10 and 5 Staff Rule (2024)

Hospitality 101 comes with a multitude of acronyms and customer service rules that can be applied in any business where service is a key element of the experience.

One of the first rules taught by hospitality companies big and small is the 10 and 5 Staff Rule, also known as the ‘Zone of Hospitality’.

Understanding the 10 and 5 Staff Rule

Simply explained, the 10 and 5 Rule suggests that anytime a guest is within ten feet of a staff member, the staff member should make eye contact and warmly smile to acknowledge the oncoming guests.

When a staff member is approximately five feet from a guest, a sincere greeting or friendly gesture of acknowledgement should accompany the eye contact and smile.

Successful companies in and out of the hospitality industry have adopted their own versions of the 10 and 5 Staff Rule.

At Wal-Mart, founder Sam Walton coined the ‘Ten-Foot Attitude” and said, “…I want you to promise that whenever you come within 10 feet of a customer, you will look him in the eye, greet him and ask him if you can help him.”

At Walt Disney World, the rule is taken a few steps further by outlining what should happen any time a Disney “cast member” is near a guest with Disney’s Seven Service Guidelines:

• Make eye contact and smile
• Greet and welcome each and every guest
• Seek out guest contact
• Provide immediate service recovery
• Display appropriate body language at all times
• Preserve the “magical” guest experience
• Thank each and every guest

At Coyle Hospitality, we recognize that the essence of the ’10 and 5 Staff Rule’ is applicable throughout any service industry, as it demonstrates to guests that the staff member is aware of his or her surroundings and understands that the essential part of their job is to be helpful and welcoming.

Do you employ the 10 and 5 Staff Rule in your company? If not, is there another rule like it that you apply to your overall customer service strategy?

Coyle measures this rule and other important service touch points thousands of times each and every month for global hospitality companies such as Kimpton Hotels, Mandarin Oriental Hotels and Resorts, and Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts. Contact Coyle to see how your brand stacks up against these industry leaders.

10 and 5 Staff Rule (2024)

FAQs

What is the rule of 5 rule of 10? ›

The idea behind the 10:5 rule is that anytime you find yourself within 10 feet (3 meters) of someone, you should smile and make eye contact. When you are within 5 feet (1.5 meters) of someone, you should greet them with a friendly hello or other greeting.

What is the 10 5 rule of guest service? ›

When a guest comes within ten (10) feet of a team member(s), the team member(s) should cease their conversation to acknowledge the approaching guest. At approximately five (5) feet our team members should acknowledge the guest(s) with a nod or greeting, whenever appropriate.

What is the 5 10 rule in customer service? ›

Within ten feet or so of a customer, you should acknowledge them with a facial expression. I add to that. It should be a smile! And within five feet or so of the customer, you should acknowledge them verbally.

What is the 10 5 rule in healthcare? ›

And this is where the 10-5 Rule comes in. This simple rule was created by Patrick Quinlan, then CEO of Ochsner Health System. "If you're within 10 feet of someone, you make eye contact and smile, and if you're within five feet, you say hello," she says.

How does the rule of 5 work? ›

And you don't need to work on big actions. The key to success with this rule is consistency. Imagine if you are to take 5 little actions that will move you toward your goal every day. In a week, you will have created 35 small wins.

What is the rule of 5 calculation? ›

Traditionally, therapeutics have been small molecules that fall within the Lipinski's rule of five (i.e., a molecule with a molecular mass less than 500 Da, no more than 5 hydrogen bond donors, no more than 10 hydrogen bond acceptors, and an octanol–water partition coefficient log P not greater than 5).

What is the 10 5 3 rule in hospitality? ›

At 10 feet: Look up from what you are doing and acknowledge the guest with direct eye contact and a nod. At 5 feet: Smile, with your lips and eyes. At 3 feet*: Verbally greet the guest and offer a time-of-day greeting (“Good morning”).

What is the 10 5 3 rule? ›

The 10, 5, 3 rule. This is the expected long-term return from equities 10%, bonds 5%, and cash 3%. It hasn't quite worked out like that since 2008, but it's a long term view over 20 years. It can be combined with the rule of 72, so we can see how long it takes for each asset class to approximately double in value.

What is the 10 by 10 rule in the hospitality industry? ›

I've expanded the Disney concept in my customer service training workshops by encouraging employees to greet customers within 10 seconds of coming within 10 feet of them. I call it the 10-10 rule. You can have fun by applying the 10-10 rule to other scenarios.

What is the 10 and 10 business rule? ›

The 10–10–10 rule differs from conventional decision-making strategies by encouraging individuals to assess the ramifications of their choices over three specific timeframes: 10 minutes, 10 months, and 10 years.

What is the 5 customer rule? ›

Published Dec 27, 2022. The rule of 5 in marketing is a general guideline that suggests that a company should aim to have at least five unique points of contact with a potential customer before they are likely to make a purchase.

What is the 10 and 5 rule in hotels? ›

The '10 and five' rule in hospitality says that staff coming within 10 feet of a guest should smile and make eye contact, while those coming within five feet should add a warm verbal greeting.

What is the rule of 5 in nursing? ›

Most health care professionals, especially nurses, know the “five rights” of medication use: the right patient, the right drug, the right time, the right dose, and the right route—all of which are generally regarded as a standard for safe medication practices.

What is the golden rule in healthcare? ›

The Golden Rule states that we should do unto others as we would have them do unto us.

What is the rule for 10? ›

Divisibility rule for 10 states that any number whose last digit is 0, is divisible by 10. Example: 10, 20, 30, 1000, 5000, 60000, etc.

What is the 5 5 5 rule life? ›

The idea behind the 5-by-5 rule is pretty straightforward. If something won't matter five years down the line, don't bother wasting more than five minutes obsessing over it. On paper, it sounds quite simple.

What is the factors of 10 rule? ›

Factors of 10: 1, 2, 5 and 10

In the factorization method, first, consider the numbers 1 and 10 as factors of 10 and continue with finding the other pair of multiples of 10, which gives the results as an original number.

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