.  Plus, it will help to ensure repeat customers
and help to beat the competitors.  The
ongoing training will also help to equip the employee with the right tools to handle
positive and negative situations and always to remember the customer is the top
priority.  The employee must be willing
to provide whatever support the client needs and would go the extra mile to
achieve this.  After all, the hospitality
industry is all about the customer and must never be forgotten, they are a king
and must be treated as such.

References

Frost,
Shelley. “The Importance of Training & Development in the Workplace.” Small Business - Chron.com, Chron.com,
31 Jan. 2018, smallbusiness.chron.com/importance-training-development-workplace-10321.html.

“Importance
Of Personality Development In Hospitality Industry.” Hitler Leadership Qualities, www.personalitydevelopmenttip.com/Importance-Of-Personality-Development-In-Hospitality-Industry.

Keywords:
#recreation #leisure #EasternKentuckyUniversity #EKU #parks #travel
#tourism #economicimpact #photography #destination #experiences #cruise
#airfare #airport #guide #hospitality