What can our church learn from the hospitality industry about guest services?

When someone walks into your church for the first time, we often call them guests. This is because it helps us make decisions about the kind of experience we'd like them to have while they're visiting our church for the first time.

The hotel industry, restaurant industry, and hospitality industry, in general, take the same approach, and there are many things we can observe for free from the hospitality industry - an industry that has invested millions into research about how to create an experience where guests want to come back.

1) Make it clear what's next

When you walk into a restaurant you've never visited before, most people look for the "Please wait to be seated" sign. Without that sign, guests know to choose their own table.

It's really clear what's the next step.

When the server comes to the table, they ask, "What can I get you to drink tonight?" That's more than a genuine question, but also a prompt that first thing is to order beverages.

There are many things in our churches that may seem obvious to us, but may not be obvious to our guests. Things like signing the kids into classrooms, right? 

Take a step back from there. 

If someone has never been to church before in their life and they're bringing their family, do they even realize that the kids have separate classrooms?

And a step back from there: Is there a specific door they're supposed to use if your building has multiple entrances?

And a step back: Is there a specific place they could park in order to get to the proper door?

And a step back from there: What time should they arrive in order to have enough time to park and get to your 11am service?

Once you realize that most guests will visit our website before they come to your church then you can start to decide the type of messaging and information they'll need before they arrive on a Sunday morning.

Through every step of their visit, let them know what's next.

• A greeter holds the door and lets the family know that kids' ministry check-in is on the left.
• A host walks the family down to the classroom to check-in each child.
• The host then lets the parents know what the process will be after church to pick up the child and gives the parents directions to the auditorium.

Every step of your guest's experience could end with "What's Next?" information.

2) Have Clear Signage Around Your Church

When you walk into a restaurant and see the "Please wait to be seated" sign, you might also be walking in from a road trip and look around for the restroom sign. You might not want to wait for someone to show up to ask them personally how to find the restroom or if they want to be seated.

While the best case scenario in hospitality is to have enough people in place to answer any questions from guests, there are times when there will be more guests than available team members, so your signs take their place.

Even if you're a portable church that sets up and tears down each week in a hotel conference room, high school, or movie theatre, have wayfinding signage that clearly points people to the things they need to find before service starts, and don't forget the big three: Kids Classrooms, Auditorium, and Rest Room.

Make sure that after they pick their kids up from a classroom down the back hallway of the church, that directional signage also gets them back to the parking lot.

Don't assume that someone needs to find their way into your building, but remove any potential frustration by giving them clear directions for where to go at the end of their experience also.

3) Build A Robust Volunteer Team

It's not enough to have just the minimum number of volunteers needed for your guest services team. From sick days to holidays to "running behind" days, be sure that you have more than enough volunteers to help guests find their way around, help where needed, and create a fun environment full of happy people around your church.

You've probably had an experience when you called down to the hotel front desk to ask for something for your room and had to wait an hour for them to arrive with your extra pillow, but the inverse may also be true if the hotel is short staffed: while the front desk clerk is bringing you an extra pillow, there's someone who just walked in the front door to an empty desk.

Have more than enough volunteers and train them in different areas so they can switch and cover as needed. You can always have extra volunteers standing out in the parking lot welcoming guests if they're not needed inside.

Have friendly people waving, holding handheld signs, and smiling as guest drive into your parking lot, quick to answer a question about where to park or where to go next.

Have attentive volunteers ready to hold open the front door and direct people on their next step - whether taking their kids to classrooms or finding the auditorium.

Have detail-oriented people serving coffee and watching for when the sugar gets low or cleaning up a few drips from the front of the creamer carafe.

Build a team of people in positions that suit their personality to create a well-rounded experience for your guests, and always have a few extra people on hand.

While it's possible to get by with just the bare-bones volunteer team, it's a much better experience for your guests when you have a full team of volunteers ready to help.