HospitalityEducators.com was created to help hospitality businesses address problems via a training and information resource site to help you increase your Hotel’s revenue, market share and profitability. With more than 1,000 pages of tips, guides, best practices, strategies, plans, budgets, videos and resources,HospitalityEducators.com is the #1 independent website for hotel owners and managers. This site can help you solve your problems now! Read More
KEYS TO SUCCESS is the umbrella title for my 2011-2012 programs, hospitality services and columns. This year’s writings focus on a variety of topics for hotel owners, managers and professionals including both my “HOW TO” articles, HOSPITALITY CONVERSATIONS™, Lessons from the Field™, Hotel Common Sense™ , THE P-A-R PRINCIPLE™ and Principles for Success.
Feel free to share an idea for a column at john.hogan@hospitalityeducators.com anytime or contact me regarding consulting, customized workshops, speaking engagements … And remember – we all need a regular dose of common sense,
John Hogan is a successful hospitality executive, educator, author and consultant and is a frequent keynote speaker and seminar leader at many hospitality industry events. He is CEO and Co-Founder of www.HospitalityEducators.com , which delivers focused and affordable counsel in solving specific challenges facing hospitality today. www.HospitalityEducators.com is a membership site offering a wide range of information, forms, best practices and ideas designed to help individual hoteliers and hospitality businesses improve their market penetration, deliver service excellence and increase their profitability.
www.HoganHospitality.com
Your Hospitality Resource for the Hotel Owner, Innkeeper, Manager and Hospitality Industry Associations.
It cannot be easy to find a novel way to write yet another book on self-branding of the individual, but I find that Stedman Graham has found his unique approaches and messages on ways to develop the success to be found in each of us.
With a foreword by John Maxwell and an afterword by Stephen Covey, one has reason to believe that the content between the two has substance and Graham hits the mark.
Using his Nine-Step Success Process, Graham uses interesting and believable examples of his own life on he addressed stereotype cause and effect situations. He offers discussion and reason for thought on how we develop values as the base and center of our identity, as we feel it should be, not as others say it should be.
There are Questions to Consider at the end of chapters, and nuggets of inspiration in shaded boxes throughout.
I find Stedman Graham to be an excellent and precise writer – he gets to the point of his message clearly and with just enough background.
I also consider him to be a strong believer in what seems to be on the verge of extinction – the quality and competency of “thinking.” He offers the proposition that we need to challenge the premise of traditional learning, where we learn to be a worker who finds a job and completes the assigned work. His dramatic point is the observation that so many of us program ourselves (or allow up others to program us) to do the same thing over and over and over again. Is it any wonder that so many people change jobs? Do we really all want to do and accomplish the absolute minimum to get by?
Graham’s nine steps start with the premise of the book title – identity. He states it is essential to be honest with one’s self and he includes inspirational stories by a number of well-known names who hit the mark in their journeys and give us reason to think more about ours.
Graham makes the point that we really only have ourselves to blame if we miss the real hidden identity, resources and purpose that we all have hidden under the surface
Read this short book – find your true identity.
Dr. John Hogan CHE CHA CMHS
Hospitality Educators
Hogan Hospitality
HospitalityEducators.com was created to help hospitality businesses address problems via a training and information resource site to help you increase your Hotel’s revenue, market share and profitability. With more than 1,000 pages of tips, guides, best practices, strategies, plans, budgets, videos and resources,HospitalityEducators.com is the #1 independent website for hotel owners and managers. This site can help you solve your problems now! Read More
KEYS TO SUCCESS is the umbrella title for my 2011-2012 programs, hospitality services and columns. This year’s writings focus on a variety of topics for hotel owners, managers and professionals including both my “HOW TO” articles, HOSPITALITY CONVERSATIONS™, Lessons from the Field™, Hotel Common Sense™ , THE P-A-R PRINCIPLE™ and Principles for Success.
