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Subtlety

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Consider that most remarkable hospitality experiences are not at all aggressive. They are born not from how much we do for someone, but rather how inconspicuously we do it. Memorable service seems almost magical with the guest left wondering…”how did they do that?”

In service, we aren’t measured by how much we know…but rather, by how we deliver it.

People vs. Function

Often, when developing staffing guides and org charts, we focus on functions and tasks to be completed...how many rooms to be cleaned, room service orders delivered, guests checked-in, etc. I wonder how the structure, number of employees and guest experience would change if we approached it differently...on hiring great people, reducing tasks and flattening structure. My guess is it would be a better experience for everyone.  Hire intelligent, passionate, trustworthy people...and, do whatever it takes to keep them.

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Busting Up Average

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Hugh calls it "De-Commodification" (I kind of like the term...he doesn't). But, no matter the words, the idea is spot on.
You need to get people to talk about your hotel, the guest experience, etc. And, people don't talk much about commodities...the average. So, everyday, you need to ask yourself, what are we doing to bust-up the average...to change the guest experience into something worth talking about? How are we going to change the check-in process, in-room entertainment, etc.? At the same time, you need to be careful not to make this about gimmicks...that doesn't work. Find out what makes your guest tick, what will make their stay with you easier, more enjoyable and personable. Make things better...not just different.

Give people what they want, and deliver it in a meaningful way.

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Hospitality 2.0

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Just read this quite interesting and comprehensive article about hotel internet marketing...A Hotelier's Guide to Budget Planning in '08 (Max Starkov and Jason Price). It's aimed at getting you to think about shifting more resources to your own website and directly engaging with your audience as opposed to print, third party deals, etc.

My brief thoughts on what to do with your website...call it Hospitality 2.0:

  1. Experience Harmony- Just as the initial impression with your PBX or reservations agent is so important, your website must be aligned with the other aspects of the guest visit. I've seen too many four-star hotels with a two or three-star web experience.
  2. Easy- The right audience should be able to easily find your site as well as the information they are looking for. If you can't begin the reservation process, find a menu or a read a guest comment within one click, the site needs work.  Also, don't get stuck with the idea that everyone should come to the "home" page. This is one of the biggest mis-steps I see. Try using multiple landing pages for different audiences looking to do different things.
  3. Trust- Everything on the site should have a common objective...to move the guest relationship forward...to close the sale. And, building relationships is based on trust. So, remove anything that erodes trust (opt-out e-mail campaigns, advertising-like text that attempts to convince someone to buy, anything that risks over promising and under delivery, etc.), and add things that make you more transparent (guest commentary, employee blogs, etc.).

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Corporate Office

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I recently chimed in on a conversation about the value of a corporate office...let me know your thoughts.

My 2 cents on Corporate Offices...the great ones do five things really well:

  1. Talent- They      hire the brightest, most passionate people they can afford. And, ones they      can trust. Great companies understand you can't really teach passion,      personality and caring...all a big part of delivering a meaningful      hospitality experience. So, they focus on recruiting people who are great      at this naturally.
  2. What, not How-      They, along with these passionate people, develop and agree on the BHAG      (big, hairy, audacious goals...borrowed from Jim Collins). They focus on      the objective, not how to get there (those really smart people they hired      figure that out). They don't worry about the minutiae, like precisely what      to say to each guest at the front door. Rather, they  focus on the      big stuff, like guest satisfaction of 90% or greater, etc.
  3. Support- They      give people the tools and training to do the technical part of the job.      The mechanics of service can be taught (how and when to retrieve luggage      from a vehicle).
  4. Value Driven-      They stay out of the way (of the smart people), offering support, not      necessarily guidance. Rather than control every move, they allow people to      prosper and add value to the organization.
  5. Care- They put      people first, the business second.

After reading that list again, it really boils down to hiring passionate, competent people who you can trust...and who are generally interested in the same things you are.

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Keys to Remarkable Service

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Put this up on the white board while discussing the keys to remarkable service with a group of hotel new hires...

A- Acknowledge (connect with anyone within a 10 foot range, invite a conversation with body language, eye contact, etc.)
E- Engage (greet and talk with anyone that gets close, 5 feet)
S-Surprise everyone by taking an extra step, doing something unexpected, asking a question to take the experience to a higher level, etc.

Have any to share?

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indieHotelier #44, Green Update with Tony Longhurst

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Tony Longhurst rejoins the panel for an update on hospitality green initiatives...what's working, what's not and what you might focus on to get things going.

Click on the logo to go to the indieHotelier website. Or. on the podcast button to download the show and listen now.

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The Most Important Elements of a Successful Hotel Opening

I recently had the opportunity to share my relatively straightforward (and, I'm certain incomplete) prescription to successfully birth a new hotel...

  1. Ensure there is one voice and vision, from the top of the organization to the bottom.
  2. Establish realistic and clear objectives to get your team some wins...perhaps to first open the best hotel in your town. Then, work toward higher expectations, five star, best regionally and nationally, etc.
  3. Ensure that there is a culture of teamwork and pride, based on trust, passion for excellence and empowerment.
  4. Hire the best talent you can afford...that's the key to achieving #3.
  5. Ensure all decisions are well balanced, between owner priorities, guest and employee satisfaction.
  6. Ensure there is complete harmony between all aspects of the guest experience. Perfectly align the physical product quality, service and hospitality, and marketing/promotional efforts.

I forgot a couple...take deep breaths. And, have fun!

Let me know what else I'm missing...

Ironing Board Desks

Picked up this "tip" from Daytipper...

