Budget Your Time and Be More Successful

by Kirby D. Payne, CHA , January, 1999

Kirby D. Payne, CHA is President of Minneapolis based American Hospitality Management Company, a growing hotel investment, management and consulting firm. Payne is also Secretary Elect of the American Hotel & Motel Association, and Chair of the AH&MA's International Council of Hotel-Hotel Management Companies. Additional articles can be found on the internet at www.American-Hospitality.com.

One of our company's most valuable assets is its general managers and their time. A certain amount of structure is necessary in the typical business day of a general manager.

While the circumstances of every hotel are different due to size, level of service, number of departments, etc., and therefore one daily schedule does not work everywhere, we do outline a basic schedule as a starting point for general manager to develop his/her own schedule.

We feel it is important for a general manager to make and keep lists in an organized fashion. A number of Post-it notes and numerous separated sheets of paper will not work. It must be a notebook, pad or Scan Card System.

The suggested schedule outlined below is designed to keep the general manager focused on various tasks and minimize interruptions. While this schedule will not work for everyone and certainly won't convert a disorganized scatterbrained person into a model for a time management class, it will serve as a workable, beginning structure for many. It is based on dividing the day into quarters.

First Quarter

During this period the first thing to be accomplished should be a walk around the hotel to insure the day is starting smoothly with proper staffing, morning operations are well underway and that the hotel is presentable to guests who are coming from their rooms or into the hotel for various events.

Following that walking inspection, the general manager should stop by the front office to become familiar with the previous night's occupancy, front office log and the expected departures and arrivals situation for the next day or two. Subsequently he/she should collect the various reports prepared overnight and retire to the office to complete the various daily reporting and administrative chores required.

During this period interruptions should be kept to a minimum, no appointments should be scheduled and receiving telephone calls should be avoided. They can be returned later. This is a good time for the general manager to work on any tasks that he/she does not particularly like to do. Following this schedule during the first portion of the day should result in the hotel getting of to a good start and the general manager completing most of the required administrative and mundane tasks early in the day.

Second Quarter

This period of time which runs to or through lunch should be used for inspecting and training. It is a good time to walk various parts of the hotel again to see what has been accomplished and how well it was done.

Stop and visit with supervisors and line staff in order to be familiar with them and their current challenges. It may be a good idea to set up one or more brief meetings to discuss problems / solutions or to work one-on-one training key people.

Right at noon return telephone calls which were received earlier from people whom you do not particularly want or need to talk to in your time zone.

Overall, this fourth is when the general manager gets around the hotel to do many of the hands on things it takes to successfully manage a hotel and interacts with the staff.

Third Quarter

This period typically falls in the first half of the afternoon. This time might be used as marketing time outside the hotel, longer staff and training meetings, and various other tasks. This time is less structured and can be used to make and receive telephone calls, etc.

Last Quarter

This time segment should include finishing up any projects which need to be completed and various items from the previous fourth of the day. The time should also be used to tour the hotel ad make inquiries as to its preparedness for the evening's business and the appearance of the property. This is also the time where the general manager should review notes and lists made during the day, cross off items accomplished, follow up on critical complete items and add items for the future. It may also be used to pick up the telephone and check with
subordinates about their own lists.

General Comments

We believe general managers should vary their arrival and departure times and should approach the hotel from different directions and enter through different doors. He/she should park the car in different places around the hotel's property and even on adjacent streets occasionally. The reasons will become self evident in a short time.

General managers need to help their staff manage their time in an efficient way. Over time we have found that strong time management skills have the biggest effect on a hotel's success.

The general manager should set the example on good time management and efficient work habits so that the key staff also learns to remain focused on the various tasks, projects and goals they are working on rather than jumping from one issue to another without ever competing one.

Choosing a Long Distance Carrier

by Kirby D. Payne, CHA,

Well, I finally did it! After a lifetime of using AT&T and its predecessors for long distance service I finally switched our hotels and corporate office to a competitor. Our General Managers and a few of my business associates who were well aware of my AT&T loyalty have expressed shock.

First a little background. Back when they busted up the Bell System I was responsible for buying long distance for 18 hotels. I was forced by my boss to look at over a dozen long distance carriers. Among these were little MCI and Sprint in addition to long distance companies owned by IBM and other major and minor companies. At the time most were buying in bulk from AT&T and reselling service. Set up times (the time it took operators to come on line or calls to actually start ringing at the dialed number) were horrendous because calls were being switched back and forth across the country. Because equal access was not yet the available standard, smart switches and dialers were necessary to make the process work.

Service was also unreliable from some of these companies. Some of the pricing was unbelievable. Equally unbelievable were the horror stories one heard about operator charges. Clearly in those days I painted all the non-AT&T carriers with the same brush.

Things have changed in those dozen years. MCI and Sprint are legitimate players in the long distance arena. Sprint, by way of its Sprint Hospitality, has worked hard to compete with AT&T for the hotel market. There are still hundreds of companies out there soliciting business.

For the last six years we have bought all our AT&T long distance through aggregators or the franchisors because our size was not sufficient to get satisfactory pricing on our own. We also bought our O+ (operator) service through a telephone management company where we were paid commissions from AT&T at rates equal to or better than we could have received on our own.

Last year we were called directly by a representative of AT&T who seemed to have been assigned the job of soliciting management companies. I thought this would be a great opportunity to get out from under an aggregator and start buying service directly under one umbrella at equal or better prices. The bottom line was that this AT&T representative was preaching to the choir! All that had to be done was match my current pricing and let us deal directly with AT&T.

Unfortunately this representative didn't understand management companies, couldn't quote pricing in an understandable and measurable way and didn't return calls. He also had not bothered to research our company to see what carriers we were currently using and what hotels we had, all of which is pretty public. In other words AT&T began to spoil a reasonably good relationship. About the same time we became aware of plans being offered by the franchisors for 1 + (direct dial) service which had lower pricing than we were paying. When we discussed this with our AT&T aggregator we were told that we were being switched to a lower tariff also. Then the delays and excuses started. From month to month we watched as we lost the spread between the two rates.

Looking At Options In April I attended the American Hotel & Motel Association convention in Atlanta. While touring the trade show looking for better pay-phones than those offered by the local telephone companies (LECS) I stopped at Sprint's booth to ask what they had. At the time they weren't offering anything which applied to my circumstances, but I had a nice visit with their Vice President of Marketing for Sprint Hospitality.

His sales approach was low key. When he heard I was a loyal AT&T customer he simply asked that I keep Sprint in mind if I ever considered changing carriers. I asked what chains he had exclusive or preferred relationships with. He mentioned several, one of which was TraveLodge. I then moved on to look at pay-phones at Northern Telecom's booth. They had a nice pay-phone that I was interested in but it wasn't available to our company in all locations.

As I left the exhibit hall a little frustrated about pay-phones I ran into Joseph A. McInerney, CHA, President and CEO of Forte Hotels, Inc., the parent company to TraveLodge. I stopped to chat with him a few moments about his experience with Sprint. Joe's response was very favorable. Joe may have over 470 hotels and appear too busy for getting involved with this level of decision, but he's also the kind of person that wouldn't make a long distance decision affecting both guest satisfaction and profitability lightly. His recommendation had a lot of impact on me.

After my return from Atlanta things got a little more interesting. Apparently Sprint Hospitality had retained a new representative for the Upper Midwest and she called our company.

In the course of that meeting I mentioned my discussions in Atlanta and she asked if we would provide information sufficient for Sprint to prepare a proposal for all of our long distance services. The end result was that a proposal was presented for everything except pay-phones but she gave us a referral to a St. Paul company for that.

I had also called Northern Telecom to pursue the advanced pay-phones I was interested in. Again, they couldn't meet my needs directly and asked what long distance carriers and LECs we were with.

During the conversation I mentioned we were considering using Sprint Hospitality. The gentleman paused and said he'd get back to me. Shortly he called and said that they were meeting with Sprint's new pay-phone division in a few weeks. That, of course, was the first I'd heard of that division of Sprint. Remember Sprint Hospitality was even giving out independent pay-phone providers as solutions to my desire to change and hadn't heard of it either.

About two weeks later a representative of Sprint's pay-phone group in Orlando called to discuss my needs. The man said they had to start somewhere and would be glad to meet me at our Boynton Beach Holiday Inn Express to do the necessary site survey and sign contracts for all our pay-phone needs.

By this point we had decided to go ahead on the pre-paid long distance phone cards. Before finalizing the plan we wanted to decide on the long distance issue, which by this time we were seriously considering.

There were a lot of issues to evaluate. The 1+ decision was rather straight forward. Sprint Hospitality's offer would save us 10% - 15% company wide on long distance costs even after AT&T's aggregator lowered their rate, if they ever got around to it. The real decision was O+ services and commissions.

AT&T pays a commission on O+ based on each call or message. A message is any call carried over AT&T charged to AT&T's calling cards, a LEC's card, collect or any other billing method they may accept. They don't pay on calls dialed around to other carriers. The message rate ranges from $0.15 to nearly $0.50 depending on the program you are in and the term of your contract. They won't make a deal with you if you are not using them for 1 +.

AT&T claims to have 60% to 80% of the calling cards in the country. Clearly they have the majority of the cards carried by business travelers. I understand AT&T to also say that the dial around rate when they are not the selected O+ carrier to be very high, possibly 50% plus or minus 10%. This means that if one has not designated AT&T as the O+ carrier a very significant number of calls are not commissionable. Sprint Hospitality agrees that the dial around when AT&T is not the O+ provider is higher than it would otherwise be. Sprint Hospitality's commission program is different than AT&T's in that they pay a message rate of their proprietary calling cards which is lower than AT&T's. However, in addition to that, they pay a percentage of the revenue on all other O+ calls (as opposed to a flat amount per call) except those billed to a proprietary card of a competitor.

Lack of Interest

We stopped at this point and solicited some additional information from an AT&T representative based out of Atlanta. This representative answered the question by promptly faxing us a O+ contract and graciously answering a few follow-up questions. We had clearly informed this person why we were calling. Surprisingly, when we didn't fax back a signed contract or call again, AT&T did not follow-up.

The net result is that Sprint Hospitality offered us lower commission rates on their proprietary card of which there are relatively few compared to AT&T, but they offered us more on all other calls that did not get dialed around. We were never able to figure out if the net result would be more or less commission from this source of revenue. Even if we lose half our revenue from this source it is relatively insignificant compared to the savings we expect to realize on our 1 + service.

We are most concerned about guest satisfaction. Are our guests AT&T proprietary calling card users? We don't know and have no way of finding out unless we do some kind of consumer survey or focus groups! Dial around rates are not a great indicator because, for instance, I always dialed around to AT&T even when I used my home LEC card which will work on any long distance carrier simply because I preferred AT&T and didn't want to expose myself to higher rates.

We did decide that the AT&T proprietary calling card user is probably no dummy as a regular traveler. They probably run into all the fly by night O+ pay-phones scattered across the country and are well aware of how to dial around using AT&T's 10+ATT+O (102880) and 800-321-0288. It is, after all, plastered all over the calling card itself!

Our concern then became one of insuring that our guests who wanted to use AT&T (or MCI and other carriers) could reach them easily. Sprint Hospitality offers a no cost option of their operators transferring callers to AT&T on request. We made sure that feature was written into our final contract preceded by the words, "Prompt and courteous." We are also redoing our informational tent cards adjacent to the telephones in all our guest rooms to insure that they are clear in their dial around instructions. Our Sprint Hospitality contract also clearly states that the O+ rates will not exceed AT&T's rates including time of day and other discounts. This was done to protect our guests from excessive charges.

