Spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic, evolving safety requirements and social norms are significantly affecting how organizations deliver exceptional experiences. This is especially pertinent to the human-centered hospitality industry, where person-to-person interaction is undergoing rapid innovation.

To learn how leading companies are considering this challenge, join the upcoming webinar "Designing Experiences for Guests of the Future". Worthix's Chief Marketing Officer (and host of "Voices of CX" podcast) Mary Drummond will lead a discussion with both Alec Dalton and Adam Walker, Executive Director of Consumer Foresight and Market Exploration for The Walt Disney Company. 

Takeaways will include: 

• How to gauge whether shifting customer expectations are temporary or here to stay;
• The importance of planning for multiple scenarios for the future; and,
• Tips to foster relationships with seemingly endless guest personas.

Register here to join the "live" session, which will be hosted on August 12th between 12:00-1:00 PM EDT.

From restaurants to resorts, the hospitality industry demands strong operations management to delight guests, develop employees, and deliver financial returns. To teach these critical competencies, Alec Dalton partnered with Drs. Peter Szende and Michelle (Myongjee) Yoo as co-editors of the new textbook Operations Management in the Hospitality Industry. Published by Emerald Publishing, this introductory text provides students with fundamental techniques and tools to analyze and improve operational capabilities of any hospitality organization.

This book spans a breadth of topics critical to today's operations leaders. Each chapter - authored by industry experts - surveys key theories, frameworks, and industry examples, with additional depth achieved through engaging learning features. Consider this chapter outline:

1. "Understanding Service Operations Strategy" (Alec Dalton and Michelle Yoo)
2. "Designing Service Experiences" (Peter Szende and Alec Dalton)
3. "Designing Service Environments" (Vanja Bogicevic and Hyeyoon (Rebecca) Choi)
4. "Forecasting Demand" (Michelle Yoo and Sybil Yang)
5. "Inventory Control" (Miguel Bendrao Baltazar and Yuan Li)
6. "Managing Supply Chains" (John Bancroft and Di Li)
7. "Organizing Staff" (Suzanne Markham Bagnera and Peter Szende)
8. "Managing Capacity and Waits" (Alec Dalton and Andrew Daw)
9. "Measuring Quality" (Michelle Yoo and Alec Dalton)
10. "Improving Effectiveness and Efficiency" (Susan Hyde and Paul Bagdan)

Uniquely, the book is set out in standalone chapters that can be digested individually or together; allowing flexibility for instructors and readers seeking to learn specific subject matter. Whether a student preparing for their career, or a professional seeking tools, readers will gain valuable knowledge from Operations Management in the Hospitality Industry.

To purchase print or digital copies, visit Emerald Publishing's bookstore or Amazon.

On June 4th at 9:30-10:30 AM EDT, ARCET Global - producers of the North American Customer Centricity Awards and related programs - will host a complimentary panel discussion on the importance of recognition in enhancing customer experience.

Included on the panel will be four customer experienced thought leaders (and judges of ARCET awards programs):

• Alec Dalton, Founding Partner of the Hospitality Leadership Academy and Sr. Manager of Global Quality for Marriott International
• Marlan Hardie, People Engagement Officer of World Wide Technology
• Rick Denton, Managing Principal of EX4CX
• Diane Magers, Founder and Chief Experience Officer of Experience Catalysts

The conversation is sure to be wide-ranging, covering a spectrum of CX topics relating to the recognition of customers, employees, and organizations at-large. Click here to register and join this free event.

On June 3rd, Alec Dalton delivered a keynote presentation at a customer experience community conversation hosted by CX Brussels and CX Centric. Focused on the theme of growth in the hospitality sector, Dalton detailed how the restoration of consumer confidence is a key component for the industry's path to recovery.

Leaning on research conducted in partnership with Boston University and Oxford Brookes University, Dalton presented the "cleanliness theater" framework as a model that any brick-and-mortar, B2C business can use engage guests, patients, customers, and the like in physical experiences. In summary, organizations must:

1. Provide a preview: proactively communicate practices and policies so employees and guests understand expectations for their roles.
   
2. Set a clean scene: evidently make key touchpoints safe to touch, from a sanitation standpoint.
   
3. Play the part: carefully deliver value to customers so that they can achieve their objectives, in compatibility with the cleanliness and hygiene protocols.

Dalton reinforced this framework with effective examples from companies like Marriott and Hilton, who are leading the industry with operating standards for the era of COVID-19.

A link to the session recording will be posted here shortly.

How do businesses "wow" their customers through exceptional experiences? Answers to that critical question will abound at the upcoming digital conference WOW Summit 2021.  Hosted online between April 28th and July 28th, this on-demand conference connects CX thought leaders from around the globe - as well as having a regional focus on Brazil and broader South America.

Alec Dalton has been invited to present a virtual tutorial on service blueprinting, a technique that customer experience professionals can use to visualize the operational aspects of CX. Conference participants will be well-prepared to build blueprints for their own organizations, as Alec will survey use cases and diagramming technology, along with a piece-by-piece walkthrough of the blueprinting process. He'll speak as both a frequent user of the tool and as a published researcher on the topic: you can get a preview of the presentation via this past "Experience Experiments" blog post and in his article "Service Blueprinting: Shifting from a Storyboard to a Scorecard", published in the Journal of Foodservice Business Research in collaboration with Dr. Peter Szende.

