Be A Best Hotelier - 4

Saying "No" to Unfair Requests and Demands

Helpful Hints for Assertive Behavior: Saying "No" to Unfair Requests and Demands

1.      Be sure where you stand first, i.e., whether you want to say yes or no. If not sure, say you need time to think it over and let the person know when you will have an answer.

2.      Ask for clarification if you don't fully understand what is requested of you.

3.      Be as brief as possible, i.e., give a legitimate reason for your refusal, but avoid long elaborate explanations and justifications. Such excuses may be used by the other person to argue you out of your "no."

4.      Actually use the word "no" when declining. "No" has more power and is less ambiguous than, "Well, I just don't think so..."

5.      Make sure your nonverbal gestures mirror your verbal messages. Shake your head when saying "no." Often people unknowingly nod their heads and smile when they are attempting to decline or refuse.

6.      Use the words "I won't" or "I've decided not to", rather than "I can't" or "I shouldn't". This emphasizes that you have made a choice.

7.      You may have to decline several times before the person "hears" you. It is not necessary to come up with a new explanation each time, just repeat your "no" and your original reason for declining.

8.      If the person persists even after you have repeated your "no" several times, use silence (easier on the phone), or change the topic of conversation. You also have a right to end the conversation.

9.      You may want to acknowledge any feelings another has about your refusal, "I know this will be a disappointment to you, but I won't be able to..." However, you don't need to say "I'm sorry" in most situations to apologize for your refusal. Saying "I'm sorry" tends to compromise your basic right to say "no."

10.  Avoid feeling guilty -- it is not up to you to solve others' problems or make them happy.

11.  If you do not want to agree to the person's original request, but still desire to help her/him out, offer a compromise: "I will not be able to baby-sit the whole afternoon, but I can sit for two hours."

 You can change your mind and say "no" to a request you originally said "yes" to. All the above applies to your change of mind

Hotel Key Cards Control - RFID cards - Hotel Management don't allow to order

RFID Key Cards ..... I feel it is important to share with everyone and if there is any feedback that would be awesome.

Front Office Managers - do anyone face difficulties with their Management when it comes to placing orders for RFID keycards and what are your challenges?

Keycards is a hidden marketing tool that cannot be control and there are hotels that encourages their guests to take it home. In my current situation Management don't understand the hidden marketing tool and always question the Front Office Team why so much losses.
Refuse to allow us to order more keycards.

Hopefully someone out there have ideas or experienced similar situation and is able to share your opinions and ideas. This is to convince the Management to allow their Front Office Team to place orders for key cards and to understand that losses do occur on daily basis.

Similar situation occurs to our sister hotel as well..... 

LEADERSHIP

The Two Most Important Keys to Effective Leadership

§  Trust and confidence in top leadership was the single most reliable predictor of employee satisfaction in an organization.

§  Effective communication by leadership in three critical areas was the key to winning organizational trust and confidence:

§  Helping employees understand the company's overall business strategy.

§  Helping employees understand how they contribute to achieving key business objectives.

§  Sharing information with employees on both how the company is doing and how an employee's own division is doing — relative to strategic business objectives.

So in a nutshell — you must be trustworthy and you have to be able to communicate a vision of where the organization needs to go. The next section, Principles of Leadership, ties in closely with this key concept.

Principles of Leadership

To help you be, know, and do, follow these thirteen principles of leadership.

This Leadership guide expand on these principles and provide tools for implementing them:

1.      Know yourself and seek self-improvement - In order to know yourself, you have to understand your be, know, and do, attributes.

2.      Seeking self-improvement means continually strengthening your attributes. This can be accomplished through self-study, formal classes, reflection, and interacting with others.

3.      Be technically proficient - As a leader, you must know your job and have a solid familiarity with your employees' tasks.

4.      Seek responsibility and take responsibility for your actions - Search for ways to guide your organization to new heights. And when things go wrong, they always do sooner or later — do not blame others.

5.      Analyze the situation, take corrective action, and move on to the next challenge.

6.      Make sound and timely decisions - Use good problem solving, decision making, and planning tools.

7.      Set the example - Be a good role model for your employees. They must not only hear what they are expected to do, but also see.

8.      Know your people and look out for their well-being - Know human nature and the importance of sincerely caring for your workers.

9.      Keep your workers informed - Know how to communicate with not only them, but also seniors and other key people.

10.  Develop a sense of responsibility in your workers - Help to develop good character traits that will help them carry out their professional responsibilities.

11.  Ensure that tasks are understood, supervised, and accomplished - Communication is the key to this responsibility.

12.  Train as a team - Although many so called leaders call their organization, department, section, etc. a team; they are not really teams...they are just a group of people doing their jobs.

13.  Use the full capabilities of your organization - By developing a team spirit, you will be able to employ your organization, department, section, etc. to its fullest capabilities.