Feel free to share an idea for a column at john.hogan@hospitalityeducators.com anytime or contact me regarding consulting, customized workshops, speaking engagements … And remember – we all need a regular dose of common sense,
John Hogan is a successful hospitality executive, educator, author and consultant and is a frequent keynote speaker and seminar leader at many hospitality industry events. He is CEO and Co-Founder of www.HospitalityEducators.com , which delivers focused and affordable counsel in solving specific challenges facing hospitality today. www.HospitalityEducators.com is a membership site offering a wide range of information, forms, best practices and ideas designed to help individual hoteliers and hospitality businesses improve their market penetration, deliver service excellence and increase their profitability.
www.HoganHospitality.com
Your Hospitality Resource for the Hotel Owner, Innkeeper, Manager and Hospitality Industry Associations.
What we want and need in 2012 in Hospitality : #9-11
It is now May, Month Number 5.
We have blogged the first 8 recommendation of what we need and want earlier in the year, and are pleased to share three additional points for your consideration.
Nine: A Genuine Commitment to Learning and Professional Development at ALL Levels of the Hospitality Organization.
This includes opportunities for all associates in the organization who are interested in improving themselves. This could be language, marketing, certain professional skills, and career development. If opportunities are only offered to a select few, that organization is likely to be limited. Look at the example of the staff at any Apple Computer/Technology store and compare that to any competitor you can think of. Which staff has had the opportunity to learn and develop? What is happening at your hotel?
Ten: Boost the value proposition
The peripheral surroundings in the marketplace continue to have a major impact on the hotel and restaurant industries. Being unique (not a cookie cutter) and offering a differentiated product is clearly a major keys for success in these competitive times.
The government issued statistics may try to hint at improvements in performance, productivity and job creation, but the millions of unemployed or underemployed people throughout many developed countries remain staggering. We must make our business offerings appropriate and relevant with the changing needs and lifestyles of our guests. We must offer consistently the proper experience at our hotels and restaurants at the prices that our guests can afford to pay and the price they choose to pay.
The online travel agencies are blamed for aggressive discounting, but it is the decision of the individual hotel and restaurant to decide their prices and at what value. I often write on the danger of our industry becoming a commodity that has no distinction and holds little interest from consumers or others. Competition will continue to increase in marketing, products and brands. Some of our clients are business travelers, while others are leisure or social travelers. Even in good times, many companies will be careful to use hospitality businesses that are fair and pricing inconsistent and experience.
Eleven: Provide Clearer Communications
We often are frustrated by news bytes of partial information and by politicians’ comments that appear so often to be self-serving. As business leaders and hoteliers, restaurateurs, and hosts, it is up to us to be clear in our communication to our associates, our suppliers, bankers, our clients and all we deal with. This means using the tactics in the first 10 items mentioned above.
HospitalityEducators.com was created to help hospitality businesses address problems via a training and information resource site to help you increase your Hotel’s revenue, market share and profitability. With more than 1,000 pages of tips, guides, best practices, strategies, plans, budgets, videos and resources,HospitalityEducators.com is the #1 independent website for hotel owners and managers. This site can help you solve your problems now! Read More
KEYS TO SUCCESS is the umbrella title for my 2011-2012 programs, hospitality services and columns. This year’s writings focus on a variety of topics for hotel owners, managers and professionals including both my “HOW TO” articles, HOSPITALITY CONVERSATIONS™, Lessons from the Field™, Hotel Common Sense™ , THE P-A-R PRINCIPLE™ and Principles for Success.
Feel free to share an idea for a column at john.hogan@hospitalityeducators.com anytime or contact me regarding consulting, customized workshops, speaking engagements … And remember – we all need a regular dose of common sense,
John Hogan is a successful hospitality executive, educator, author and consultant and is a frequent keynote speaker and seminar leader at many hospitality industry events. He is CEO and Co-Founder of www.HospitalityEducators.com , which delivers focused and affordable counsel in solving specific challenges facing hospitality today. www.HospitalityEducators.com is a membership site offering a wide range of information, forms, best practices and ideas designed to help individual hoteliers and hospitality businesses improve their market penetration, deliver service excellence and increase their profitability.
www.HoganHospitality.com
Your Hospitality Resource for the Hotel Owner, Innkeeper, Manager and Hospitality Industry Associations.
