Trendsetter Hotel Alex - getting the product right and putting the customer at the heart of the business - how a family manages customer satisfaction in a hotel in Zermatt

Four star plus to ensure that the "relaxed" 5 star customers will come and enjoy themselves. Even Richard Branson enjoyed his stay in the Alex in Zermatt and made reference to it in his book. Customers should feel at home, be as they are and not as others want them to be.

The key to success:
• product offering needs to be right – continuous investment required – example wine cellar, rooms every 10 years renovated, seminar area, revised fitness /spa area, revision of whole restaurant area, power plate in fitness room, tennis /sqash… website (show pictures of all rooms etc), free wifi everywhere
• be trendsetter – eg first ones to have a sauna, a pool, rooms with open fire, luxury suites, tennis- and sqash halls – set standards
• flexibility – adapt to changes – eg today spa much more important than in the past, also culinary expectations have changed a lot over the years, also with booking – shorter stays, half manual, because of special requests of customers for “their” rooms – automation would not make this possible • Interior: rooms different, not just the same look – but same standard, expressing warmth and quality; can be problem for Japanese who look for standardisation
• Staff are in the centre; 10-15% of staff “pull the carriage” – the others follow – example barman Gustl Toth (25 years with the hotel) – does not close before last customer gone, concierge Alejandro Vazquez Duran (Galician, 40 years with the hotel) – also gets up at night, loyal customers have his private number; you cannot train this if attitude is not right - but you can choose the staff according to their attitude!; staff = part of the family; high fluctuation as people want to discover the world and not stay in small village like Zermatt all their life – flexibility necessary eg allow some time for travelling but to be back in winter – way of keeping customers
• Flexibility – eg in crisis – adapt prices also with regular customers
• Thinking about the little things – name of new part of the building – extension not good, part of normal hotel – customers should not feel put aside;
• Word of mouth very important
• Respond to mails on the same day – clients normally send request to more hotels, can make a difference Increased flexibility is key on an ongoing basis: Staff in brochures /magasines Dogs allowed – “Dogs are welcome” Introduced Russian television programme to cater for increasing number of Russian speaking guests; when they realized this was Ukrainian as part of customer feedback they changed immediately Visible – huge bar but does not give that impression; split into different seating corners which are really comfortable and cosy, each of them different – used by many customers – sign that appreciated Hand written invoices – but abolished as too ineffective – customers missed it; personalize – eg names on napkins – but other customers might feel bad when seeing this Customer – broke nose – hotel helped to organize everything, make him still feel good

In a nutshell: The family cares for the customers, they are friends. Staff are part of the family.