In the end, we signed a three year Sprint Hospitality contract. We felt we would save money on our 1 + and would come out about even on the O+. We also ended up with one source for pay-phones, prepaid calling cards for our marketing efforts, and a source for ancillary services such as voice mail and others when we want to migrate to them in our guest rooms.

Both AT&T and Sprint Hospitality offer signing bonuses. AT&T offers them for the O+ service and if you sign up for their INTERLATA (local area long distance) service. Sprint Hospitality offers one based on the total volume they expect to realize from your account.

While we were doing our reference checking with hotel managers, owners and other management companies to learn more about Sprint Hospitality we learned that a major Sioux Falls operator was switching from Sprint Hospitality back to AT&T. Their general managers were saying that they were generally happy with Sprint Hospitality and had minimal guest complaints regarding the dial around issue. Based on information we received from various sources, I believe that Sioux Falls company is making the change because AT&T is giving the company even lower 1 + rates and a sizable sign up bonus, but is also pre-paying all or a part of the O+ commissions to be earned over the life of the contract rather than waiting until they are earned!

Clearly long distance service, especially the 1+ portion, has became a commodity. There are no significant service differences among the industry leaders. By tying O+ service to the 1+ service some differentiation can be done especially if one does it like Sprint Hospitality does it.

They offer a number of additional services at no cost from their operator service centers in Honolulu and Winona (information about the hotel itself, its services, etc.) which are appealing to a hotelier. In the end, for us, guest satisfaction and the overall package drove our decision.

Another factor affecting our decision was AT&T's nonchalant and indifferent attitude towards our decision making process. We've had over 20 different hotels with 50 to 400 rooms associated with our company and have been reliable customers to them since we started. Sure, in the over all scheme of things we're a relatively small client but we'll grow! AT&T never seemed to focus on us as a single customer and I suspect there are many other small to mid-size management companies out there that they are missing also.

We're looking forward to our new relationship with Sprint Hospitality and appreciate the fact that their President, Richard Kalbrener, took the time to visit with me by telephone when their local representative was not able to resolve several technical contractual issues with us. Rich, we're going to hold you and your company to all those promises!

Do You Have An Ethics Policy?

Now more than ever, “Good ethics is good business”
By Kirby D. Payne, CHA and Bill Gillette, May 2006

In my 30-plus years in this industry, I’ve occasionally seen the issue of unethical behavior rear its ugly head.

In the management-company world, the unethical behavior I’ve most frequently seen is like a form of bait and switch, where the management company says to the asset manager of the foreclosing financial institution, “Let us manage your hotel because we’re very likely to buy it eventually.”

I’ve yet to see any of these “bait-and-switch” management companies buy a hotel in such circumstances. Ethical management firms work hard to present a good proposal—and then can lose a contract when the lender believes the unethical bait-and-switcher’s pitch.

Here’s another example: Not long ago I was at a major metropolitan airport and saw the C.E.O. of a small publicly traded company being picked up by a limousine, apparently to be taken home. I’ve seen the man on TV and in the papers, along with the news that his company has lost virtually all of its contracts, its employees who haven’t been laid off face that scary prospect. If it’s to survive, this man’s company needs more money from lenders or the markets.

Was it ethical for this C.E.O. to be squandering precious dollars on a limo? Couldn’t that money have been used for one more direct-mail piece—or better yet, to keep one employee working another day or so? I wish I could have taken some action against this C.E.O.

That’s admittedly an extreme example (albeit one that bothers me a lot). There are other, more practical reasons to focus on making sure your company is an ethical one. Here’s my take on them.

If dishonesty, for instance, is part of a corporate culture, it breeds a mindset that eventually will consume the company—you need look no further than the shameful Enron case to see how true this is. Employees will think it’s acceptable behavior and, in one way or other, could start stealing from the company—and investing a lot of time keeping track of and covering up their transgressions. Also, ethical employees who become aware of the situation may well leave to find a more comfortable work environment—or, to refer to Enron again, become whistle-blowers—thereby compounding the company’s losses and hastening its demise.

Sometimes an unethical company (hotel) culture is spawned by something as seemingly simple as permitting unlicensed software to be used on a few of the company’s personal computers. Management has just signaled that cheating is OK. It may be easy to rationalize but is it right?

A few years ago, one of the trade magazines published an excellent article that focused on ethics, the author making the excellent point that “good ethics is good business.” He went on to specify ways by which leaders can minimize the extent to which unethical behavior occurs within the company:

• Install procedures and controls—and make sure there are warnings.
• Recruit experienced personnel for ethically sensitive positions; inexperienced personnel may cross the ethics line not because they’re unethical, but out of sheer ignorance (advertising hype vs. outright lying is a common example).
• Hire some people with non-technical training, so that you tap the broader view these employees so often have.
• Screen out people who have the wrong attitudes, such as extreme ambition or a record of violating the law. This may seem like a no-brainer—then again, you’d be surprised how many companies fail to take this step.

Our company has had an ethics policy for a long time. Let me share it with you as it appears in our employee handbook.

It is our company’s policy to manage its own business and those of its clients in an ethical manner. The following ‘Ethics Check’ questions may be helpful when you are faced with making a decision:

• Is it legal? Will I be violating either civil law or company policy?
• Is it balanced? Is it fair to all concerned in the short term as well as the long-term? Does it promote win-win relationships?
• How will it make me feel about myself? Will it make me proud? Would I feel good if my decision were published in the newspaper? Would I feel good if my family knew about it?

Our ethics policy is based on suggestions found in one of my favorite business books, The Power of Ethical Management by Kenneth Blanchard (co-author of The One Minute Manager) and on the writings of Norman Vincent Peale, author of The Power of Positive Thinking. These are not new ideas, but like all great ideas they’re timeless and always appropriate.

We encourage each of our general managers to buy The Power of Ethical Management and The One Minute Manager for his or her property, and we encourage them to share these books and Peale’s ideas with supervisors and key staff. I encourage you to do the same—it’s a good way to help you and your people remember the old saying, “There is no right way to do the wrong thing.”

Do Your Share, Join Your Resort or Hotel & Lodging Association

by Kirby D. Payne, CHA

I get sad and angry when I think about the number of hotels, motels, inns and resorts (all of which I'll refer to as hotels in this article), regardless of size, which are not members of the industry's associations. Let's not be confused either, it's not hotels that join and get active its people!

I am sad because I know that as a result of not joining, a lot of people, owners, management and staff are not receiving all the advantages of membership. I am angry both because I feed taken advantage of and I know how much more could be accomplished if the membership was larger and more active. I feel taken advantage of in the sense that non-members are getting some of the benefits of my fellow members' and my time and money.

In my mind there are three primary reasons for joining the industry's associations:

1. At the state level, to join voices with the owners and employees associated with the tens of thousands of hotel rooms represented to affect legislation that impacts our industry financially. B. As a member of the Minnesota Hotel and Lodging Association, a hotel is also a member of the A.H.& M.A. which also has a very aggressive lobbying program that effectively looks after the industry's interests at the national level.
2. The industry associations, through their committees, educational and certification programs, have a tremendous impact on the hotel industry. There are committees which address such bread and butter issues as development, increasing travel in the United States and quality assurance. The educational programs at the state and national level are so extensive that a person could take courses, watch training videos and attend seminars full time for years before completing them! Combined, these are things that impact levels of employment, staff quality and profitability.
3. Finally, there is members helping members. There are numerous formal programs ranging from the Minnesota Resort Association's members volunteering their expertise in 20 categories to the A.H.& M.A.'s Information Center and Referral Service. Equally, if not more, important are the relationships one develops and the resources associated with them.

At the state level the associations' lobbyist, Tom Newcome, with the active support of a grass roots effort by many members, has been able to impact a number of important legislative issues to the benefit of hotels in Minnesota. For instance, we helped draft and lobbied in support of the recent HealthRight Health Care bill which will benefit so many uninsured. Significantly, the bill does not ask business to directly shoulder the burden.

In conjunction with other businesses we were able to make in roads in Workers' Compensation reform which will result in a 16% cut in employers' costs. We were a member of a coalition that defeated a proposal to move school opening to a date prior to Labor Day. This would have seriously impacted summer vacation travel by cutting at least one week and a long weekend out of the summer. Another bill which could have impacted us all would have been one requiring us to rent rooms to anyone over 18 years old! Thankfully, it never got a hearing.

Nationally, the Governmental Affairs Department saved each of us many thousands of dollars. Here is the short list:

• removed a provision from a federal bill which would have required hoteliers to install costly telephone equipment to promote equal access, saving an estimated $15,000 per property;
• removed a harmful anti-billboard provisions from the new federal highway program, preserving the industry's ability to attract guests via outdoor advertising;
• secured an exemption for properties with three or fewer stories from costly sprinkler systems retrofitting, resulting in a conservative per room savings of $1,500;
• and finally, helped secure a phenomenal 25% increase in funding for the U.S. Travel & Tourism Administration (USTTA) during a time when most agencies have had their budgets reduced.

If a hotel isn't a member, they have benefited financially from these legislative efforts at no cost. The benefits were not exclusive to the members that paid dues and contributed time and/or money to the legislative committees. Why should I pay for the non-members' free ride? It isn't fair, but I guess I'll keep doing it so I'll keep benefiting!

The associations' committees are groups of individuals volunteering their valuable time to work towards many common goals. One of the most exciting committee accomplishments at the national level was one that resulted in getting President Bush to do a wonderful television advertisement with scenes from all over the U.S. inviting people to visit us from abroad. This advertisement was funded by contributions from member companies and is playing on television in Europe. The same coalition raised $8 million to promote travel for a six week national campaign during the Gulf War to ease fears and get travelers back on the road. In Minnesota, the associations work actively with the Department of Tourism to publish over 100,000 copies of the Explore Minnesota Travel Guides. The national equivalent is the OAG Lodging Travel Planner & Red Book which is published quarterly.

The associations' executives, committees and staff coordinate a number of other activities:

• A free annual review of laws and regulations affecting the industry.
• Negotiating volume discounts with credit card issuers which benefit smaller properties.
• Training seminars and educational programs which are done both locally and nationally. The Educational Institute in East Lansing, MI is also an integral part of the A.H.& M.A. and it produces excellent correspondence courses, videos and other programs which are available at a 25% discount to mem bers.
• In Minnesota, the associations sponsor the Upper Midwest Restaurant and Lodging Show which is free to members.
• Nationally, in addition to two excellent national meetings, there are several specialized meetings such as the Quality Assurance Conference, and the National Marketing Conference. A myriad of committee meetings occur in conjunction with the national meetings addressing more specific issues affecting the industry, its members and employees.
• One of the state's committees goes out to high schools and promotes the industry as a career alternative and addresses other issues regarding the scarcity of labor.

One of the important things to me is the issue of members helping members and the relationships that have come to me over the years. On several occasions I have picked up the phone and called Dr. Tony Marshall, the dean of Florida International University's hotel school who is a noted columnist and legal expert in the hotel industry, to ask questions. As the president of a more modest size management company, I have called the president of the biggest management company, MHM, to get advice on running my business. Based on contacts I have developed, my company gets referrals from a large number of sources and the hotels we manage are among the first to get overflow referrals from competitors. Many of these contacts have evolved into close friendships.

