The Loyalty Leader - LRA Worldwide eNewsletter Q1 2009

LRA in the News

Hoffman Pins Sears Centre Turnaround on Concert Promotion
By Ashok Selvam
Chicago Daily Herald
July 9, 2009

Building Emotional-Intelligence Quotient in the Workplace
By Conni Billé
Training Magazine
June 18, 2009

Dashboards: No Longer a Luxury
By Mila D'Antonio
1to1 Media
June 1, 2009

Serving Notice
By Don Muret
Sports Business Journal
June 8-14, 2009

sidebar Feature Article
There's No Recession on Guest Expectations
By Rob Rush, President and CEO

Recently released unemployment figures indicate a continued rise in that cheery metric to 8.5-percent, a 25-year high. Even in light of some modest signs of life, the credit and housing markets continue to limp along as well. And despite the OK from President Obama to pursue business travel and corporate meetings, the damage may have already been done and those markets remained strained.

Human beings, however, must travel and, in fact, are traveling. Full Article

Consultant's Corner
Process vs. Personality: Achieving
Balance in Your Guest Experience
By Rick Reilly, Account Director

Early in my career, while working as a young manager for a luxury hotel chain, there was one subject that I recall inspiring universal dread for staff and managers alike.

Standards.

From standards training, to standards meetings, to standards testing, to standards coaching, the perpetual emphasis on standards seemed all-consuming and perhaps raised as many questions as it answered. Was this rudimentary list of checkboxes the key to the sophisticated art of genuine hospitality? Exactly how many times could we inquire if a guest needed further assistance before sounding scripted and robotic? Where was the allowance for personalization and authenticity that might actually inspire a guest to return? Full Article

LRA Worldwide Launches the Guest Experience "Emotional Audit"™

HORSHAM, Pennsylvania; July 7, 2009 – LRA Worldwide, Inc. has introduced its proprietary Emotional Audit™ offering to the lodging industry, providing properties and brands alike with a data-driven view of how the hotel experience makes a guest "feel." With the industry as a whole seeking to create and promote branded experiences intended to forge a more personal connection with the guest, the Emotional Audit is a tool specifically designed to measure the effectiveness of those efforts, down to the individual guest interaction.

LRA, which has been a leading provider of performance measurement and consulting services to the global hospitality industry for more than 25 years, designed the Emotional Audit as a complement to its more traditional Brand Assurance, Mystery Shopping and Customer Satisfaction survey programs. Full Article

LRA on the Conference Circuit

IAAM 84th Annual Conference and Trade Show
Boston, MA
July 24-28, 2009

The International Association of Assembly Managers will be hosting their 84th Annual Conference and Trade Show at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center later this week.

If you will be in attendance, come visit LRA at Booth 344 and register to take our Venue Experience Assessment Survey and win a two-night stay with Starwood Hotels & Resorts! Learn more HERE.

New Team Members

LRA Worldwide Adds Long-Time Venue Management Executive Martin Thorson to its Account Team

HORSHAM, Pennsylvania; June 24, 2009 – LRA Worldwide, Inc., a leader in the consulting discipline of Customer Experience Management (CEM), announced Martin Thorson has joined the firm as Managing Director – Sports, Entertainment and Conventions. Thorson brings more than 20 years of venue management, food service and hospitality experience to LRA’s growing client base in the sports and entertainment industries. Full Article

New Clients

We welcome these new clients to the LRA family:

About LRA Worldwide, Inc.

LRA Worldwide is a leading research and consulting company in the emerging discipline of Customer Experience Management (CEM). We work with our clients to help them design and deliver consistently exceptional customer experiences in order to drive customer satisfaction, loyalty and advocacy, and company growth and profitability.

In LRA's 25-year history, we have grown from a provider of customized quality assurance evaluation programs for the hospitality industry, to a leading CEM consulting company offering a variety of client solutions. The evolution has been driven by our clients asking us one question - "How do we get better?" In response, we have built a range of performance measurement, research, training and consulting solutions to help them do so. Today, we are a growing company operating in more than 120 countries throughout the world, helping clients such as Starwood Hotels & Resorts, the National Basketball Association, the PGA TOUR and Ritz-Carlton Clubs deliver exceptional customer experiences. Every touch. Every time. For more information, visit us at www.LRAworldwide.com.

LRA Worldwide, Inc.
300 Welsh Road
Building 1, Suite 200
Horsham, Pennsylvania 19044.2263, USA
Tel: +1.215.957.1999
Fax: +1.215.957.6570
e-Mail: info@lraworldwide.com
www.LRAWorldwide.com

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