Christopher Walken and the Hotel FAIL

                    There are so many important tasks when it comes to perfecting the guest experience. With so many choices out there in lodging and the rise of AirBnb, there is nothing more crucial than perfecting the guest experience from start to finish, and then beyond. I want to relay one experience I had with a property involving the legendary actor Christopher Walken.


                    Mr. Walken was staying at the property. That is a big deal for anyone! I've met plenty of celebrities, but he is in a class almost all by himself. He would head up to the concierge level and eat and read the paper. I had a few short conversations and shook his hand every day as I offered my services from my department. A very kind, humble and unassuming man.


                    The property holds a very well received and highly decorated restaurant. I did an easy Google search and found in an interview where Mr. Walken had spoken about a favorite dish. Nothing extravagant, as he is a simple eater. It was a fish dish with two easy sides. Anyone could make this, so for a highly rated kitchen this was an incredibly easy undertaking.


                    I printed it out and brought it to the attention of the G.M. as he was speaking to the head chef. The G.M. paid me a nice compliment on initiative. I left thrilled that I had done great, and it was recognized. I think we can guess where this is headed.


                    Nowhere.


                    I was pretty excited as I went in to ask the chef how the meal had gone. With a casual nonchalance, he replied "neh...we didn't do it." Now, there are a myriad of reasons why this may not of happened which I was not privy to, sure. But in this case, they just didn't want to do it.


                    The impression this act could have made on a person could have been huge. I know he would have been surprised if we prepared it for him. Of course there is always the "what if he didn't like it", or "what if he didn't want it." Okay, sure. That may have occurred. But he still would have been surprised that we took the time.


                   No attempt was even made. If you won't attempt greatness for this person, who will you? Does any standard guest stand a chance?


                    Perfecting the guest experience means doing what the others don't. It's about reacting to what the others don't even notice.


                     CASE IN POINT.


                     At another property, one of the bellman communicated to me that the man he had just checked in, had a Ramones monogrammed wallet. The Ramones are a legendary punk-rock band and are beloved. We went to Virgin Megastore and picked up a copy of End of The Century, The Story Of The Ramones on DVD. We had it gift wrapped and placed in his room along with a hand written card thanking him for staying with us along with my business card.


                    He came down later that night and went CRAZY. He couldn't believe we had done that! He had no idea how we even knew what a huge fan he was. He was so incredibly blown away, he almost didn't know what to say. We talked about The Ramones for awhile and he went up to his room but not before he asked how to contact the G.M. so he could laud our performance. My staff and I built a great relationship with this guest and after that one stay, we knew him, he knew us and it was instant recognition.


                    That's what it takes. If that happened to me, there is nothing that would keep me from that property. Yes, it's easy to read a preference and toss an extra razor or lotion in a room. Properties need to look into their guest services and guest relations programs and tie them in. We need to be better.


                    If you won't do it for Christopher Walken, who will you do it for?

Rewarding employees for their performance.

               Most properties have some sort of employee gratification program. Often, where they have been implemented, the programs are ineffective or take too long to instill gratification. Here are some of the directions I have taken as far as rewarding my teams for their excellence in service. A personal gesture tends to be more rewarding then what the property typically offers.


Within the first 60 days



                    There are two ways you can do this. At the beginning, the end, or both. You'll have to feel it out.

                    The first acknowledgement is what I call a "previous work recognition". That's not a highly technical term or anything, it's just descriptive. I like to acknowledge the previous work the staff has done prior to my arrival. I have found that this brings a certain level of respect to a new manager, as the staff sees a few things:

1. They are being rewarded for the work they have put in before the new manager was even there to see it. Most likely they have not been rewarded previously and this provides a great starting off point with your new teammates.
2. This gives them an indication of the style of new manager coming in, their values and the type of professional level that they will conduct themselves in.
3. That you truly care about your teammates as individuals and that it's more than just a job. 

There are smaller awards to be had for the initial reward should you choose. As staff grows in their success, or leaves, you may wish to bestow a larger award.

                    This is an example of some smaller awards. I never place my name on them. It is not about me, it is about the staff and the work they have completed prior to you. A usual text for me would say something to the effect of "In recognition of your dedication to hospitality"


                    This isn't something to make a big deal about or have an awards show on. These were given personally from me to my staff because I had something personal to say to them. I see how they operate as their manager. I feel we should reward as we see fit. No hotel funds were used or asked for. This was simply a personal gesture to my staff.

                    The greatest thing about it was the response. A few people were in tears. Almost every staff member told me they had never been rewarded. Most of them told me this was the first and only trophy they had ever received in their life. This is what it was all for, that response. When people are rewarded for their work without asking for it, that is a special thing.


The Last Days




                    Upon departure of a position, I usually go for bigger awards. I've had the chance to view my staff for a few years and get to know them. These are sendoff awards for work and service excellence you yourself have witnessed over the years.

                    Every property with the exception of one was impressed with this idea. They complained that the property already had an award system and that there were probably many people who deserved to get an award like that. He was right, yet I was nevertheless dismayed at his response. As with their reward system, you needed to receive 10 accommodations before you received an "award" from the property. That is too long to wait.

From that property on, I have conducted this away from the property. You may want to do the same, and it is always good to get your people out!


There are many ways to reward employees. This is just one of many beginning and end scenarios that has brought me success.


The link below is to the business where I always purchase my awards. They do not pay me for this, nor is it an advertisement. They are simply the online business I found that had the best prices and service. I have used them for years with no problems and an always helpful staff.

Click Here and Happy Managing!!