While I obviously feel the benefits of membership in the Minnesota Hotel and Lodging Association are innumerable, there are costs. The first and most obvious is financial. Depending on the size and level of service of the property it can be as little as $119 a year to a maximum of $7.05 per room for a full service hotel with more than 76 rooms. That amount includes membership at both the state and national level. Many hoteliers don't take the time to understand the bottom line value of participating and the utilization of the many resources of the associations more than pay for their dues investment in the first month or so of membership. The direct economic benefits easily outweigh the direct financial cost. It's a good deal!

The way to maximize the benefits of membership is to be active in those areas of interest to people at a member property. Have a problem with the Health Department? Work on the Joint Health and Safety Committee which includes Restaurant Association members and also tell your new acquaintances on the Joint Legislative Committee what you think of the law and administrative regulations. Have a problem with employee turnover and performance? Get involved with the Joint Human Resources Committee, use the educational programs that are available for you and your staff.

The hospitality industry is probably the world's second oldest profession and is one of the most diverse. It includes everyone from the all-important room attendant to the inconsequential Leona Helmsley at the human level and the smallest Mom and Pop independent motel to the Waldorf Astoria at the property level. All of us are in the same boat and generally have the same goals. We have a better chance of achieving them if we work together to improve the industry and the people that work in it.

I invite you to join with your peers in the industry and support it with your membership dues and time. We'll get more done with your help and I won't feel ripped off. If you mention this article when you join I'll take you as my guest to the Minnesota Hotel and Lodging Association's Annual Meeting and Christmas party.

Is Your Hotel a Mess ?

by Kirby D. Payne, CHA

Over the years, our company has assumed management or conducted operational reviews of hundreds of hotels. Obviously, many—but not all—of them had big problems, so we’ve had the opportunity to have an intimate look at the workings of all types of hotels, both good and bad, and we’ve noticed some commonalities we think are symptomatic—and, therefore, instructive.

In virtually all the hotels we’ve served—the good and the bad—these commonalities are almost corporate-culture issues. If we find two or three of the good (or bad) aspects, we usually will find more—again, good or bad. Don’t get confused: There are profitable hotels that have a few shortcomings, but they may be the ones to keep your eye on when things get tough. Conversely, some of the most beautifully groomed hotels that feature all the amenities and perfect guest service are, quite simply, losers—and that’s because no one in management is aggressively focused on the bottom line.

What are some of the positive commonalities—the good signs—that a hotel offers? To begin with, well-groomed, uniformed, name-tagged employees who greet guests with a smile make an excellent first impression, both on guests and new management companies. Sharp curb appeal and public-space cleanliness are usually signs of good things to come. Once you get more “into” a hotel’s behind-the-scenes areas, things become more clear: Orderly offices, storage spaces and housekeeping areas are examples of the good signs that usually follow good first impressions.

On the other hand, we always seem to find a messy front desk—not necessarily on the working surface but in drawers, cabinets and storage closets—when we take over a troubled hotel. Clutter, disorganization and years of dust and trash appear in virtually every problem property. We inevitably find old furniture, out-of-date supplies and never-to-be-used “spare maintenance parts” left in storerooms and maintenance shops. This usually happens in hotels where management claims to lack sufficient storage space—another sign of rampant disorganization.

Now, I’m not saying these shortcomings are the cause of mediocre profitability—but I am saying they’re signs of management’s poor organizational skills and lack of focus on orderliness and cleanliness. And here’s another thing: Management’s lackadaisical attitude toward keeping things organized and clean most certainly influences employees’ attitudes about their own work habits. Unkempt employee restrooms, for example, not only are a sign of management’s lack of concern for staff, but set a poor standard for what management expects of those same employees in keeping guest areas clean.

Some time ago, our company assumed management of—and subsequently closed (yes, closed)—a 160-room hotel. In the process of cleaning up the property, we filled 10 dumpsters, each of which held eight cubic yards of trash. This trash didn’t include old, unused furniture, guestroom trash or kitchen garbage—it was just stuff that had cluttered offices, housekeeping areas, the front office, storerooms and the maintenance shop. Imagine 80 cubic yards of “stuff”—talk about disorganization (maybe chaos is a better description).

Here’s another sign of a poorly run hotel: low linen pars. They’re not the result of poor profitability—they’re a cause. If we see housekeepers stripping rooms to get linen back to the laundry, washed and used again immediately, that’s a sure sign that there are more things wrong than insufficient linen supplies. For example, it means there are undoubtedly days where not all the rooms get made up—and therefore occupancy may suffer due to unavailability of rooms. As absurd as it may sound, linen wears out more than twice as fast if it is washed and used daily rather than every other day or so. Circulating linen daily by stripping beds and running it back and forth also takes more labor. In the end, minimal linen supplies turns out to be pennywise and pound foolish—keeping an adequate supply of linen, about 2.15 to 2.5 par, saves money.

Likewise, if printed and other collateral materials are poor in quality, it’s a sign that the hotel is too. In full-service hotels, menus are threadbare—good hotels get new ones, poor hotels don’t. Raggedy in-room telephone books are another example of things poorly run hotels pay no attention to—and phone books cost nothing to replace.

Finally (and perhaps most important), a hotel’s accounting methods also are reliable indicators of what’s really going on—after all, if you can’t keep score, you can’t win the game. There are really three issues involved in good accounting: gathering all data on a timely basis from all areas of the hotel (payroll, revenues, statistics and accounts payable); compiling it quickly and accurately in the form of financial statements; and interpreting and acting on the information once it’s gathered. If this isn’t being done, it’s another symptom of poor organization and lack of attention to detail. Without this information, management cannot effect changes for the better in a timely manner. Of course, management must know what the data means and what they can do to make the numbers improve—sadly, this business basic is too often missing in hotel management.

In well over half the problem hotels we’ve been retained to manage, financial statements do not conform to the Uniform System of Accounts for the Lodging Industry. This makes it difficult, if not impossible, to compare a hotel’s operating results to similar hotels. Most of the owners and managers of these properties were aware of the Uniform System but didn’t consider it worthwhile to change their accounting system—in other words, they thought had a better way of looking at their accounting data than more 80 percent of the other hoteliers in the world. Now that’s arrogance—it reminds me of the soldier who was marching to a different cadence, then had the gall to tell his sergeant, “Everybody’s out of step but me.”

If you don’t make sure every last detail of your hotel is well attended to, you’re out of step and marching rapidly toward big trouble. Make lists of what needs to be done to make your property as immaculate as can be—not only in terms of cleanliness and orderliness, but operationally as well. Maybe a good place to start is organizing and cleaning the front-desk area and working your way through the back-of-the-house areas that your guests don’t see.

Look your hotel over carefully and critically. If negative symptoms like those I’ve described exist, you need to ask yourself where your priorities really lie.

Maintenance and Repairs: Are We Ever Caught Up?

Kirby D. Payne, CHA
Maintenance is something that never ends in a hotel and just when one thinks it is under control either something expensive breaks or it is time to remodel or upgrade!

Maintenance seems to fall into four categories:

1. Preventive room maintenance
2. Preventive equipment maintenance
3. Routine repairs based on work-orders
4. Emergencies.

Each has its distinct time element, relative priority and level of interest from management and the maintenance staff.

Clearly everything stops for emergencies. A burst hot water pipe on an upper floor or a dead washer when occupancy is high will get everyone's attention. No one but a neighboring guest seems to care about squeaky hinges on guest room doors. How to keep all this balanced is a challenge to managers and owners alike.

Maintenance Saves Effort

The first thing that should be obvious is that routine repairs and, to a lesser degree, emergencies will be reduced significantly if preventive room and equipment maintenance is taking place. The problem for many managers and maintenance people is how to get out from under the ongoing repairs and emergencies in order to conceive and implement preventive maintenance programs.

The answer I always suggest is that they should look at preventive maintenance as a tax which is payable weekly in hours. No matter what, the tax must be paid. Even three hours, three days a week in an 80 to 100 room hotel is a significant start. In a smaller property its more than enough, in the long run. In a larger hotel one is dealing with a different scale, sometimes one or more persons spend full time on it, but the principal is the same. Two of those three days can be spent in guest rooms while the other can be spent on equipment and public spaces.

Guest room preventive maintenance is very straight forward and there are a multitude of check lists available. The place to start is not by being delayed coming up with the ideal checklist, but rather by coming up with a work cart for the maintenance staff. The cart can be an old maid's cart cleaned up and painted or something developed from a two wheel dolly with tool kits bolted to it and some shelves built for common spare parts. Just start with something inexpensive; one can replace it or improve it next month.

Maintenance: Just Do It

The key thing: get started. Go to the lowest numbered room in the hotel and start anywhere. Maybe the maintenance person likes to fix lamps and light fixtures so s/he starts there and checks all the fixtures in the room by tightening switches, adjusting harps, checking the security of the plugs and outlets (while down there) and making notes of any that need new shades. Next the maintenance person might cheek for dripping in the bathroom and replace or clean faucet aerators, and tighten knobs. While in the bathroom, tighten the toilet seat and shower rod. Look for grouting that needs repair and make a note so that several rooms can have their grouting and tile worked on at once.

Continue this process for an hour, then go to the next room and repeat exactly the same checks. In a small hotel, three or four rooms is a great start for the first day. Out of the effort several work orders will have been written for subsequent follow-up. The key to guest room preventive maintenance is in actually getting some things in the room fixed or adjusted, not in making big lists and certainly not in undertaking on a big project.

If just six rooms are done a week all the rooms in an 80 room motel will be done in 14 weeks. The second time around will go faster and more things will get done.

The best guest room preventive maintenance checklist for your hotel may be the one the maintenance person develops after going to 20 rooms. It can be improved on the second time around, along with the cart.

Remember, work orders and project lists are a byproduct of this effort and these are being worked on continuously. There should be plenty of time as I only suggested nine hours a week (three hours a day, three days a week).

Equipment and Public Spaces

Along with the guest room preventive maintenance tax, add in a schedule of maybe four hours, two days a week for equipment and public space preventive maintenance. The total tax at this point is only 17 hours. With the remainder of the maintenance work week, work orders and emergencies are dealt with.

Equipment and public space preventive maintenance is a little different than the guest room program. Most pieces of equipment come with maintenance instructions. These should be researched and organized on to cards or into a notebook. If the manuals have been lost, a vendor can usually help get them or at least a photocopy of very old equipment manuals.

Start with simple but important things, like keeping the machinery and equipment clean followed by servicing anything with moving parts. Get back to the machinery every two or three months or according to the manufacturers directions, if they are located. Some equipment needs more frequent servicing. A good example are older circulating pumps for domestic hot water. Some used to need their bearings oiled weekly. Modern equipment needs less and less servicing, but anything with air circulating through it needs filters and coils cleaned just as much as they ever did. Failing to do so causes them to overheat and breakdown prematurely.

Public spaces such as lobbies, halls, stairwells, restaurants and meeting rooms need continuous attention. Chairs, tables, doors, carpet and wall coverings all get heavy use and abuse. Without regular attention these items can cause a hotel to start looking shabby and unkempt. More importantly, some items become a safety hazard. By getting around to these areas weekly and inspecting them the person or persons working on maintenance can correct unsightly tears, fix loose legs and keep all the parts of the doors properly adjusted.

Work Orders and Organization

Work orders are a great tool for examining where preventive maintenance is failing by looking at the frequency, location or type of items that appear on the work orders. Except for damage caused by a guest or employee, many work orders are a result of poor preventive maintenance.

Many maintenance people do not organize their work orders. Organizing them might include batching work orders together by location, similar projects requiring the same tools and supplies, etc. It is also appropriate to put low priority work orders off until s/he is going to that location for an additional reason. Time is money and time spent walking to and from different jobs, getting supplies and tools and just checking things out is wasted money.

