Housekeeping Inspection

I have finished my booklet "A General Manager's Housekeeping Inspection Program."

This booklet describes a manager inspection program that works very well at improving and maintaining the highest quality in guest room cleanliness.

It is available through this link
or through Amazon.com

More FREE Goodies

I just made two more items from my Hotel Manager's Toolbox CD available on the "FREE Goodies" page of my website.

You will find there a sample General Apology Letter that I found to be very effective.
And, I added a Debit Card Notice. This is in a PDF form and can be used to inform guests that funds held on a debit card can take up to seven days after check-out to return to their bank account.

Check them out.
If you decide to use them, be sure to make necessary changes to fit your hotel and your situation.

Thanks.

Recognition Idea

As GM I would give my staff members small thank you cards. They were about the size of a business card with a word of encouragement on the front and blank in the middle. G-neil Company carried some of these cards.

I would sit at my desk and write supportive messages inside the cards. Messages like "You are doing a great job. Thanks" or "I am so glad you are on our team." Then I placed the cards inside their envelopes and carry two or three in my pocket. When I would see an employee doing something right I would take out a card and write their name on the envelope. I did this with housekeeping especially, since they are the hardest working department with the least amount of recognition.

The employees thought the card was a planned recognition just for them. They saw their name on the envelope and imagined me selecting the little card just for them and writing the message with them in mind, then searching the property to deliver their card personally. They didn't know I had a pocket full of prepared cards.

It didn't matter, they felt appreciated and that was the point.

Find ways to show appreciation for your staff and they will take care of your guests.

Horrible Service Story

My very good friend, Eugene, experienced what could be described as one of the worst service attitudes ever. He took his car to the local dealership to arrange for an oil change. He walks into, what was called, the service department only to find an empty room with a counter. Eugene stood at the counter for a few minutes when a mechanic walks in from the shop area behind the counter. The mechanic stopped, looked, then turned to pick up a clipboard from the desk and walked back into the shop. Didn’t say a word or acknowledge that anybody was standing at the counter. A few moments later another man came through the door from the shop area and stood there, looking at Eugene for a few seconds and finally took the three steps to reach the counter. The two looked at each other for an awkward moment and Eugene broke the silence by saying that he wanted to set up an oil change. The other man, wearing the ‘manager’ badge, laughed at him. He actually broke into a laugh. As his laughing subsided he said “today? We are way too busy today.” Then he turned and walked back into the shop area.

This service manager was in dire need for some instruction of what service really is. Not only did he lose a lifetime customer, he also lost the potential business of the twenty people Eugene told about the situation. The dealership lost future car sales from Eugene, the type who buys a new car every two years, and those twenty people with whom he shared the story. Was this so called service manager showing any hospitality at all? No, he wasn’t. Eugene didn’t say he wanted to get the oil change that day; he just wanted to make the arrangements, set up an appointment to get the oil change done. The manager was not cordial; he was not generous in his disposition and treatment of his guest at that particular instance.

We all have a story similar to Eugene’s story. The problem is that we all have a story similar to Eugene’s story. Bad service attitudes are so common we almost expect it every time we walk into a place of business. The guests who walk in our hotels often feel the same way. Since we are in the hospitality industry we need to fully understand what hospitality really is. As hospitality professionals it is important that we project the right hospitality attitude toward all our guests. Hospitality managers have the responsibility to teach the entire hotel staff the importance of a proper hospitality attitude.

Now on Amazon.com

My book is now available on Amazon.com

This is so cool. :)

X-cellent Guest Service on Amazon.com

The Book Is Ready

My book, X-cellent Guest Service, is now available.


This book contains all the information I presented at my X-cellent Guest Service seminars. It covers the information about Generation X as it applies to the hospitality industry and it gives suggestions and advice for improving guest service at your hotel or restaurant.

