Newsletter - February 7, 2002
MARRIOTT QUASHES
‘RITZ-CARLTON TO LAUNCH IN UK’ RUMOURS
Marriott International
has denied reports that it is on the verge of introducing its Ritz-Carlton
brand into the UK.
News appeared in later editions of this weekend’s The Business
which quoted Marriott’s president of international lodging Ed Fuller as
saying that Marriott had identified London, Glasgow and Manchester as
locations for the five-star Ritz Carlton.
But ‘identifying as a location’ is far removed from ‘planning to
open’. Marriott’s UK spokesperson said that ‘Finding a suitable site
is difficult. Marriott is on the look-out for properties but there really
isn’t anything around in the UK for Ritz-Carlton.’
THE WAY EVERY HOTEL OUGHT TO RUN
Turn Key Hotel Advisors Report
- Have you been on the road
lately? Why are most hotel experiences across the board these days
so poor? Mediocrity, it seems, rules the roost. But your hotel
can be an award winner with a few simple rules.
Everyone Has a Horror Story
It’s always interesting to get a conversation going with an
airline seat companion about their negative road warrior stories,
especially when it comes to hotels. “That’s nothing,” one
story might start, “Let me tell you about the time…” We all have
these horror stories and they stretch out across all different
brands: poor service, dirty guest rooms, lousy food, surly desk
clerks, rude waitresses, guaranteed reservations that weren’t honored
Not
long ago on the Internet, Doubletree hotels took a beating as a result of
a cleverly and hilariously contrived, seventeen-slide PowerPoint
presentation made by two disgruntled guests who were apparently refused
rooms at 2:00 a.m. one November morning in Houston Texas. “Yours
is a Very Bad Hotel,” the presentation started, “A graphic
presentation prepared for…” with the names of the general manager and
front office managers adorning the headlining slide. It seems two
traveling companions were as incensed about a rude and unapologetic desk
clerk as they were about arriving to find their guaranteed reservations
would not be honored. “Most of our guests don’t arrive at 2
o’clock in the morning,” the desk clerk is quoted in one slide.
“I have nothing to apologize to you for,” it continues, denoting the
quote from Mike the Night Clerk, “explaining why we were wrong to be
upset that our ‘guaranteed’ rooms weren’t saved for us.”
A
Hotel is a Feeling
At
the root of the Doubletree guest complaint was a lack of understanding on
the part of Mike the Night Clerk that a hotel is a feeling. Yes, a
hotel is bricks and mortar, bacon and eggs, and beds and TVs, but at the
end of the day, its what a customer has in their gut and how they feel
about their hotel stay when they walk out the door. The word
“hospitality” is from the Greek root “hospis,” which means to cure
or care for. And to a large extent, what we care for in a hotel,
aside from providing the basic need of secure shelter, are people’s
feelings and egos. Which brings us to rule number one:
Rule
Number One: Hire People Who Inherently Give a Damn
Hire
people who care about people. There are dozens of screening tools to
find out which ones that walk into your employment office truly do, but
perhaps the best way is to ask them to give you real examples of how and
when they have helped other people. Don’t ask questions in the
hypothetical sense. Ask them in the past tense: “Site an example
of a time when you went out of your way to help a fellow human being.”
It doesn’t matter whether their answer is work related or not, but if
they’ve been in the hospitality business before, they should be quick to
point out instances when they felt good for having made a customer feel
good. And that’s the real root of good hospitality: making people
feel welcomed and special. If Mike had been that sort of Night
Clerk, he would have been horrified that two obviously tired, weary
travelers were arriving on his watch without a place for him to
accommodate them, and he would have been profusely apologetic.
That’s rule number two:
Rule
Number Two: “I’m Sorry. Please Forgive Me.”