Work orders should be at least two part. Our company uses a 2-Part Repair Order Book (Z8V 1731 from American Hotel Register Company, page 1523 in the 1995-1996 catalog.) This leaves a permanent record of the work order for later reference. The maintenance staff simply stops by the reception desk to note completed work orders on the permanent copy. Problem work orders are discussed at staff meetings or with the appropriate department head. Most hotels use a three part slip where one comes back to the originator when the repair is completed.

Emergencies Caused by Inattention

Emergencies have been defined by someone unknown to me as, "your poor planning becoming my crisis." A lack of preventive maintenance and attention to detail lie as the root cause of many emergencies. The definition of emergency in a hotel is subject to frequent changes of interpretation. The owner coming and the front door closer that s/he has complained about for three months still not being fixed is not really an emergency, but will be treated as such. Anything that is a safety hazard, or is causing further damage, or is going to impact revenue now is truly an emergency. You might think of some others, but this covers most emergencies.

After each emergency situation is resolved take a few minutes to examine it. Was it really an emergency? What could have been done to prevent or at least mitigate it? Finally, what are we going to do to keep it from happening again?

Lower Costs in Long Run

In summary, I want to emphasize that whatever is spent on preventive maintenance is going to lower maintenance costs in the long run, enhance the guest experience (read that as increase repeat business and word-of-mouth advertising) and improve the hotel as an attractive and safe place to work.

Manage Your Laundry Carefully

By Kirby D. Payne, CHA,

I have some strong feelings about how laundries should be run in small hotels that I'd like to share with you. Some of these things apply to larger hotels, too. The key idea is that a laundry should be managed. It is not just an area of the Housekeeping Department which doesn't have much impact.

I believe that an important part of marketing a hotel is maximizing repeat business. Linen is one of the physical items with which guests come in the most contact. It should look good and be well maintained. I feel strongly that this is one item that an economy lodging property can use to set itself above its competition in perceived value relatively inexpensively. This can be done in several ways.

Size and Weight of Fabrics

The first is in the weight and size of the terry. Imported ROL (run of the loom) or seconds should never be used. Terry should be either a quality domestic or a first class import. The higher the cotton content the better. The size and weight should be similar to what a person might use at home. Nobody uses a ten inch square 12 ounce per dozen wash cloth at home. Likewise, nobody has an 18 inch wide bath towels that you can see through at home.

Our linen (sheeting and terry) standards for limited service economy lodging are as follows: All sheets are T-180 Percale and 110" long. There are 108" sheets, but hey don't tuck in as well and the guests' toes can feel the mattress! Bath towels 24" x 48" or 50" - (10.5 lbs. per dozen); Hand Towels 16"x27" - 3.0; Wash Cloths 12"x12" - 1.0 and Bath mats 20"x30" - 7.0; Shower Curtains are washable nylon.

We also have another unusual standard for this market segment: all linen is beige. This costs about 5.0% more than white but has several advantages. The first is that bleach isn't used which results in two costs savings: one doesn't have to buy bleach, and because bleach isn't used, the linen lasts much longer and wears and feels better. The cotton in white linen breaks down after many bleachings and begins to appear gray as the cotton is washed out, leaving only the synthetic backing.

The second advantage is that the beige linen just looks better and less institutional. The guest room and bathroom have a more residential feeling. A smaller advantage is that stains do not show up as readily. The disadvantage is that the terry is stolen at a slightly higher rate. On balance, we feel that, overall, beige linen provides a cost savings and a marketing advantage.

Process Laundry Carefully

Based on what I have read and heard from major quality laundry chemical vendors such as Ecolab and Diversey, here are some important things to keep in mind when processing laundry. The room attendant should note stained lined when she removes it from the guest room separate it so that it will be noticed right away when it arrives in the laundry area later. Spotting and stain removal instruction and supplies should be readily available in the laundry.

Regular soiled laundry should be separated by type, percal, terry, and others such as spreads, etc. Within those groups the heavily soiled laundry should also be separated so that all laundry is not washed with the heaviest concentrations of chemical and suffer the extra wash cycles. If more than one color of linen is used, white should be separated from other colors if bleach is to be used on the white linen.

Linen should never be placed on the floor by the room attendant or the laundry staff. The floor soils linen and contributed to wear. Unsealed concrete some other surfaces will stain or change the pH (Acidity/alkalinity) of the linen at the point of contact. Sort linen into laundry carts.

Have Good Equipment

For the sake of the people working in the laundry and your workers' compensation premiums, use spring loaded inserts in your laundry carts. They will raise the linen as the cart is emptied so your staff does not have to bend or stoop as much. Remember to clean under them regularly! High bottom carts whose sides are about even with the doors of your of washers and dryers are good for moving linen from washers to dryers.

Washers should generally be loaded fully but not with linen crammed in them. Use the minimum cycle setting to do the job. Don't waste chemicals, energy, wear and tear on the washer and linen by overdoing the wash cycles.

Your laundry supply vendor, if reputable, will help you make sure your machines and chemicals are set properly and review the operation with responsible supervisors for no extra charge. They will also test your water and inspect your machines as part of their service. If they won't do it, and help you keep a written record of it, change vendors!

When the wash is complete, move the laundry to the dryers as soon as possible. I say dryers because in a properly planned laundry there are typically two dryers for every washer. Typically it takes twice the capacity of the washer, as measured in pounds, to do the drying. With this mix of equipment, drying time will be approximately the same as washing time, linen will tumble loosely, and dry out without being beat up as much in the dryer. Be sure to use the proper cool down cycle and remove the linen as soon as possible to reduce wrinkling.

If you have an opportunity to redo your laundry area because replacement or additional equipment is needed to take advantage of this to arrange the equipment so that labor expense is minimized by lessening the necessary motions in moving things are minimized.

Fold Immediately

Linen should be folded immediately and allowed to rest overnight. Yes, rest! The rest allows linen to iron itself and become wrinkle-free. Most of our dirty linen complaints come from what the guests believe is dirty because of the wrinkles. The second biggest cause is hair, which seems to be a result of overloading washers and/or dryers. Laundry experts also tell me resting the linen helps it last longer in terms of usage.

The person folding the laundry should watch carefully as s/he folds to observe stains and excessive wear or fraying. Stains can be reworked and fraying can be trimmed sometimes. Some housekeepers I have known hem the terry as it begins to fray so they can get more use out of it. Personally, I only believe in that for bath mats.

Transport Laundry Efficiently

It costs money to move linen around in a hotel. It is a labor cost which can be controlled. In our Holiday Inn Express Hotel in Florida, we recently purchased a very large cart with shelves. The laundry staff folds laundry and immediately places it in the cart. The cart is then used to deliver clean linen to the room attendants' carts around the hotel. Room attendants' carts are also brought to the laundry each night for cleaning and stocking by an afternoon laundry person. This reduces labor cost and enables us to control the stocking and appearance of the carts.

Keep Reliable Inventory

An adequate linen inventory is essential for the efficient operation of a housekeeping department. Having to strip rooms to collect up soiled linen in order to begin washing so there will be clean linen for the rooms is very wasteful in labor expense and precludes letting the linen rest. Having at least two and a half times the linen necessary to set up all the rooms once is called having 2.5 par. This multiple does not apply to mattress pads, bed spreads, shower curtains, pillows, etc. For these items 1.2 to 1.5 par is usually sufficient.

Inventory should be taken monthly and include a count for the linen en route from your supplier. Subtract the resulting inventory from the 2.5 par and order that quantity. Most items come in dozens and packed a minimum of five dozen to the case. Round up to get full cases. Build up to three par if you have a busy season immediately ahead of you.

If you must order in less than case lots because your hotel is small, order from a reliable supplier who will maintain an inventory that meets your specifications.

Typically those storing and shipping unless that case lots still work in even dozens and their charges all include freight. In the Twin Cities area I have found Inn Room Supplies (612/645-0000) to be an excellent value and very reliable.

Finally, the laundry and housekeeping areas must be immaculate. This is not only where you demonstrate to your staff what the standard is for the entire hotel, but also the way you should treat your employees. You want them to have pride in their hotel and their work area. Just because it is out of sight of the guest doesn't mean it can be ignored. Keep the area so that it functions efficiently and you are proud for both your guests and your banker to see it.

What Time Is the 3 PM Parade?.(Should your hotel have some Mickey Mouse® in it?)

By Kirby D. Payne, CHA

Several years ago the Disney Institute held a seminar in Minneapolis. Among the co-sponsors was the Minnesota Hotel & Lodging Association. Vicki Richman from our staff attended and I have adapted her notes for this article.

There is a lot of information provided in this seminar which we have incorporated into our company culture. Our company has a culture and a vision, but it has never been refined and promoted through all levels of the company in a structured way. Every year we attempt to improve our company’s culture and that of each of our hotels. If the Walt Disney Company is any benchmark, it's clearly worth doing.
Later in this article I'll even tell you what time the 3 PM parade starts! Here are the notes with explanatory comments added where they may be helpful.

LEADERSHIP AND CREATIVITY

Disney believes that storytelling is an important part of the company's job for its guests, staff, and investors. When Frank Wells and Michael Eisner were brought on-board, they made a video for the stockholders to watch to learn about them and where they felt the company should go. Walt Disney had a short video about himself and his dreams. These videos are very effective in communicating their "story". Communication of history and vision is essential to developing a well-run company whose staff are supportive.

Traits of Disney leaders: risk taker; childlike (curiosity, creativity, wonder, etc.); iron fist in a velvet glove; visionary; motivator; and management by walking/wandering around. Apparently this was very important to Walt Disney who saw himself as a bee, going around from flower to flower pollinating other people and their efforts.

Whenever staff is overheard saying "I" or "they" to a guest that person is always immediately corrected. They must always say "we". As in a Guest Service Agent (desk clerk) saying, "I'm sorry we didn't get your room made up on time." As opposed to, "I'm sorry they (housekeeping) didn't..." If they say "we" enough, they will come to believe it.

Disney believes strongly that creativity can be enhanced with synergy, adding 1 + 1 and getting 3. Bringing diverse groups together with different perspectives to create "dynamic tension" such as in brainstorming sessions is used to develop creativity. Brainstorming sessions must always have the following: defined goal; structure; a facilitator who can control flow; diverse participants; and a scribe. It is important in brainstorming sessions that creativity be promoted.

Always say "yes, and" because it keeps discussion going while "yes, but" stops the flow of ideas. Disney's goal in planning is creating value for all of their stakeholders (guests, staff, stockholders, etc.). Both their financial objectives and strategic objectives focus on increasing value for everyone. The example given in the seminar was IllumiNations, a fireworks, light, laser and music show each evening in EPCOT. The restaurants in the pavilions were not doing well. By adding the IllumiNations show guests enjoy an additional event included in their admission and there were substantially increased food and merchandise revenue for Disney's lessees.

STAFF SELECTION, ORIENTATION, AND TRAINING

When it comes to staff selection, Disney believes they are not hiring, but are casting for a role in a show. Aren't we doing the same thing at our hotels? Each person hired needs to project the image of the company. Before they fill out an application they watch a nine minute video which projects, without being obvious, the company culture. Specifics covered are: pay availability; transportation; and appearance. This is in effect a pre-orientation and serves to screen out potential applicants who don't want to or cannot fit it for what ever reason. Men who watch and know they won't adhere to the hair length standards (above the ears) simply tend not to apply.