It even includes my secret three rules for any situation. These three rules will give anybody at your hotel or restaurant the guidelines and power to handle any situation that comes up in a way that will keep a happy customer without causing damage to the business. It was these three rules that helped me take a 30 year old hotel and restaurant from the mid 50% brand ranking to the top 5%, beating out many newly opened hotels of the same brand.

Follow the link below to order a copy of X-cellent Guest Service.
https://www.createspace.com/3331991

Hotel Manager's Toolbox

The CD "Hotel Manager's Toolbox" is still available.

Save valuable time.
Get out of your office more.
Do what you do best... manage your hotel.

Over 50 professionally prepared tools designed to help make your day go by with ease.

The Hotel Manager's Toolbox - CD

This CD contains many forms and worksheets designed by an experienced hotel manager.
Many major brand hotels use these tools today.

To view a list of contents and to order your copy of the Hotel Manager's Toolbox, while they last... See The Order Page

Classmates

Recently I stopped in at the website classmates.com and took a look at those listed from my high school. It was fun looking at some current pictures of people I knew back in the early 1980's. Good old Generation X.

Today I received an e-mail from one of those classmates. It was fun to hear from her and I just finished sending her an e-mail giving her the extremely condensed version of my life since graduation.

The e-mail was longer than I expected, but it was actually a good exercise to review the successes I have had in my life.

In his book, The Success Principles, Jack Canfield recommends that you "acknowledge your positive past." He points out that we tend to remember our failures more than the successes because the failures in our past usually carry more emotions at the time. That is what programs our subconscious mind, emotions. So, the subconscious tends to keep track of the failures.

Jack Canfield suggests keeping a journal, or a list, of our successes. When things don't go quite right, we can read our list and remember the things we accomplished. Positive reinforcement works very well with our employees, it can work just as well on yourself.

Try an exercise from The Success Principles. Divide your life into three parts. List three major successes for each part of your life. From learning to ride a bike to the big promotion at work. See how good you start to feel about yourself. If you take it to the next level, expand the list to 100 successes.

I am going for the list of 100.

Rejection is a Myth

I just learned that rejection is a myth. It really doesn’t mean anything and it really has no actual bearing on your life. What it all boils down to is the way you look at it. They way you decide to think about it and how you react to rejection.

This is how I have come to understand it.

Rejection is a part of life. We are rejected all the time throughout the day. The exact rejection doesn’t matter because it did not change anything in you life. Nothing is different after the rejection than it was before.

You ask somebody for something, they say ‘no’. You didn’t have it before you asked, you still don’t have it, and so nothing has changed. The rejection didn’t cause anything to happen in your life, like it never was, like it didn’t exist, like a myth.

Let’s say Frank asked Sara out to dinner. Sara declined he invitation. Frank didn’t have anybody to eat dinner with before he asked her, he didn’t have anybody to eat dinner with after he asked her. Nothing actually changed in Frank’s life.

From now on I am going to work on letting all rejections go. They don’t change my current state of affairs, so they don’t do anything to cause me any harm. My life continues as before and there is no reason to dwell on it, no reason t get all worked up over it, no reason to keep me from asking again.

Rejection is a myth.

Hospitality

Hospitality is defined in one dictionary, Wordnet by Princeton University, in a way that I really like. It says hospitality is “kindness in welcoming guests or strangers.” For most of us, most of the time, the guests who come to our hotels are strangers to us. By using the one simple word, kindness, we find hospitality described in an easy to remember form that all of us can understand. We can approach any guest contact situation with kindness. I find that the word kindness evokes a pleasant and positive feeling for people when they hear it. To apply kindness to hospitality really helps anybody understand what is meant by hospitable service.

The overall environment to give our guests the best stay possible is one of kindness, cordial, and generous hospitality. An environment that is welcoming and informative with no problems. To avoid potential problems have information ready if the guest needs it, but don’t force the information on guests who don’t want it.

