Saturday, 24 January 2015

LT Video Faves - Omotenashi, Japanese Hospitality



Wouldn't it be great to pop to the supermarket or a bookstore and be dazzled by employees using a single low cost resource to make your day more pleasant ? Well in Japan, thanks to a phenomenon called Omotenashi it is a daily reality to find a side order of helpfulness at the checkout and a paperback preserver at the payment point. You see our friends in Japan see all industries as a prime candidate for an injection of thoughtfulness.


Some of the itsy bitsy, teeny weeny caring details that are Japaneasy include:
  • A single piece of ice to keep the cool stuff cool at the supermarket
  • Language choice at the sushi bar - bi, tri and beyond to multilingual
  • Quality paper cover for your new page turner at the bookstore
  • Quality paper bag with sticker seal, topped with a makeshift raincoat for when the skies dictate that the paper bag would ordinarily become paper mache

"We sell things, but that's not all...we want customers to walk away with that feeling."
Kenichi Mogaki
Customer Service Manager, Maruzen Bookstores

The concepts that are on display in our latest LT Video Fave are within easy reach of all organisations. Some might take a bit of planning and financial looseness, but get them right and you will be on the sure-fire path to customer/client/Guest delight. 

Further reading on Omotenashi can be found here , where you will find the following definition: 
"The host anticipates the needs of the Guest in advance and offers a pleasant service that Guests don't expect."
Muneyuki Joraku
 WAttention

Written by Tom Metcalf

Founder and Lead Consultant 

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Improving B&Bs, Guest Houses and Hotels
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2 comments:

  1. Japan is a wonderful place to travel. There are a number of fascinating aspects to design there and I loved staying in the simply furnished, traditional Ryokan inns.

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  2. Thank you for taking the time to comment on my article Stuart. I have never been to Japan, but this video clip was a real find and an obvious candidate for the LT Video Faves series. Did you blog about your time spent staying in the Ryokan inns ? Have you had chance to take a peek at some of my other articles ? If you have, please let me know your thoughts either by commenting below or emailing tom@littletouches.com

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