We have adapted this idea into a brochure which is given out to job applicants. The brochure, titled “What you can expect when you join our team and what we expect from you”, has eight panels. Three give information about the company, the hotel (about types of guests and what various departments do) and its culture. Three panels give details of our expectations of employees and our promises to the employees.

Disney uses personality profiling to determine where there is a fit. Even if the person is not selected, the process makes them feel good about the company. After all, their friends and relatives are both potential guests and cast members! Orientation is done through videos and other consistent visual aids and the central element is communicating the following in order to begin the process of getting them wrapped up in the company culture: the company's past (its traditions), the company's present (how operations work), and the company's future (the vision). New cast members get a name tag day one, and are told if the name tag is not on at all times, even backstage (back-of-the-house), they are sent home because they need to maintain the feeling and standards among employees as well.
Of course, this is true about their entire uniform (costume). Variations or missing items are never allowed. Name tags have first name only and city if they want. No last names to break down barriers with guests and other staff.

Disney gives many quizzes throughout orientation and training as to Disney facts (name the seven dwarfs) and facility facts (extensive tours of the entire property are essential). All orientation is done by line staff from different areas of the company (like the guy who loads the Space Mountain cars) who are picked to be "Tradition Assistants" for two to three days a month. This builds self-esteem, loyalty, sense of importance, and the applicants can really ask questions about working on the line.

Training is either 1-on-1 or 2-on-1. They teach job skills and people skills with equal emphasis - more on this in the service section of this article.

When it comes to caring for staff, they feel you must ensure that the physical environment is supportive. Disney's Golden Rule: treat staff as they expect staff to treat guests - this is essential to set an example.

If any supervisor notes a crabby staff member they will talk to that person and send them home, if necessary, so that negativity is not spread. Upbeat attitudes must be engendered back-of-the-house to carry to the front-of-the-house.

No Disney visuals are in break rooms or cafeteria because the staff told management they overload on it and need a real break. Many personal services are provided because staff cannot get anywhere easily once at work, such as vehicle registration, voter registration, dry cleaning, etc. In addition, Disney provides a private lake with recreational area for staff and families only.

Longevity and performance recognition through pins, awards, parties, etc. are also important aspects of caring for employees at Disney.

SERVICE

Since nothing is unique (people can alternatively go to Universal Studios), then what Disney is selling is only 10% product and 90% service. This is obviously very true of hotels, too. 65% of Disney’s guests are repeat. But more important to them than their repeat guest, is the guest who becomes their advocate. The one who goes home and says, "We won't be going back to Disney in the next few years or maybe never but it was great, you should go".

Disney recommends taking a magnifying glass to what you are doing RIGHT (rather than what you are doing WRONG), examine it, map it out so you understand and can translate those elements to what you are doing wrong.

The guest (or employee) might not always be right, but always allow them to be wrong with dignity. In order to give good service you must have these four elements:

1. Know who your guests are, what they want, and when:

• Poor service is different for everyone, so you need to treat each one individually.
• Since 65% of guests are repeat, their "wow" threshold is very high, and one needs to be raising the bar at all times. So you always need to pay attention to detail and exceed the guests' expectations.
• Disney has "guestologists" that study who their guests are and what their needs are. They do this through telephone surveys, in-person surveys, comment cards, guest letters, focus groups, and secret shoppers.
• Some facts: 38% from New England (#1 state is New York); 23% international; saved 2.5 years for Disney vacation; families of 3.3 people; and the #1 need is to see Mickey Mouse (translation: need to escape reality)
• Sometimes guests want "aggressively friendly" and others just want "warm and welcoming" and staff are trained to recognize the signs. For instance, if the family has driven to Disney (the valet should notice out-of-state plates), they are tired and anxious, so just welcome them and move them along to their Disney hotel room efficiently. However, if it's 8 am at the turnstiles into the Magic Kingdom, welcome them aggressively.
• There are no newspapers in any Disney store
• When their tickets are taken at the turnstile, it's easy to tell from the ticket if it is their first day or last day and the staff is trained to acknowledge this to the guest

2. Need to communicate the service goal to staff:

Everyone's job description whether they be in accounting or line staff on a ride has the Same first two items:

• Keep the property clean. Everyone must pick up trash - it's a big no-no if anyone is spotted walking by trash anywhere
• Create happiness.

Service Standards (in order of priority):

• Safety for guests and staff is never sacrificed.
• Courtesy, treat every guest as a VIP - all staff must offer to take the family's picture if they see one being left out - it costs nothing to create a magical moment (Cast members must always be anxious to help and be aggressively friendly.)
• The show is extremely important so they must pay attention to detail in everything - never lose the theme anywhere
• Efficiency, the system and equipment must be effective. Also, all staff learns that they are needed to show up when they are told and do what they are trained to do otherwise the whole show suffers. People need to be needed and know they are important.

All of the staff's performance appraisals rate the person using these standards. They are taught that they need to make all of their decisions based on these four goals and in this order. For instance, have they ever sacrificed courtesy for efficiency? That is a no-no. Never sacrifice courtesy for the show either.

Two Disney Tidbits: It takes 37 magic moments to recover from 1 tragic moment. A good coach has a staff that has confidence in him/her while a great coach has a staff that has confidence in themselves!

3. Set the stage:

The setting must be consistent with what you want people to feel and must always communicate your essence. The setting supports both the service theme and the service standards.

The setting includes:

• The environment:
  They have "smelletzers" which spew specific smells throughout the park. When you first walk into the Magic Kingdom onto Main Street, they have the smell of just-baked chocolate chip cookies.
• Objects within the environment:
  Size and arrangement of objects, shapes and lines, lighting, shadows, color, temperatures, and sound. Look at everything in your environment and assess its impact on the guest experience.
• Procedures that enhance the quality of the environment:
  Never allow procedures to negatively impact on guest experience, always have procedures that benefit the experience. Facts are negotiable, perceptions are not so no matter what really happens, all that matters is how your guests perceive it.

4. Deliver a quality show (service delivery):

In order to deliver service, you must have well-trained people and they must have systems that support them and enable them to provide good service. At Disney, a quality show is made up of three components: people; systems; and service recovery.

People:

Staff are taught that the front line is the bottom line. Orientation of all staff includes behavior skill training such as: importance of first impressions; posture; gestures (their staff is taught not to gesticulate when talking to guests); facial expressions; vocal image; and use of humor (everyone's view of what is funny is different so humor is to be avoided).

Cast members are also taught tips on how to be comfortable in their job, like standing for long periods of time without getting tired.

Disney tries to keep staff motivated to succeed in their jobs. It is communicated that 62% of all managers were in line positions to start, that they have a future with the company and it is a good company to have a future with. Lateral moves are celebrated and acknowledged like promotions. They teach staff that getting skills in many areas makes them more versatile, more useful for the company so line staff is cross-trained in many different areas of company.

All management staff are required to work in the park in line positions (cleaning tables, etc.) during peak times for a specific number of hours. They are all dressed in blue lab coats so other staff knows who they are. It's fun for everyone. Turnover of permanent staff is only 17.8%!

Systems:

Systems have been developed to enable line staff to provide timely, useful service. For instance, losing your car, locking keys in car, or running out of gas. Attendants in golf carts can be there within minutes to open car doors, provide two gallons of gas, cut keys (even with the computer chip), jump batteries, etc. to help the poor parking lot attendant who is facing the tired dad and his troop.

Disney believes that only 5% of top management knows what the operational problems are, only 20% of middle management knows, and 100% of line staff knows. So, Disney looks to learn the service needs of guests and what is preventing staff from fulfilling them directly from the line staff.

Service Recovery:

It's ok to apologize to the guest even if they are wrong; always ask the guest: What can I do for you? Empower line staff to fix the problem; follow up with the guest and in a timely manner, it makes them feel important; and provide feedback to staff.

Obviously you had to be at this seminar to benefit the most from it. Properly adapted and implemented, there are many things here that will help my company and yours do better. We can't all be Disney and we don't all have their resources to accomplish some things. But, concept is also important and we, too, are in a service-oriented business with guests (we don't even have to translate their language!) who want happiness in a clean property.

Oh yes, so, what time IS the 3 PM parade? First, cast members know never to laugh at the person asking this question. Apparently, it is the most frequently asked question in the Magic Kingdom. Next, they are taught to understand that what they really need to know is what time does the 3 PM parade pass by where the guest plans to be during the time of the parade. In other words, the answer is, "Where will you be?" And then, answer the question, "The 3 PM parade passes the fire house on Main Street at 3:12 PM."

Think about the orientation and training that street sweepers receive from Disney in order to ensure that everyone can provide quality service to their guests. Can you match it? We all need to try!

"The Gold Standards" of Leadership

Still from the website http://www.hvsinternational.com a great article about leadership by Gene Ference

A GHOSTLY GOLD CHRISTMAS

What is it that we can learn from Ghosts, Gold, and Christmas that can help make you a leader in your company and community? By using "The Gold Standards" of Leadership, we can see how decision-making abilities can help achieve peak performance.

By Gene Ference, December 21, 2006

A Christmas Carol in Prose, Being a Ghost Story of Christmas is the full title of the well-known novel written by Charles Dickens and published and released, December 19, 1843. It is one of the all-time classics—one of the most beloved novels ever penned. It’s about Ebenezer Scrooge, a miser, financier and money-changer who only thinks of wealth, with only contempt for all else, including friendship, love and the Christmas season. Scrooge, crafty, shrewd and cynical, of importance in his community—certainly. Scrooge, although extremely successful in business, service minded, charitable, a leader in his community?—certainly not!

And what of the other characters in this Christmas saga? Jacob Marley, dead for exactly 7 years on Christmas Eve, Scrooge’s former partner, but who visits Scrooge as a ghost who has found the error of his ways, albeit too late. Bob Cratchit, Scrooge’s employee who withstands verbal abuse and the stinginess of Scrooge as his reward while he tries to care for his family, including Tiny Tim, a cripple who needs more help than Cratchit can give.

Then, there is The Ghost of Christmas Past, who is but one of three ghosts that visits Scrooge on Christmas Eve as foretold by the ghost of Marley. This spirit leads Scrooge on a journey to remember some of the happiest times, as well as the saddest moments in his experience. These are painful memories for Scrooge, ones that he doesn’t deal with very well.

The Ghost of Christmas Present reveals the happy, yet meager existence that the Cratchits live through. It’s noted that although Tiny Tim is upbeat and of sweet nature, there is a strong possibility that he may not see yet another Christmas—unless changes are made to the present. Further, two destitute children are revealed to Scrooge, signifying want and ignorance, with the latter being especially detrimental.

The third ghost, the most frightening of all, allows Scrooge to see the Cratchit family without Tiny Tim, as well as a view of Scrooge’s own death, celebrated by many, grieved by—well, no one! However, The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come gives Scrooge hope that as long as there is change, both Tiny Tim’s fate as well as his may be altered. In fact, in an abrupt turn-around, Scrooge does a 180 (he may have even done a few 360’s as well) and becomes polite, generous, kind-hearted and service oriented as never before. One can only assume that both business and personal lifestyles improve greatly as a result.

How then can we apply the lessons learned from this wonderful tale to both our personal and business lives? Let’s see where a Ghostly Gold Christmas leads us.

First, it seems that Scrooge’s business did well due to the fact that he had little to no competition. I’m sure that’s not true with your business however. But with fewer than 20% of organizations consistently performing above average, you have a real shot to lead your company past most all of the competition, encouraging positive approaches to change in order to achieve peak performance.

