Luxury Hoteliers Magazine 4th Quarter 2014 Issue

LUXURY HOTELIERS 4th Quarter 2014

10 QUESTIONS with

Jan Freitag, STR spotlight on

Diana Oreck

VP Ritz-Carlton Leadership Center

Luxury Travel Bloggers How to get their Attention Surprising Psychological Traits of

Hoteliers

MASTER’S DEGREE IN HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT Enroll in a new kind of rewards program.

Advance your status with these distinctive specialties: • Strategies in Leadership • Brand Management & Guest Experience • Development & Asset Management • Global & Regional Standards

Apply Now for Fall, Spring, or Summer:

scs.georgetown.edu/ilha

Contents

06

24

04 10 QUESTIONS with Jan D. Freitag, SVP, STR about luxury hotels Jan Freitag comments on the current state of the luxury hotel industry and the outlook for 2015 06 SPOTLIGHT ON Diana Oreck, Vice President of The Ritz-Carlton Leadership Center Diana shares some of the secrets behind The Ritz Carlton’s guest service success 08 SPOTLIGHT ON Anthony Paton, luxury hotelier and world traveler Antony talks about leadership, working in unique destinations, and his interest in eco-friendly practices

30

12 How to Get Media Exposure from Luxury Travel Bloggers Roxanne Genier of LuxeInACity offers valuable insight on building a rewarding relationship with high ranking bloggers

16 Six steps to successfully adopt new technologies in your hotel When technology becomes overwhelming - creating a strategy for smooth transition 20 Laser Targeted Online Advertising: Retargeting and Facebook Custom Audiences What is retargeting and how do you use it? Darren Craig tells us how 24 5 Surprising Psychological Traits of Great Hoteliers

Introverts may have the edge while the overly ambitious could be a hiring mistake

26 Facebook A Future Alternative to TripAdvisor?

Is Facebook taking on TripAdvisor? How successful is it as a marketing platform?

30 Social Media is the New SEO Guest engagement and social searches. What works?l 32 Management routines MBWA Have you tried Management By Wandering Around?

Want to advertise in Luxury Hoteliers or write an article? Contact Sharon Hirschowitz +1 941 866 1951 ILHA 3

10 QUESTIONS with

Jan D. Freitag, SVP, STR

about luxury hotels 4 ILHA

1. What is the current state of the global luxury hotel industry?

Overall, performance is good to very good depending on in which area of the globe you are operating. The high end transient traveler has returned in force and we are now finally seeing the return of the group traveler for high end incentive trips. Overall we expect robust demand growth for the coming years, however this will be offset in some areas by string supply growth.

2. In which world regions are luxury hotels doing well?

RevPAR growth is in Europe and the Americas.

Supply growth in the middle east will be a concern going forward but so far the demand numbers are still very robust.

3. In which world regions are luxury hotels doing not so well?

In AsiaPac the new supply growth is taking its toll and RevPAR has declined for the last few quarters. This is a function of new supply as well as regional weakness because of political instability.

4. What is the current state of the U.S. luxury hotel industry?

All is well on the high end. Room rates are growing strongly and overall occupancy for the first six months was a whopping 75.7%. To get to those levels of utilization hotels have to be basically sold out midweek and weekends.

5. It seems that in your talks you always bring it back to the fundamentals: supply and demand.

Can you comment on the current situation for those two metrics?

In the US overall we are seeing very small supply growth numbers. The only exception is actually the luxury sector. YTD through June supply has increased 2%, which is a much faster pace than the 0.9% for the nation overall. Luckily demand is still growing as well, through June it has increased 2.2% so we see occupancy gains for the sector.

6. In the U.S. is it a buyers’ or a sellers’ market?

Who has the pricing power?

U.S. luxury hoteliers were able to increase room rates by 5.5% in 2013 and by 4.7% through June so it seems that pricing power is firmly in the hoteliers hands as hotels are almost filled to capacity. That said, the new supply will ease pricing pressure in some markets so buyers with flexibility in location and timing will still find good opportunities.

7. Compared to the prior peak of 2007, how are U.S. luxury hotels doing?

It is noteworthy that the U.S. luxury hoteliers have now exceeded the prior 2007 numbers in each and every measure. The industry has recorded higher occupancy, ADR and RevPAR and there really is no end in sight to the growth of RevPAR. All signs are “go”.

8. The publicly traded companies seem to show that group demand has increased quite nicely. What does your data show?

For the first 6 months of this year, group occupancy has increased 2% and room rates are up 3.3%. As we continue to track positive transient ADR growth we also expect that group room rates will increase at a more healthy clip going forward.

9. Tell us about some cities where luxury hotels are doing well?

Well, NYC and San Francisco are always doing well, and in this environment of subdued supply growth those two markets continue to set the tone for the nation overall with healthy ADR and RevPAR growth numbers. Outside the U.S. the middle east and some markets in Asia are performing very well and are able to charge high premiums to the next highest class cluster. Paris is in its own little universe and average rates have topped $800 per night, almost double the rate in NYC. 10. What is your outlook for 2014 and beyond?

All is well in “luxury land”. We expect continued strong demand and healthy occupancies which will aid rate growth and make the luxury hotel industry very attractive from an investor and developer perspective.

ILHA 5

SPOTLIGHT ON Diana Oreck

Vice President of The Ritz-Carlton Leadership Center

6 ILHA

The Ritz Carlton Leadership Center was launched in 2000, please can you give us some history on how the concept evolved.

The Leadership Center was launched as a result of winning the National Malcolm Baldrige Award twice. Our first win was in 1992 and the second was in 1999.

Only 5 companies had won twice and there were no other service/ hospitality companies. There was so much demand from other companies to benchmark our best practices in organizational culture transformation, legendary service and leadership that we had to create a systemized way to share our story.

Why does The Ritz Carlton leadership training work across a variety of companies?

At the end of the day, service is service no matter what industry you are in. As consumers, when we receive excellent service it is like a choreographed ballet, poetry in motion. When we receive poor service it is like a Stephen King horror show. What we teach is very practical and we work hard to ensure the principles are transferable to other industries.

How important is a strong corporate culture to guest service?

It is hugely important. Every company should have a written service strategy which creates a common language and understanding for employees of how to deliver legendary service.

Additionally. Senior leadership cannot abdicate their responsibility in driving the culture and service

strategy if they want to create a culture where the customer is the employees’ highest mission.

What innovations have you made since joining in 2004?

We innovate constantly by listening to our students and adding more relevant offerings. Most recently I am most proud of our entrée into social media and the Gold Minds Blog published twice per week.

How have recent social media trends influenced learning?

Learning is a matter of understanding, repetition and practice. Sitting through a presentation once is a good start, but you deepen your understanding by applying the new skills.

