The Friendliest Destination

Many visitors' bureaus do a great job attracting tourists, but Lee County wants to make sure they have a great time once they're here.

In a unique program to improve guest relations, the Lee County Visitor and Convention Bureau partnered with the American Hotel and Lodging Educational Institute to train hotel staff and managers. Once they complete the VCB's seven-course program, participants are eligible to sit for the institute's exam to earn the Certified Guest Service Professional designation.

Lee County's goal is ambitious: To be the world's first destination to be certified by the institute by training the staff of every hotel.

This lofty goal of training thousands of hotel staffers doesn't deter Christine Davlin, the program's sole employee. As the tourism education and training manager, she's already trained hundreds of employees and managers with the program she's developed.

Davlin, who has several decades of experience in the hotel industry at luxury resorts in Naples, joined the VCB in 2009. There was already a training program in place, but she started over from scratch by developing her own program and persuaded the institute to approve the course she created in consultation with local hoteliers. “I met with all the managers of the hotels,” Davlin says.

Hotel owners told Davlin that their top challenge with employees was attitude. The economic downturn had taken a toll on the hotel business, forcing hoteliers to ask employees to do more with less.

Conflicts among and between employees and managers who were stressed out and worried about their jobs created less-than-desirable interactions with guests. What's more, guests were increasingly more demanding because their budgets were tight.

Meanwhile, guests turned to Internet websites such as TripAdvisor to vent their frustrations. Bad reviews can sink a hotel's reputation, especially if there was any criticism of rude staff.

Alexa Hardin, the general manager of the Holiday Inn Express and Suites at the Forum in Fort Myers, says her hotel's rank on TripAdvisor jumped after she and her staff got certified. “It's 100% measurable,” Hardin says. “Our TripAdvisor ranking, we're No. 3 in Fort Myers. Before we were sixth or seventh. Once you break the top five, the expectations are a whole lot higher.”

In addition, Hardin says surveys of guests that have stayed at her hotel showed significant improvement after the training. “You have to pull out all the stops with service,” Hardin says.

Davlin's program, called Guest First Customer Service Training Program, consists of seven courses each lasting two-and-a-half hours. One of the courses is for managers, and Davlin teaches them all. It doesn't cost the hotels anything except their employees' time and the $35 cost of the exam. “Hotels give up meeting space for a day,” she says.

During the recession, many hotels cut back on training. “One of the first positions to go in any downturn is training,” Davlin says. She speaks from experience: “I lost my job in the recession.”

It's not limited to hotels. Restaurants, transportation companies and anyone whose businesses involve contact with tourists could benefit. “We would like to be known as the friendliest destination,” Davlin says.

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