Your Team Is Using Claude Wrong

Most hospitality teams start Claude from a blank chat every time. This guide shows you how to set it up once so your whole team gets consistent, professional output from day one.

Last updated: March 2026. Anthropic updates Claude regularly – always verify current features, plan options, and interface labels at claude.ai.

A step-by-step guide to setting up Claude for a hotel, travel agency, or tour operation team of 5 to 20 people. No technical background needed. Just 90 minutes, a clear idea of how your team communicates, and two or three examples of your best work.

Who This Guide Is For

Team leads, operations managers, and directors in hospitality

This guide is for team leads, operations managers, and directors in hotels, travel agencies, tour companies, and hospitality groups. You do not need a technical background.

It covers a team of 5 to 20 people. If your team is larger, the same principles apply but you will need Claude Team or Enterprise plan. Verify current plan options at claude.ai before you start.

Before You Start: 3 Things to Collect

Do not open Claude yet. Gather these first.

Two or three examples of your best written work

A guest email you are proud of. A client proposal that won business. A team briefing that got results. These become your Claude training examples.

A list of words and phrases your team does not use

Every hospitality brand has language rules. “Excited to share” or “please do not hesitate” might be on your banned list. Write them down.

One sentence describing who your team serves

Example: “We serve high-net-worth leisure travelers booking multi-destination trips in Southeast Asia.” Be specific. Vague descriptions produce vague output.

The 6-Step Setup Process

Follow these steps in order. Each one builds on the last. Skip nothing.

Step 1

Create one Project for your team

A Project is a shared workspace inside Claude. It holds your brand context, tone guidelines, and examples. Every chat your team starts inside this Project begins with that context already loaded.

  • Go to claude.ai. Sign in with your team account or Pro plan.
  • Click Projects in the left sidebar.
  • Click Create Project.
  • Name it after your team or brand. Example: “The Grand Meridian – Guest Communications.”
  • Do not create one Project for everything. One Project should cover one type of work.

Suggested Projects for a hospitality team:

  • Guest Communications – for emails, welcome notes, complaint responses
  • Sales and Proposals – for client proposals, itinerary cover letters, pitch decks
  • Team Operations – for briefings, SOPs, staff updates
  • Social Media – for captions, responses, campaign copy

Start with one. Get it working. Add more later.

Step 2

Write your Project instructions - the most important step

Your instructions tell Claude who you are, how you communicate, and what you expect. Keep them under 300 words. Specific and short works better than long and vague.

Template – copy and paste this into your Project instructions:

We are [brand name], a [type of property or business] based in [location].

Our clients are [describe your guests or clients in one sentence].

Our tone is [choose warm and professional / formal and precise / friendly and direct].

We always [list 2 to 3 things you always do – e.g., “use the guest’s name,” “offer a specific next step,” “sign off with the team member’s first name”].

We never [list 2 to 3 things you never do – e.g., “use exclamation marks,” “say ‘no problem’,” “begin emails with ‘I hope this finds you well'”].

Banned words and phrases: [list your specific banned words here].

When writing guest communications, always aim for [word count or length – e.g., under 150 words for email responses].

Save this. Every team member who opens a chat inside this Project starts from this baseline.

Step 3

Upload 2 to 3 example files

Examples teach Claude your style better than instructions do. A great example is worth ten paragraphs of description.

What to upload:

  • One guest email you consider a model response
  • One client proposal or itinerary cover letter
  • One piece of copy that represents your brand voice perfectly

What not to upload:

  • Confidential guest data, booking records, or payment information
  • Internal documents with staff names and personal details
  • Anything you would not want stored on an external platform

Remove all personally identifiable information before uploading. Replace guest names with “Guest” and staff names with “Team Member.”

File formats Claude accepts: PDF, Word (.docx), plain text (.txt), and most common document types. Verify current supported formats at claude.ai.

Upload limit: 2 to 3 files is enough. More is not better. Claude reads what you give it. Too many files dilute the signal.

Step 4

Test your Project before you share it with the team

Before anyone else uses your Project, run 5 test prompts yourself.