Repetition is another important aspect of education. Social media helps us reinforce our educational message and allows us to showcase different applications of the skills we teach. As social media channels like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn evolve into more sophisticated publishing platforms, they heighten our organization’s ability to share knowledge, tips, and stories. We are able to repeat and reinforce the best practices of The Ritz-Carlton, and this helps organizations improve employee engagement, customer service, and organizational culture. Because social media is interactive, we can instigate discussions that allow organizations to learn from us as well as from each other. We are also able to engage a wider audience and continue relationships with past students as well as establish new relationships with colleagues in

other organizations. Social media has become an indispensable tool for us to shepherd individuals and organizations on their journey to service excellence.

How have you addressed preparing hoteliers for the more experience focused guest?

We teach a concept to our staff called Radar On-Antenna Up. It is about always picking up on both the expressed and unexpressed wishes of our guests. You cannot deliver personalized service if you are on auto-pilot or distracted. Great service is about surprise and delight and connecting emotionally with guests.

The Ritz Carlton is seen as a leader in training and development, what do you see for the future?

Training and Development which is provided internally for employees should be strategic and positively impact the organization’s key initiatives. Employees must also be partners with their employers in their own learning and career planning. There will be more and more learning interventions using technology. All companies regardless of sector must ensure their offerings stay relevant.

How do you motivate your team?

I continuously remind them of how valuable they are to the success of The Leadership Center.

Additionally, we do not spend much time at all on the function of their role. We are laser-beam focused on their purpose which is transforming businesses by creating and delivering unique memorable and personalized learning experiences.

ILHA 7

SPOTLIGHT ON Anthony Paton

luxury hotelier and world traveler Antony Paton shares with Luxury Hoteliers Magazine the valuable insights he has gained in over 24 years of hotel management. His career has taken him all over the world in varied roles with luxury properties, from the royal household of King Hussein and Queen Noor, to Deputy Chief Operating Officer of Le Royal Group of Hotels and Managing Director of Operations for Soneva Resorts.

8 ILHA

You have had a very exciting career across many interesting locations around the world. Was this something you actively pursued?

When I was 25, I was promoted to Assistant Conference and Banqueting Manager at the Heathrow Penta Hotel (Now the Renaissance). My predecessor was transferred to Chicago and I was envious of him. This had a profound influence on the course of my future overseas career. It was also a time when the world was opening up and other countries were looking for foreign expertise, particularly the Caribbean and the Middle East.

Six years later when I was looking for my first General Manager’s position, along came an opportunity in Jordan. I jumped at it because of the position and it was an added bonus when, under a certain amount of secrecy, I discovered that I would have some very different Bosses in the form of Their Majesties King Hussein and Queen Noor.

My wife was very home sick for the first few months and I started having second thoughts but we both stuck it out and all these years later, we have become true ex-pats with some amazing experiences and memories and of course, friends in every corner of the globe.

After finishing my contract in Jordan, I met Martyn Sawyer of Peninsula Hotels and we got on very well. I worked for him for five very happy years in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

At this time, my Wife and I felt we should settle the Children back into English culture so we returned to the UK and I spent the next 10 years in London.

When the Children were more or

less independent with University and jobs, I was made redundant from my regional position with Jarvis Hotels and couldn’t find a similar position so I decided to look further afield and returned to Jordan followed by Thailand, India and the Maldives.

I haven’t actively pursued a career abroad, more followed circumstances and opportunities whilst trying to suit the needs of a growing family.

What advice would you have for someone in the hospitality industry who would like to work in unique destinations?

I would advise anyone to take a job that may not necessarily be up to ones level of expertise or package.

Getting your foot on the ladder is really important and once you have that worldly experience, it will put you in good stead.

I have interviewed many applicants for their first position abroad and I always look deeply into whether the person will survive being away from their comfortable surroundings and whether they will respect the culture of their potential location.

Apart from experience, those applicants who have really researched the Company and the location and who can display a really good reason for wanting to work abroad are those who generally go through to a short list.

experience to exceed customer satisfaction, produce profit and asset growth and develop individuals to perform.

I have always felt that a truly great Leader is someone who, although approachable, has a tendency to be autocratic on certain occasions.

Can you tell us about one of your most challenging projects on a luxury resort.

I was the opening General Manager for Soneva Kiri (by Six Senses) on the island of Kood, south east Thailand and a stone’s throw from Cambodia.

I started two years prior to the opening, in a small office in Bangkok and moved on site a year prior to opening.

The resort consisted of 35 villas each with swimming pools, jungle cinema, four restaurants, three bars, a spa with eleven treatment rooms, water sports, beach facilities, library, shops and the famous tree top dining pod. The staff village accommodated 300 and had a restaurant, bar, swimming pool, library, games room and fully equipped gym. The whole site was 78 acres and prior to building, was an impenetrable forest.

This was a huge project in a very remote location and this inevitably made it challenging.

A good Leader is someone who listens, understands and actions.

Having vision is compulsory.

For example, the supply of building materials was often delayed due to weather conditions. The quality of such a complex build had to be constantly checked to get it absolutely right and this regularly caused further delays.

Of course it’s all about having the necessary experience and a good Leader is someone who uses their

The majority of construction was sustainably farmed wood and in order to protect the surroundings

What key characteristics do you feel make a good leader?

ILHA 9

of this untouched habitat, conventional building practices were avoided and new and innovative methods adopted. This caused ‘trial and error’ challenges.

Transportation of staff was always a challenge, largely due to weather conditions.

And dealing with bureaucratic processes was a headache.

The opening of the resort was delayed a number of times and this was particularly disruptive for our Travel Agents and other Business Partners which in turn challenged our cash flows.

An opening is always difficult as there are a myriad of things to do and organize and in such a remote location, one can’t simply ‘pop out’ to the shops to buy something you have forgotten.

Living in a remote location sounds romantic but is tough to handle and takes a certain mind set to cope with it.

I think any Manager will agree that if you can successfully get a resort or hotel opened in a remote location, you can do almost anything!

Would you do anything differently if you had the chance?

I have often thought of where I would have ended up if I had stayed with one Company for the whole of my career. On reflection, I am very happy with what I have done and where I am currently. I have had a varied career in terms of jobs, companies and locations and this has most certainly made me a better Person, Leader and Business man.

great Hoteliers. Desmond Kent, John Evans, Francis Young, Walter Novembre, Martyn Sawyer, Richard Thomason, John Jarvis and Sonu Shivdasani to name but a few.

If I were to go back and do it all again, I would certainly research the person I would be working for, prior to taking a job. This has challenged my on a couple of occasions and caused a considerable amount of unhappiness.

Can you tell us a little about how your interest in eco-friendly practices in the hotel industry developed?

I would urge others to do their due diligence when being interviewed for a job. It is really important that you know who you are potentially going to work for. During your interview, you should interview your interviewer.