What Can We Do The Best

July is filled with training classes and seminars, It keeps one busy. There is always something new that comes from them. Each property has its own culture and the training becomes specific to the property. Most of the sessions are around customer service and employee loyalty. It is difficult to keep good people motivated and loyal to the properties where they work. There. Seems to be a bond in some of the properties, they seem to keep most of their employees, so I inquired at the sessions, since I see the same employees when I present the classes. Their responses were sincere, aside from the fact that they are treated well, they have formed a bond with the property. The property is their home, they care for it and it cares for them. They enjoy their guest, and they know it. That is why they say "this is what we do best".

THE PROCESS:

I inquired how this special bond came about? It just happened, one day we all realized that this property was our home, we cared for our guest, and we have keen desire to make them feel that they are in their own home. This is a medium property in San Jose CA where all of the actors, (thats what they are called) know each other and they interact as a family, as opposed to a hired person. They look forward to the classes, so that they can pass on the new technology to the guest. There are housekeepers that tell me that their rooms belong to them, that is my reputation riding when they are cleaned. I will tell you that the property has a 98% satisfaction rating on trip advisor. It's what they do best, and have fun doing it. We take a great deal of pride in how we take care of our guest while in our hotel. We are family taking care of families that visit us. Our social manager follows up their visit on Facebook, Linkedin, and twitter.

OWNERS TAKE:

We knows all of them by name as well as their families. He cares for them just like they care for the guest. The actors / are on a profit sharing program, and are paid above the area scale. One thing I applaud him for is that he provides medical insurance for all of his personnel. The Proprietor is in the process of buying a second property, and will be looking for a property manager to take over. To grow the culture in the new property will be a challenge.

REFLECTION:

Not all properties have this kind of bond, I venture very few can claim this type of culture.

Though my staff provide the training for this property, they can only take so much of the credit. The actors at this place are the ones that take the credit. They love what they do and have fun doing it.  So when when you are reading this article, reflect on your own property, can you, (It) claim this is what we do best. The culture is not limited to the actors only, the executive staff is just as committed and have the same desire to serve the guest, for this is what we do best. It is written on the back wall "Customer service is what we do best" You could say that it is the mission statement of the hotel. The hotel is their stage and they all have their part, and all give Oscar nomination performance. For those that may inquire,  training is what I do best. Well off to the next property to see if it can garnish an Oscar performance.

Marketing & Sales

Marketing is not advertising. Marketing is finding out what people want, why they want it and how much they’ll spend. Don't confuse marketing with advertising.

Sales is sales! It's converting an inquiry or lead into a contract or shipment. Sales is not market research, business development or advertising.

Sales is Sales!

