A long time ago, my hotel management company created a customer service training game for our frontline employees. It was a board game and each square was a “moment of truth”—an opportunity an employee had to create a lasting, positive impression on a guest. The squares included opportunities like “guest calls to inquire about rates,” “guest is escorted to room by bellman,” or “guest calls front desk for a wake-up call.” The objective was to move around the board and brainstorm ideas to improve these interactions.

It was a fantastic learning tool, but there was one big problem—it took hours and hours to work your way around the board. There seemed to be an unlimited amount of potential employee exposure to guests, and prepping employees for every possible scenario was a daunting task.

Fast forward to my current position, sitting on an airport floor, recharging my various Apple products, or as I often refer to them, my “self-sufficient, I-don’t-need-anybody-just-an-outlet” tools. Think about it for a minute. With your iPhone, iPad or even PC, you can do almost anything on your own. If you need directions, open your GPS software. If you need a restaurant reservation, login to OpenTable. Bored? Watch some YouTube videos. Homesick? Scan through your online photo gallery. And if you really feel the need to communicate with a human, you can text or tweet. And the list goes on and on.

Does all this self-sufficiency create opportunities for service providers like hotels? Of course it does, but if I were to recreate that same customer service board game today, it would have a lot fewer squares.

No longer does the guest need to call the hotel to find out about rates. There are about 1.6 million search results on Google to help them. Do guests need a bellman to check in? With shorter trips, and rolling baggage, there is no need to bother. Add to that self check-in kiosks, express check-out and automated wake-up calls, and the “moments of truth” could really be limited to just one: “I have a problem, and I want to talk to a manager.”

With all of this technology, how can a hotel still differentiate itself with customer service? Should hotels simply invest in more and more technology? Research suggests no.

Even with the ease of Internet bookings, many hotel front-desk personnel are still bombarded with phone calls. The difference is that callers have now done a little online research and are looking for validation rather than pure information.

Research has also suggested that while some travelers seek out the self-service check-in kiosk, most still like human interaction, if only to make sure they are getting the best room possible—more validation.

Without a doubt, the number of possible human interactions during the hotel experience has been reduced. But, eliminating the focus on customer service isn’t the answer. Because your employees have fewer chances to make an impression, each interaction becomes much more important. It’s critical to understand how guest expectations have changed and how you can consistently exceed those expectations.

In addition to improving the customer skills of your frontline employees, another way to separate your hotel from the rest of the pack is to embrace the very technology that is stealing face time with your customers.

If I were to reproduce that board game, I would include Internet touchpoints on those squares and try to figure out how to improve my customer service in that arena. For example, “guest searches for a hotel online” might be my first square. While brainstorming ideas for improving this interaction, here are some questions to ponder:
• How well does your website or Facebook page welcome and entice that searcher?
• When guests go to TripAdvisor to do their homework, what comments are they reading about your property?
• If a guest sends a tweet out asking for hotel recommendations, are you ready to respond?
• When guests visit the blogosphere to research your city and things to do during their trip, does your hotel have a presence in that world?

Another square for the board game would include the post visit experience: “guest shares her hotel experience with the world.” Ask yourself the following:
• Are you listening and responding?
• When she is posting photos of your hotel on, and making comments on your property, are you thanking her and inviting her back?
• Are you doing anything to encourage guests to share their videos on your YouTube channel?

The game has changed, but great customer service is still essential. Not only do fewer customer interactions with your employees mean heightened focus on those moments of truth, but with social media, any good (or bad) experience might easily be broadcast to hundreds of friends, and the friends of their friends.

While social media may seem a little overwhelming and you may still be wondering about the return on investment, the early adapter hotels will be the customer service winners in this new age of self-sufficiency.