Apart from that, I have been incredibly happy with my working life.

Did you have a mentor or coach who helped you shape your career?

I have never had a coach or mentor. But I have been influenced throughout my career by many

I feel that I have been my own master in shaping my career. It is certainly true what is said that if you are determined enough, you will get there.

I was blissfully ignorant of any eco practices until I worked for Six Senses Resorts and Spas and in particular with my Bosses, Sonu and Eva Shivdasani.

In the space of six years, I have learnt so much about sustainability, particularly with regards to the hotel Industry.

Being concerned with how our influence affects our surroundings is only the first step. Doing something to lessen that impact is essential.

My interest in eco friendly practices has grown to become a way of life and it certainly has had an effect on others around me, particularly my Family.

The ILHA connects one of the largest communities of hotel and travel professionals in the world, reaching an audience of over 200,000 hotel & travel professionals

Join today and gain access to the latest educational resources, information, tools & tactics 10 ILHA

Proven Profit Optimization Software Optimal Pricing Solutions for: Guest Rooms | Group Sales

Optimize your hotel’s transient guest inventory based on Total Guest Value to generate significant and sustained revenues.

Optimize your group pricing with ease! Respond quickly with intelligent prices that increase conversion rates and group room revenues.

How to Get

Media Exposure from Luxury Travel Bloggers

In this age of digital revolution, collaborating with bloggers to gain brand awareness has become an essential element of any good marketing-mix. Through your own digital efforts you might have published a dozen or so press releases on an online distribution service such as PRWeb or PRNewswire; sent out mass email campaigns using Cision media database of journalists, bloggers and influencers; hired a PR firm for their network and expertise; or simply kept everything in-house for a more personal outreach program.

Regardless of which method used, your goal is the same: to get some much coveted media attention for your luxury hotel in front of your target clientele.

Connect On A Personal Level – Don’t Spam Although a good press release can be a great conversation starter, spamming everyone with a mass email will only get you so far. If 12 ILHA

you are in tune with your market, you already know a handful of influencers with whom you would love to collaborate.

Doron Levy, founder of The Top Tier (www.thetoptier.net) explains:

“Luxury hotels should focus their searches on blogs that speak to their audience. Brands could easily search themselves on Pinterest, Fancy, Instagram, Twitter and other such high velocity social media sites and find out who’s writing (or pinning, or fancying, or tweeting) about them.”

Damon Banks, a freelance writer and media consultant who blogs at LuxeGetaways.com (www.luxegetaways.com) also recommends to connect directly with influencers in your niche: “I find that many luxury hotels today are so active on social media, as well as the many digital platforms, that they have an idea of who the specific journalists, freelance writers and Bloggers are that can contribute to their brand. For these individuals that can provide some level of promotion and/or endorsement to the property, they can be an asset to the hotel.”

So, instead of reaching for the mass, focus on building longlasting relationships with a few key influencers. With time, you will build an impressive network of loyal friends, friends that will stand by your side every step of the way.

Stop spamming with unsolicited press releases and promotional emails; you will only make us mad. Instead, read a few posts, find some background info on us, interact with us on social media and reach out to us on an individual basis. Remember, first impressions are paramount to any future collaborations.

Understand Our Business Model – Reward Accordingly

Asking a successful blogger to promote your hotel without any compensation is like asking PRWeb, PRNewswire, Cision and/ or your PR Agency to promote your brand for free. For most, blogging is a business in the same way as magazines are businesses.

When we start out as bloggers, we usually end up accepting every press release received since we need interesting content to share on our social media channels.

Once we achieve a certain level of success, our business model tends to change, so does our editorial requirements.

of A Luxury Travel Blog ( www. aluxurytravelblog.com )

“Recognise that the most influential luxury travel bloggers, and those with a truly significant reach, are also the ones who are most in demand. Of course, they’ll also be the ones you want to be involved with because they’ll most likely offer the greatest ROI. They’ll probably have specific guidelines that they’d like you to follow when submitting any proposals to them. Since their inboxes fill up daily – if not hourly – it is highly prudent to find out what these are, take note, and pitch accordingly. Ignore any rules at your peril – if you can’t be bothered to tailor your approach, the chances are you’ll only serve to irritate them and this could deter from any working relationship before you’ve even started. On the flip side, carefully read and digest exactly what they are looking for, and take some time out to actually read their blogs, and you are much more likely to start off on the right footing when you make that all-important first contact.” explains Paul Johnson, founder

From experience, every luxury hotel that has hosted a member of my team for a night or two is instantly admitted to our list of preferred brands. We continuously engage with these luxury hotels on social media for months/years after the event took place. We naturally become brand evangelists and we never require any additional payment for future promotions; the luxury hotel becomes a friend rather than a client. In terms of PR, offering a complimentary stay can go a very long way. However, remember that every blogger has its own set of rules and it’s important for brands to keep those in mind when pitching.

Saying this, if you have limited funds at your disposal, some luxury travel bloggers will dish out editorial content in exchange for a complimentary experience.

Nothing beats getting an honest review from a newfound fan. The costs associated with hosting a blogger in your hotel are so minimal if you factor in the amount of love you will receive from them in return and the new clients you will acquire from the great media exposure.

Think Long Term – Consider The Benefits The fan base of both small and prominent luxury travel bloggers will only increase in the upcoming years. Therefore, it is important to continuously interact with your favorite influencers on social media to ensure future collaborations.

ILHA 13

There is no need to interact every day but once or twice a month will go a long way. Also, don’t dismiss smaller bloggers in your niche as they might end up stealing the show in the upcoming years! Since they want to make their mark in the industry, they will most likely be much more inclined to send extra promotion your way.

“In the big picture, the luxury travel, and luxury hotel industry in particular, is a rather small world when it comes to the relationships between these journalists, freelance writers and Bloggers. These individuals are very important to the hotels, and their public relations teams, and a positive working relationship can lead to years of endorsements and promotions by them in a number of ways, including Blog posts, editorials, and overall social media and personal referrals. “ comments Damon Banks of LuxeGetaways. com (www.luxegetaways.com)

unique monthly visitors per month.

With these campaigns you will also gain exposure on the respective social media channels of the blog.

Let’s suppose that from every blog post, you acquire one couple who will spend at least $2,000 at your hotel. I will let you to do the final math” For optimal results, get creative with your campaign. Start with a hotel feature, follow up with an interview piece, add in a giveaway and maybe even a banner campaign.