Guest Columnist Conor Kenny shares insights on business and financial challenges in this You Tube video on one of the world’s most established segments of hospitality – the local pub. While you may not have a “pub” in the traditional sense of the word, there are many similarities to other services in hospitality. We felt our global readers would appreciate this unique perspective.
HospitalityEducators.com was created to help hospitality businesses address problems via a training and information resource site to help you increase your Hotel’s revenue, market share and profitability. With more than 1,000 pages of tips, guides, best practices, strategies, plans, budgets, videos and resources,HospitalityEducators.com is the #1 independent website for hotel owners and managers. This site can help you solve your problems now! Read More
KEYS TO SUCCESS is the umbrella title for my 2012 programs, hospitality services and columns. This year’s writings focus on a variety of topics for hotel owners, managers and professionals including both my “HOW TO” articles, HOSPITALITY CONVERSATIONS™, Lessons from the Field™, Hotel Common Sense™ , THE P-A-R PRINCIPLE™ and Principles for Success.
Feel free to share an idea for a column at john.hogan@hospitalityeducators.com anytime or contact me regarding consulting, customized workshops, speaking engagements … And remember – we all need a regular dose of common sense,
John Hogan is a successful hospitality executive, educator, author and consultant and is a frequent keynote speaker and seminar leader at many hospitality industry events. He is CEO and Co-Founder of www.HospitalityEducators.com , which delivers focused and affordable counsel in solving specific challenges facing hospitality today. www.HospitalityEducators.com is a membership site offering a wide range of information, forms, best practices and ideas designed to help individual hoteliers and hospitality businesses improve their market penetration, deliver service excellence and increase their profitability.
www.HoganHospitality.com
Your Hospitality Resource for the Hotel Owner, Innkeeper, Manager and Hospitality Industry Associations.
Nordstrom’s Old Employee Handbook Had Only 75 Words
For many years, Nordstrom’s employee handbook consisted of a single 5″×8″ card that had only 75 words on it:
“Welcome to Nordstrom
We’re glad to have you with our Company. Our number one goal is to provide outstanding customer service. Set both your personal and professional goals high. We have great confidence in your ability to achieve them.
Nordstrom Rules: Rule #1:
Use best judgment in all situations.
There will be no additional rules.
Please feel free to ask your department manager, store manager, or division general manager any question at any time.”
HospitalityEducators.com was created to help hospitality businesses address problems via a training and information resource site to help you increase your Hotel’s revenue, market share and profitability. With more than 1,000 pages of tips, guides, best practices, strategies, plans, budgets, videos and resources,HospitalityEducators.com is the #1 independent website for hotel owners and managers. This site can help you solve your problems now! Read More
KEYS TO SUCCESS is the umbrella title for my 2012 programs, hospitality services and columns. This year’s writings focus on a variety of topics for hotel owners, managers and professionals including both my “HOW TO” articles, HOSPITALITY CONVERSATIONS™, Lessons from the Field™, Hotel Common Sense™ , THE P-A-R PRINCIPLE™ and Principles for Success.
Feel free to share an idea for a column at john.hogan@hospitalityeducators.com anytime or contact me regarding consulting, customized workshops, speaking engagements … And remember – we all need a regular dose of common sense,
John Hogan is a successful hospitality executive, educator, author and consultant and is a frequent keynote speaker and seminar leader at many hospitality industry events. He is CEO and Co-Founder of www.HospitalityEducators.com , which delivers focused and affordable counsel in solving specific challenges facing hospitality today. www.HospitalityEducators.com is a membership site offering a wide range of information, forms, best practices and ideas designed to help individual hoteliers and hospitality businesses improve their market penetration, deliver service excellence and increase their profitability.
www.HoganHospitality.com
Your Hospitality Resource for the Hotel Owner, Innkeeper, Manager and Hospitality Industry Associations.
