Service experts realize that the one true differentiator, the one characteristic that separates the average from the best, especially in a strained economic environment, is service—pure and simple. Professionals inside the hospitality industry are reminded of this every day through an onslaught of readily available competitor data and various industry-tracking tools, which correlate the direct connection between customer service metrics and financial growth. 
 
USA Today published a front-page story in the summer of 2009 that highlighted the hospitality industry as one of the business segments suffering the most during that tough economic time frame. As part of ...