When
mistakes occur, own up to them and be quick to offer an apology. The
quickest way to diffuse angry emotions is to ask for forgiveness. Mike
should have told his weary travelers, “Look, I’m really sorry about
this. I messed up and sold your rooms to someone else because I
honestly didn’t think you were going to show up. Please forgive
me.” Had he done this, it is doubtful these angry customers would have
spent all that energy in expressing their anger to a receptive Internet
audience. When you apologize to someone and ask for forgiveness, you
automatically evoke a process of giving an angry customer the means to
find a healthy channel for this emotional energy. Anger and
forgiveness cannot coexist.
Rule
Number Three: Fifty Percent of Your Job is to Smile and Be Friendly
Being
hospitable means showing hospitality, and you simply cannot do that with a
frown. People in the hotel business who aren’t quick to smile at
others shouldn’t be in this business and that includes general managers,
by the way. We see so many deadpan faces in the course of a travel
day that we take special notice of the ones who give us a warm, friendly
smile. This rule of hospitality has almost become the exception.
Look for attributes of friendliness in interviewing potential hotel
workers. After you hire the friendliest people who come through your
doors, help them understand that making people feel better about the day
with a smile is a large part, indeed, the main part of their job.
Along this very line is Rule Number Four:
Rule
Number Four: Give a Warm and Sincere Welcome
The
right way to greet a customer arriving at the front desk isn’t to say,
“Checking in?” The right way to greet a customer standing at the
front door of a restaurant isn’t, “Smoking or non?” Can you
imagine greeting a guest you’ve invited to your home at the door with a
deadpan look and the words, “Staying for dinner?” Of course not!
And neither should your staff be greeting customers this way. Stress
the importance of this by greeting your staff this way, too.
And when your customers depart, follow suit with Rule Number Five:
Rule
Number Five: Express Appreciation and say, “Thanks for Your
Business!”
After
a three-day hotel stay, I stopped by the front desk at four o’clock one
morning in advance of a forty-minute drive to get to a 5:50 a.m. flight
out of Washington Reagan Airport. I was greeted by a
don’t-bother-me-I’m-working-right-now night clerk, who just might have
been Mike’s cousin, with the delightfully warm salutation, “Checking
out?” I replied in the affirmative. “Well, did you get a bill under
your door?” she asked. I acknowledged in the affirmative, again.
“Then, you’re free to go,” she dismissed.
Wait
a minute! Free to go? Did I just spend enough of my client’s
money at this hotel to pay this desk clerk’s monthly rent or was I
exonerated by a member of the judiciary and released from a bailiff’s
custody? How about, “Thank you for your business, sir. Next
time you’re in the Washington area, I hope you’ll come back and stay
with us again.”
Being
expressed appreciation for our business is getting rare these days, and so
one of my favorite places to eat breakfast near my office isn’t a power
restaurant and won’t ever be in danger of losing its third Michelin
star. But I love the way the owner-cashier always says to me,
“Thanks, hon. You have a good day, and come back, now.”
Rule
Number Six: Everyone Works in Housekeeping
Sit
down in a hotel lobby sometime (to the extent that hotels even have
lobbies anymore) and spot a piece of paper on the floor. Don’t
worry, you’ll find one. Now, have some fun and count the
number of employees that walk past it. If you sit there long enough,
you’ll eventually spot the lobby attendant sweep it up and therein lays
a problem with many hotels: Employees are made to assume their
responsibilities begin and end with their job descriptions. “Never
walk by a piece of trash without picking it up,” ought to be one of your
axioms that you repeat to your employees over and over. A spotlessly
clean hotel is the only one that will pass muster with discerning
customers these days and cleanliness is everyone’s responsibility.
Don’t mistake the example you set when you walk by that piece of trash
in the lobby, either.
Rule
Number Seven: We’ve Got Questions. Have Answers.
The
kind of questions customers will ask your Front Desk have all been asked
before. “I’m driving to you from the airport. How do I get
to your hotel?” “What room is our meeting being held in?”
“What time does your restaurant open for breakfast?”