Generation X likes to gather information and if you can provide the information they are asking for, when they ask for it, then you become a hero to the Gen X guest. You take one more step to proving that you deserve their loyalty. Anticipating needs is the best way to reduce, or eliminate, problems before they occur.

Not too long ago I was in Portland, Oregon, to conduct a seminar at the Holiday Inn Portland Airport. The printer sent out the workbooks for the seminar one day later than I expected. So, at 10:00 o’clock the night before the seminar, I was in desperate need for a FedEx Kinko’s store to print some emergency copies of the seminar workbook. I asked at the front desk where I could find the Kinko’s and the desk clerk knew the location of the store. She then opened a file drawer and pulled out a piece of paper which she handed to me. It had exact, detailed directions to the Kinko’s store. It started with ‘turn left out of the hotel driveway…’ and it included distances between each turn. I drove to the Kinko’s store as if I had made the trip a hundred times before. That hotel anticipated my needs and prepared the information ahead of time to satisfy my need. That was something I did not expect. They exceeded my expectations by preparing for my needs.

For more information about Generation X and their hotel travel patterns, as well as some tips on coaching Gen X, my eBook is available for download.
http://www.freewebs.com/borderlandhosp/xcellentserviceebook.htm

Success Principles

I am currently reading The Success Principles by Jack Canfield and Janet Switzer. The first chapter gave me insight right from the get-go. Mr. Canfield says that in order for us to make our life better, to get to where we want to be, we need to take 100% responsibility for absolutely everything in our life. Everything we have, whether we like it or don’t like it, it is our responsibility, 100%, no exceptions.

This goes right along with the ancient Hawaiian system Ho’oponopono that Joe Vitale wrote about in his book Zero Limits. So, when I read the part about 100% responsibilities it was not a new concept to me. But, Mr. Canfield included a formula to help clarify the subject.

E + R = O

Event (E) plus our Response (R) = the Outcome (O).

The way we respond to any event will affect the outcome, or final results. How we react to any given event is what has brought us to the place we currently are. If we don’t like the way things have worked out so far… change the way we respond to things. This is the only way to change, or improve, the outcome.

If your habits continually bring about undesired results in your life, then to change the results you must change those habits. Remember the old saying about insanity being defined as continuing the same behavior and expecting a different result.

This also means no more blame. You can’t blame anybody or anything else for anything in your life that you don’t like. 100% responsibility really means 100% responsibility. You aren’t a victim anymore, you can’t demand others to feel sorry for you, you are responsible. I know this can be a tough pill to swallow. This may be a rude wake up call for some people, but it is the truth.

I can see so many ways this attitude will improve things. For example, if you are 100% responsible then there is no need to complain. It’s not anybody else’s responsibility so why complain about it? If you are not complaining, others may like to be around you more, it also helps to raise your own emotional state to a more positive place because you are not dwelling on the negatives by complaining.

Already I find excitement in this book. It will help to improve anybody’s life. I look forward to the changes and improvements in my life with the things I will learn and implement.

Thank you, Jack Canfield, for writing this book.

Service = Action

As I have posted before, Service is doing that which others need but are unable to do for them selves. Or it can be doing what other would rather not do for them selves. Either way, service is still doing something for another.

The key here is action. Service means to do something, and doing something requires action. To do means to act.

In my famous service rule, “Do whatever it takes to make the guest (or customer) happy” the key word is “Do.”

This word implies that action needs to be taken. This action is on the shoulders of the staff member who had the initial contact with the customer.

The idea is to do something so the guest does not need to wait for a manager to be tracked down. If the employee has the ability and knows what the best course of action might be, then let them take that action on their own behalf.

After all, most of the time they know what the manager will do, so let them do it and take care of the guest so the manager can do manager type things.

As long as the guest is happy, then proper service has been rendered. The right thing was done. The correct course of action was taken.

Why are they that way?

Why do people do what they do?