By using “The Gold Standards” of Leadership, (Scrooge would have approved if only because it involved gold) we can see how a leaders’ decision-making abilities can help achieve peak performance.

Managing Time: No one was better at managing time than the three ghosts who visited Scrooge all in one night. They not only helped show Scrooge his past, both what little he had done right as well as what he had done wrong, they followed that up with a good hard look at the present and what might happen if changes were made—or not.

How do you manage your time? Do you analyze what has been happening at your property? Look at what has gone wrong—make changes, and look at what has been right and make sure you use your time to your advantage and strengthen each positive opportunity.

Enhance Communications: Scrooge only communicated from the top down. His word was authority, and everyone that did business with him, borrowed from him or worked for him cowered under his demands. In short, that’s a lousy way to win friends and influence people.

Instead, make sure your organization communicates from the bottom up as well as from the top down. It must be a two-way street. Be sure departments communicate with each other to help coordinate events and make sure everyone is on the “same page.” And make sure individuals communicate with each other. People should not be seen and not heard. There should be feedback and ideas offered back and forth in order to strengthen the organization and allow everyone to build towards success.

Build Trust: The Ghost of Christmas Past instilled trust in a very skeptical Scrooge. In order to be able to step out of the bedroom window into the dark night air, Scrooge had to trust that he wouldn’t fall to his death. And later, when Scrooge awoke Christmas morning, he instilled trust in a child passing by, saying he would pay him handsomely if only he were to get the prize turkey from the local market to Bob Cratchit’s house.

Building trust is easy. Simply put, you do what you say you will do—every time! Building trust means that your subordinates, your peers as well as your superiors know that you will deliver with whatever you are dealing with. If you are fighting for a raise for someone who has done an outstanding job, or are recommending that an employee be terminated for continuous poor performance, everyone around you will learn to trust that you will be fair and consistent—and build trust.

Maximize Influence: Marley maximized influence when he explained to Scrooge that he was forging an even heavier chain to carry through life and beyond than Marley had made for himself. Scrooge too, would be condemned to walk the earth in penitence bearing this great weight of chain as he had shown no concern for mankind during his life.

Scrooge later learned to maximize influence when he enabled Tiny Tim to be cured. Through understanding, benevolence and caring, Scrooge influenced the outcome of Tiny Tim’s disease, enabling Tim to walk and live.

As a leader, you can certainly maximize influence by showing care and concern for all around you, whether at work or in your personal life. If you can pave the way and make some road easier to travel, why not do so? It will pay in dedication and respect. Leaders must not do only what is good for business, they must also do what is right—that for the good of mankind.

Facilitate Engagement: All three Christmas ghosts helped to facilitate engagement for Scrooge to see how his past affected his present and future. They enabled Scrooge to see and feel how the real world really was, and not just see Scrooge’s world. All three ghosts lead Scrooge to places he could never have gone by himself.

As a leader in your organization, how can you best encourage staff to make a difference in their work style and ethic? You must enable them through training and education, giving them the confidence to become fully engaged in their next opportunity. Guide them and encourage them to become totally involved. After all, there is no room in your organization for want and ignorance.

Achieving Goals: Upon becoming “reborn,” Scrooge found that he was able to lead himself and others towards goals that were unachievable in his prior life. With only the goal of monetary wealth being met, Scrooge could not even be considered a leader. However, by improving the well-being of Bob Cratchit and his family, by aiding Tiny Tim to become healthy and by showing love for his nephew Fred and his wife, Scrooge met many goals. It was said that he became as good a person as ever there was.

As a leader, you must be able to reach intended goals. Merely leading, while not achieving goals is akin to charging forward with no path to follow and no hope of reaching your goal. It is best to have both short term and long term goals in sight. When leading people towards a goal, it is good to be able to put a few short term goals “under your belt” in order to keep morale and enthusiasm up while striving to reach your long term goals.

To reach peak performance, effective leaders make decisions keeping each success point in mind. Unlike Scrooge, you won’t have help from ghosts or be able to revisit the past in order to see the present and change the future.

Instead, our approach will help by aligning action plans to strategies, tactics and time frames in order for you to know how best to stage, run and sustain change initiatives.

As Scrooge would say, trying to lead in any other way would be a, “Bah, Humbug!”

Surviving in a Sea of Unmanageable Data

By Cindy Estis Green

Hotel managers can find themselves adrift in a sea of data. What is happening in the business? What data is worth keeping? What statistics are worth tracking?

To paraphrase management guru Peter Drucker, "Data is not information; it is information's ore." In order to use data, it needs to be organized for a task and applied to a decision.

These tips will help you sharpen your business' decision making tools.

Create a wish list of the types of information you need by department.

Make a list for payroll, business development, yield management and inventory control, for example. You may want to track what you spend on staffing relative to what you receive in revenue in your restaurants, or identify which feeder cities produce revenue in your key market segments.

Decide what data is clean and available.

If guest home addresses are not captured at the time of reservation or at check - in, you will not have accurate information on what cities are producing business for you. You may need to review the processes in the department that collects the information.

Often, it is the front office and reservations that collects marketing information, although it is the sales and marketing department that uses it. Like wise, it may be food and beverage outlets that collect the payroll and revenue statistics, and the accounting department that analyzes the staffing levels.

The various departments must become partners in the data collection and analysis effort to ensure that the data is available in usable form.

Match up your wish list of information with the related data available.

Make a list of information your want, write next to each item the corresponding data sources.

Your wish list can be designed in a brainstorming session with you key management team. Then take one item at a time and be sure you have a source to generate that piece of
information.

Narrow the wish list to the top 10 pieces of information for each department.

Set priorities based on what information will help you improve revenue significantly or reduce and control expenses. Ask each department head to consider what information is known.

For inventory control, it may be essential to track usage levels for housekeeping supplies on a per occupied room basis. This information could be critical to controlling supply costs. It might be nice, but not necessary to rack price changes per month on each individual item.

Establish the data collection process by department.

Review each of the top information needs and its source data with each department head. Determine obstacles to collection clean data for each department and establish any systems and procedures that would be needed to ensure that the data is available and consistent.

For example, the reservation manager may need to establish a means for collecting pickup of new reservations for each of the next 60 days. The data may be available, but a system to store it on a regular basis may have to be created. Off the shelf spreadsheets are ideal for this purpose.

Monitor results based on information selected. Once every department is collecting the selected types of information, it is necessary to review how it is helping in revenue enhancement or cost savings. Data needs to be check for accuracy and consistency and the information needs to be checked for overall value to the property's profit goals.

Thirty Easy Ways To Support Your Industry

It's actually 29 ways.....(List provided by the Florida Hotel & Motel Association.)

by Kirby D. Payne, CHA

Kirby D. Payne, CHA is Secretary Elect of the American Hotel & Motel Association, and Chair of the AH&MA's International Council of Hotel-Hotel Management Companies.

In a recent conversation with Bill Fisher, President of the American Hotel & Motel Association (AH&MA) about membership and the value of membership, Bill made a comment which I thought was particularly noteworthy.

He said, "The industry and its trade associations can only be as strong as those in the industry let it be." The first step in supporting the industry is joining a state association affiliated with the AH&MA. The second step is being active in taking advantage of its benefits, volunteering time on its committees and being an active leader so the association addresses the issues you feel are important.

When you avidly support the AH&MA and its affiliated state associations, great things happen: You grow professionally; you advance the well-being of your industry; and, you generate renewed enthusiasm for your own job or profession.

The best news is this: You can support the work of your industry's trade associations almost any time, with modest effort on your part. Here are 30 ways to do just that. (Not all programs and benefits are available in all states.)

1. Take advantage of association programs designed to improve your bottom line, pare your expenses and extend your education.
2. Independent hotels & motels and smaller management companies can expand the benefits offered employees with the state association's insurance, retirement and other benefit programs where they are available.
3. Update your workers' compensation insurance program and risk-management policies by comparing your current carrier to the association's partner in your state.
4. Observe national and state Tourism Week (usually in May) with special recognition or "thank you" promotions for guests and employees.
5. Many state association have school-to-work programs to area high schools and their students. Support them and promote them so young people think of our industry as a possible career just as you did when you started.
6. Make a tax-deductible donation to association's educational trust fund and the AH&MA's American Hotel Foundation which supports scholarship and industry research like the Best Practices survey currently underway.
7. Drop a note to your state association's conference coordinator offering ideas for the next events. They are, after all, your events!
8. Call your state association's headquarters or the AH&MA's resource center when you need information on a topic of interest; and, say "thanks" after you receive it.
9. Keep the names of your state's association officers and staffers handy. When you meet someone who might be a prospective member, pass the names along right away.
10. Send news releases and other positive information about yourself or your business to both your state association's publications director and Phil Hayward, Editor of Lodging, the AH&MA's management and trade magazine.
11. Display your membership plaque at your place of business, along with any association awards you've received.
12. Let your employees know about continuing education and certification opportunities available in their areas of responsibility, through the Educational Institute, now located in Orlando. Consider paying for their courses (when they pass them) and giving pay increases when they complete certification programs.
13. Renew your annual membership promptly.
14. When you have occasion to meet legislators and other public officials, speak about the value of tourism to local, state and national revenue coffers ($67 Billion in taxes in 1996). Support both your state association's Political Action Committee (PAC) and the AH&MA's AHMPAC by giving any amount. It is your right and obligation to speak out and the two best ways to do that are directly to legislators in person or in writing and by donating to our PACs.
15. Volunteer to serve on one committee and there are plenty of them at the state and national level to keep an organization like our running smoothly. You will influence the issues important to you by serving on a committee!
16. When colleagues make the news, drop them congratulatory notes (if the news is good) or notes of encouragement (if the news is bad).
17. Pass along copies of relevant newspaper or periodical articles to other members.
18. Schedule lunch with a nearby member (or non-member) every once in a while.
19. Leave your association publications in your office waiting area for others to read.
20. Write a "letter to the editor" of your state association's trade journal or Phil Hayward at LODGING or any other trade publication on a topic near and dear to you about the lodging industry or what they may have recently published.
21. Encourage properties or companies related to lodging to become members in their appropriate categories. Always give Allied Members an opportunity to quote along with other vendors. They are supporting us, we should support them.
22. Offer to serve as a mentor to an association newcomer or a student considering a career in hospitality.
23. Mention your association's (industry's) deeds and principles whenever you speak in front of civic or business groups. These include our supporting over 6.8 million jobs, paying over $121.6 Billion in salary and wages and creating nearly 200,000 new jobs a year for our national economy.
24. Publicize your association affiliation when participating in media-covered events.
25. Schedule upcoming dates for association activities-chapter meetings, national conventions, committee meetings-and block out time for professional reading and study.
26. Evaluate your participation in association activities from time to time. What have you done well? Where can you improve?
27. Add association membership and certification to your biography or resume.
28. Encourage subordinates you are developing to attend industry trade events and to serve on committees, too, so they learn valuable leadership and civic skills that will serve you and them well as they grow in this industry.
29. When considering purchases of products and services, please consult the various annual Buyer's Guide for your state association and the AH&MA and encourage vendors to participate in association membership and trade shows. Recognize Master Hotel Suppliers (MHS) just as you would CHAs.

Our industry is a great industry with proud traditions. It is a profession that people look up to in every community. We are the hosts, the civic leaders and in many cases the shapers of some local opinion for both the public and our government leaders. We do this individually in our communities and as we develop skills we do it at the state and national level. Our trade associations facilitate that effort.

