Handling Guest and

Multicultural Peer Diversities

Chapter 6
Handling Guest Or Customer Diversities
 As tourism professionals, handling our guests or customers is the most important
responsibility we perform day and day out
 Our customers or guests are, first and foremost, the people who are paying our
respective companies for a service, be it an airline ticket, a hotel room, a limousine
ride, a buffet lunch, or a package tour.
 These customers or guests are as diverse as there are stars in the heavens. No one
customer or guest is like the other. We must live with this reality in our professional
lives.
 There is nothing wrong with having to deal with multitudes of different
personalities daily in the first place. As a matter of fact, tourism professionals are
among the most blessed workers in the world for this unique situation. Therefore
we should be grateful that we exist in a multicultural diverse environment every
minute of our working day. It is a blessing, not a curse
Ten Ways Tourism Professionals Should
Handle Customer or Guest diversities:
 1. In everything, the first rule is to always be professional
 2. Know your job with passion
 3. Learn how to be a good listener
 4. Go beyond the basics of being friendly
 5. Be efficient
 6. Embrace all differences
 7. Understand to be understood
 8. Become a walking Wikipedia
 9. Observe the basic rules of engagement
 10. Be yourself. In everything, be yourself
 1. In everything, the first rule is to always be
professional
 In all your dealings with everyone. Being professionals is a basic requirement in the workplace.
 Being professionals should be an attitude from within one of us. This not need to be taught.
 You do not require mentorship to become professionals, in the tourism industry,
 Unprofessionalism can be a cause for termination of employment or, at the very least, a long suspension
of thirty days with a provision that if the staff repeats the act another time, they will be terminated.
 Some companies go to the extent of blacklisting this kind of staff, making it difficult for erring staff to
find new employment.
 Companies, cannot compromise on this basic attitudinal requirement all their staff must display
consistently.
 The major characteristics of a tourism professional are:
 punctuality,
 maturity,
 alertness,
 sociability, and
 being organized
2. Know your job with passion
 Knowing exactly the why, what, how, and when of your job will give
you the required confidence to be able to be of service to your
customers or guests.
 knowing your job well is the best tool to address all kinds of people.
 if you are confident of what you are supposed to be doing in all kinds
of situations, including the careful handling of aggressive customers or
guests, aggression can be turned around into a well-handled situation,
and therefore, a satisfied customer or guest.
 Five tips on how you can always have an excellent understanding of
your job
 ● Know and understand your detailed job description by heart.
 ● Familiarize yourself with the standards and procedures pertinent to your
section and department.
 ● Read and remember all current memoranda pertinent to your section
department
 ● Always attend and be present for operational meetings, regular training
programs, and other special programs.
 ● Do your research and study the current trends pertinent to your job and
industry.
3. Learn how to be a good listener
 Five techniques to be a good listener
 ● Maintain eye contact with the speaker
 ● Listen very carefully with sincere interest.
 ● Empathize when necessary.
 ● Seek clarification to ensure complete understanding
 . ● Always keep an open mind
4. Go beyond the basics of being friendly

 Good tourism professionals should know how to engage their customers or guests with
some conversational banter.
 They generally appreciate talking about their countries., their nationalities, or some
prominent people you know from these countries.
 The advantage of Filipino tourism professionals is that we have the facility of speaking
English and, are by nature, friendly, talkative, people. We should use these advantages to
our benefit.
 Be sensitive when it is time to stop the banter and allow the customer or guest some
privacy.
 In hotels, especially, we teach the art of unobtrusive service. This should be our
benchmark: knowing when we talk and when to keep quiet.
 Five reminders to ensure you remain consistently friendly
 ● Have a friendly, welcoming demeanor all the time.
 ● Listen before talking, do not grab the spotlight.
 ● Do not use your devices when having conversations with
people.
 ● Be in tune with everyone around you.
 ● Show sincere interest by asking questions.
5. Be efficient
 Customers or guests judge our service by our efficiency first and foremost. Courteousness
and friendliness are just as important but still come second to being efficient.
 In the developed countries, which include many of our neighbors like Japan, Hong Kong,
and Singapore, efficiency is king.
 In Switzerland, punctuality and efficiency are basic to their population.
 In Germany, as in most industrialized nations on earth, efficiency in the production lines is
the foundation of their manufacturing success.
 In France, they have mastered excellence in the culinary field.