When pushed for a simple answer I once replied…. “marketing is finding out what we don't have and sales is the task of selling what we do” Someone else more elegantly put it... “marketing is the cost effective delivery of sales” The term "sales and marketing" is used so commonly that it is assumed that they are one and the same by many people - they are not. Our definition for sales is the activity of taking a lead and selling the item desired. Our definition for marketing is the activity of finding out what the market wants to buy. That's our sales and marketing definition - hope it helps. A Measure of Success A Measure of Success In a previous article of mine, I made the following observation: There are many general managers, hotel CEOs, owners, and other high executives in the hospitality industry who are in this business solely for the money—I’ve met and know several of them, and I feel sorry for them, for even though they may get rich from their efforts, they will never be happy with that effort; they will be incapable of feeling any sense of accomplishment, any sense that what they’ve done means anything. And earlier today, while taking a trip through cyberspace, I came across the following quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson: To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and to endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded. These two observations point out the gulf that exists when measuring success. On the one hand, we have the people that measure success from a materialistic point of view—they made and have lots of money and they live the lifestyle of the “rich and famous”; their success is visible to outsiders. On the other hand, we have the people who measure success on a more personal material and emotional level—they give of themselves, their time, their treasure for the betterment of others; their success is measured by others, for they themselves don’t think about their own success. Both groups make money, but only the second group uses its money wisely. I'm not talking about conscious altruism here, either; I'm talking about a people who receive a genuine pleasure, blessing, or feeling of self-satisfaction when they accomplish the goals and/or ideals they've set for themselves. To put it simply, if what I do brings a smile, contentment, solace, joy, happiness, a dream come true to one or more people, then I have made my stay on this earth worthwhile. There is nothing wrong with making money—I am a firm free market believer. Plus, this article is not about the evils of the love of money, but about other ways of measuring success. Especially success in the hospitality business, or in any business that provides a service. I've been in the hospitality—hotel/restaurant/convention—business for over forty years—most of it right here in Las Vegas, with a smattering of earlier years in other parts of the United States and overseas. And if there is anything I've learned over that span of years, is that what gave me the best satisfaction, the best feeling of joy, the best feeling of life—rather than existence—the best feeling of self-worth, or, as Abraham Maslow would say, the best feeling of self-actualization, it was in the satisfied faces of the people whose dreams I helped to come true. And make no mistake about it, the hospitality industry is in the business of helping to make dreams come true for people—whether it is a great night's sleep,  a place to "chill out," a place to "cool off," a place to "think things through," a place to "get away from it all"; a place to conduct a successful business deal, a memorable convention; a primo gathering place for friends, or a place for a family reunion; or a great meal, or, at its simplest—perhaps—an inordinately good cup of coffee served with brio at four o'clock in the morning in the hotel's coffee shop. Whatever the occasion, your success will be measured by your guests against all other like experiences. If you are found wanting, you have failed in your success; if you bring good feelings to your guests, you will have earned your success. It's a daily battle; a constant battle that requires the utmost attention to detail in all aspects and actions of the people and place you are in charge of. If profit is your main goal, you will fail yourself—that's a guarantee. If service is your main goal, you will succeed—that, also, is a guarantee. Choose wisely. Lean in In response to Sheryl Sandberg video on you tube concerning the fact that women still are a minority in the C level suite. The publication of her book “Lean In” is now I understand a best seller. With all of the facts and percentages quoted by Ms. Sandberg it shows that women still lag far behind in a man’s world. I am not disputing the facts, I happen to agree that there is an unbalance in the work force between men and women. However the reason for the unbalance is not entirely the blame of the male side of the equation. Ms. Sandberg quotes that women are reluctant to raise their hands, and to ask questions. They have a tendency to sit on the sidelines as opposed to sitting at the table as Ms. Sandberg point out. Having said all of this I can only express my opinion related to my field, which is the hospitality Industry, so the views expressed by me are those that I have seen during my career in this industry. I am going to start out by saying there are a lot of women in the C- class board room of the hotel industry. A good percentage of them though was handed to them from parents. They did not come up from the ranks, or elected to the position. (Radisson) some were appointed (Four Seasons) and some abruptly resigned. For those that earned it I applaud. Now let’s not get all excited over my words just yet. There are many reasons that women won’t lean in to take a more productive role in their respective vocation or business. There is a lady at the top of the food chain at Yahoo who is making noise she obviously is leaning in. I wrote an article a while back where I had expressed my opinion as to why the hospitality industry lacks women in the top post. As well qualified as they may be their desire to succeed only goes so far, they lack one quality that I have noticed. They lack the passion for the industry, the hotel industry is a beast all to itself, it’s a 24/7 type of business.  This statement has caused a lot of heated discussions from the female respondents. I will have to say this for there is an exception to every rule. There does exist female leaders that do possess the passion for their business. It’s plain to see that Ms. Sandberg is in that league, but as she herself has pointed out, there are a lot that don’t possess it, or won’t go the extra mile for it. Recently Niki Leondakis took over as CEO of Commune Hotels & Resorts, time will tell as to how she will perform. I would say she will do well, for she worked for one of the best hotel companies around: Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants. Here again is an example of leaning in. I don’t expect the industry to change anytime soon, Men will dominate the C- level for many years to come. Women if they expect to raise to the level of men they will need to do a lot of sitting at the table, and that is not going to be easy. For lack of better words, men keep removing chairs……… If I agree or disagree with the powers to be it becomes a moot point. If women are to be recognized and respected as their male counterpart they better be prepared to step up to the plate and start hitting home runs. Those that know why...... Why You Ask Those that know why……  In the hospitality business we all think at one time or another that (we, I) will be the next JW, Conrad, Wynn etc. Yet we all know that short of a miracle that does not happen. Ask yourself why not? Well let me explain why not. Most hoteliers are results orientated type of people, they look for the end product. They figure that if they build it the customer will come. They design a web site and add nice colors and make it simple, so that customers will purchase the product. Right? No it does not happen like that. The fact of the matter is that the emotional side of the customer does not function quite like that. Ask yourself why a customer should choose your hotel over your competitor, you both probably have the same amenities and benefits. So why do I, we choose Hilton over Sheraton? What is the driver in our brain that tell us that one is better than the other? The same criteria applies to those of us that expect to be the next JW. Because we are looking at results, we expect customers to come to us because we have a good product. Ill illustrate a good example, there are a lot of computer stores that customers can go to and buy a device, yet the one company that stands out is Apple, yes you probably guessed as much. Why is apple at the fore front? They are out in front because they operate on the (why aspect) most others operate on the results aspect. Hotels could take a lesson from apple, consider that in certain cities there exist what is called a hotel circle drive. There are 5 or 7 different hotels all vying for your business, yet of those hotels only one or two are always full. Why is that? They all have the same offerings, most of the time they are all in the three star category or higher. The reason again is that those that are full operate in the (why aspect) of the customers perception. For the most part we as hoteliers are looking for the fame and money, and when that does not come your way we, I have a tendency to quit, give up. It’s true, not having your fame takes the wind out of your sails, and you no longer have that drive to succeed. That is why not all of us become like JW and the rest of the hotel icons. When building or managing a property it is nice to make a profit for you are in business to do so, but if that is your sole goal you will lose in the end. (Why) am I more successful that the guy down the street? Good question? The reason being is that I am a merchant of dreams and fantasy, I am not selling you or the customer a room, I am enticing you to embark on a fantasy ride to never never land. If you don’t believe that ask Mr. Peter Pan. Here are the definitions so you better understand my article. All hotels operate on the assumption that we all do the same thing. We all know how to do it. But very few of us know why we do it. That is the secret to success people, the Why factor. The innovative side of us. You have all seen well-funded properties go by the way of chapter 13, and yet there are those that with little or no funding managed to survive and thrive. They thrive because they know why they are in the business.