Is it all because of their parents? Is it because of society? Is it because of some unknown element floating around them?

When it comes to Generation X, I have studied these questions (well, maybe not the floating elements) and compiled an eBook that talks about the Gen X personality and many of the traits the Gen Xers seem to display as a group. I report on the most accepted reasons for these behavior patterns and point out many of the causes. I also delve into the best way to deal with Gen X from a business stand point as well as from an employer standpoint.

My business is in Hospitality and I wrote the eBook from that frame of reference. However, the information is general and adaptable to any business and specifically to any service related industry.

Get your copy now.
CLICK HERE

In A Nutshell

From How to Win Friends and Influence People, by Dale Carnegie

Fundamental Techniques in Handling People

1. Don’t criticize, condemn or complain.
2. Give honest and sincere appreciation.
3. Arouse in the other person an eager want.

Six Ways to Make People Like You

1. Become genuinely interested in other people.
2. Smile.
3. Remember that a person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.
4. Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves.
5. Talk in terms of the other person’s interests.
6. Make the other person feel important – and do it sincerely.

Win People to Your Way of Thinking

1. The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it.
2. Show respect for the other person’s opinions. Never say, “You’re wrong.”
3. If you are wrong, admit it quickly and emphatically.
4. Begin in a friendly way.
5. Get the other person saying “yes, yes” immediately.
6. Let the other person do a great deal of the taking.
7. Let the other person feel that the idea is his or hers.
8. Try honestly to see things from the other person’s point of view.
9. Be sympathetic with the other person’s ideas and desires.
10. Appeal to the nobler motives.
11. Dramatize your ideas.
12. Throw down a challenge.

Be a Leader

(A leader’s job often includes changing your people’s attitudes and behavior. Some suggestions to accomplish this:)

1. Begin with praise and honest appreciation.
2. Call attention to people’s mistakes indirectly.
3. Talk about your on mistakes before criticizing the other person.
4. Ask questions instead of giving direct orders.
5. Let the other person save face.
6. Praise the slightest improvement and praise every improvement. Be “hearty in your approbation and lavish in your praise.”
7. Give the other person a fine reputation to live up to.
8. Use encouragement. Make the fault seem easy to correct.
9. Make the other person happy about doing the thing you suggest.

Timeless Classic Still Teaches Today

Recently I have been reading “How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie. This book was written in 1936 and was the first of its’ kind. It is still regarded as the best book ever written on the subject of human relations. I am literally astounded by the insights this book teaches and I am surprised I have never been exposed to this book earlier in my career.

This book is a must read for just about anybody, but especially for any one who deals with the public. Well, any one who deals with people at all should read this book. I will add this book to my personal recommendation list of a success library. Any one, who wants to be successful in business, in life or even in the hospitality industry, really should read “How to Win Friends and Influence People.” It truly is a timeless classic that will open your eyes.

Teach as You Lead

Leaders, or managers, are teachers. I always wanted to get as much accomplished as possible with as little effort as possible. So, as general manager of my hotels, I would empower my department heads to take on more responsibilities and I would encourage them to teach the employees under their guidance how to take care of and monitor progress of these extra responsibilities. They loved the fact that I trusted them to handle these assignments, they enjoyed learning, and they felt more like a part of the overall team. I would spend the required quality time with them to make sure they understood the steps or processes in the projects, and when they had it I would leave it to them. If they had any questions I was quick to be there and help them through. Eventually, my hotel was running with heightened efficiency and my personal workload was less than it was before. This gave me more time to focus on other areas of a general manager’s responsibilities.

Understand that leadership is more of a purpose to guide and teach others and not some lofty position for other to praise. If you lead your people, the praise will come automatically and, more importantly, it will be from their hearts. They will want to do more for you and they will want to complete assignments with the best quality work they can, because they respect you. Since your employees represent you, and every manager is judged by his/her staff, it is far better that they see you as a true leader. Become the purpose, not the position.