Don’t Pitch For SEO – Focus on Media Exposure

As bloggers we understand the value of linking back to your website; therefore, don’t ask for an SEO link in your pitch. If you do, we will most likely delete your email. The value of what we can offer through our blog and social media channels should be your primary focus in collaborating with us, not getting a keyword rich To gain the most from collaborating backlink. with luxury travel bloggers, Ryan Clark, founder of consider signing up for a series of LuxuryBranded (www. blog posts promoted over a year luxurybranded.com) explains or so rather than a solitary post. where you should focus your Apart from the increased exposure energy: “Make sure your outreach for the actual post, you will gain a lot of value from continuous social campaign has your brand’s positive exposure in mind, and by no means media interactions between posts. be out pitching to write just for a Costin Frunza, founder of link back to your website. This is 2Luxury2 (www.2luxury2.com) the kind of SEO that can lead to explains the basic mathematics: trouble with Google and trust me, “Let’s compare the running costs you don’t want to have to deal with against the potential financial the Google penalty process. Spend return. On average, a campaign will a good amount of time building an cost between $2,000 and $5,000 online repertoire with the brand for a series of 10 articles on any before reaching out and they’ll be blog with more than 50,000 more than likely to respond to a 14 ILHA

friendly face.”

From personal experience, if you don’t ask for links, you will most likely get one or two in return.

Say Thank You – Maintain Contact After your campaign with a blogger, remember to simply take a few minutes to send out a thank you tweet or email. Everyone appreciates recognition for work well done. This simple step will go a long way for your next pitch.

So to recap: If you want to work with luxury travel bloggers to get great media exposure for your luxury hotel, dish the generic press release, don’t send out mass emails, read the blogger’s requirements, connect on a personal level through social media, don’t ask for SEO backlinks and remember to give back some love. To truly get them to become brand evangelists, invite them for a complimentary stay, engage them in various campaigns, ask for their ideas and always keep it real. Remember, most luxury travel bloggers just want to have fun!

About the author Roxanne Genier is the co-founder of LuxeInACity (www.luxeinacity.com), a luxury travel magazine with curated city guides, and AgenceLuxury (www.agenceluxury. com), a digital agency for the luxury industry. She is currently on a road trip from Montreal, Canada to Buenos Aires, Argentina and hopes to connect with luxury hotels along the way.

BECAUSE IT’S BEAUTYREST

®

…THE ROOM FEELS LARGER …THE FOOD TASTES TASTIER …THE SERVICE SEEMS FRIENDLIER

Perception is reality.

Nano-Tex® stain-resistance treatment embedded right into the fabric

Air Cool Technology to provide added comfort for each guest

Your guests’ sleep experience influences how they perceive their entire stay. So, why choose any other brand but Beautyrest? Our mattresses feature Pocketed Coil® Technology, gel-infused foam and superior materials for durability, conformability, motion isolation—and a truly recharging rest.

Gel-infused Foam designed for temperature management

Beautyrest, because it’s better.

EverNU™ sustainable replaceable mattress top

Pocketed Coil® Technology for unparalleled support

Simmons® is focused on sustainable initiatives including recycling and installation of the Beautyrest® Mattresses they sell.

Simmons Hospitality Group One Concourse Parkway, Suite 800 Atlanta, GA 30328 Toll Free: 877.HTL.BEDS

Fax: 770.206.2750 hospitality@simmons.com

www.simmonshospitality.com

Six Steps to successfully adopt new technologies in your hotel

The hospitality industry no longer deserves to be considered slowmoving and traditional, on the contrary, it has begun to increasingly embrace modern technologies to help power the business like no other. A glance at recent hospitality technology exhibitions and conferences will give you an insight into just how many hundreds of innovative solutions are showcased to hoteliers each year. It can become overwhelming to have all of this at your fingertips; as hoteliers, you must make strategic decisions in terms of what tools are needed to improve your business operations.

Once this step is done, there comes a whole new challenge that needs to be addressed to make your investment worth it: 16 ILHA

How do you successfully adopt this new technology-based system in your property?

Change has become the norm in our personal and professional lives, and we know it does not come easy. It is human nature to be fearful of it and build up a resistance towards it. Adopting a new technology to enhance your business processes will bring about change in your organization, and it will be crucial to manage this effectively! Employees might be sceptical about it at first, and will fear increased pressure on their regular responsibilities, however, one should try to highlight change to them as an opportunity to

make sustainable improvements in working practices.

Once you have decided that it is a technological solution that addresses a need in line with your strategic business objectives, invest in it and embrace the adoption process required to help make implementation a success! Here are six steps to guide you: 1. Plan ahead and prepare your organization • Establish the resources you need to fully adopt this new technology platform; what human capital, budget and time will you need? Have a clear objective of when

you desire the change to be fully incorporated into daily operations given your resources.

• Provide as much communication about upcoming change in advance to your team; they will be more willing to accept it once the implementation process starts!

Your primary communication should focus on creating the right frame of mind within the organization: Place your employees in a context in which they understand how essential it is for an organization to makes changes in its business processes to

keep up with the constantly evolving industry. Make them aware that being able to adapt to necessary change will allow them to perform their jobs successfully.

• Involve your employees in the planning and vision to ensure common objectives and expectations amongst everyone.

2. Ensure leadership commitment and stakeholder engagement • Buy-in from management is essential to instill trust and credibility of upcoming change throughout the entire organization.

• Appoint a committed leader and create a dedicated project team to guide your employees through the adoption process.

3. Communicate effectively to your team prior to beginning user adoption • Firstly, identify various communication channels you can use to connect with your employees; choose a mix of the most appropriate ones depending on your organization and the size of your team (e.g.

Group and individual face-toface meetings, intranet, e-mail, visuals, etc.).

• The message you deliver to ILHA 17

your employees adopting the new technology will greatly determine their motivation to follow through with the new changes, no matter how challenging it may be! The following communication tips can help drive them to learn the new system: »» Remind them of the current work processes you have had up to this point and point out the inefficiencies that it brought about in their daily operations; this will make it easier for them to build a case for requiring an improved process. »» You can then present your employees with the new technology that will mitigate these inefficiencies and ultimately make their work easier in the long run. »» Ensure that you explain the goals of implementing this new technology and what value it can bring to them and the organization, using time-based milestones. Your employees must truly understand the related benefits the new technology provides; only then will they be convinced that their effort of learning a new system is worth it! »» It is also important to give them an overview of the functionalities provided by the new system and how it integrates with other running systems on property. »» Emphasize to your employees that you understand it is a challenge to adopt a new process, and reassure them 18 ILHA

that they will be supported all the way through various channels. »» Promote ongoing two-way communication as it will be essential for your employees to know they can approach you with their opinions and feedback at any stage of the process. Ask them at the beginning already if there are measures you can take to make it easier for them. »» Whilst communicating, make sure to explain every new subject without assuming that your employees already have a basic understanding of it. Also, avoid using complex terms, especially when it comes to describing the technology to be adopted. In brief: remember to always communicate in a simple and relatable way!

4. Carry out user training • The adoption period begins; your employees are now ready to be taught how to use the new technology. Evaluate the different methods you have available to do so, whether it is classroom training, providing manuals, e-learning, or carrying out hands-on training. Select a mix of the ones you believe are most effective depending on the system itself and the type of users.