Have answers to these questions. Make sure all
employees have access to your hotel’s meeting schedule sheet and take
the time to look up the answer. Create an Answer Book at the Front
Desk with answers to the most frequently asked questions. Provide a
printout of directions from your hotel to the most common landmarks,
including the airport, nearby restaurants, movie theaters and shopping
venues. Don’t allow “I don’t know” to be an option at your
front desk. More importantly, don’t allow “I don’t care” to
be expressed as an attitude.
About Turn Key Hotel Advisors:
Turn
Key Hotel Advisors is a Dallas based consulting group with roots in hotel
management and operations. It offers consulting services and
essential business tools for all aspects of hotel operations, lodging
asset management, hotel product repositioning, and re-branding. The Dallas
group is experienced in hotel operations, revenue management, market
positioning and profit engineering.
Specializing in
diagnostics of under-performing assets, Turn Key Hotel Advisors will
quickly and accurately assess a hotel's competitive environment and
strategic positioning. Their consultants then provide action plans
for both owner and manager that will improve the hotel's RevPAR yield,
increasing revenue and drive both profitability and owner cash return.
Turn Key Hotel Advisors guarantees their results.
Website:
http://www.turnkeyhoteladvisors.com/
JUERGEN BARTELS, CEO, LE MERIDIEN HOTELS, HAS
'COOL STRATEGY FOR ROMANCING THE TRAVEL INDUSTRY,' SAYS TRAVEL INDUSTRY
EXPERT
Business Wire - At a press conference at Le
Meridien at Beverly Hills, Juergen Bartels, CEO of Le Meridien Hotels,
explained what travel industry expert, Stephanie Abrams, refers to as,
"his Cool Strategy for romancing the travel industry. All great
projects are based on simple truths," Abrams states," and
Bartels has focused clearly on the key: show travel agents and their
clients that Le Meridien loves them and cultivate that relationship so
that they love Le Meridien too! When a mission is so clearly stated, every
action, activity, program and service becomes clearly focused on attaining
the goal," Abrams notes.
"Cool" is now the name of the game for Le Meridien Hotels
which points to its French heritage for its elegance, charm and "joie
de vivre." Bartels continues to implement his "Art and
Tech" rooms worldwide, providing living and sleeping areas complete
with in-room workstations for the tech-savvy traveler with data ports,
voicemail, cordless phones, fax, and enough work space area with built in
conference/dining table, 42" plasma screens built into in-room
entertainment centers, and "the kind of art you really want to see on
the walls of your room!" Abrams adds.
Bartels explained that making the truly personal
connection with the travel agency community and with their valued clients
is a major commitment on the part of every Le Meridien Hotel employee
throughout the organization. The focus of every staff member is wrapped
around the French phrase, "Oui, Avec plaisir." Abrams notes
that," once again the simplicity of the concept of reacting to every
travel agent need and every guest request is part of the gracious French
hospitality one can expect, 'with pleasure.' "
Abrams, attending the meeting on behalf of The Travel Authority and the
CMA consortium of over 2000 travel agencies, expressed enthusiasm to
Bartels for his not just agent-friendly, but agent-supportive programs
including the newest travel agent programs called Le Guest Book. Travel
agents can learn more about Le Guest Book at the chain's website.
www.lemeridien.com.
"Bartels has opened a door which allows a fresh breeze to blow
through," Abrams explains. "He has focused on the essence of
success and growth by aggressively bringing Le Meridien product to a new
level into the world of 'cool boutique,' by training its global team to
internalize the concept of service from the heart and' with pleasure,' and
by understanding and supporting the travel agency community. While we know
that Le Meridien staffers soon will be sporting lapel buttons that say,'
Oui, Avec Plaisir,' I predict it won't be long before travel agents are
wearing buttons that say, 'J'aime Le Meridien!" Abrams concludes.
UPDATED HOTEL STANDARDS PLANNED FOR RUSSIA
The Moscow Times - The number of stars on a hotel's brochure will mean a lot
more about the quality of service a guest can expect when a planned system
of federal standards is introduced later this year, according to Vladimir
Strzhalkovsky, the deputy economic development and trade minister.
