Overview
Seymour Hotels is the largest and longest established hotel group in Jersey. Founded in 1920, it is still proudly owned and managed by the Seymour family today. It remains very much a family concern, and this is reflected in the hotels’ friendly and courteous service. They are committed to providing their guests with an excellent experience and the best value for money in the Channel Islands.
Business Improvement Project
Michael Gallagher (Human Resources) and Scott Hollywood (Assistant Manager, Merton Hotel) participated in the Business Improvement Programme to evaluate customer services within the Belvedere Restaurant at the Merton Hotel. This restaurant can host up to 450 covers per evening servicing 286 rooms.
It was decided to produce a detailed process map as to how the waiters serve drinks to guests. This was chosen due to a poor layout which is no longer conducive to serve the large volume of guests. The team created the process map in conjunction with the full team of waiters and this highlighted how what may be perceived as a simple activity had many variables and differing points of view as to how best to serve drinks. Once the map was displayed, all staff members had the opportunity to add comments and highlight opportunities for improvement.
Scott and Michael developed the map further adding data, timing activities and highlighting bottle-necks. This led to the creation of a drinks service dashboard showing data, trends and flows of work. Within the dashboard, they highlighted the following:
- Time taken to serve guests
- Amount of walking each waiter undertakes each season in order to serve a drink (equating to walking round the island circumference 4 times)
- Amount of lost sales opportunities
- Cost of non-value add activities
The team went on to videotape the selected areas for improvement for further and more detailed analysis.
Improvements made
As the analysis took place towards the end of the summer season, the team are now planning to invest in a better layout to service guests more promptly. This will provide more value-added time to give a better customer experience and increase sales levels. Michael and Scott have developed the framework for these improvements in a highly visual and interactive manner.
Project benefits
- Visualisation of key processes
- Involvement of staff at all levels
- Addressing staff concerns
- Improved customer service
- Improved sales
- An enhanced culture for involvement and empowerment
- Incorporation of Lean tools into real time analysis
- It is anticipated that sales could increase by 13% in the new season equivalent to £100,000.00 worth of income
The aim of the business improvement programme is to support established organisations to become more efficient and to deliver sustainable growth that will create market competitiveness and a solid operational platform for the future. It is managed and funded by Jersey Business and delivered by Accelerate.
