The seeds of our BE EXCELLENT culture were planted during
a very challenging turn-around project.The subject property, which we'll call Hotel X, was in the reddest of
Red Zones, and the lenders were given one last chance to make the project
work.We were brought in to right this
sinking ship, and we had to make dramatic improvements in a short period
of time.
If you've ever worked at a struggling business, you know
that struggle can be a self-fulfilling prophecy.Hotel X was in need of renovation and guests
could tell, which caused dissatisfaction.Unhappy guests took their displeasure out on associates, which created
unhappy associates.Unhappy associates
don't always provide very good service, which in turn results in more unhappy
guests, creating the endless downward spiral that this hotel was spinning
through.
This comeback journey didn't have time to detour through
a renovation, so we focused our efforts where we knew they would have the
greatest immediate impact -- our associates and our guests.Using a "feet on tile" strategy, we
sought out the "invisible" guest, meaning, the traveler who wasn't
satisfied but might not mention an issue until completing an anonymous
survey.By correcting the course of
these stays before departure, guest satisfaction started to improve.
This was positive news, but it wasn't an overnight
success.We need to inspire the team
to keep their spirits up while we pushed our scores up, so we celebrated --
even the smallest things.We told each
other to have an excellent day -- not a good day, not even a great day, but an EXCELLENT
day.And without even being asked, Hotel
X's associates started wishing guests an excellent day and an excellent stay.
In other words, we interrupted the "Red Zone"
mindset and replaced it with an Excellent one.Our culture isn't just built on saying "Have an excellent
day," but that tradition is symbolic of how HVMG works to foster
associate mindset, which in turn impacts the guest experience.
In the nearly two decades since our initial experiment in
mindset shifts, we've built out traditions, celebrations, and programs that
support and reinforce our BE EXCELLENT culture.
·Our Excellence Development Plans are
career roadmaps that help associates achieve their goals.
·Our Be Excellent Celebrations continue
the tradition of celebrating achievements large and small.
·The results of our Brand Partner Excellence
Surveys say that our culture is unique.
More than that, our associates tell us that our culture
keeps them around.Even in the hardest
year ever faced by our industry, we read anonymous comments like, "Best
management company I have worked for so far. Lives and breathes the culture.
Tough year and did a good job," in our General Manager Satisfaction Survey.
An unexpected byproduct of the culture within our hotels
is how it spills over into life outside them; the mindset shift from
"OK" or "good" to EXCELLENT impacts the families of our
associates, as evidenced by the stories we hear about teachers at school
noticing big differences in children of our team members.
There is no easy fix for the hotel industry's current
labor shortage.We know, because our
solution started almost 20 years ago at Hotel X.People want something more than a time clock and a paycheck.We want to
feel proud of our accomplishments and challenged by our work.We want to belong to a team, have inside
jokes and a common language.And most of
all, we want to reach our potential -- to BE EXCELLENT.Our BE EXCELLENT culture allows HVMG to
attract and, most importantly, retain talent.
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