Five test prompts to run:

  1. Write a response to a guest who is unhappy with their room view. Keep it under 100 words.
  2. Write a 3-sentence welcome message for a guest arriving after a long-haul flight.
  3. Write a subject line for an email following up on an itinerary proposal sent 3 days ago.
  4. Write a team briefing for front desk staff about a VIP arrival tomorrow morning.
  5. Write a 2-sentence apology for a billing error.

What to check:

  • Does it match your tone?
  • Does it avoid your banned words?
  • Is the length right?
  • Does it sound like your brand?

If any test fails, update your instructions. Be more specific about what went wrong. Then test again. Do not share the Project until all 5 tests pass.

Step 5

Share your Project with the team

Once your Project is ready, share it with your team through Claude’s sharing settings.

  1. Open your Project.
  2. Click the Share or Members option in the Project settings.
  3. Add team members by their claude.ai email addresses.
  4. Set their access level. Most teams use standard access – team members can use the Project but cannot change the instructions.

Verify current sharing steps at claude.ai before you begin. Interface labels may have changed.

What to tell your team – send this when you share:

I have set up a Claude Project for [type of work]. Open Claude, click Projects in the sidebar, and start every [guest email / proposal / briefing] from inside this Project – not from a blank chat. If the output does not match our tone, let me know and I will update the instructions.

Step 6

Give your team 5 ready-to-use prompts

A prompt library removes the guesswork. Your team opens Claude, copies a prompt, fills in the blanks, and gets a usable first draft. Paste these into a shared document your team can access.

Ready-to-Use Prompt Templates

Copy these into a shared document your team can access. Fill in the blanks and paste into your Claude Project.

Hospitality Prompt Library

Prompt 1

Guest Complaint Response

For professional, on-brand replies to unhappy guests.

Write a professional response to a guest who complained about [specific issue]. Acknowledge the problem. Offer [specific compensation or next step]. Tone: warm and direct. Under 120 words.
Prompt 2

Welcome Message

For personalised arrival greetings.

Write a welcome message for a guest arriving on [date] after traveling from [city]. They are celebrating [occasion]. Warm tone. Under 80 words.
Prompt 3

Follow-Up After No Response

For nudging a client without being pushy.

Write a follow-up email to a client who received our proposal 5 days ago and has not replied. Keep it light, not pushy. One clear question at the end. Under 80 words.
Prompt 4

Staff Briefing

For clear, actionable team communications.

Write a briefing for [team/department] about [topic]. Include what they need to know, what they need to do, and who to contact with questions. Plain language. Under 150 words.
Prompt 5

Review Response

For replying to guest reviews on public platforms.

Write a response to this guest review: [paste review]. Thank them by name. Address the specific points they raised. Invite them to return. Under 100 words.

4 Mistakes Hospitality Teams Make with Claude

Avoid these and you will be ahead of most teams on day one.

Mistake 1

Starting from a blank screen

A blank chat has no context. Your team will get generic output. Always work inside a Project.

Mistake 2

Uploading confidential guest data

Never put real guest names, booking references, or payment details into Claude. Anonymize everything before it goes in.

Mistake 3

One Project for everything

A Project for guest emails should not also handle staff SOPs and social media captions. Separate workflows need separate Projects.

Mistake 4

Sharing before testing

If your instructions are vague, your team gets inconsistent output. Run the 5 test prompts in Step 4 before anyone else touches it.

Keep Your Project Current

Monthly Review

  • Review your Project instructions once a month
  • If your team’s tone has shifted, a key team member has left, or your client profile has changed – update the instructions
  • Add new examples when Claude produces something exceptional. Save it and add it to your Project files.

Team Feedback

  • Ask your team what is not working. They use the Project daily and will notice gaps you cannot see.
  • A 5-minute check-in every few weeks is enough
  • The teams that get the best results are the ones that keep refining their setup

Continue Building Your Claude Setup

Claude Setup Guide: 3 Tools, One Simple System – The foundational setup guide for individual Claude users.

Claude Memory: What It Is and How to Use It – Understand how Claude remembers context and how to use it effectively.

Prompting Claude vs. ChatGPT: Key Differences – Know when to adjust your approach depending on the tool.

This guide is available to AI Crash Course members only. Steps, interface labels, and plan features reflect how Claude works as of March 2026. Anthropic updates Claude regularly. Always verify current sharing options, supported file formats, and plan details at claude.ai before setting up your team.