There was so much positive feedback on last week’s smiles from HospitalityEducators.com that we decided to add two more today.
Compliment Day
When : Always January 24th
How nice of you to visit our site today. I can see by your choice of websites, that you are an intelligent person. You are a kind and inquisitive person. I love the way you……
Yes, its Compliment Day. Today is a great opportunity to say something positive about the people you come into contact with. Everyone has good attributes. …that’s right……. everyone.
Its a cinch to find compliments for family and loved ones, even for your Mother-in-Law. (Tip: She’s probably a good cook.)
Friends are friends because you see something good about them. Here’s an easy compliment to a friend: “Wow, you’re very intelligent…you choose your friends wisely”.
It’s more challenging to compliment your boss, or people you don’t like. Take up the challenge, and find a compliment for them today, too.
Remember:Mama said ”If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything”. After a long search for something good, if you just can’t find a compliment for them, then silence is golden.
Compliment Day is celebrated by offering sincere compliments to people you know. It is important that you are sincere. People will see right through insincerity, and you will do more harm than good.
How many compliments should you give out today? The common suggestion is five compliments. Yes, they should be to five different people.
Origin of Compliment Day:
This day was created in 1998 by Kathy Chamberlin, of Hopkinton, NH. and Debby Hoffman, of Concord, NH.
Opposite Day
When : Always January 24th
Opposite Day is a topsy, turvy day when everything you say, do, see, and hear are the opposite. If you say go left, you mean go right. If you say look up, it means look down. If you see your left foot…is it really your right?
Yesiree, Bob. Opposite Day can be a whole lot of fun. It can also be very, very confusing. This special day is celebrated primarily among school children. Sponge Bob Square Pants even got into the act, with an episode containing the whimsical nature of this day.
Thought for the Day:Opposites attract.
Origin of Opposite Day:
We have yet to discover who created this day, or the original date of creation. In true “Opposite Day” spirit, you have to look for someone who says “I didn’t create this day”, and go from there.
References to Opposite Day date back to around 2000. However, we found some casual reference to President Calvin Coolidge in the 1920′s. Is it possible that a president said one thing and meant another?
HospitalityEducators.com was created to help hospitality businesses address problems via a training and information resource site to help you increase your Hotel’s revenue, market share and profitability. With more than 1,000 pages of tips, guides, best practices, strategies, plans, budgets, videos and resources,HospitalityEducators.com is the #1 independent website for hotel owners and managers. This site can help you solve your problems now! Read More
KEYS TO SUCCESS is the umbrella title for my 2011-2012 programs, hospitality services and columns. This year’s writings focus on a variety of topics for hotel owners, managers and professionals including both my “HOW TO” articles, HOSPITALITY CONVERSATIONS™, Lessons from the Field™, Hotel Common Sense™ , THE P-A-R PRINCIPLE™ and Principles for Success.
Feel free to share an idea for a column at john.hogan@hospitalityeducators.com anytime or contact me regarding consulting, customized workshops, speaking engagements … And remember – we all need a regular dose of common sense,
John Hogan is a successful hospitality executive, educator, author and consultant and is a frequent keynote speaker and seminar leader at many hospitality industry events. He is CEO and Co-Founder of www.HospitalityEducators.com , which delivers focused and affordable counsel in solving specific challenges facing hospitality today. www.HospitalityEducators.com is a membership site offering a wide range of information, forms, best practices and ideas designed to help individual hoteliers and hospitality businesses improve their market penetration, deliver service excellence and increase their profitability.
www.HoganHospitality.com
Your Hospitality Resource for the Hotel Owner, Innkeeper, Manager and Hospitality Industry Associations.