"If people book into a certain hotel, then they must
understand what they are getting," said Strzhalkovsky, who oversees
the country's tourism sector.
The Economic Development and Trade Ministry is planning to
fundamentally revise the national classification system, using European
standards as a basis, Strzhalkovsky said.
Every hotel in the country will be reevaluated, he said.
The ministry is expected to present its plan this fall in
the form of amendments to existing hotel legislation, said Natela
Shengelia, head of the ministry's tourism department.
The Economic Development and Trade Ministry is proposing to
take complete control of the ratings process.
Strzhalkovsky said that elsewhere in the world, ratings are
usually issued by "high-profile" ministries.
Right now, the State Standards Committee, or Gosstandard,
is responsible for deciding the number of stars each hotel merits, he
said. However, Gosstandard's standard is out of step with contemporary
international standards, Interfax quoted Strzhalkovsky as saying.
As a result, Russian three- and four-star hotels have
little in common with hotels of the same rank in the West, he added.
This discrepancy has led to cases of foreign tourists
complaining to tour operators about their failure to fulfill the terms of
their contract.
"For example, the National hotel is a five-star hotel,
but then ... Gosstandard goes and gives five stars to another hotel that
is really a three-star hotel," Shengelia said.
"Then foreign clients come and say, 'What kind of
five-star is this?' and this damages the prestige of the industry,"
she added.
In Moscow, the Marriott-Tverskaya and the Ukraina are both
rated four-star hotels, although their standards of service are completely
different.
The ministry is "trying to resolve a number of
problems we inherited [from Soviet times] and bring [standards] up to
normal, civilized levels," Strzhalkovsky said.
"The hotel industry itself is saying: 'Let's have a
normal rating system and turn it over to a ministry that is in charge [of
tourism]; then we can work together to control it,'" Shengelia said.
Eighty-two percent of hotels in Russia have no rating,
including some international-standard hotels that have not been rated,
said Marina Smirnova, spokeswoman for the University of the Hotel, Tourism
and Restaurant Business, the Vedomosti newspaper reported.
There are also new types of hotels to be classified,
including private guesthouses and those built in a recent wave of
construction.
"Because of gaps in the law, nearly all of them are
operating without paying tax and treat their guests as if they are
relatives or friends," Strzhalkovsky said.
Helene Lloyd, marketing director of Tourism, Marketing
& Intelligence in Moscow, hailed the ministry's move toward adopting a
European standard of hotel ratings.
"If they want to bring Russia up to international
standards, they have to have an international standard for hotels,"
she said.
She said the rating would help to create a positive image
of Russia and put an end to the dashed expectations caused by hotels that
do not live up to their rating.
"If your hotel is bad, it can destroy your whole
stay," she said.
The revision of hotel ratings would also act as an
incentive for hotels to raise their standards. Many of Russia's older
hotel buildings have great potential but they need to get rid of their
Soviet-style management practices, Lloyd said.
Scott Antel, partner with Andersen Legal and head of the
division that monitors the Russian hotel sector, said that adopting
objective standards for issuing stars to hotels would be a good start.
"You will know the product you are getting," he
said in a telephone interview.
Although the local industry has made great strides since
Soviet times, few hotels met the standards of hotels with a similar rating
in cities such as London or Paris, he said.
An objective star system would help, but it would not alone
create the charm and ambience that a great hotel needs, he added.
FIRST ANNUAL LATIN CULINARY & BEVERAGE AWARDS
The 1st Annual Latin
Culinary & Beverage Awards are scheduled to be held on Saturday,
August 24, 2002, at 4:00pm in the Grand Ballroom of the Westin Century
Plaza Hotel & Spa, in Los Angeles, California USA.
