Artur Lupashko, founder of the management company and hotel chain Ribas Hotels Group, author of the book "More than Service", owner of the blog
The interview was published on the Join UP!
Nowadays, every business needs constant development. Anyone involved in sales who wants to improve the brand should know what trends are relevant now and what will be next, how to interest and engage customers, what to focus on in their work, and how to find an approach that will make everyone, internal or external, feel special in their communication with you.
To get closer to answering these questions, Join Up! interviewed the entrepreneur who is building the world-famous Ribas hotel chain, which manages 28 hotels and has 26 under construction and design in Ukraine and around the world! Learn more about his experience in his own business, as well as his thoughts, assumptions, and beliefs as one of the best experts in his field.
What makes brands stand out
What makes Ribas hotels stand out from the crowd? No business has a single answer, because all the features are hidden in the details. For example, Nova Poshta differs from other post offices in the world with a convenient mobile application or the ability to choose different packaging sizes - it is these little things that make brands "lovemark". They provide convenient, pleasant use of their services and goods, and you fall in love or the service becomes a habit.
Ribas is also about attention to detail, but first and foremost, it's about exceptional service. And it can even be some trivial things: on the day of arrival, guests receive an SMS via a bot, or a customer support manager on Telegram answers all customer questions and solves urgent problems. I travel a lot, but I have never personally received such messages anywhere - I always had to look for the reception phone number. Instead, we have this: the ability to write to customer support if something doesn't work, or to ask for help finding, booking, or figuring things out - our Customer Service department is available 24/7. It can also be handwritten letters signed by my name, given to guests when they leave with some gifts, coffee, or goodies. It is inexpensive and easy to implement, but the warm feeling that you are taken care of remains even when the vacation is over and therefore a little sad.
Many of these things that we try to make convenient, pleasant, and humane distinguish Ribas Hotels from others in Ukraine and the world. However, this approach only takes place when other basic things are done perfectly: everything works technically, all staff is trained, knows their job and loves it.
After all, any emails or texts are meaningless if the guest is not well greeted, if they spend half an hour instead of one minute checking in at the reception, if the food is tasteless. In such cases, it doesn't work anymore - the basic things have to be set up and done well. Yes, maybe you won't surprise anyone with this, but it's the groundwork that allows you to focus on the little things. In particular, another detail is friendly communication with our guests. This is the strategy we have chosen for ourselves. No, we don't call them by their first name, but we try to minimize this distance at any level: in communication with waiters, bartenders, maids, and receptionists. For example, when a guest has stayed in a hotel with such service once, they may not immediately pay attention to it, but later, when they have stayed in other hotels and not received the same service, they begin to understand the contrast.
Two main principles
We value all our guests, so we have service principles that help us achieve excellent results in our work and build long-term relationships.
Working in times of challenge
Our company is rapidly evolving and developing, and despite all the obstacles, we still continue to pursue our goals. But the war has made adjustments to the market as a whole, and everyone has been adjusting as best they can. Some things the Ribas Hotels Group team had to speed up in implementation. For example, we used to prioritize other things - during the pandemic, we implemented an online training platform for all employees. In 2022, it became clear that this was not enough. We decided to add offline education as well. We significantly expanded the education department so that every team in the hotels could systematically receive knowledge from our experts and managers. It worked out great: motivation grew, and we found strong players who took leadership in hotels and in their areas.
We pay more attention to corporate culture and, due to the war, also to the psychological state of employees. In particular, this is why we introduced "I understand", a platform that allows all employees to use the services of a psychologist, mentor, nutritionist, financier and lawyer free of charge. On the basis of the platform, we hold monthly meetings on certain topics, which allows us to distract attention from work issues and sort out some personal things. And this directly affects the service: we remember that if we don't level the situation with our internal client, it won't level with the external one either.
Time for changes
The trend is that guests have started to appreciate service more. In general, Ukrainian service, because they compared it with European and Asian service and realized that ours is the best. You can often hear them say: "Well, it's still a good service. Maybe they didn't carry me around like I expected, but..." In Europe, they may not pay attention to a conflict situation at all, because it's the norm. Another observation is that the reviews for Ribas Hotels are getting better, with much less negative feedback. And it's not just the improved service - people are less emotional, they are more understanding of different situations. I used to be a little picky myself, but now I recognize, like most people, that Ukrainians are a very "service" nation, and the main thing is to continue to develop and systematize it more, invest in training, writing books, and standards. So that new generations can learn and continue to provide great service in other areas.
As for the preferences of tourists, everything has more or less remained the same. People need to rest to regain strength, health, break away from work, and recharge their batteries. The only thing that has changed is the depth of booking: now clients don't do it in advance - they book a week in advance, with a shorter period of stay. They don't travel for two weeks anymore, as they used to, even for a week. Although 3-4 years ago they booked 2-3 months in advance and for at least 7 days. It's not so much the war that has affected this as the rhythm of life itself: it's faster, people are planning less and less for the future.
As for the audience, it is constantly changing. Today, there are fewer families traveling, perhaps because of security concerns. After all, the category of guests with children used to be the largest and most powerful, and now it's the other way around. This is influenced by various circumstances: kids are no longer taken on trips, men travel less, women are afraid to travel without their husbands, some people don't want to travel without their friends who are abroad. Of course, in a month or two, the dynamics may change dramatically, but for now, this is how it is.
Read the rest of the story on the Join UP!
Operational management of the Ribas Hotels Group hotel. For more details, please follow the link.
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