• It is recommended to have the new technology available on property well in advance of the planned roll-out so that employees can experiment with it beforehand; this will increase their level of confidence when using the new system in

operations. Some employees will be more tech-savvy than others; it is beneficial to try pairing them up to help each other out, meanwhile building up a team spirit during this process of change.

5. Provide ongoing support • It is fundamental for the leader and project team to be able to coach and support the users of the new technology. Ensure your employees feel like it is fine to ask for help when they need it and that they have the time available to adapt to the new business process successfully.

• If you notice great struggles for an employee, do not hesitate to dedicate the time to meet one-on-one with that person.

Evaluate if additional training needs to be given. Time invested in caring about your employees’ well-being in the workplace is time well spent for the future running of your organization!

6. Collect feedback and action it • During the adoption process, observe the main challenges that users are faced with and try to find solutions to improve the situation. Direct feedback and insights from your employees can help you do this.

• As mentioned previously, it is the two-way communication that is essential here, and it needs to be maintained during as well as after the adoption process. Once employees give you their input, show them how

you are using it so they know that they are heard and valued.

these simple tips in mind to help you in the actual implementation of new systems when they come.

• In the meantime, you can also present them with actual measurable results that arise because of the new system in use. This way, you can continue to work together in the right direction to achieve the objectives you created at the start. Don’t forget to celebrate what you have achieved as a team!

Adopting new technologies in the workplace can not only bring about increased efficiencies in daily operations, but can also play a significant role in employee satisfaction if implemented correctly. Choosing the right technologies that provide an intuitive user experience will do a great deal in simplifying the adoption process. Hiring the right people who are able to adapt effectively to new processes will also ensure smooth transitions for any phases of change your organization will need to take in future. If your business is able to invest in a new technology to move it forward, it should also put

Overall, realizing the importance of creating a culture in an organization that accepts change is crucial. The new technology you adopt now is not a one-time change, there will be more to come and your business needs to be ready for it. Start to create this culture now, and keep

TM

it in the investment to train your employees in the best way possible for successful implementation. It is the engagement of your employees using the new system that will ultimately determine the financial impact on your business!

About the author Samantha Noll forms part of the business development team at Novility, a startup developing a number of leading-edge solutions for the hospitality industry. Based in the Netherlands, the team comprises hospitality, design, and tech experts. Our first upcoming product, Novility HELP, focuses on modernizing housekeeping training. Find out more at www.novility.com

GET CERTIFIED IN MEDICAL TOURISM

BECOME A CERTIFIED MEDICAL TOURISM PROFESSIONAL®

Target a new niche market of medical, dental & wellness travelers

CALL US TODAY! U.S. 001.561.791.2000

medicaltourismcertification.com ILHA 19

Laser Targeted Online Advertising: Retargeting and Facebook Custom Audiences PPC, AdWords, CPC, Facebook…the online advertising world has many choices available to you as a business owner or marketer. In a complex world of online travel agents, and trying to get as many direct bookings as you can any tools that help to convert lookers into bookers is valuable, and this article covers the most targeted, and cheapest online advertising available today : Retargeting and Facebook Custom Audiences.

What’s the catch? These advertising forms only advertise to people who have already expressed an interest in your business either by already being on your database, or visiting your website. If you want to improve your ratio of ‘lookers to bookers’ this may not be a bad thing.

20 ILHA

So What Is Retargeting?

cheapest advertising available.

on Facebook via a third party).

Retargeting serves adverts to website visitors that have been tracked using a small bit of tracking code that has been added to your website, in exactly the same way as any web analytics software like Google Analytics. The magic with retargeting is that the people who see your ads don’t have to opt in to anything, or have signed up to be your Facebook Fan. These ads can be served across several ‘ad networks’ or ‘display networks’ which cover a huge percentage of the websites you visit on a daily basis. Examples of these networks are :

In a Google case study, Loews Hotels used remarketing with Google and generated $60,000 for an $800 spend, and subsequently they moved 70% of their offline advertising to digital.

When you see ads inside Facebook from websites you’ve recently visited, that’s retargeting in action.

• Google Display Network • Facebook Exchange • …there are many.

Yes, retargeting in action are those ads some people consider ‘spooky’ as they follow their browsing habits around the internet, but they’ve also got some of the highest return on investment, and some of the

So How Do You Use Retargeting?

There are many platforms to choose from but the big accessible ones include : • AdRoll • Perfect Audience • Google • Facebook AdRoll and Perfect Audience deliver ads to several networks (including Facebook) so offer the most choice from above. Facebook may be more familiar to you and easier, but it limits you to their platform only. Facebook don’t refer to this method as retargeting but as ‘Website Custom Audiences’ (prior to late 2013 you could only do this

When you set up retargeting you’ll get a small piece of code to upload to an area of your website, then you choose how you segment your visitor based on web addresses within your site. (On Facebook, you upload one piece of tracking code for each segment so you have to decide your segments up front).

As examples you could serve ads to the following people who visited your website : • someone who had visited your website within a certain period • someone who had visited pages starting with /winter-deals • someone who had visited pages including /booking-enquiryresults, but not visited /paidbooking-confirmation After creating your segments (which may only take a few

ILHA 21

minutes), you need to have creative ads available to upload, which you may already have from previous campaigns.

How you choose to serve your ad may depend on your booking lead times as some platforms will allow you to delay serving ads for a number of days after a website visit, which decreases that ‘spooky’ feeling of ads following you immediately. If you segment your visitors appropriately you could present an ad with a discount code to get your future guest across the line with their booking, or you could just advertise to remain top of mind. Depending on the platform you use for retargeting you may choose what ad networks you want to serve ads on, or to keep your ads within Facebook.

After you have completed these steps, you select the region to advertise, your budget and you’re good to go.

Advertising To Previous Guests Most accommodation providers are sitting on a hugely underutilised asset that is your email list. All those emails scattered throughout inboxes, property management systems and email platforms can also be used to create a custom audience for Facebook advertising.

If you have these emails available in one place, you can upload these to Facebook, and Facebook will match these to user IDs so you can choose this group as a target audience, effectively increasing the value of your email list.

Facebook also allows you to create ‘look-a-like’ audiences based on your email list, and other attributes like your existing fan base so you can also expand your audience to similar people who have not even been near your website.

What’s The Catch?

Some people find retargeting ‘spooky’ as it’s relatively early days but how many of you see ads that you have no interest in every day, from smoking, to the latest diets to cars outside your price range.

At least your target audience has already expressed an interest in your product.

When you upload emails to create audiences you won’t get a 100% match as some people will use multiple email addresses, or there’s a chance you could serve an ad up to someone with an offer when they made the final booking on a different computer, perhaps at home after work. These cases should be in the minority and will more than likely outweigh the benefits.

