Acknowledge my kid to make me feel relaxed

Daniele Catalanotto
Mar 16, 2022
A new Service Design Principle about family

We are in London for the holidays. We are staying at Residence Inn by Marriott London near the London Bridge. There the team is lovely! Each team member interacts with our baby very well. As a parent, this makes me feel welcome and more relaxed with the kid.

The more relaxed I am, the more relaxed the kid is too.

This simple loop will also ensure that other people going through the service have a good experience. For example, a relaxed family is way less loud and disturbing to other customers than one where everyone is stressed out.

You don’t need to be a parent or to like kids to make this work as a staff member.

You can do very simple abs stupid things to acknowledge that the kid exists and that he is welcome here.

For example, just say bye-bye every time he passes by, smile and wave to him, or ask how old he is. That’s it.


Little side notes

  • This is the very first draft of this Service Design Principle.
  • Once adapted, even more, this principle will be part of the book "Service Design Principles 201-300"
  • As always comments and feedback to improve this principle are welcome
  • If you have a personal story that goes in that direction it would also help if you share it 

7 comments

Daniele Catalanotto
Mar 30, 2022
Here is the second edited and shortened draft of this Service Design principle

Acknowledge my kid to relax everyone

We are in London for the holidays. We are staying at the Residence Inn by Marriott near London Bridge. There the team is lovely! Each team member interacts with our one year old. As a parent, this makes me feel welcome and relaxed.

The more relaxed I am, the more relaxed the kid is too.

This simple loop ensures that other hotel users have a good experience. Indeed, a relaxed family is way quieter than one where everyone is stressed out.

You don’t need to be a parent or to like kids to make this work as a staff member.

You can do simple and stupid things to acknowledge that the kid exists and that he is welcome here.

For example, just say bye-bye every time he passes by. Smile and wave to him. Or ask how old he is or what’s his name. That’s it.


Little side notes

  • This is the second draft of this Service Design Principle.
  • I was able to reduce the lengths by 9.87% compared to the first version.
Daniele Catalanotto
Oct 20, 2022
Thanks Patrick :) I've added your question in the third draft :)