With the goal of promoting the best and positive about Filipino hospitality, the Department of Tourism-Cordillera introduced the Filipino Brand of Service Excellence (FBSE) to tourism frontliners in Kiangan, Ifugao.
Eighty-seven frontliners from the National Museum of the Philippines-Cordillera, Tricycle Operators and Drivers Association, homestay staff, the local government unit, Philippine National Police, Bureau of Fire Protection, and Philippine Veterans Affairs Office participated in the seminar-workshop recently held at the Kiangan War Memorial Shrine.
The seminar-workshop aimed to equip tourism frontliners with the skills to uphold the unique brand of service excellence associated with Filipino hospitality.
This excellence is grounded in seven core values: Maka-Diyos, Makatao, Maka-kalikasan, Makabansa, Masayahin, May Bayanihan, and May Pag-asa.
“We wanted to cascade this program and workshop to improve more of our tourism frontliners, especially those who have contacts with our guest tourists. We have to invest in people especially now that we are going back to normal operations in the tourism industry,” said Lorie Jane Rosales of DOT-Cordillera.
Rosales introduced the signature oral expression of FBSE, “Mabuhay!” which translates to long live in English.
The phrase embodies positive aspects of life, accompanied by an open-palm gesture to represent generosity and willingness to serve sincerely.
Rosales also shared the GUEST technique for delivering excellent service: greet and engage, understand needs, educate while assisting, exceed expectations for satisfaction, and thank clients.
She also highlighted the benefits of complaints as they offer valuable insights for service improvement.
She introduced the HEART method for handling complaints: hear, empathize, apologize, resolve, and thank.
“We have to bring out what is best among the Filipino people, the positivity, the uniqueness, and the core values that Filipinos should stick to. That will be our identity,” Rosales said.
The FBSE is one of the flagship training programs of the DOT envisioned to provide all frontliners in the tourism and hospitality industry with a benchmark on how to render excellent service to tourists the Filipino way and make it our “brand”. – Florida B. Robles