If you use a 3rd party booking engine that switches to a unique browser window, you may find that you cannot retarget so accurately, as you are using the booking engine’s website at this point, not yours, so you

22 ILHA

may not be able to upload the tracking code to the provider’s site.

Next Steps It’s easy to setup Facebook Custom Audiences if you are used to the Facebook advertising screens, but if this is a new concept to you go and try it and get some help for your web person if you need to.

After instaling your tracking pixel you’ll see your potential advertising audience grow on a daily basis.

Ensure you update your website’s privacy policy to reflect the new type of advertising.

Facebook costs nothing to set up custom audiences, and AdRoll offers a two week, $60 free trial.

Once you get the hang of this, if you’re not doing it already, you could also upload conversion tracking code so you can start to monitor the ROI of some of your social media campaigns using similar techniques to measure cost per conversion.

Let me know how you get on via the International Luxury Hotel Association LinkedIn group or via my website.

About the author Darren Craig is the founder of http:// www.fullychargedmedia.com, where he combines his IT experience, with his passion for tourism and marketing to offer online marketing courses and one on one coaching for the tourism and hospitality sectors. His insight and coaching techniques distils the world of internet marketing into simple steps to enhance your entire online presence from lookers to bookers.

Are Your Social Media Results a Little Cloudy?

It is time to shed some light on your Social Media campaigns Contact us to learn how the leading hospitality organizations are using our technology to illuminate the path to greater returns!

Find Clairvoyix at Facebook or at www.clairvoyix.com

Surprising

Psychological Traits of Great

Hoteliers 1. The slight introvert has a big edge. You might think that the valet who parks your car, the front desk person who checks you in and the server at the restaurant must be extroverts.

They may be, but they might not be. The most important thing they all possess (if they are good at what they do) – is a set of strong social skills and the ability to accurately read social cues. That is absolutely paramount.

Hiring fantastic talent is difficult no matter the industry. But in the travel and hospitality industry, the people you hire are the brand. Below are five surprising aspects to psychological traits you should seek when recruiting luxury hotel employees.

24 ILHA

In fact, extroversion can be a deficit in those who are always talking, always focused on how to be seen and heard instead of simply observing. Staff members who are introverts

(slight introverts, not extreme) – might have a huge edge over extroverts. They tend to think first and speak later and take time to process and reflect, which will save them (and your brand) when learning an operations process, or addressing a guest who is irate.

2. Problem solving ability is more important than intent. I will never forget the first leadership development program I went through at a major hospitality corporation. It was a long time ago (1989), and we had to write an apology letter to an angry guest as an exercise. However, before we wrote the letter, we had to write the sentence “I am sorry” five hundred times.

If a guest has a bad experience, demonstrating sympathy is important and apologizing might be absolutely key to a positive outcome. However, it is simply a first step. Simply apologizing is not as important as apologizing AND having the cognitive ability to solve problems while also having the solid execution skills to proactively implement solutions.

3. Carefully screen the ambitious. I have worked with many leaders who make hiring mistakes because they are very attracted to someone’s level of ambition. Ambition is not inherently a bad thing, of course. But when it comes to service, it is important to remember that ambition is not the same as initiative. In fact, sometimes ambition can make an employee, (or worse

– a boss) less loyal, overly self-focused, and even willing to bully others instead of collaborate.

Choose candidates who have strong initiative instead. They are personality types who demonstrate persistence and calm when they do not get what they want. They are conscientious. They have a tendency to be more collaborative (even altruistic) when working with others instead of seeing others as a potential threat in gaining opportunity.

4. Ask for concrete examples of teaming outside of work.

During the interview process, ask for concrete examples of successful team participation.

It doesn’t matter what kind of “team” it is. Sports, volunteering in a community group, being in a garage band or leading a book club. What truly matters is whether or not the person you want to hire has been an active participant in creating a product or obtaining a specific outcome as part of a group.

Being a part of a hotel means you must be part of an actively working team. When you consider the potential problems and obstacles which need to be solved on a day-to-day basis in a hotel, many solutions involve cooperation with others and active participation with other departments to find information, get something fixed and garner resources.

5. Look for some degree of altruism. As a group, most

hoteliers enjoy working with people and feel a sense of affiliation and social connection with others. But altruism is going many steps further.

Altruistic people find the chance to help other people genuinely rewarding. While all altruistic acts are pro-social, not all pro-social behaviors are altruistic. For example, we might help others for a variety of reasons such as guilt, obligation, duty or the reward of a paycheck.

People who are altruistic, however, find meaning in their work when they are solving problems for others and feel better about themselves when they have a positive impact on fellow human beings. Having a sense of altruism means that they will be intrinsically motivated to solve problems and go out of their way for a guest because this can become a form of self-fulfillment rather than self-sacrifice.

About the author Dr. Mia Mulrennan is President and Chief Motivations Mapper at Rave-Worthy Consulting. She advises clients in effectively applying tenets of psychology to achieve positive business results in areas of talent management, organizational development and service branding. Mia specializes in working with companies in high-touch customer oriented industries such as travel, hospitality, retail and consumer products. She has a passion for working with Gen X and women leaders. She is also adjunct faculty and an advisory board member for graduate leadership programs at Saint Catherine University and the University of St. Thomas. She is currently writing a book titled: “On Becoming RaveWorthy: Figuring out that motivates your customers, clients, boss and employees”.

ILHA 25

Facebook A Future Alternative to TripAdvisor?

When planning a recent weekend away to Sydney, I decided to ditch the traditional searches in guidebooks, tourism sites and TripAdvisor and research my most trusted sources I would have asked years ago – my friends and their friends. The big difference is I did this all on a social media platform where the fastest growing demographic of users is between 45-54 years old. During my 26 ILHA

research, I never had to ask any questions of anyone, and it may even surprise you that my research was performed on Facebook.

Online marketing can be a confusing and time consuming world, with an ever increasing number of options, yet still only twenty four hours in a day.

Although Yelp, TripAdvisor, Google and other sites dominate when considering review sites, with the

introduction of Graph Search, Facebook has a real opportunity to become a TripAdvisor contender.

Facebook is no longer just about Likes and Engagement, especially when it comes to tourism and hospitality businesses.

Facebook Graph Search was rolled out to users progressively during 2013, and access to it is now opened up to almost everyone.

Graph Search’s power is much

mightier than its presence, which is just shown by a search box at the top of your Facebook profile. This small search box allows you to query Facebook’s data in ways that are extremely fast, and powerful, for a business traveller, holidaymaker, or business marketer.

When researching my Sydney trip I was able to make queries as shown on the screenshot, such as: “Places my friends visited in Sydney” or “Places my friends who live in Sydney like” or even find out “My friends who have visited Sydney” so I know who to asking for advice in the real world if I chose to.

