Reading the guest by means of facial expressions

Abstract

‘Reading the guest’ refers to the ability to detect and interpret the body language and facial expressions of a guest. A battery of tests was developed to test whether it is possible to accurately read and assess the needs and wants of a guest. The test battery consisted of five sub-tests related to reading the guest. This paper reports on the sub-test that focussed on recognising and interpreting facial expressions. Results showed that students correctly identified approximately 50% of the pictures and that the facial expressions test significantly correlates with three of the other sub-tests. Although the instrument looks promising in some respects, there is room for substantial improvement.

Keywords:

• guest satisfaction
• non-verbal communication