Alec will be among 50 global CX leaders sharing their experience, techniques, and case studies. You can see the full speaker roster on the WOW Summit 2021 website, where you can also register for a virtual pass.

UPDATE: A recording from this event can be found here.
​
On April 7, CX Forums will present a free e-conference on "Hospitality Challenges Pre- and Post-COVID". Alec Dalton will join host Mark Michelson and guest interviewer Karl Sharicz of HorizonCX to speak about lessons learned from the pandemic, and about how non-hospitality businesses can find transferable takeaways.

COVID-19 had far-reaching impacts across all businesses, and imposed stark restrictions on travel and leisure that stunted most hospitality companies. From February to March 2020, hotel occupancies declined by 22.8 pts, from 62.2% to 39.4% (according to STR); steady recovery brings that rate to 45.3% as of March 2021 - improvement, but with many rooms left to fill. On the food and beverage side of the business, nearly 110,000 restaurants - 17% of US venues - experienced permanent or long-term closures. While the impact requires years for full recovery, hospitality businesses adapted and offer lessons for other businesses on how to restore consumer confidence and operate safely.

During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Dalton served on Marriott's response and recovery task force. He managed efforts related to the activation of new cleanliness-focused brand standards, and to the curation of safe food and beverage programming for Marriott Select Brands. Beyond Marriott, Alec also conducted pandemic-related research with Dr. Peter Szende of Oxford Brookes University and Drs. Suzanne Markham-Bagnera and Mark Legg of Boston University: their forthcoming results, previewed in this Hotel News Now article, identified strategies hotels can use to operate and communicate clean practices to ensure guest safety.

Join the free e-conference to learn more about Alec's experience, and to hear how your organization can apply these findings to deliver better business results.

On March 25, the Customer Experience Professionals Association's Midlands Network will host its annual conference, inviting CX practitioners globally to hear the latest ideas from twelve thought leaders. This year, the conference theme of "CX in a Post-COVID World" will reflect on the response and recovery efforts that can help companies rebound from the challenges of 2020. 

Alec Dalton has been invited to share his experience in the final session of the conference, titled "Staying Safe: Conveying Cleanliness in Hotels, and What Other Businesses Can Borrow." Dalton will describe his experience working on Marriott's COVID-19 recovery task force, and he will offer addition to offering additional insights derived from his pandemic response research conducted in partnership with Boston University and Oxford Brookes University.

Attendees of this event will also hear from other CX leaders, including Ben Phillips - author of The Customer Experience Dictionary - and a panel led by renowned CX specialist Ian Golding. See the full agenda and register for this complimentary event by visiting the conference website,

The Customer Experience Professionals Association (CXPA) has named Alec Dalton among the inaugural recipients of the Emerging Leader in CX Award. During a virtual ceremony on February 12, judges and members of the association's awards planning committee conferred the recognition on Dalton and four fellow CX innovators.

Launched this year, the Emerging Leader in CX Award recognizes rising voices that are shaping the customer experience discipline. The selection of winners factored nearly twenty traits, among them professional experience, an ability to generate bold new thinking, creative innovation and decision-making, and strategic leadership. Former CXPA Board Chairman Bob Azman, CCXP, who first conceived of the award, noted an intent to celebrate "the professionals that are just coming into the CX profession and are beginning to really demonstrate some breakthrough ideas, some innovative approaches to design, ways to look at employee experiences differently, [etc.]."

Dalton was originally nominated by his longtime mentor Karl Sharicz, CEO of HorizonCX, whose consultancy includes Alec as an Advisory Board Member. Sharicz saw the award as an opportunity to recognize Dalton for his professional accomplishments within hospitality quality management, as well as for his active engagement within the CX community. When conferring the award, CXPA Board Member and awards judge Göhkan Kara, CCXP further described Alec as a "lifelong learner" while praising him for sharing his knowledge with the community: "[Alec] is giving keynote speeches, judging in some organizations, and writing articles about CX."

In addition to Dalton, other honorees include:

• Gloria Gupta, MS, FCXP (CX I-III),
• Branden Schossler, CCXP,
• Laura Tramm, and
• Danielle Wipperfurth, MBA, CCXP.

Beyond pure recognition, the intent for this award is to create a platform for honorees to hone their CX leadership skills and operate on the forefront of the field. The cadre of winners will receive unique opportunities for professional development throughout the year.

Click here to watch the awards ceremony, in which you can hear from Dalton and the other winners about their shared passion for CX and about their visions for the future of the field.

With the new year well underway, two lists separately acclaim Customer Experience 2 as a must-read for 2021. Co-authored by Alec Dalton, this latest volume in the best-selling Customer Experience series offers CX insights and strategies from a cadre of global thought leaders.

Qualtrics short-listed the book among their list "10 Books Every CX Leader Should Read in 2021".  They praised the essay-style format in particular, noting, "Why get one view, when you can have 24?

Additionally, BookAuthority celebrated the best-seller on its list "7 Best New Customer Experience eBooks to Read in 2021". This recognition is BookAuthority's second for the series, as the original book Customer Experience was named to their 2020 list; that first book currently ranks #52 on their list of "100 Best Customer Experience Books of All Time".

To order a print copy of Customer Experience 2, or to download a digital edition today, visit Amazon. If you missed the original volume, you can get a copy of Customer Experience while you’re at it!