Intra Company Interview Downfalls

                    This focuses on what happens often when an applicant is brought in for an interview as the primary, and then what happens when the decision is made to not go with the candidate.

                    The property uses the same management company, so this would have been intra-company. After a few phone interviews they flew him out to Boston. This was for a stated Director of Front Office position. The interview goes well. Even after phone calls and tracking, no call or word for two weeks.

When the call comes through they offer him a Supervisor position. One step back from the position he currently held!! A few weeks later the same position pops up again on their career boards.

•                     If you don't like someone for the position, tell them why. I realize from an H.R. standpoint, that may be tricky. Direct them toward what they need to do to achieve that position at the least. This was intra company! You want to maintain this person as an excellent possibility!

                    Look what just happened. You flew him out for a meet and greet. Then he waits 2 weeks only to receive a lower position offer? The credibility of that property, and the management company itself just took a huge dive. Not just with him, but anyone else he speaks to.

   
How much demonstrable talent and background do you think exists out there especially when they are masters of your specific brand??

                 
                    Whereas before he was a staunch ally of a particular brand, now he is exploring other options. You just lost a terrific, well educated, well referenced mover. Companies that do not recognize value especially ones that already exist within their management sphere, lose them. Until properties realize this, they will continue to blow money on turnaround and continue to drive excellence elsewhere.

Staff Meetings: Successful? Needed?

                    At one of my previous properties we had a staff meeting. During the meeting, one of the associates had her head on her hand. She was completely bored and disinterested. It didn't occur to me until much later, that the meeting itself was that boring and completely unnecessary. We got nothing accomplished that couldn't have been handled differently, and without 2 hours!

• Ask yourself if you really need a staff meeting. Maybe you just need a better challenge identification and resolution plan.
• If your department closes at a certain time, than it is much easier to have everyone together. With a set and adhered to minutes and format, a staff meeting may work very well with that model. 
• Positions like the front office, which never close pose a serious logistical challenge. Why not use your pre shift lineups? Is this information both shifts need to have? Do these items pertain to all or a specific shifts? There should be an ongoing challenge/solution board where everyone can add their input and within a certain timeframe, is solved.

• A front office meeting is created, set, cancelled, and rescheduled.
• Herein lies the problem. If you don't have the information enough to schedule a date and stick to it, you're in trouble. Get a consensus first. Don't waste paper reprinting posts for the office. The more you change the date makes the date and the event itself seem unimportant.

• Schedule the meeting on a day that the most people are already working on.
• Staff meetings should be a desirable thing. You don't want your 12 hour a day teammates having to come in for 2 hours on their day off. They won't be happy to be there.
• ASK.  On occasion you will find someone that doesn't mind because they have to be in the area anyway.

• Allow people to park on site.
• This is ridiculous when it doesn't happen. Why not show more contempt for your staff by making them park in a lot, or battle downtown traffic just to pay 10-20 dollars to park to come to your meeting. This is just stupid, and plain mean.

• Assign proper coverage.
• A GIANT morale killer: After the meeting and on shift, they have to go back and correct everything from the last 2 hours, and field complaints that nothing ran properly. Schedule proper, trained coverage during the meeting.

• Have food and beverage and do it right. Don't have your assistant pick up a pizza last minute.
• You ask people to come in on their day off. And besides that, your team is the reason you are there. Make it nice! This is an easy way to show appreciation. Have lunch set up. It doesn't have to be crazy. Nothing too filling. Some nice finger foods, hye rollers and whatnot. Why not use it as a chance to debut some of the restaurants new dishes? This is the worst with properties that have large food and beverage establishments. You go to a staff meeting and "oh look, a cookie" NO. Your people bust their butts and put up with a lot. The least you can do is feed them well.

• Keep it closed door.
• Remember the staff member that almost dozed off? This was during a point when the G.M. came in and launched into a 30 minute story about something completely irrelevant.
• People are already there on their day off. Be relevant, have the meeting, and get everyone on their way. Part of protecting morale is remembering people have a life outside of work.

• Remember why you are there.
• A staff meeting is not a giant question/answer session. The purpose of a staff meeting is not to figure things out. That is a brainstorming session. You are there to speak to the staff about new changes, procedures etcetera. A few questions can be taken, but prompt your staff to see you with specific questions for one on one sessions. This is so you know the information is communicated properly and with complete understanding, to the individual.
• You should have an ongoing challenges and problem solving forum with the staff where ideas and solutions are constantly being investigated and put into place within a certain time frame. A staff meeting is too difficult to arrange just to nail down specific issues.

Walking guests the proper way. Emergency!

                    If you find yourself in a situation where you need to walk someone pretty quick, here are some helpful tips.

• If you have an operator or a spare staff member, and it's not busy, ask them to do a call around.
• Try to find the best property for their walk rate closest to the rate the guest paid you, closest to your property.
• Make sure you are closed out with all ota's, booking engines and internal systems. Anything that sells rooms for you. Make sure everything is set to zero unless you want to play the wash game!!
• Try to do this the earliest you can.

• If you know ahead of time
• Look for single travelers. It's much easier.
•  A personal reach out to the guest will be warranted. Managers, don't make your agent handle it!

• One nights are the best. There are some upsides.
• Hopefully you got them a nice room equal to yours and close to things.
• They wont have to move.
• There are ample ways to salvage the situation. The degree and style with which you respond will be varied.

• For the Future.
• Download HotelTonight on your phone. Even though you may have a call around list, you can't call everyone. It'll tell you who has rooms left that night.
• Implement a cell phone number prompt in your operator script, online booking engine, OTA listings, etc. This is to insure moving forward we have that information and can place calls directly if needed.