HOTELS

Bart Berkey

Selling The Dream, Servicing The Nightmare
September 8, 2008

Yesterday, my wife and I took at 20 mile bike ride along the C&O Towpath in Washington, D.C., on a beautiful September morning. There was low humidity, the sun was shining and the color of the leaves was just beginning to change. It was one of those rare mornings where everything seemed peaceful and pleasant in the nation's capital until we hit the bike trail.

Quickly, I learned about the hierarchy of the bike path. Walkers hate runners, who in turn can't stand the bikers.  The bikers can't stand the walkers but can tolerate the runners. This reminded me of some situational differences that may exist in the world of hotels among different departments.

You have heard the jokes that "the sales department sells the dream and operations services the nightmare." While we intentionally took a bike ride to relax and get away from the work week, I was suddenly immersed back into the hotel world. My eyes began to play tricks on me: Instead of seeing elderly ladies walking three wide, I saw housekeeping not wanting to remove furniture from a guestroom to make a break-out area.

When two decked out Lance Armstrong groupies raced past us, I saw overanxious sales people trying to get a contract signed without researching booking patterns or obtaining history.

Joggers who listened to loud music on iPods became unfocused front office leaders at a pre-con meeting who arrived 20 minutes late without an apology to the clients present.

My wife sensed my tension and began making use of a magnificent US$2.99 investment, the bike bell. She COMMUNICATED, rang the bell, sometimes said "passing on your left," and guess what happened? There were less screeching tires and curses. People waived, acknowledged the message and said thank you when you needed to pass them. People were still busy trying to get to their destination, finish a conversation and obtain 20 minutes of cardio, but the entire process was much smoother. 

Do we tell the housekeeping department the total amount of revenue that a group will bring (and how many housekeepers it will employ with increased occupancy) if we can be flexible enough to create a new breakout from a guestroom? Do we coach sales people on the financial importance of obtaining accurate information from a group's past performance to forecast staffing levels throughout the property? Do the leaders at the front desk understand the value of timeliness as perceived by the meeting planners?

Your "bike bell" on property might be an e-mail, a presentation at staff meeting or just conversation in the break room. Whatever your delivery method or format, ring that bell and COMMUNICATE! It will clear paths for you.

Posted by Bart Berkey on September 8, 2008 | Comments (6)