Hotels rely heavily on guest feedback to get an accurate sense on how successful a job they’re doing in providing all-important customer service. In today’s Internet-driven society, it’s easy for owners and managers to look to brands’ electronic guest satisfaction surveys, not to mention websites like TripAdvisor, Facebook and Google that solicit travelers’ comments, to get a sense of how well they’re performing.

But if the truth be known, these tools are only meaningful up to a point. Not all guests, after all, whether they had a positive stay or found fault with the hotel, will take the time to respond to a guest survey or post a comment on a site that solicits consumer content. By contrast, guest feedback that’s delivered face-to-face in the moment when guests are still on property is much more valuable.

Enter a new on-site staff position: the Lobby Ambassador. Managers have always understood the value of having an associate stationed in the lobby whose job is to circulate among guests—typically in the morning, while they’re having breakfast, in the process of checking out or simply leaving for the day. The task has now been formalized and given a name of its own.

General managers at a number of M&R Hotel Management properties have named a Lobby Ambassador in the past few months with positive results. At one hotel, the same associate fills the role; at other hotels, front desk agents take turns rotating in and out of the position.

The Lobby Ambassadors’ biggest contribution is that they get to resolve any service issues guests may have on the spot. They’re knowledgeable about the operation of the hotel and are empowered by management to turn a guest’s potentially negative experience into a positive.

Best of all, they introduce themselves to the guest and put a personal, friendly, helpful face on the hotel, which when you think about it is at the very heart of the hospitality experience.