Our trade associations are not a club, but a commitment to profit. Your properties' memberships in their respective state associations and the AH&MA provides opportunities for generating business for all hotels on the international, national and local levels. Forty-eight million room nights per year are filled via listings in the AH&MA's directory, the OAG Business Travel Planner Hotel & Motel Redbook. AH&MA's state associations help fill millions of rooms through their effective directories which are distributed at convention and visitors bureaus and state welcome centers. And finally, our strong and unified voice helps increase national and state tourism budgets. Because growth is the key to a prosperous hospitality industry, our primary focus is to help you keep costs down and profitability up.

For information about the American Hotel & Motel Association, affiliates and the various member state associations and their programs call 202-289-3100 or go http://www.AHMA.com.

What Do Guests Want in Their Room?

by Kirby D. Payne, CHA

Kirby D. Payne, CHA is Secretary Elect of the American Hotel & Motel Association, and Chair of the AH&MA's International Council of Hotel-Hotel Management Companies.

What do guests want in their room? The answer is clearly going to be more than a bed with sheets that have been changed since the last guest checked out! For the purposes of this column I am going to assume you understand the minimum furniture and bathroom fixture requirements, cleanliness standards and a comfortable fresh residential (or at least non-commercial) feel to the room.

Recently (April 1998) Lodging Hospitality (LH) Associate Editor Carlo Wolff wrote an excellent short column on this subject. Apparently Lodging Hospitality which is part of Penton Publishing did a survey among travelers "culled from their Penton Executive Network, which includes readers of about three dozen business publications."

According to LH's findings business travelers favorite amenity was a newspaper at the door followed by basic cable television. Leisure travelers' first and second preferences were basic cable television followed by an iron and ironing board in the room. That surprised me as I expected people to care more about appearances when traveling on business. The iron and ironing board ranked sixth for business travelers.

What else, according to LH, was in the top five: in-room coffee maker; premium TV channels; and pay-per-view TV. The line up for leisure travelers was completed by: premium TV channels; in-room coffee maker; and pay-per-view TV. Pay-per-view was a distant fifth according to their findings. Surprisingly, according to Wolff, dataports in the telephones were not that highly rated by either group though, obviously, business travelers rated them higher than leisure travelers.

USA Today was the "overwhelming newspaper of choice" by travelers. The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) was second. In our hotels I've found that the demand for the WSJ is a function of average daily rate and level of service. As one might expect, higher level hotels typically attract business travelers who are more in need of the information in the WSJ unless the leisure market for a particular hotel is comprised of retirees who follow the market. Hotel chains are responding to this same type of information by making, and rightfully so, USA Today a standard amenity requirement.

How can you use this information? Act on it! If you don't have these amenities in your hotel get them now. Some are obviously good for all markets. In-room coffee makers is an example of this. The cost is so minimal but the guests appreciate them and they make a great additional feature to compete with both for new guests and return guests. Newspapers can easily be delivered to the door. In small hotels with limited staff the night auditor can do it. If USA Today is not available early enough in your area use the local paper or one from a nearby metropolitan area. Who knows it may be the home paper for a lot of your guests.

If your cash is limited, only put the iron and ironing board in the rooms you get the highest rate for. This is also true of the in-room coffee maker, though I encourage you to reach down into your pocket and get them for all rooms. If those "upgraded" rooms are about to sit empty, upgrade people to them. It will help repeat business and word-of-mouth advertising.

I mentioned earlier that these amenities are helpful in competing for new guests. Your reaction may have been to think of noting these and other amenities in advertising and that would be very important. Possibly a more important thing to do is mention them before quoting a room rate. Tell people what your price includes before quoting the price. Say something like, "Our price for that room includes a USA Today delivered to your door early in the morning, an in - room coffee maker with free coffee for you to brew fresh when you get up, and premium cable channels like CNN, ESPN and HBO. All that for only ..." and quote the room rate unapologetically. If you offer a free continental breakfast describe it in glowing but honest terms.

Sell your rooms by offering value before you offer discounts. Remember Average Daily Rate is profit.

In case you missed the Sunday May 10th Star Tribune Travel Section they had a little sidebar from Newsday quoting American Express Travel Trends Monitor. Here are some quotes on how vacationers choose their lodging: "Almost half (49%) look for a courteous staff, followed by cable TV (36%, fast check-in/checkout (33%), complimentary breakfast (32%), knowledgeable staff (18%)..." Remember the telephone inquiry and reservations call is that potential guest's only opportunity to evaluate how courteous and knowledgeable the staff is. Focus on the quality of telephone service while small hotels must keep in mind not taking attention away from people standing right there at the reception desk.

The same sidebar noted that only two percent of dissatisfied guests fill out the comment card placed in their room. Four percent never go back and 14% do nothing. That data sure doesn't give one confidence that we are totally aware of our guest's problems!

Human nature about complaining in hotels probably hasn't changed much over the years but I'm old enough to remember when direct dial in-room phones, color televisions were sought after amenities and USA Today, guest room voice mail and pay-per-view movies hadn't even been thought of.

Bluefin Bay: A Study in Resort Management

by Kirby D. Payne, CHA

You may not have heard of Rysdahl, Buntz and Associates but their biggest success has been written up in consumer publications as, "worth the drive!" I am talking about Bluefin Bay Resort, one of the most successful resorts in Minnesota and possibly the only successful resort with condominium ownership as its primary form of real estate ownership.

What do I mean by success? See if you agree with my definition. The condominium owners are happy because they are either receiving more cash flow than the original projections they were given several years ago or they have sold their units for a nice profit over their purchase price, usually after less than a month on the market. There is a waiting list of prospective buyers now. Bluefin's condominium owners are typically getting an 11% pre-tax return on their total investment or 23% after-tax cash-on-cash return. Dennis Rysdahl and Rob Buntz are happy because they are making money through management of the condominium rental units and ownership of their adjacent restaurant and bar. They also have delivered on all their promises to lenders who either get paid early or at worst on time, a rarity in the hotel business these days, condominium owners, guests of the resort and employees.

How might other resort, hotel, and motel owners and operators benefit from Dennis and Rob's success? They might see if a few of the things that Dennis and Rob believe to have been essential apply to their situation. Dennis mentioned the following items in a presentation to the Condominium Owners Association in late April as being very important:

Continued capital improvements

Dennis and Rob only require them of condominium owners and themselves if the result is either improved productivity or an enhanced guest experience at a value greater than the cost of the improvement. Dennis says, "New bedspreads are an investment, not an expense." And he is not mentioning tax benefits, this is real investment for real return.

Ongoing maintenance

This important daily function reduces operating costs, increases productivity and enhances the guest's experience. Engineers regularly go through every condominium unit with a five page list of things to check everything from shower head flow to loose doorknobs. Dennis estimates that this costs almost $100 per inspection on each condominium unit of one or more bedrooms, full kitchen and living/dining area. He states that the payback is no down-time, reduced repair costs and guests getting what they pay for every time the unit is occupied.

Guest oriented design and amenities

When Bluefin Bay was built and equipped and through subsequent upgrades there were several design and equipment items which in retrospect have proven to be very worthwhile. Among those he mentioned were a whirlpool tub unit overlooking Lake Superior, fireplace, stereo cassette player, coffee makers, microwaves and at least one VCR in every unit. High quality bedding, especially, sofa beds, and upscale furniture throughout the units are complemented by residential style accessorizing. Details such as quality kitchenware, utensils, china and flatware in all the kitchens are required. Regular Quality Control inspections help assure that all owners in the rental program keep their units up to the standards of a four star hotel. Tofte Management, a Rysdahl, Buntz and Associates affiliate which actually manages the day-to-day operations of Bluefin Bay Resort, operate design consulting and bulb furniture purchasing programs in order to make these processes as simple and inexpensive as possible for the unit owners.

Personnel management

Dennis and Rob sponsor an annual retreat for upper and middle management. They accomplish a variety of things ranging from team building exercises to business planning. They firmly believe that in addition to careful recruiting, orienting and training of line employees, that higher pay rates have been instrumental in reducing labor costs. Yes, higher pay saves money! Two years ago their average hourly pay rate was $4.50. It is now $6.50 and their goal for the beginning of 1992 is $7.00. Therefor, in a resort area with a serious labor shortage, they get both the best possible applicants to choose from when there are occasional position openings and they have very a very low employee turnover rate of less than 20%. Dennis calls it "investing in employees." Their kitchen manager is off to the Culinary Institute of America in New York at Dennis and Rob's expense this summer. The Assistant Manager for front office and Comptroller got a $45,000 property management system to tie into the bar and restaurant's new point of sale system. These systems are all first class, no cigar boxes here! Clearly they are investing in people and productivity.

Targeted and creative marketing

Rob coordinates most of the marketing for Bluefin Bay though Dennis gets a few programs going, too. The marketing effort is focused on the slow periods, which they refer to as the "quiet time" of this seasonal resort thereby turning around a negative which must be overcome into a positive to promote. Seasonal is all in the eyes of the beholder though, because Bluefin Bay achieved nearly a 70% occupancy in 1990 while achieving an Average Daily Rate of over $140 giving them a revenue increase from 1989 of about 18%. It wouldn't be fair to give you their market plan but here are a few things they are doing that make them special. They have always considered their return guests as the most important market and communicate with them several times a year with the "Bluefin Fishwrapper" newsletter which Rob publishes.

They adopted two miles of highway to clean and subsequently got radio coverage for doing it. Oh yes, they are going to get their guests to do the actual work next time! This last time the condominium unit owners did most of the work. Good citizenship, you know!

They participate in various programs including the Endangered Species Program with the DNR for which they received honors, contribute to the U. M. Department of Tourism Chair, Dennis chairs the Lutsen/Tofte Tourism Association Golf Committee, help maintain the Superior Hiking Trail, etc.

Their Kitchen Manager's recipes appear occasionally in the TASTE section of the Star Tribune.

They carefully negotiate trade outs with the print and radio media which appeal to Bluefin Bay's target markets.

In the end I believe the secrets to Dennis and Rob's success are focusing on increasing revenues and reducing costs. Nothing new, but their success at achieving these goals is the result of their strategy: working with their staff to develop results-oriented detailed plans and a constant awareness of the need for change and improvement.

Finally, they strive to send each guest home with a sense that the value received was greater than their final bill through a continuous effort to enhance the accommodations, grounds, services and every con-tact with staff members.

One condominium owner told me that his only worry about his investment was something happening to Dennis and Rob and having Rob's dog Booth take over! Booth doesn't think about details much but the guests and staff loves him.

Community Action a Good Solution Forming a Visitors & Tourism Bureau

by Kirby D. Payne, CHA,

Recently our company felt forced to get involved politically with two issues at the local level as opposed to the state and national level where we are more comfortable. At the state and national level, getting involved Can insure your opinions are known by legislators, policymakers and regulators. Depending on the issue making your opinion known can have significant impact on the outcome of very major issues. At the local level community action can have immediate and direct impact.

Issues Arise Over Tourism

The first of these local issues related to forming a Visitors & Tourism Bureau in Hinckley, Minnesota where our company operates the Best Western Gold Pine for owner. The funding for such a venture typically comes from the proceeds of collecting an occupancy tax in the community. In Minnesota, to accomplish that a city ordinance is necessary. In this column I will describe the process and the results.

The second issue relates to the planned development of a new hotel across the street from the Econo Lodge we operate near the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis for two investors. In that case we felt the new hotel would both hurt the our hotel to the point of possibly putting us out of business but was also not in the best interests of the community encompassing the area immediately around our hotel. In a future column I'll detail the events and what happened. The effort is still underway as this column is being written.

