Inside Service Excellence
Wavelength are just back from a short, sharp dose of inspiration and provocation in the USA visiting Ritz-Carlton Hotels and Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital. Take a look at our great photos to see where we went, who we met, and what we learnt along the way.
On our Inside Service Excellence tour in 2013 we gained unique access to two of the world’s most admired companies, Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Washington DC and the Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital in Detroit. We met the top team through to the frontline staff, and really got under the skin of how each organisation continually delivers great customer service, truly engages it’s employees, and maintains it’s culture.
Ritz-Carlton Hotels With a 37% market share, Ritz-Carlton Hotels leads the ultra competitive luxury hospitality market. The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company employs 38,000 people across 80 properties in 27 countries and has received all the major awards the hospitality industry and leading consumer organisations can bestow. With it’s motto, “We are ladies and Gentlemen serving Ladies and Gentlemen”, anticipatory customer service is driven into the DNA of every hotel.
Want to know more? Watch our video blog on The System Behind the Smiles at Ritz-Carlton and Read more about the Gold Standards by which the organisation operates.
Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital This is an all private room hospital with around 200 beds. The hosiptal offers 24hour emergency care, neurosciences, women’s and children’s health, orthopaedics, diagnostic testing and a wellness center with complementary therapies. The hospital also has it’s own greenhouse where it grows organic produce for patients, staff and the community. The Henry Ford Health System (HFHS) was established in 1915 by Henry Ford. It is located in Detroit, Michigan. It is comprised of hospitals, medical centres and one of the largest group practices in the US. In 2012 HFHS employed more than 23,000 staff, had 3.2million outpatient visits, had more than 95,600 patients admitted and generated revenue of $4.46billion with a net income of $53.1million.
Take a look at our videos in which Gerard van Grinsven, former CEO and the driving force behind the hospital, reveals how he drove service culture into healthcare.