Over the last month, I have received a number of similar emails on a topic we all understand- supporting local businesses. Some of these emails have come from people I know well and others from casual acquaintances. Some have politically oriented messages in them, while others express a sense of real frustration with politics as usual.
The portion of these messages I have appreciated revolves creating a mind-set for this year’s gift giving to be different. This year, people can give the gift of genuine concern for other people in their town and state. The mind-set change is to realize there is no longer an excuse that nothing can be found that is produced locally. Oh…. Yes there is!
Alan Jackson wrote about this a few years ago – he sings the message very clearly
These messages sent to me have urged readers to think creatively, a bit outside the proverbial box. Who says a gift needs to fit in a shirt box?
Remember, this isn’t about big national chains. This is about supporting your local, home town operated and owned businesses that have their financial lives on the line to keep their doors open. Now many local businesses are franchises of national brands, but locally owned and operated. Profits remain in your community, as do most of the jobs and tax revenue.
Some thoughts shared so far from others include:
1. Everyone — yes EVERYONE gets their hair cut. How about gift certificates from your local Hometown hair salon or barber?
2. Gym membership? It’s appropriate for all ages who are thinking about some health improvement.
3. Who wouldn’t appreciate getting their car detailed? Small, locally owned detail shops and car washes would love to sell you a gift certificate or a book of gift certificates.
4. Are you one of those extravagant givers who think nothing of plunking down a large amount on the latest gizmo made who-knows-where which benefits someone from far-away? Why not consider having their driveway sealed, or lawn mowed for the summer, or driveway plowed all winter, or games at the local bowling alley or public golf course within your community?
5. There are hundreds and thousands of locally operated and owner-run restaurants — all offering gift certificates.
6. As an option to dinner, what about a half dozen pre-paid breakfasts at the local breakfast shop?
7. How many people couldn’t use an oil change for their car, truck or motorcycle done at a shop run by the local small business?
8. Thinking about a heartfelt gift for mom? Mom would LOVE the services of a local cleaning lady for a day.
9. My computer often could use a tune-up, and I KNOW I can find some young entrepreneur who is struggling to get his/her repair business up and running.
10. OK, you were looking for something more personal. Local crafts people spin their own wool and knit them into scarves and hats. They make jewelry, and pottery and beautiful wooden boxes.
11. Plan your holiday outings at local, owner operated restaurants and leave your server a nice tip.
12. How about going out to see a play or ballet at your hometown theatre? Community colleges and local community theatre offer excellent shows at a bargain price.
13. Musicians need love too, so find a venue showcasing local bands.
14. Do you REALLY need to buy another ten thousand imported lights for the house? When you buy a five dollar string of light, about fifty cents stays in the community. I wonder where the rest goes…..
15. Leave the mailman, trash truck driver, babysitter or anyone else who provides you a service throughout the year a nice tip.
16. Facials and massages at a local spa are gender neutral and appreciated by all.
17. Many in the local hotel business offer gift certificates – consider using them locally. Many provide excellent packages and there are advantages in trying something closer to home sometimes.
18. Hotel owners and managers at times find themselves cash strapped, but creativity can balance that. Consider reciprocal arrangements with comparable properties as gifts for deserving staff and their families. The cash cost is negligible and the appreciation can be enormous.
19. How many more ways can you think if to support your locally owned and operated hometown businesses?
The term Small Business Saturday sounded great to me at first glance, but seemed to evolve into just another promotion from the credit card companies or advertising agencies. I have no problem with the term, but we need to make it real.
Christmas and the end of the year holidays should not be about draining hometown pockets so that some other country can build another glittering city. It should be about caring about US (We the People Everywhere ) and encouraging hometown small businesses to keep plugging away to follow their dreams. When we care about others in our hometown, we care about our communities and the benefits come back to us in ways we could not imagine. Let THIS be the new tradition!!
