It's a never-ending cycle. Well-trained and motivated hotel employees lead to satisfied customers. Those customers tend to become repeat visitors and even tell others, which leads to higher revenue for the hotel. And more profit can be shared with employees and be used to attract new ones. Some hotels perform the steps better than others, and that is what makes them successful. By the same token, an ineffective hotel organization can usually trace its failure back to a broken link in this cycle.

A Golden Hello

High-quality customer service at any hotel begins with employees. Hotel administration has the burden of finding the right people, training them and, above all, getting them to stay. Each bellhop, desk attendant, restaurant server, valet and housekeeper must be committed to making every guest' stay an enjoyable one. That can be a difficult task in a 302-room hotel, which is the challenge that faces the Sheraton Studio City in Orlando, Florida, each day.

"We go to great lengths to make sure we recruit and select associates that have the innate ability to take good care of our guests," says Kelly Smith, vice president of operations for Orlando-based Grand Theme Hotels, the company that owns the Sheraton Studio City. They then initiate all employees with a lengthy orientation process designed to ingrain in them the hotel' customer service philosophies. And to stay on course, associates are placed in a mentoring program under their direct managers to continue their development. "Customer service training is an ongoing process of the associates lives," explains Smith.

Atlanta-based Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, an organization known for its legendary commitment to guest service, also believes that it begins with employees. "We believe it' a process that helps people to become ladies and gentlemen," says Bob Warman, vice president of operations. Ritz-Carlton also sends new employees to an orientation, which is introduced by the property' general manager, to align them with the values of the organization. Departmental trainers then teach employees how to unite those values with the obligations of their particular jobs. Next, they are tested and certified. That should make them ladies and gentlemen, right? Not quite. Twenty-one days later, employees are sent to a second orientation, followed by daily lineups from that point on. Topics at daily lineups can include a review of company policies, a forecast of the upcoming day and procedures for continuous improvement.

After finding the right people, it is even more important to keep them, according to Greg Miller, chief operating officer of Alexandria, Virginia-based PM Hospitality Strategies (PMHS), which owns hotels under different flags in Maryland, Virginia and Delaware. "The time that is taken to indoctrinate somebody into the whole organization that already exists is imperative to whether or not they last," explains Miller. To help retain employees, PMHS uses the buddy system. A new employee' "buddy" helps familiarize him or her with the hotel' policies and gets paid each time that employee is able to successfully answer a brief quiz. Miller concludes, "We stress to them that service is the number one reason that we' in business."

Vickie Bradley, director of human resources for Wilson Hotel Management, echoes Miller' thoughts on training. "We address customer service as one of the most important things we do, if not the most important," she stresses. "People can get a bed anywhere; the service that they' getting brings them back."

How Do You Do?

Once a hotel hires the right people, trains them and puts them in contact with guests, what exactly do they do to exemplify management' idea of service? In the case of PMHS, they carry out a program dubbed HOST, or Honoring Outstanding Service Traditions. "It is important that our employees understand that hosting people at a hotel is not much different than hosting them at their home," says Miller. Instead of conjuring thoughts of Benson or Mr. Belvedere, however, Miller likes to think of a Cheers atmosphere in his hotels. "The whole philosophy of our organization aligns with ¯people want to go where everyone knows their names,1 so guest recognition is very important for us," he explains. "Those kinds of things matter."

One PMHS hotel keeps an index card of each guest because the property management system in use there does not provide adequate guest history, according to Miller. Each front desk agent is assigned a certain number of repeat guests, and that employee is required to maintain a record of his or her guest' personal preferences and to act upon them.

Ritz-Carlton defines service as a three-step process, the first step being a warm and sincere welcome. "No act of service can start without that," says Warman. "If it does, you' not really providing service; you' just performing a function for the guest." The second step is to anticipate and to comply with the wishes and needs of guests. And lastly, every guest must be given a fond farewell upon leaving.

Minding Other' Business

Competition is intense among hotels and among all businesses in all industries, for that matter. The free market system dictates that if development outweighs the accumulation and reinvestment of profits, then some businesses will suffer to bring the balance back to equilibrium. The powers that be at Ritz-Carlton heed this simple economic law and make sure that they remain among the elite in the business world. "We have benchmarked other companies in other industries at things that they do well," says Warman. The pioneering hotel corporation has drawn inspiration from Proctor & Gamble for the way it positions a new product into the marketplace and has emulated American Express on billing systems. Ritz Carlton has also taken ideas from IBM and Xerox, but Warman makes it clear that "from a standpoint of service and how it relates to employee relations, we1ve been the benchmark in that area."

Miller has no problem agreeing with that. "I am not operating a Ritz-Carlton. We are operating moderate-priced hotels," he clarifies. "That' probably the toughest segment to operate in right now, so it' all about doing the basics better."

At one of Miller' hotels each of the housekeeping sections and the lobby are named after employees, a strategy also employed by Wal-Mart Stores, where one might find a Randy aisle or a Julie section. That PMHS employee has opportunities to earn bonuses that are contingent on the appearance of his or her area. Miller describes, "This hotel takes personal pride in each section, and they have their employees often saying to people, ¯Hey, this is my section. What do you think?1" The employee then brings those comments back to the HOST committee.

Miller claims that it only makes sense to draw insight from outside of the hotel business. "If we only mirror our competition, we will also remind everybody of the competition," he says. "So we look for inspiration all the time outside the industry."

Above And Beyond

Occasionally, hotels and their employees are called upon to go outside of the realm of what is normally considered satisfactory guest service. A template is not provided for every situation that an employee may encounter during the course of a normal workday. A first-rate hotel is one that empowers its employees to take the steps necessary to ensure that guests are pleased beyond their expectations, and they will return if given the opportunity.

"At our Celebration Hotel, we routinely go to extremes to take care of our repeat customers," says Smith, referring to Grand Theme Hotel' property in Celebration, Florida. The hotel' concierge staff contacts each of these guests prior to their arrival to help plan a memorable stay in the Central Florida area. "Everything from dinner reservations, golf tee times, tickets for attractions, antique shop tours, etcetera is discussed with the guest," she details.

Miller tells a recent story of a letter he received from a man whose mother was staying at PMH' Fairfield Inn in Washington, D.C., on her 60th birthday. It seems the man had been in meetings and had forgotten to order flowers (who could imagine?). Because it was late, and he couldn1t find a florist shop in the area that would deliver at that time of night, he called the hotel' front desk looking for an idea. According to Miller, the woman at the desk reacted by saying, "Let me just get your information, and I1m going to take care of everything for you."

"Along with one other associate at the hotel, they went and purchased flowers, they purchased a nice vase, they got a card, they got candies," relates Miller. "They sent it to the room, they signed his name to it with a nice saying, and it was seamless for him."

Hotel employees don1t need to be superheroes, but from time to time they must save the day.

©2001 France Publications, Inc. Duplication or reproduction of this article not permitted without authorization from France Publications, Inc. For information on reprints of this article contact Barbara Sherer at (630) 554-6054.