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TOURISM: CREATING A MATCHLESS EXPERIENCE
By Ralph Higgs, Director of Tourism - Marketing
Turks & Caicos Tourist Board

The Turks & Caicos Islands is a spectacular island group which in recent years has evolved in to a world-class destination replete with the most upscale of resorts, spas, restaurants, and tourism activities. To ensure that its visitors experience a vacation as matchless as the destination and its product, Turks & Caicos has implemented a multi-phased customer service program to instill the highest quality service standards.

AS TURKS & CAICOS' LAVISH OFFERINGS FLOURISH.........IT IS ESSENTIAL FOR THE DESTINATION'S HOSPITALITY TO MATCH SUCH A LEVEL OF EXCELLENCE.

As Turks & Caicos’ lavish offerings flourish, the Turks & Caicos government determined that it was essential for the destination’s hospitality to match such a level of excellence.

Thus, in 2007 the Turks & Caicos Tourist Board implemented proven training processes aimed at enhancing the Islands’ hospitality standards to create an outstanding experience for visitors by ensuring its customer service corresponds with the Islands’ unprecedented ambiance and amenities.

A warm welcome topped off with a big smile, directing customers to their destination, and answering questions with enthusiasm, are just few objectives customer service representatives strive to uphold in hope of guaranteeing customer satisfaction. In an effort to provide visitors with an exceptional vacation experience, the Turks & Caicos Islands continues with its commitment to the Together, Individuals Delivering Excellent Service (TIDES) program – a multi-phased service initiative designed to improve the quality and consistency of customer service throughout the Islands. TIDES will teach employees that represent the luxury travel destination to hone their skills while preserving their culture's traditions

The TIDES national service training program consists of two distinct phases. The primary phase, Promises™, began in the fall of 2007.

The Promises program compels participants to make a promise to Turks & Caicos that they will uphold the highest quality of service delivery and standards of performance. This initial phase focused on behavioral training for all frontline service providers, generally island natives, who interact with visitors in the public and private sector.

These frontline employees include island immigration and customs agents, airport and seaport authority, taxi drivers, hospitality service personnel, tour agents, and restaurant and retail staff, among others.

In an effort to discover how employees traditionally relate to guests and the overall condition of service provided throughout the Islands, “mystery shoppers” were sent out across the island to record their impressions of service in restaurants and hotels, as well as to note positive or negative experiences interacting with government officials, taxi cab drivers, and even locals on the street.

Following the encounters with employees, mystery shoppers rated and analyzed the degree to which each islander met a standard of customer service.

These undercover observers identified key areas that determined the level of service provided by using a Checklist of Standards, which is basically an evaluation form comprised of 10 ‘promises’” including, “customers were greeted with a smile, eye contact, and positive body language” and “employee’s appearance created a positive impression.” The information gathered by the mystery shoppers proved to be very beneficial in helping identify specific areas to improve upon in Turks & Caicos – for instance, employees looking directly at travelers rather than away from them – with the customized TIDES program.

Other promises include “acknowledging customers as soon as they approach the employee’s ‘the hospitality zone,’” “employees should speak first and last to all customers, employees should offer complete and accurate information,” “customer’s names are used, when known,” and “requests or inquires should be handled to customer satisfaction and followed-up on and where applicable.”

After determining pre-training benchmarks based on mystery shoppers, Promises established behavioral standards for employees and provided a tailored training program to achieve desired results. A series of workshops was then created for the TIDES program addressing issues and values unique to Turks & Caicos.

Training sessions were designed to help management and supervisors, department heads, and owners understand how to build a service culture that would not only improve the relationship between employees and visitors but also enhance the overall success of the services the industry provides.

The second phase of the program began in late 2007, and involved training and certifying five local representatives to run Promises workshops for the Turks & Caicos Tourist Board. These delegates serve as training ambassadors and will lead quality improvement efforts within the hospitality industry, ensuring proper instruction for workers interacting with visitors on a daily basis by training groups of approximately 20 locals at a time, until all employees have gone through the program.

After the initial investigation of the customer service culture throughout the Islands, it was clear that several areas needed improvement as employees interacted with visitors. Prominent examples included maintaining eye contact with guests while communicating, making people feel welcome by sharing general information about them selves, and understanding important aspects of the Turks & Caicos culture to better inform visitors during their vacation.

Traditionally, looking directly into a person’s eyes is deemed disrespectful in the Turks and Caicos culture, but is essential in customer service to promote a sense of comfort. With the Promises workshops, Islanders will be able to develop their ability to interact with patrons on a more personable level as they learn that looking a customer in the eyes and greeting them with a smile can break barriers and make guests feel at ease in their surroundings.

Furthermore, Turks & Caicos natives who interact with visitors in the public and private sector do not share much about their lives and tend to be reserved in the personal information they divulge since traditionally they feel that talking about oneself is egotistical. The workshops have helped reassure employees that sharing general details about their life, such as where their parents work, what are of the island they live in, or how many people they have in their family, can be a great way to connect with visitors and essentially creates a more cordial environment in which to interact.

The TIDES workshops will not only assist to identify important aspects of customer service that need maintaining, but it will also illustrate the expectations many guests have upon arrival in a luxury destination.

Cultures can sometimes clash when the people don’t understand other customs and traditions and TIDES can distinguish those barriers to ensure there is no miscommunication.

A TIDES Promise that helps employees create a comfortable environment is to “listens to a customer’s complaint, apologize and agree with the customer.” Vacationers who visit posh locations require that service standards meet their high expectations since upscale destinations can be costly.

TIDES encourages residents and workers to take Turks & Caicos’ “beautiful by nature” slogan to the next level and strive to nurture the beauty of the Islands as well by offering a seamlessly pleasant experience for visitors through the superb services provided.

Employees will expand their behavioral skills with visitors and co-workers including both verbal and non-verbal communication. Learning how to correctly handle complaints and demanding situations in a calm and amiable manner will ensure customers feel comfortable in their environment and enjoy a premium vacation in paradise.

At the end of the workshops, workers must pass a 100-question test on Turks & Caicos’ culture, history, folklore, politics, geography, attractions, and other general facts to ensure they are able to inform visitors about the destination. The TIDES workshops will have prepared employees for the 100-question test by providing them with a “Know Your Turks & Caicos” brochure that covers all of the key facts about the destination.

Natives of Turks & Caicos will be able to demonstrate their love for the Islands by enlightening visitors with details about their country.

Educating locals on the value of tourism to their own well-being will help encourage them to maintain a genuine work-ethic and consequently, create a more memorable experience for visitors through the services they provide.

With a superior knowledge of the culture in combination with employees’ newly developed behavioral skills, including sharing experiential stories, visitors will feel even more relaxed in the clear-blue water and white-sandy beach surroundings.

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