Alan Jackson wrote about this a few years ago – he sings the message very clearly
HospitalityEducators.com was created to help hospitality businesses address problems via a training and information resource site to help you increase your Hotel’s revenue, market share and profitability. With more than 950 pages of tips, guides, best practices, strategies, plans, budgets, videos and resources, HospitalityEducators.com has become the #1 independent website for hotel owners and managers. This site can help you solve your problems now! Read More
KEYS TO SUCCESS™ is the umbrella title for my 2011-2012 programs, hospitality services and columns. This year’s writings focus on a variety of topics for hotel owners, managers and professionals including both my “HOW TO” articles, HOSPITALITY CONVERSATIONS™, Lessons from the Field™,Hotel Common Sense™ , THE P-A-R PRINCIPLE™ and Principles for Success.
Feel free to share an idea for a column at john.hogan@hospitalityeducators.com anytime or contact me regarding consulting, customized workshops, speaking engagements … And remember – we all need a regular dose of common sense.
John Hogan, Certified Hospitality Educator (CHE), Certified Hotel Administrator (CHA),
Certified Master Hotel Supplier (CMHS)
John Hogan is a successful hospitality executive, educator, author and consultant and is a frequent keynote speaker and seminar leader at many hospitality industry events. He is Co-Founder of www.HospitalityEducators.com , which delivers focused and affordable counsel in solving specific challenges facing hospitality today.
Consulting Expertise and Research Interest
1. Turn-around and revenue management
2. Professional Development for the Organization and the Individual
3. Customer Service
4. Making Cultural Diversity Real
5. Developing Academic Hospitality programs
6. Medical Lodging Consulting
7. Sales Management and training
If you need assistance in any of these areas or simply an independent review or opinion on a hospitality challenge, contact me directly for a prompt response and very personalized attention.
www.HospitalityEducators.com is a membership site offering a wide range of information, forms, best practices and ideas designed to help individual hoteliers and hospitality businesses improve their market penetration, deliver service excellence and increase their profitability.
This was made in memory of all those lost in war both past and present. It is hoped this video touches everyone who has lost someone in their lives.
It’s not only a tribute to those who put their lives on the line each and every day for we as a people, it’s also for all the sons and daughters, mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, grandfathers and grandmothers and our friends that were taken from us too soon. May their memory live on in our hearts for all time. If you’ve lost a loved one feel free to leave a tribute to them in the comments. Here’s to all the heroes in heaven. May your memory never be forgotten.
Song is sung by Jo Dee Messina… lyrics below…
I came by today to see you
I just had to let you know
If I knew the last time that I held you was the last time
I’d have held you, and never let go
Oh, it’s kept me awake nights, wondering
I lie in the dark, just asking why
I’ve always been told
You won’t be called home
Until it’s your time
I guess heaven was needing a hero
Somebody just like you
Brave enough to stand up
For what you believe
And follow it through
When I try to make it make sense in my mind
The only conclusion I come to
Is heaven was needing a hero
Like you
I remember the last time I saw you
Oh, you held your head up proud
I laughed inside
When I saw how you were standing out in the crowd
Your such a part of who I am
Now that part will just be void
No matter how much I need you now
Heaven needed you more
Cause heaven was needing a hero
Somebody just like you
Brave enough to stand up
For what you believe
And follow it through
When I try to make it make sense in my mind
The only conclusion I come to
Is heaven was needing a hero
Like you
HospitalityEducators.com was created to help hospitality businesses address problems via a training and information resource site to help you increase your Hotel’s revenue, market share and profitability. With more than 1,000 pages of tips, guides, best practices, strategies, plans, budgets, videos and resources,HospitalityEducators.com is the #1 independent website for hotel owners and managers. This site can help you solve your problems now! Read More
KEYS TO SUCCESS is the umbrella title for my 2011-2012 programs, hospitality services and columns. This year’s writings focus on a variety of topics for hotel owners, managers and professionals including both my “HOW TO” articles, HOSPITALITY CONVERSATIONS™, Lessons from the Field™, Hotel Common Sense™ , THE P-A-R PRINCIPLE™ and Principles for Success.