I can even limit search results to places my relatives like if I wanted to.

When you start experimenting with queries in the search field you can quickly see how powerful this gets.

If I was researching a round the world trip, I could probably follow some of my friends itineraries without them knowing.

You can even use these queries to research more about your guests, or your competitor’s guests with queries such as: “Pages liked by people who like The Langham, Auckland” or “Pages liked by people who like RitzCarlton Kuala Lumpur”

Like Google, Facebook has their own algorithms to order search results according to popularity and many thousands of other factors.

Their algorithms comprise of way more than just the number of Likes you have on your page.

Facebook is one of the most targeted platforms for marketing so here are some tips to add to your online strategy to enhance your business on Graph Search….

(You do have a Facebook page don’t you?) :

ILHA 27

1 – Ensure your Facebook page isn’t a “ghost” People will ‘Check-in’ to the first page that matches your business name, whether it’s your official one or not. Claim any unofficial pages, and merge them with your real one – you may be missing out on more Likes than you realise.

2 – Reward ‘Check-ins’ Check-ins to your business indicates someone physically visited you and checked in to let their friends know. This check in contributes to your engagement scores on Facebook.

You can encourage check-ins with small notices in the room, arrival cards, or provide offers like discounted drinks if guests ‘check-in’ on Facebook. If you think of traditional online searches, where everyone was rushing to get backlinks to their website to

increase their ranking, a check-in is almost an equivalent in Facebook terms – every little helps.

3 – Encourage Facebook Reviews Hopefully you already request reviews on sites like TripAdvisor on your post visit follow up emails.

Existing links in your emails could be switched to encourage Facebook reviews for a period of time. Online you need to meet your guests where they hang out, so you could offer a variety of review sites like Google, Facebook, TripAdvisor and others, or split test them to see which ones gets the most traction, or highlight the one you need more reviews on.

4 – Get Some Facebook Love Looking after your guests in the real world should always be your priority. If you’ve done this well, your recent guests should be your

best ambassador. Don’t forget to request a ‘Like’ in follow up communications, or in a booking thank you email. If a guest ‘Likes’ you pre-arrival, it gives them the option of finding out more about your offerings before they arrive.

You could also ask guests to share and tag any photographs they have of your business.

Remember those earlier search examples? If you get guests Liking your Facebook page, this is how their friends could find out about you in the future.

5 – Don’t Forget the Locals Your local guests may be your most regular visitors if you have a great restaurant, spa or golf course, therefore could be your most engaged Facebook users.

Advertising to people who like your page, or to a custom audience of emails extracted from your mailing system (such as a member’s list) is likely to be the cheapest form of paid advertising you will ever get. You can use this to fill up that spa, or empty dining tables or even advertise discount coupons if required.

There are other ways you could increase your Facebook following such as adding a device to your network that forces guests to Like you before they hop onto your free Wi-Fi. Techniques like this may be a bit too intrusive for some.

Facebook is now more than just Likes so it’s important some of the factors above are part of your overall online marketing plan. It may be a bold claim, but

28 ILHA

if Facebook play their cards right, they could become a powerful alternative to TripAdvisor. If you experiment with Facebook Graph Search, you quickly start to see the power and how important social proof is likely to become in the online world. Facebook have already started to test putting review stars at the top of pages in certain geographic locations.

There are many ways to market online, and recently a hotel even announced itself as the ‘world’s first Instagram hotel’, offering free stays to guests with more than a certain number of followers due to the resulting publicity.

It is early days for Graph Search, but it’s prime time to get a head start on your competitors by

doing minor tweaks to your online strategy.

With the ever increasing use of smartphones, in July 2013, hotelmarketing.com stated that “Facebook is already a more popular local search engine than TripAdvisor”.

I had a great weekend in Sydney.

In the limited time I had, I went to great attractions, and ate at fabulous restaurants, all recommended by friends and family.

In the online world, social proof is one of the hottest currencies. Now you don’t even don’t even have to pester your fanatic Facebook friends for their recommendations, or rely on reviews from strangers on TripAdvisor. The reservations

of your future guests could come down to a relatively simple choice between one hotel having more stars in recommendations than another.

Now that I’m back home, I really must go and thank my real world friends for the recommendations they never knew they gave me.

About the author Darren Craig is the founder of onlinetourismmarketing.com, where he combines his IT experience, with his passion for tourism and marketing to offer online marketing courses for the tourism and hospitality sectors. His insight and coaching techniques distils the world of internet marketing into simple steps to enhance your online presence.

The hotel industry’s premier talent recruiters

www.hospitalityrecruiter.com

+1 941 866 1944 ILHA 29

SOCIAL MEDIA is the New SEO

30 ILHA

In early 2014, Matt Cutts, an engineer from Google, published a video explaining that Google does not factor social media into its search ranking algorithms. If you’re like me, this came as a shock not only because our analytics confirmed that our social following was positively impacting our search rankings, but also because Matt Cutts himself confirmed this back in December 2010. In January, here’s what Cutts said on the topic:

of my knowledge we don’t currently have any signals like that in our web search ranking algorithms.”

“Facebook and Twitter pages are treated like any other pages in our web index so if something occurs on Twitter or occurs on Facebook and we’re able to crawl it, then we can return that in our search results. But as far as doing special specific work to sort of say “you have this many followers on Twitter or this many likes on Facebook”, to the best

For starters, don’t ignore social media. That can also come back to bite you! The greatest thing about social media is that it allows you to directly engage with your guests in a variety of ways through images, short messages, and videos. It’s still imperative you maintain an active presence on these social channels just to be part of the conversation that’s taking place.

It turns out we’ve all been spending tens of thousands of dollars on our search engine optimization (SEO) strategies only to realize we’ve been optimizing the wrong factors – our follows, likes, plusses, re-tweets, and pins.

So What Now?

Always keep in mind that whether you participate or not, someone will still be saying things about you online.

I’m sure you already understand the importance of social media when it comes to engaging with guests, but it’s now equally critical that you consider social media channels as search channels as well. While Google is the leader in Web searches (and it’s still not close), social searches are just as important for getting users the information and content they’re seeking. Let’s dive into the popular social media channels and their search value.

Facebook – Because Facebook is more geared towards indexing people and business identities, it’s a different algorithm than Google. Nonetheless, it’s still a critical search tool because it’s your window into how people organize their human relationships.

Twitter – According to StastisticBrain. com, 2.1 billion search queries are conducted daily via Twitter’s search engine. The best thing about search results on Twitter is that they’re up-to-the-minute, which becomes immensely valuable to users. Even though these results are Twitter-only, be sure to grab your share of the 2.1 billion daily queries by tweeting about popular, relevant topics, tweeting using hashtags, and tweeting regularly.