This black-tie event was created to
honor and recognize the important contributions of Latin origin men and
women who have brought their countries food and beverage products into the
mainstream of our day-to-day lives. Hosted by an internationally known
Latin superstar, the event will feature famous Latinos from the
entertainment, political, culinary, beverage and hospitality industry
ranks presenting the Sabor Awards â to Latin chefs, and other
culinary and beverage professionals who have set a standard of excellence
and creativity in the field. This
gala affair will feature a Pre-Press Conference, Cocktail Reception, and
Formal Dinner along with the Award Ceremony.
There will be three categories of Awards: Chef,
Beverage, and Merit:
Chef Awards,
consisting of Executive Chef, Pastry Chef, Sous Chef, and Chef of the
Year, will be presented to Latin Chefs from Mexico, Central and South
America, the Caribbean, Spain, Portugal, and the United States.
Beverage Awards
will be presented to Latin Producers in the following categories: Wine,
Beer, Coffee, Liquor, Tropical Juices and Coffee Liqueur. The products
will be required to be Latin by nature and produced by companies, which
are Latin owned and operated.
Merit Awards
will be presented in the following categories: Latin Male & Female
Executive of the Year, Latin Family Manufacturer of the Year, Latin
Corporation Manufacturer of the Year, Latin Beverage Producer of the Year,
Latin Male & Female Food & Beverage Director of the Year, Best
Latin Cookbook of the Year, Best Latin Restaurant of the Year in each of
the following regions within the United States: Northeast, Mid-Atlantic,
Southwest, Midwest, Southeast, and Northwest, Latin Male & Female
Entrepreneur of the Year (Restaurant Owner), and Lifetime Achievement.
The L.C.B.A. Judging Panel
will select and nominate the winners. The L.C.B.A. Judging Panel is
composed of the following world-acclaimed Executive Chef’s, culinary and
hospitality professionals: Gustavo Vega, Marriott Disney Studio, Felix
Salcedo, Sonora Café and El Cholo, Adolfo Gomez de la Torre, Lucille’s
Bar-B-Q Steakhouse, Michael Weisberg, restaurant consulting and cookbook
publicity, Robert P. Irvine, Caesars Atlantic City, Laura Diaz, Chef of
the U’LaLa!! Cooking show, Walter Cotta, Alegria Latina Cocina, Xiomara
Ardolina, Xiomara Restaurant, Christian Rassinoux, Ritz-Carlton Hotel
& Resort, Michael Ebert, Coffee Masters, Priscila Satkoff, ¡Salpicon!,
Luis Diaz and Rene’ Mata, Chinois on Main, Alex Garcia, Calle Ocho and
Babalu, Geno Bahena, Ixcapuzalco and Chilpancingo, Richard Sandoval, Maya,
Richard Kaupp, Asia de Cuba, Johnny Hernandez, CEO, Otra Beer Company, and
Andreas Nieto, Century Plaza Hotel & Spa who will also serve as the
Awards Host Chef.
Our Honorary Committee Members
who are lending their support consist of: Ambassador René A. Leon of El
Salvador, Ambassador Leila T. Rachid Lichi of Paraguay, Ambassador Javier
Ruperez of Spain, Ambassador Joao da Rocha Paris of Portugal, Ambassador
Juan Jose Bremer of Mexico, Juan Andrade, President & Executive
Director of the United States Hispanic Leadership Institute, Enrique
“Rick” Dovalina, National President, League of Untied Latin American
Citizens, Anna Escobedo Cabral, President & CEO, Hispanic Association
on Corporate Responsibility, Maria Contreras-Sweet, Secretary of Business,
Transportation & Housing for the State of California and Melinda
Guzman, President of the California Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
A culinary Scholarship Fund Program
will be established to provide financial assistance to deserving Latino
origin individuals demonstrating the qualities, characteristics and traits
in fulfilling a world-class culinary career.