Feel free to share an idea for a column at john.hogan@hospitalityeducators.com anytime or contact me regarding consulting, customized workshops, speaking engagements … And remember – we all need a regular dose of common sense,
John Hogan is a successful hospitality executive, educator, author and consultant and is a frequent keynote speaker and seminar leader at many hospitality industry events. He is CEO and Co-Founder of www.HospitalityEducators.com , which delivers focused and affordable counsel in solving specific challenges facing hospitality today. www.HospitalityEducators.com is a membership site offering a wide range of information, forms, best practices and ideas designed to help individual hoteliers and hospitality businesses improve their market penetration, deliver service excellence and increase their profitability.
www.HoganHospitality.com
Your Hospitality Resource for the Hotel Owner, Innkeeper, Manager and Hospitality Industry Associations.
America’s Promise Alliance : Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company’s “Succeed Through Service”
Ritz-Carlton’s Succeed through Service program, in partnership with America’s Promise Alliance, is focused on helping children better prepare for college, work and life. At Ritz-Carlton properties across the U.S. and around the world, our employees are mentoring young students in necessary life skills and engaging them in service-learning and career exploration.Employees are inspiring the children to embrace concepts, such as teamwork and environmental responsibility, and introducing them to necessary life-skills, such as social skills & etiquette. Partnered in service-learning projects to benefit the local community, together they are tackling challenging issues including hunger and homelessness, child literacy and environmental conservation.
http://corporate.ritzcarlton.com/en/About/SucceedThroughService.htm “We thank you so much because you’re not only investing in kids, you are investing in the future of our country and the other countries where you are located – and you’re investing in the future of Ritz-Carlton.”
The record of The Ritz-Carlton “Succeed Through Service” program can be seen in comments from youngsters who have participated in workshops, listened to life skills discussions from hotel mentors, and now look forward to reaching their potential with encouragement from this volunteer outreach campaign. “Working with The Ritz-Carlton was an amazing experience because I learned how to make a presentation in a clean and sharp fashion. I also learned the proper skills of social etiquette and how to behave in public,” said Dominiqe Thian, 8th grader at Kenmore Middle School, Arlington, Virginia. Jack Henderson, 8th grader at Sutton Middle School, Atlanta, Georgia added “The Ritz-Carlton has been teaching us many life skills to help us when we’re older. Many kids don’t get this opportunity to learn this stuff. It’s great – these are life skills that will keep us going through our whole life.”
Not only students, but teachers and principals have extolled the impact “Succeed Through Service” has made on their students. From Queens Satellite High School for Opportunity in New York, Mark Melkonian, Principal, where staff from The Ritz-Carlton New York, Central Park are frequent visitors: “The Ritz-Carlton investment in our students change their position as academic failures to achieving academic and personal service. Their service to better the lives of young people endows them with hope and a new solid foundation for future accomplishments.” At Supai Middle School in Scottsdale, Arizona, Sia Chamberlain, Guidance Counselor shared her perspective of the last semester: “It was an experience our students and staff will never forget. All the presenters were excellent in sharing their roles and planting seeds in our students to not be afraid to dream outside their own world. We look forward to the next step in this partnership. The Ritz-Carlton Succeed Through Service program is already impacting and becoming life changing for our students.”
The record of The Ritz-Carlton “Succeed Through Service” program can be seen in comments from youngsters who have participated in workshops, listened to life skills discussions from hotel mentors, and now look forward to reaching their potential with encouragement from this volunteer outreach campaign.
