ServiceManual Service standards Service Standards Pack · USD 69
Service standards: front of house
What good looks like at every point a guest meets us. Written as standards to be met, not steps to be followed.
A standard is different from a procedure. A procedure says do this, then this. A standard says this is what has to be true, and trusts a trained person to get there. Everything in this document is written so that a supervisor can see, in ten seconds, whether it was met.
Document control
- Document number
- SS-FOH-01
- Version
- 1.0
- Effective
- 13 October 2026
- Owner
- General Manager
- Approved by
- Owner
- Next review
- 13 October 2027
- Classification
- Internal. Issued to all front of house staff
Principles
The four things we will not trade
Acknowledged within 30 seconds
Eye contact and a word beats efficiency. A guest who has been seen will wait. A guest who has been ignored will not wait 20 seconds.
The answer is found, not deferred
Nobody says that is not my department. The person asked owns the question until it is handed to a named person in front of the guest.
We fix it before we explain it
Resolution first, reasons second, apology throughout. An explanation offered before a fix reads as a defence.
The last impression is staffed
Nobody leaves The Ellery through an unattended door. Checkout is the moment most reviews are written about and the moment we historically thin the rota.
Journey
The guest journey and the standard at each point
| Moment | The standard | Observable as |
|---|---|---|
| Arrival at the door | Greeted before they reach the desk | Someone speaks first, from wherever they are |
| Check in | Complete in under 4 minutes, with 2 things learned about the stay | Purpose of visit and one preference noted on the booking |
| Room shown or directed | Guest never searches for their room | Directions given with a landmark, not a floor number alone |
| First evening | Guest knows dinner times without asking | Said at check in, not only printed in the room |
| In restaurant, seated | Water and acknowledgement within 90 seconds | Visible from the pass |
| In restaurant, mid meal | One check back between two and five minutes after the main is served | Not at the first bite, not at the last |
| Bar service | Ordered within 2 minutes of standing at the bar | No guest standing with a card in hand |
| Housekeeping contact | Guest is greeted in a corridor, always | By name where the floor list is known |
| Checkout | Bill correct first time, and a question about the stay | No adjustment needed at the desk |
| Departure | A hand with bags offered, not waited for | Offered before it is asked for |
The 90 second and 4 minute figures come from your own observed timings during the two service periods watched, not from a hospitality textbook. Current mid meal check back averages 11 minutes, which is the widest gap between the standard and the practice in this document.
Roles
Role standards
| Role | Owns | Is judged on |
|---|---|---|
| Receptionist | Every guest between the door and the room | Nobody unacknowledged; check in under 4 minutes; handover notes written |
| Duty manager | The building, and every complaint above a drink | Present in public areas at arrival and departure peaks |
| Restaurant server | Their section, start to finish, including the bill | Check back timing; nobody waiting to pay |
| Bar | The bar and the lounge, including guests not yet ordering | Ordered within 2 minutes; the lounge is not forgotten |
| Housekeeping | Room readiness and corridor presence | Rooms ready by 15:00; guests greeted in corridors |
| Kitchen pass | Food leaving correct and hot | Nothing leaves the pass wrong, whatever the pressure |
Daily
Shift checklists
4.1 Reception, morning
- Arrivals list read, VIPs and returning guests noted
- Overnight handover read and initialled
- Any room not ready flagged to housekeeping before 10:00
- Lobby walked: seating straight, nothing left from last night
- Restaurant times confirmed with the kitchen
- Card machine and key encoder both tested
4.2 Restaurant, pre service
- Sections allocated and written where everyone can see
- Specials and any 86 items read aloud, not pinned up
- Allergen sheet checked against today's menu
- Every table: cutlery, glass, candle, level
- Reservations read, with notes on any celebration
- One person named as responsible for the lounge
4.3 Close
- Handover written for the morning, including anything unresolved
- Any guest issue logged even where it was resolved
- Public areas reset for arrival, not just cleared
- Tomorrow's arrivals glanced at before leaving
Scenarios
The situations that decide our reviews
| Situation | What we do | Who decides |
|---|---|---|
| Room not ready at check in | Say so before they ask. Offer the bar, take a number, carry the bags up later | Receptionist |
| Overbooked | Duty manager handles it in person, never the desk alone. Comparable hotel, transport paid, and we call ahead | Duty manager |
| Complaint about food | Removed from the table and from the bill without discussion. The kitchen is told after, not during | Server, then pass |
| Noise complaint at night | Attended in person within 10 minutes. Never a phone call to the other room alone | Duty manager |
| Guest clearly unwell | Guest safety first, service second. Duty manager attends and decides whether to call for help | Duty manager |
| Allergy question | Never guessed and never reassured. Kitchen answers, in writing on the order | Kitchen |
| Bad review appears | Duty manager reads it at handover the next morning and logs which standard was missed | Duty manager |
| Guest asks for something we do not offer | Find it nearby rather than decline. The answer is where, not no | Anyone |
Checks
How the standards are checked
| Check | Frequency | By | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|
| Timed observation of one service | Weekly | Duty manager | Three timings against clause 2 |
| Arrival walkthrough as a guest would see it | Twice weekly | General Manager | Short note, lobby to room |
| Handover quality review | Weekly | General Manager | Were unresolved items carried? |
| Guest feedback read and mapped to a standard | Weekly | Duty manager | Which clause was missed |
| Full standards review with the team | Quarterly | General Manager | Changes proposed to the owner |
Every check maps a real observation to a numbered clause. A complaint that cannot be mapped to a clause means the standards have a gap, and that is worth as much as the complaint.
Training
Training and sign off
- Day 1
Read clauses 1 and 2 with a supervisor
The principles and the journey. Not the checklists yet.
- Days 2 to 5
Shadow in role
Watching against clause 3, with the supervisor naming the standard as it happens.
- Week 2
Work the section with the supervisor present
Doing, not watching. The supervisor steps in only where a standard would be missed.
- Week 3
Scenario conversation
Clause 5, spoken through. The allergy standard is confirmed word for word.
- Week 4
Sign off
Supervisor confirms the standards are met unsupervised. Recorded on the training file with a date.
- Annually
Refresh
Clause 5 re-read and re-signed. Scenarios are what fade first.
Document control
Revision history
| Version | Date | Author | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1.0 | 1 October 2026 | ServiceManual | First issue. Timings set from two observed services rather than from sector norms. |
| 0.3 | 27 September 2026 | ServiceManual | Draft. Allergy standard moved out of the scenarios table into an absolute rule after the kitchen review. |
| 0.2 | 24 September 2026 | ServiceManual | Draft. Role standards rewritten as observable outcomes after the duty managers said the first version could not be assessed. |
| 0.1 | 21 September 2026 | ServiceManual | Initial draft from service observation and the existing induction notes. |