Travel
Create instant hotel desk with ironing board
If you are traveling and find yourself in a hotel room without a desk, call the front desk and request an ironing board. Most are adjustable and can be set low enough to use with a chair as a temporary desk.

My recommendation...call the front desk and ask for a new hotel. I couldn't resist.

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Interested in Learning About Revenue Management?

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...Listen to this week's indieHotelier show. Douglas Lapointe, VP, Pricing & Revenue Management, for JDA leads us in a discussion about the importance of revenue management and how technology and multiple booking sources almost require that you have some sort of automation in place. We also offer some helpful strategies, especially if you're relatively new to the yield game.

Click the indieHotelier logo to go to the website. Or, on the podcast button to download and listen now.

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How to Impress Your Guests

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If you're looking for some examples of how to get personal and engage with your guests, take a page from Captain Flanagan of United Airlines...

  • He mingles with passengers in the gate area
  • He makes gate announcements himself, updating passengers about weather conditions and sets realistic expectations for delays
  • He uses his cellphone to call United operations to ask about connections for passengers
  • He passes out information cards to passengers with fun facts about the plane; he signs two of them, whose owners will win a bottle of wine
  • He snaps pictures of animals in the cargo hold to show owners their pets are safely on board
  • He writes notes to first-class passengers and elite frequent fliers on the back of his business cards, addressing them by name and thanking them for their business
  • He personally calls parents of unaccompanied children to give them updates
  • He instructs flight attendants to pass out napkins asking passengers to write notes about experiences on United, good or bad
  • He orders 200 McDonald's hamburgers for passengers if his flight is delayed or diverted

"I just treat everyone like it's the first flight they've ever flown."

Not exactly what you expect from an airline...that's the beauty of it, the power of surprise.

Thanks to Church of the Customer for the pointer.

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Business Intelligence

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indieHotelier #42 is up...had a great discussion about business intelligence technology with Julie Squires, Dan Morrison and Jill Wilder and Cam Troutman of Aptech Computer Systems. Aptech specializes in hospitality software that makes operational and financial analysis and decision making much easier and more efficient.

Click on the logo to go to the indieHotelier website. Or, on the podcast button to download and listen to the show now.

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Vibe Hotels Is Stuck in 1.0

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Vibe Hotels announced their new website today and claims..."The new website is peppered with exciting features to extend the personality of the brand into the online arena and has been designed to promote interactivity with our guests." However, I don't see much evidence of that...absolutely no guest generated content on the site, or any way to interact with anyone, other than the traditional "contact us" link. As far as I can tell, this website is stuck in 1.0. Too bad...it looks great though.

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Be Patient...The Market Will Find You

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This is the hardest part of creating anything great...and part of Seth's really good list.

And, it's good advice whether you're creating a sock company (read Seth's post), a boutique hotel chain or a neighborhood coffee shop. Focus on the experience, make it the best you possible can...and good things are likely to happen.

So, why do so many start-ups (new hotels included) still spend more energy, time and money on the message instead of the experience? They're stuck...they still think they need to push the idea along because it takes too long otherwise. Ironically, the better the experience, product or service, the faster the word spreads to your audience...with far less orchestration, media buys and sales pitches. You can thank the world wide web for a little (no, a lot)  help with the velocity. But, your idea will only move forward if it's worth talking about...just like always.

What Does $30M Get You?

A pretty slick ad campaign...Westin's New Ad Campaign Eases Travel Angst.

But, what if the headline had read, "Westin Spends $30M on Hiring and Training the Most Talented Service Professionals in the World".  What if Westin had spent the money to attract the best talent, cut turnover by 50% and truly became the hotel employer of choice? Would people be curious...would their story change?

Just a thought...

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Negative Feedback...What To Do?

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Comment cards are dying. So are letters to the GM or corporate office. People don't have faith in that system anymore, mainly because they don't trust anything will happen...that no good will come of it. On-line is where it's at. Guests are turning to sites like Tripadvisor, VibeAgent, epinions, etc., to air their issues and concerns. It makes perfect sense...it's immediate and unfiltered (no interference from the hotel or restaurant). Tripadvisor allows hoteliers to post a public response to reviews. But, this can be very dangerous because there's a natural tendency to defend the actions and offer "reasons"  for problems in order to control the damage. And, that's bad. A better strategy is to reach out to individuals personally, apologize and solve the problem. Hopefully, trust is regained and with any luck, the offended party becomes a loyal fan. They might even add a follow-up review describing your turnaround. If you're compelled to post a public reply, keep it focused on an apology, your appreciation for feedback and your efforts to reach the party personally. And, as I've mentioned before, add some links to these reviews on your website to demonstrate how important they are to you...both good and bad.

Another option is for the hotelier to create a separate conversation and invite these guests to join-in and offer their comments and perhaps even share in the corrective process. Vibeagent's Adam Healey discusses this very scenario in an exchange on Chris Clarke's Vacant Ready blog. Looks like VibeAgent is heading in the right direction by encouraging hoteliers to use this platform. 

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Diva Marketing Talks

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This week's indieHotelier podcast is up...Toby Bloomberg, president of Atlanta-based Bloomberg Marketing and author of the Diva Marketing Blog, gives us further insight into the world of social media. Some of the subjects we explored in this episode....

  1. Trends...use of video, reviews and other user generated content as marketing tools. How important is this...and why?
  2. How do we measure social networking results? Justification, ROI and the use of traditional metrics and measurement systems.
  3. How can a hotelier monitor social networks?

Click on the logo to go to the indieHotelier website. Or, on the podcast button to download the MP3 and listen now.

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