VTBFor Hinckley

The need for a Visitors & Tourism Bureau (VTB) in Hinckley was foreseen several years ago by one of our competitors. In 1992-1993 Emmett Erpelding, whose company operates the Holiday Inn Express in Hinckley, began to anticipate declining business among the hotels in Hinckley which were not affiliated with Grand Casino in one way or another. Supply would increase about 150 rooms in 1994 with the addition of the Grand Hinckley Inn and was rumored to be increasing another 300 rooms in 1995 or 1996 with the addition of another hotel immediately adjacent to Grand Casino on the reservation.

When Emmett first discussed his VTB idea with me in late 1993 1 had mixed feelings. When I discussed it with our client, who ultimately would have to live with the VTB's effects on market performance and the potential sales price of his hotel in the future, he was opposed to the idea for two principal reasons. These were the traditional don't get involved in raising taxes of any kind, ever and what if the Hinckley hotels didn't have control and other Pine County hotels and businesses in general did.

In late 1994 we began to realize that the negative impact of the opening of the Grand Hinckley Inn was going to be much greater than we anticipated. At this point Emmett and I discussed the matter again and I did a little research with the help of Tom Newcome, Esq., General Counsel and Lobbyist for the Minnesota Hotel & Lodging Association where Emmett and I serve on the Board of Directors. While I got some good technical advice about the state law regarding occupancy tax, one fact was very important to me. With one exception, counties cannot enact occupancy taxes. Only incorporated towns and cities can do it, Counties only come into play in the case of unincorporated townships. This was important to me because one of our client's principal objections was his fear of a VTB being controlled by entities outside of Hinckley who might have different goals from Hinckley's hotels. With that hurdle out of the way and business continuing to decline I got the go ahead from our client to proceed. With Emmett on an extended trip early in the year the task of getting the process started fell on me.

Letter Writing Campaign

I started by preparing a letter to each Hinckley City Councilperson asking them to enact an occupancy tax for the purpose of funding a VTB. The letter was sent to their homes and included historic information regarding the market's occupancy and reference to the applicable state law. This letter was followed up with telephone calls by several people and discussions in various interested forums including the monthly hotel marketing meetings which take place in Hinckley to coordinate activities with Grand Casino. The feedback we were getting was that the hotel operators in Hinckley had divergent opinions or were ambivalent. The Council Members had mixed feelings also but we felt the Mayor was in favor of the idea.

A second letter was sent to Council Members and about the same time the subject was placed on the Council's agenda as a discussion item. A few hoteliers appeared and commented on the idea. At the Council meeting Council Members took note of which hotels were absent and what the room count in favor and opposed seemed to be. The Council decided to have an informal meeting within a few weeks with the hotel operators in order to try to get them all in one place and hear their views.

First Council Meeting

That meeting was very similar to the Council meeting but the lines between those in favor, opposed or not taking a position were more clearly drawn. The Pine County Tourism Association which wanted a county wide program was also represented. Some of those appearing who were opposed to the idea were not as familiar with the law as they might have been and may actually have hurt their credibility in the process. For example, one person believed that a VTB could not hire paid staff and could only use its money for direct promotional purposes and as a result could only function with volunteers from Pine County Tourism Association. Clearly, most Convention and Visitors Bureaus (CVBS) and VTBs in Minnesota have staff and office space. Look at Bloomington, Burnsville, Minneapolis and Saint Paul for large examples.

Subsequent to that meeting the Council decided to hold a formal public hearing and invite any who had an interest in appearing. Between the two meetings conversation continued among hoteliers and interested community and county parties. Jim Ausmus, Hinckley's City Clerk/Administrator was asked to research the disputed points of law and operational issues with the Minnesota League of Cities and other sources. We sent follow up letters to Council Members and worked with community members to garner support for our position. We also evaluated the position of each hotelier very carefully.

Change of Feelings

Those that we felt would modify their position based on reason were visited with informally in different forums. Fortunately, their positions started to change. In one case, I wrote the President of the owning company detailing the issues. In the letter I asked that he consider directing his General Manager to change his position. That General Manager, for whatever reason, became neutral on the issue. By the time the public hearing occurred in May most hotels were in favor of the ordinance, a few were neutral and only one was opposed.

Some Opposed

The owner of the hotel which was opposed to the ordinance felt strongly that it was inappropriate to add more taxes and that other than 1-35 traffic and Grand Casino there was not much more that could be done to attract additional business to Hinckley. He felt particularly strongly that the average price increase of $1 to $2 in taxes would hurt business in Hinckley and cause people to go elsewhere. That, of course, begged the question that with over eighty communities in Minnesota charging an occupancy tax where would someone go. His more valid argument as a native of Hinckley, which he stated very tactfully, was that he didn't want more business going through the community and didn't feel outsiders should be trying to run the town. My job, of course, is to look out for my client's financial interests even if I agreed with that particular thought.

At the public hearing the Pine County Tourism Association took the position that the tax would be divisive between the county and Hinckley. The proposed solution was for Hinckley to collect the tax and turn it over to the Pine County Tourism Association to be managed. That idea didn't go far but the proponents of the occupancy tax may have had a moment of concern when I jumped up and accused the representative of the Pine County Association of trying to hijack our tax revenues!

Ordinance on Agenda

A few days after the public hearing the Mayor placed the ordinance on the Council's agenda. That was a good sign because for all practical purposes he could have killed the idea by not doing that just as he could have by not having the hearings. During the period between the public hearing and the Council vote, anyone with an interest in the subject was discussing it and lobbying the Council Members and each other in one fashion or another. I was fairly confident that we would prevail and get the ordinance.

Not only did that happen a few weeks later, but both Emmett and I were honored to be appointed by the Mayor along with Jim Ausmus to form the entity and develop the Bylaws. We met about ten days later and discussed the issues relating to the Bylaws. These were drafted in about two weeks and circulated to the hotel operators for comment. After a few adjustments to the Bylaws they were signed the week of July 10th and circulated so that Directors could be appointed appropriately in time for the first meeting of the Board of Directors on July 18th-

The Bylaws are somewhat unique in that the VTB will not have members but rather any one can participate at no cost other than for any services they may buy such as advertising. The VTB will not be competing with Hinckley's Chamber of Commerce for membership dollars. Another unique factor is that in addition to each hotel appointing a Director, three constituencies were identified as having a right to participate and have representation on the Board of

The three constituencies are: the Chamber of Commerce with two Directors representing the other business interests in Hinckley and the surrounding area; the City Council will appoint two Directors to represent the City of Hinckley; and, to insure that Pine County's tourist attractions are considered, the Pine County Tourism Association may appoint one Director.

This was my first time being involved in seeing an idea taken through the entire process at the community level, I learned a lot from it and enjoyed it. It was great to be a part of executing Emmett's idea and it will be rewarding to be active in the Hinckley Visitors and Tourism Bureau and seeing all of the city's hotels reap its benefits.

Get Involved in the Legislative Process

by Kirby D. Payne, CHA , February 2007

The Minnesota Lodging Association, in conjunction with the Minnesota Restaurant Association, like many other state associations across the United States hosts an annual event called Hospitality Day at the Capitol. The American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA) has a similar event in Washington, DC called the Legislative Action Summit (LAS). (To learn when the next LAS is visit AHLA.com.) The recent mid-term elections prompted me to reflect back about how my interest in being more active in the political process evolved. Some people define "active in the political process" as voting in major elections while others define it as being a politician or a lobbyist.

A majority of the people I know fall in the first category every four years and occasionally every two years, if they are really dedicated. Really interested voters may even read the headlines and first paragraph of news articles about the current big issues like minimum wage, congressional ethics, the fallout from the recent election, not to mention the war on terror around the world. Not enough people in our industry, particularly at the hotel operations level, fall into a third category: those that are aware of the issues and make the effort to express their opinions to their representatives or give guidance to sympathetic lobbyists by being involved with industry associations.

Influence of the Individual

The most influential group among us may be individual citizens who simply contact their elected representatives at any level of government.

It doesn't take much effort to vote occasionally and the result is that you and many others have elevated someone to the highest office and responsibility they have ever had. The question arises as to whom is going to keep this elected person's feet grounded in reality? They have to hear from us.

This leads me back to Hospitality Day at the Capitol and the Legislative Action Summit. Several years ago I was asked to speak about sharing my views with legislators. I realized many years ago that writing my state and national representatives about my opinions was not only acceptable but my responsibility. I encourage everyone to do at least that. If you can participate in a more active and personal way, that would have even more of an impact. Believe me, they want to hear from us. They certainly aren’t experts on all issues and they are keenly aware of their need for guidance from knowledgeable people.

Legislators really appreciate hearing from hoteliers and others that provide insights and assistance that helps them determine public policy. They understand that each hotelier employs several of their constituents. They know that by working with you, they are also communicating with many others that they represent.

Most people don’t write to their elected representatives. This is what makes those letters they do receive so important – legislators realize that each letter represents hundreds of their constituents’ views. Another powerful tool is to write letters to the editor of your local paper. Elected representatives read papers just like you and I. However, they tend to read the letters to the editor of their local paper before anything else because they understand that it is their constituents’ opinions that are written there and that each letter reaches their entire district and may represent thousands of people.

Help from the Associations

If you are not sure what to say, simply write a draft letter and send it the Government Affairs department for your association at the state or national level as appropriate. They will be glad to comment on your letter, help you with accuracy and generally make sure you don't put your writing “foot” in your mouth. Even if you don't need their input, it is important that you send them a copy of your letter. This helps the government affairs department staff know what the various members of our industry feel and what comments the various legislators are receiving so they can follow up on them.

For me, the next step was calling legislators on the phone and visiting with them in person. I procrastinated for years out of fear that I was not going to present myself and my industry properly. For those who know me, it may be difficult to picture me afraid to talk to someone. Frankly, I had even visited several prominent national politicians, hosted them in my hotels and visited with former President Reagan and his wife alone over dessert many years ago. Trust me, it's not the same as letting your own representative know face-to-face what you believe and want.

My election to the position of treasurer of the Minnesota Hotel & Lodging Association many years ago prompted me to contact my legislators in person. I realized that if I was going to represent my peers in forums and legislative committees I had to learn to talk to legislators without being awed by their elected position. This served me well when I was elected as an officer of the AH&LA.

Visits a Natural Step

I convinced myself that visiting with a legislator was a natural step after writing to one. With encouragement from Tom Day and Tom Newcome, lobbyists for the Minnesota associations, I started writing to my state senators and representatives advising them that I would be calling to make appointments and to discuss issues. Note that I wrote them to tell them that I'd be calling. Writing first made the steps easier and it set an agenda for the subsequent meeting. I also made sure that Tom Day's schedule allowed him to accompany me so he could go on my first appointment with me. I was, to say the least, apprehensive.

I started with my local legislators but eventually needed to deal with a number of state legislators. Obviously there is a senator and a representative associated with the district where I live, where my office is, and where my hotels are. While the legislators representing one's district of residence are most interested in your views, those representing your business districts are also concerned about the impact of legislation on the business and its employees. Each of us usually has at least two senators and representatives that we should contact.

Before visiting with a legislator, at any level, be sure to know a little about the person and what issues they tend to be interested in pursuing and what side of you issues they may already have taken a position on. Also be familiar with how an issue affects your business and the others in the area. Both state and national elected officials value being updated about what is going on locally.

In addition to you making appointments to visit them, legislators appreciate your