How People Make Hotels Great
Three tips any hotel anywhere can implement.
I started my career in the basement of a five-star hotel in the then under-developed country of Norway. Despite the challenges of building a career in a company that didn’t want to hire me, I stayed with that company for 31 years.
We grew from being a regional chain in Scandinavia to a global company with 1000+ properties in almost 100 countries.
It was a company led by legends. Under their leadership , I rose from that basement into an office in our corporate headquarters. Along the way, I learned a lot about what makes hotels great.
I also learned to recognize the mistakes we, and many hotel companies today, make.
I’ve never been one to play the corporate game of pretending that everything is great as long as the bottom line is. In 1997, I complained to our CEO that it felt like we were transitioning from being a company that operated hotels into one that simply sold hotel rooms.
Most people don’t understand that big hotel companies today don’t care much about how you experience their hotels. Good, bad, or indifferent the hotel company will receive their fees from the company, or people, who own and operate the property you stay at.
There are great hotels that carry well-known brand names. There are great hotels that don’t carry a big brand name. There are also bland and boring hotels in both groups too.
The difference is the people. The people who take care of you at the hotel and the people leading the business that runs the hotel.
The fun part?
Everyone who works in hospitality, and that includes hotels, can turn a guest’s stay into a memorable experience.
Here are three game-changing tips that don’t need a big budget to implement.
Recognition
A simple scroll down your Instagram feed will tell you that everybody wants to be recognized. Every person on the planet is an individual with their own wants, needs, wishes, and hopes. Recognizing that is guest service 101, but too many hotels have strayed into standardizing every interaction.
Why?
They don’t want to recognize you, they want you to recognize them.
Flip that script and you’re well on your way.
I love to tell the story of our stays at The River Inn Hotel in Washington, DC. We stayed there for a week in November for nine consecutive years. We originally chose the hotel for two reasons. It was affordable and within walking distance of the State Department where I attended meetings of the Overseas Security Advisory Council. We continued returning thanks to the recognition factor. The doorman recognized us from year two. The barman recognized us by year three. Our best experience however came on our very last visit. The front desk agent who checked us in couldn’t have been more than twelve when we had checked in the first time. Still, when I mentioned my name and he pulled up our reservation, he exclaimed: “Wow, this is the ninth year in a row you’ve stayed with us! Thank you for coming back!”
That was an impressive departure from the often-heard, “Is this your first visit to our hotel?”.
Recognition is a combination of well-trained, good people, who are also trained to use the technology that every property management system has to recognize returning regulars.
Take Problem-Solving Personally
Not every great hotel has a concierge, but every great hotel has staff who take charge of every guest enquiry. Some hotels have had the bright idea to replace the concierge with an iPad guests can use. It’s as if they don’t think every guest has a smartphone in their pocket and a tablet in their carry-on…
It’s insulting guest intelligence to offer an iPad when they ask for a dinner or entertainment recommendation. If a guest asks a staff member it’s because they want their recommendation, not Google’s
We arrived at the very simple Old Wheeler Hotel on the Oregon Coast after a long drive. According to Wikipedia, the population of Wheeler was 414 in 2010. We were there in 2012 so it could have been 417 or perhaps 412 during our visit.
Old Wheeler Hotel had museum-like antique furniture and fittings, but where museums would have “Do Not Touch” signs, at Old Wheeler guests were encouraged to make themselves at home. If you played the piano, you were welcome to serenade the guests just like Edvard Weyse in the TV series Seaside Hotel.
The town did not have a wide choice of restaurants. When we asked if they could recommend somewhere nearby, the front desk person was ecstatic. “You’re so lucky! It’s pasta night at 'The Rising Star’. I’ll book you a table, cause they close when they run out of food and on pasta night they always run out.”
The pasta with sauce created from the Rising Star’s garden was unbelievably delicious. We would have missed out if the person at the Old Wheeler had handed us an iPad even if she’d brought up OpenTable for us.
Teamwork
In many hotels, it’s every employee and every department for themselves. If you call the front desk to ask about extra towels or how to adjust the AC, they will redirect you to housekeeping or maintenance.
No need for the guest to call housekeeping or maintenance, the message will get there and the issue will be resolved.
In 2009, we stayed at the place that Travel & Leisure selected as the “World’s Best Resort”. Bushmanns Kloof is in South Africa but it doesn’t have many of the amenities other South African resorts have. The person who booked it for us said, “It’s in the middle of nowhere, there’s no beach, no big game, no real mountains. You’ll love it.”
It was so far out in the middle of nowhere that the resort advised us to have lunch in the nearest town, Clanwilliam, about 40 kms away. “Gas up your car and call us from there. There’s no phone coverage on the road. If you’re not here within an hour, we’ll come looking for you.”
We wondered how such an out-of-the-way place could be chosen as the world’s number one resort. Yes, it was a very luxurious resort, with top-of-the-line food and drink, and spa treatments that rejuvenated the most tired of bodies and souls.
But it was the teamwork that made the difference. Every staff member knew every guest’s name. They communicated quietly between themselves. When we went for sundowners the bartender had briefed the guide on some of the guest’s personal preferences. Wait staff in the restaurant knew where the guide had taken people and if there had been any exceptional experiences. It was all seamless, quiet perfection. When our three-day visit was over, our car was packed, washed, and ready when we emerged from reception after we settled our bill
.Before I sign off, let me end with a bonus tip that ties all this together.
Caring
Despite the way some corporations treat us, in our minds and in the experiences we most fondly remember, hospitality is most definitely not all about transactions.
It’s about caring. Caring about your profession and caring about how your actions make people feel.
Maya Angelou’s quote
“People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
Her words are more relevant for the hospitality industry today than perhaps at any time before.
Using technology to reduce transaction time is wonderful. Allowing empowered employees to provide exceptional experiences that make memorable moments and leave guests feeling fantastic is what will keep customers returning and it’s what will keep staff from leaving.
Hospitality. It’s about people. People who care.
Stay safe, Always Care
Thanks for reading our newsletter! It means a lot to me. I’m grateful and hope you’ll consider hitting the “like” and “share” buttons or adding a comment if you enjoyed this article.
All of my stories are personal, authentic, and unashamedly enhanced by imperfect memory and literary creativity.
I care so much about hotels and hospitality my wife and I wrote a book about it, Spin the Bottle Service - Hospitality in the Age of AI.
In addition to writing stories, I love to tell them.
As a multi-award-winning corporate leader in hospitality and global security, captivating keynotes, compelling coaching sessions, and edutaining, motivational workshops are all part of my repertoire.
Email me at paul@alwayscare.ca.
Thanks for being part of the Always Care Community!
I'm from the Pacific Northwest and I loved seeing your photos of the hotel and restaurant in Oregon. I'm not famiar with it, however.