For further information, visit the
website at:
http://www.LATINCBA.com
MARRIOTT SEEKS BUSINESS PARTNERS IN BRAZIL
American hotel management company Marriott
International, one of the biggest in the world in the sector, is looking
for partners in order to expand its business in Brazil. By the end of
2003, th ecompany will invest R$ 220 million in three new hotels, two in
Sao Paulo, under the brand names Marriott and JW Mariott, and another in
Salvador, under the name Ramada.
Construction of the three undertakings will begin in
2002 and 2003 and wil bring to seven the number of hotels under
administration of the group. Marriott International, which generated
revenues of US$ 19.7 billion last year, is specialized in administrating
hotels built by third parties. When it builds its own undertakings, it is
with the objective of selling them in the future, keeping only the
administration. Brazil is constidered by the group as a promising mrket
for new investments. If it finds new partners, Marriott could launch other
marques in Brazil.
- Gazeta Mercantil
KENYA UTALII COLLEGE TO HOST 35TH EUHOFA
CONGRESS
As part of the rapidly growing global recognition credited
with Kenya Utalii College, it has been honoured, to host the 35th EUHOFA
(Intl. Association of Hotel Schools)
Congress . A top notch consideration for the widely coveted
congress, will be to address today's trendy technological opportunities,
which are regarded as sensitive, in hotel operations. Arguably, this will
hold out great promise for industry players in the future, and strongly
position Africa hospitality sector to tap the lucrative international
market shared
Kenya Utalii College (KUC) will bring
together the global hospitality industry, for the first time ever on the
African soil, when it hosts the 35th edition of EUHOFA, from August 10 all
through to the 18.
Africa-based
hoteliers will gain a global clout by meeting leading industry delegates,
from a cross the world.
Congress Theme
The
well preferred ''Transfer of Hotel and Tourism Technology from developed
to developing countries," will continue to influence the competitive
industry, well into the 21st century. In essence, technology is rapidly
becoming an industrial prerequisite, since those who embrace market
advances, will vastly enhance their hospitality capabilities. On this
decisive front, technological break through will facilitate all round
leading commercial applications, for the guest's benefit.
Hospitality in AFRICA
In keeping with its promises to achieve and maintain acceptable industry
levels, the congress will draw together Principles and Directors of
tourism and hotel institutions, worldwide.
In
a nutshell, technology may be defined as the innovative application of
human resources coupled with tools and machines to spearhead efficient
productivity. The need for and importance of up market technological
utilization, in the hospitality sector, is viewed as a vital link to
forward planning hoteliers. The implementation of an aggressive pricing
strategy is a case in point.
From
a practical standpoint, the effect of available technological expertise,
for instance, is well demonstrated in food preparation a cross hotel
kitchens. To this end, a lead factor is one which is capable of cutting
down on labour.
Event's Timing
The
EUHOFA Congress has gained an unsurpassed reputation for enhancing
reputable industry standards, by drawing delegates together, on an annual
basis. This year's event as mentioned earlier, has been scheduled to take
place in August, which rightly reflects the traditional congress hosting
months of August and September.
An
interesting feature of this year's congress is that it closely relates to
the animal migration patterns, for which the Maasai Mara Game sanctuary is
widely acclaimed.
Moreover,
the congress will be favourably held at a crucial period for the local
industry.
Conventionally,
the invited delegates who reflect an impressive list of industry decision
makers globally, will have an undeniable opportunity to sample what Kenya
offers the world. By all accounts, marketing the local industry abroad
will be of utmost importance.
That
notwithstanding, is an industry lifeline, and one which will be a top
priority, for the recently established Kenya Tourism Board (KTB).
During
the nine-day event four stimulating and informative speeches will be
delivered. These will give insights based on the theme of the congress.
The key four will encompass the following:
The hospitality industry in the Technology Age.
- Strategies and opportunities for effective transfer of technology to
developing countries through education and training.
- Strategies and opportunities for effective transfer of technology to
developing countries through faculty and students exchange programmes
amongst hospitality training institutions, and through
industry-institutional cooperation.
- Social economic and cultural consideration in the transfer of technology
EUHOFA
website: http://www.euhofa.org
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