 One of the hospitality icons, Isadore Sharp, founder of one of the best luxury hotel chains
in the world, Four seasons, said,
 ” We can make or break the reputation of our hotels. Since quality is an edge, we cannot
compromise it”
 Five ways to remain efficient all the time
 ● Focus on the task at hand, do not multitask.
 ● Learn how to delegate
 ● Communicate accordingly, using the right media to
do so.
 ● Time all tasks, taking downtime into consideration
 ● Plan ahead
6. Embrace all differences
 . The multicultural diversity is about embracing everything we are not. We don’t
necessarily have to love or agree to anything that is not us, but we can be
respectful of other religions, languages, dialects, customs and traditions, and
sexual preferences. We live in a world where diversity should be able to bring us
together to leave in peace despite these differences. Better yet, let us remember
the golden rule” Do unto others as you would not want others to do unto you.” In
the Philippines, we work side by side with Catholics, Protestants, Muslims,
Hindus, and Buddhists, among several other religions. We work with the LGBTQ
community. The tourism industry allows us a unique opportunity to be able to
embrace these differences and learn to become better at our jobs by doing so, or
better yet, by being so.
7. Understand to be understood
 When diversity is the norm in your workplace, being understanding of the faults
or shortcomings of others, especially your customers or guests, is a very good
way to open the doors to a mutually beneficial interaction, but also a long-term
relationship.
 When customers or guests feel your sincerity, some of them decide to make you
their friends, especially in this day of Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram,
 The bigger aspect of deciding to become more understanding of others is that it
makes you an even better person and a better industry practitioner in general.
8. Become a walking Wikipedia
 Regarding knowledge about countries, nationalities, cultures, traditions, and
religions, tourism professionals should learn as much as possible. By so doing,
you will be able to have meaningful conversations with your customers or guests
when these conversations are merited.
 In our industry, this is quite often the case, especially for tour guides, cabin crew,
hotel guest service officers, butlers, and bartenders.
 The worst thing that can happen to a tourism professional mentioned above is
when they cannot contribute intelligently to a conversation the customer or guest
is hoping to have with them. These conversations can extend to other things like
politics and your personal family life. Prudence in this discussion is important as
you are officially representing your company while you are in uniform.
9. Observe the basic rules of engagement

 The first rule is to look at the customer or guest in the eye at all appropriate times. This
will make the customer or guest feel they are the most important person you are engaging
with at the moment.
 The second rule to greet the customer or guest by their name, not by calling them just “Sir”
Ma’am.”
 The third and final rule is that at the end of the conversation or engagement, you thank the
customer or guest and wish to see them again, soon.
 Remember, do not just thank the customer or guest,. Sincerely tell them you wish to see them
again.
10. Be yourself. In everything, be yourself

 You are a microcosm of the bigger version of yourself, which is supposed to be your
company.
 Even though companies are clear about their vision, mission, and values, you, on the other
hand, as an individual, will have to see how your individuality can complement your
company’s brand identity. Do not try to be someone else you are not. It does not work the
way.
 This industry is not a theater. It is not the movies, it is real life, real-time. Your customers
or guests look at you, stare at you, and observe you all the time: but does not mean you
have to wear a mask, or a façade.
 Customers or guests are smart enough to conclude that perhaps your smile is fake, your
eye contact disengaged, or your handshake is weak.
 When you are yourself always, the true spirit of your persona will exude the confidence
and sincerity customers or guests appreciate and look for in tourism professionals.
Reference

 Alcuaz, V., & Aquino, Ma. C. (2020). Multicultural Diversity in the Workplace for the
Tourism Professional (1st ed., Vol. 1). Rex Book Store.