First Impressions Matter

Hyatt Centric Midtown 5th Avenue New York Guest Service Agent Shannon Owens, left, handles a phone inquiry, while colleague Jeanette Webb approves.

If guest service agents think guests aren’t paying attention when they step up to the front desk, they should think again. Reviews posted on sites like TripAdvisor make the point loud and clear: Guests make important first impressions at check-in based on how they were treated and whether the process proceeded smoothly.

“The room, the staff, especially the front desk, and the ambiance here were impeccable,” a guest wrote about her time at the Tarrytown House Estate on the Hudson in October. “I could not have asked for a better stay.”

“Check-in staff was beautiful, friendly and helpful with (information about) the local area,” wrote a guest last summer about her stay at the Hampton Inn Anderson in Indiana.

Also in October, a guest at the Hampton Inn Mount Vernon in Illinois used fewer words in her appraisal but came to the same general conclusion: “Check in was friendly and professional,” she wrote in her TripAdvisor post. Similarly, a guest at the Holiday Inn New York City – Lower East Side simply wrote “check-in was easy.”

First impressions are important because they last well beyond the moment. This is called the ”primacy effect:” the tendency to remember the first piece of information we encounter better than information presented later.

It is well known in the lodging industry that check-in can be a tricky proposition for many travelers. They may have traveled a long distance before arriving and be tired. They may be first-time visitors to the destination and not know their way around. In the case of international travelers, English may not be their preferred language. Accordingly, guest service agents need to be patient, welcoming and mindful of people waiting in line to check-in.

Occasionally in a TripAdvisor post, guests are so impressed with the attention they have received at the front desk that they go to the trouble of asking the name of the agent who assisted them and then remember to include it in their review. A guest at the Hyatt Centric Midtown 5th Avenue New York said, “The staff was extremely helpful and attentive. (Guest Service Agent) Evelin (Martinez) was a standout.”