YouTube – The second largest search engine in the world, 1,140 searches are performed every second of every day on YouTube. Videos are perhaps the most popular form of content shared on the Web so if you’re not utilizing YouTube, you’re missing out on a huge chunk of traffic back to your site. Also, keep in mind that websites with video content are ranked higher

by Google than sites without video content.

Google+ – Perhaps the biggest

example of how social can empower your search rankings, Google+ is masterful at delivering results based on people, companies, and organizations that are already in your circle. While it’s not as mainstream as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, you should still actively manage your Google+ profile.

What Kind of Content Works?

Once you recognize the importance of social media as a search tool, you have a variety of content you can generate. Always keep in mind that what works for you may not work for someone else and vice versa. Here are some types of content that you can start with immediately (always be sure to experiment with various forms!): Videos – Video content is perhaps the easiest to engage with and although it may seem daunting at first to put together a video, it’s even easier than you think! You can always start with an iPhone or digital camera. There’s plenty of free software that allow you to add music, transitions, etc. Video is always worth the investment because it’s easy to engage with and it’s great for your organic search rankings. Also, keep in mind that a video doesn’t have to be long (2-3 minutes is just fine).

Guides – Your staff knows your community better than anyone so put together quick, concise guides, including your favorite spots to eat and visit and must-see attractions.

Guides also serve as great video content if you add some stock photos and transition effects.

Opinions – Go a step beyond providing a basic guide to your neighborhood and get into specifics!

What would you avoid getting at the local Italian joint? What time of the year is best to visit a popular attraction? What’s something you just cannot leave town without seeing

or doing? Provide opinions and your guests will love you for it.

Lists ­– If you scan the content your friends share most on Facebook, you’ll notice that more often than not your friends love to share lists. Pick a topic, pick a number, and dive in! There’s no such as a short list or a long list; lists, in general, are great for sharing and backlinks (which are critical for SEO).

Interviews – Start collecting a list of people you can interview whether it’s frequent guests, members of your team, and even local residents.

Prepare a list of questions and send via email or ask in-person. Interviews always give people access and we all love special access to people.

Final Thoughts Although we’re now learning that our social media activity is not factoring in as heavily into our search engine rankings as we once thought, there are still plenty of ways to utilize social media channels as search channels.

Considering the number of searches conducted on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google+, and countless other channels, it’s still imperative you’re represented on each platform and your team is actively sharing content. When it comes to sharing content, you have an array of options you should experiment with until you find the right mix for your strategy.

About the author Anand Patel is the founder of TalkHotels.com, a community for hotel professionals. His background includes mobile and web development, digital marketing, branding, and social media strategies. He resides in Atlanta, GA with his wife Neha.

ILHA 31

Management routines

MBWA

It is said to be inherited by HewlettPackard executives in the 80`s, it has been used actively in the Scandinavian Airline System and their legendary CEO Mr Jan Carlzon, and the history claims that Abraham Lincoln used it when inspecting his troops. We call it: management by wandering around

– MBWA.

32 ILHA

The daily business of a hospitality manager is never the same. New guests, new expectations, maybe some new challenges and off course; new opportunities.

Everybody in a hospitality organization is more or less connected to direct serving. Front office employees, back office coworkers and all the way to the GM himself/herself. What is then more important than being visual

and all around? The answer is as simple as it is written: Nothing.

The ability of being around, being reachable, seeing, hearing, talking.

Nothing is more important for leaders and top managers, it is what connects and bonds, it is what separates offensive leaders from others, the act of MBWA. Management By Wandering Around.

“Know Your people and love them”

– The words of Mother Theresa.

When that being said it is not a question about being a mother or father figure to be a modern manager. It is a question about being there – At place! Hear employees out – See them in their work – Talk to and with – And just be, a manager for every guest and coworkers!

In today`s world of computers and high tech solutions things gets easier but also more stress full.

Mail coming in rapidly, budgets, analyzing, accounting, live phone calls, important meetings with banks, business colleagues, companies and etc. Hotel and restaurant managers can often have a day similar to a manager in a factory, it goes on in the office and then again often with a closed door. With some good MBWA rounds during the day and an open door policy at all times, you will guaranteed see results on your organization. A manager is overall responsible for all operations in a business, if it is a shrimp factory, a carpet outlet or a hotel. What separates hospitality from others is the time spent from Your guests.

They stay there for a longer time and they are dependent on your employees and You. Then there is nothing better than to use an hour or two, three during the day on a really good Management by wandering around trip. Talk to the staff, see them work, hear them out. Ask for suggestions, improvement ideas and about guest comments they hear. Help them out when needed and be there for them and with them. The bonus is also that you will spend time and interact with your guests also – It`s a win-win situation, and the one with the probable most value of it,

is You, the manager.

In the hospitality trade we have two bosses at all time: • The guest.

• The company with its concepts, value and system.

Using time and energy on the MBWA concept is crucial in my opinion, the office can mostly wait, it does not disappear, but the guest or employee can, so it’s a question about values you want to share when all is summarized. Values that creates and build`s relations and trusty employees and guests.

“

When You meet someone without a smile – Give them Yours!

• MBWA is giving.

• The use of wandering around makes you know your people.

• The MBWA lets you see and hear things you might not get in the office.

our site, let the MBWA give appreciation.

• MBWA lets everybody in your organization know that YOU are there and with them.

• An open door at all times when not at MBWA means availability.

Using MBWA actively is a key for success in many ways.

Doing it without making people uncomfortable is important, it is caring not sneaking around corners.

When using the MBWA you will see things to change, hear things that might be wrong from an office point of view and get shortcuts in information float.

Better sick leave percentage, more comfortable coworkers, more smiling guests, better ratings on service statistics, more income, a more creative organization, happy accountants, better bank relations… Well. MBWA is not a final solution for everything, it is a beginning. I guess Mr Carlzon, the Hewlett – Packard people and President Lincoln also realized that on their management rounds. It’s a start. A start on relations and people caring that you won`t get in an office, it’s as simple as it sounds – “Management by Wandering Around!”

• Managing people in service is always “Moments of truth” – Be there.

• MBWA is the way to see all corners of the business.

• A manager around is giving and motivational.

• The guests comes to your/

About the author Tore Berger is Norwegian and works as a Maître`d in Color Line Cruises. Bartending, waiter education, wine tastings, article writing and Butler courses is some of his “hobbies” when at home. Tore Berger and Berger Consulting. www.service-servering. com or tore.b.berger@gmail.com

ILHA 33

Luxury Hotel Conference & Spa - Wellness Expo

Exploring Trends & Innovation in the Luxury Hotel, Spa & Wellness Industries

WHEN September 28th & 29th 2015

WHERE Orlando Convention Center Orlando, US

Register now for early bird pricing 34 ILHA

http://www.luxuryhotelconference.com/