Year end summaries are marvelous, allowing pundits to espouse their expertise and awe within their industry nooks and crannies. They analyze tirelessly, they assess vigorously. They note laboriously the trends, the winners and the losers. But, the big Hospitality secret is nothing really changed and has not changed dramatically since HO JO's and Holiday Inn represented the Hospitality landscape.
Everything is still homogenized, service is still faulty and uneven, the product undergoes mutations and even 'wars', but still is mediocre. And, sadly, the poor Consumer sucks it up, pleased to have a bed, a tepid meal and perhaps a blink from the Front Desk. Who is kidding whom. We have made very little progress, and market events are further constricting our opportunity to excel as an Industry, something we are loathe to undertake.
This is not a total denunciation of the industry, for many companies have made great strides in their march to Remarkable Hospitality. However, the majority have perpetuated the status quo, neither embracing the realities nor the actions to advantage change. We use our publicists and trade organizations to herald our advancements, but they pale in comparison to what needs to be 'right-sized'.
Reader Comments:
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Reanalysize and reengineering of our mind to proactive
Past is only can referral for future. How we tune correct way. 2008-01-22 Honey Thazin Aung |
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Preach it, brother! Preach it!
J.R. has nailed it. As a longtime hospitality pro I have said many of these same things perhaps 10,000 times in some form or another over the past 10 years. It comes down to this: the only way a business can truly distinguish itself is through service. Simple to say. Difficult to do. A restaurant or hotel can slap on a new coat of paint, have its lobby colors "done" to convey warmth, or hold yet another mandatory "through the eyes of the guest" staff training with those firecrackers down in HR, upgrade its mini bars with Madagascar Vanilla Coffee, etc. The truth is if we don't collectively pull our heads out of our butts (are you listening VPs, GMs ?) as it pertains to hiring and more importantly, retaining our front line in-the-trenches service professionals who possess a genuine desire to be in service, otherwise all these upgrades and plasma TVs, and Bolivian tapas are reduced to mere window dressing draped over altars of mediocrity. Anyone with a decent track record and enough years under his or her belt will tell you (if you'll listen, that is) that for every one comment card you recieve lauding the virtues of your towels, you will have 10 that name an actual human being who found some small way to wow a guest. Wake up execs and try to remember why you ever got in this business in the first place. Was it to hold meetings that feature spreadsheets? Have you looked at your staff's faces lately? How many are texting under the table? How many are just nodding during a gap in your droning? Think back to when you were part of the big turn in the ballroom, or that massive room turn when GM check out and AT&T was right behind them and everyone from F&B to Valet to Engineering was rowing in the same direction to get it done. Try to pinpoint exactly when you became a bonus hound and then calculate the real cost of the big sell-out (turnover, theft, disinterested staff, luke warm comment cards, a management team with resumes floating in the wind like snowflakes just waiting for a chance to escape the grind that has been created throughout this industry.) But we can change it if we just stop and realize that a smile, a positive word, a pat on the back (instead of an e-mail), maybe a beer and a chat with that new guy may go a lot farther than you think. Does anyone out there remember the last time an Exec related a funny story about some battle that they fought long ago? or perhaps put an arm around your shoulder (is that legal?) to let you know that your back-to-back double shift is much appreciated? This is a people business, so let's try acting like people. Let's invest more time into our people and their professional development and less on the trail mix in the mini bar. 2008-01-07 Franco D\'Amico |
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