HospitalityEducators.com was created to help hospitality businesses address problems via a training and information resource site to help you increase your Hotel’s revenue, market share and profitability. With more than 1,000 pages of tips, guides, best practices, strategies, plans, budgets, videos and resources,HospitalityEducators.com is the #1 independent website for hotel owners and managers. This site can help you solve your problems now! Read More
KEYS TO SUCCESS is the umbrella title for my 2011-2012 programs, hospitality services and columns. This year’s writings focus on a variety of topics for hotel owners, managers and professionals including both my “HOW TO” articles, HOSPITALITY CONVERSATIONS™, Lessons from the Field™, Hotel Common Sense™ , THE P-A-R PRINCIPLE™ and Principles for Success.
Feel free to share an idea for a column at john.hogan@hospitalityeducators.com anytime or contact me regarding consulting, customized workshops, speaking engagements … And remember – we all need a regular dose of common sense,
John Hogan is a successful hospitality executive, educator, author and consultant and is a frequent keynote speaker and seminar leader at many hospitality industry events. He is Co-Founder of www.HospitalityEducators.com , which delivers focused and affordable counsel in solving specific challenges facing hospitality today. www.HospitalityEducators.com is a membership site offering a wide range of information, forms, best practices and ideas designed to help individual hoteliers and hospitality businesses improve their market penetration, deliver service excellence and increase their profitability.
www.HoganHospitality.com
Your Hospitality Resource for the Hotel Owner, Innkeeper, Manager and Hospitality Industry Associations.
Hospitality and tourism arguably make up the world’s largest industry. They play a major role in the world economy and contribute significant revenues and net wealth to many countries. When we think about it, we recognize that many components of hospitality are based heavily on the personal, “high touch” side of life.
It was a number of years ago that I first learned anything about hotels and hospitality when a high school friend’s family bought a seasonal resort. That family did not remain in the industry, but I learned from another family of hoteliers in that same location about the many disciplines in hospitality.
In our careers, we understand that the need to learn purchasing protocols, how to interpret and anticipate market trends, and keeping current with legal and safety requirements is essential. We recognize that we must evolve with technology, that we must address revenue management, and provide meaningful training to our staff if we expect them to meet the expectations of guests in our facilities.
The hotel industry has evolved significantly in many aspects during the past 20 years. Energy awareness and sustainability are now essential factors in both construction and ongoing operations. Purchasing, design, event planning and sales have changed dramatically. Innovations in culinary offerings have extended to creatively serve groups of all sizes in restaurants, conference centers and banquet events. Entertainment options in clubs, pubs and arenas have grown enormously, as has the need to be more attentive to security in a changing world.
The physical buildings have evolved and range from mega-hotels with casinos in certain markets to bed and breakfasts in communities of all sizes. There are now properties of all sizes and configurations at airports, in mixed use buildings, attached to convention halls, on converted ships, in secondary and tertiary cities and many other conversions and forms.
These hospitality offerings and hotels today are owned and managed by a wide array of groups, ranging from individuals to multinational corporations, Real Estate Investment Trusts and single industry companies of all sizes. Many are franchised; some are managed by individuals, some by third parties and others by family units. Properties can range from a ten-room country inn to a 2,000-room property on the ocean or in a city center attached to a municipal convention center.
While much has changed in hospitality, on reflection we still note that the experience element of hospitality depends not on the size or ownership of a hotel or restaurant, but on the personal, “high touch” delivery individually provided by hospitality staff to guests – one on one.
I recall somewhat “bragging” to the founding partners of the family business mentioned earlier how much I was learning at the large multinational hotel company that had hired me out of hotel school into a management training program in their 1500-room flagship hotel. They smiled and said that I could learn from the major companies how to follow the large company rules and be part of a major corporation, but I probably would not learn how to be a host or a real innkeeper profitably. Those skills and competencies would be developed through time and hands-on experience. I gained what I felt were incredibly important perspectives and experiences in those seasons and something else that I feel I did not learn at university or at big corporate hotels, either. That something was the need to apply innkeeper and host common sense to formulas, percentages, calculations and protocols.
Many brands today have customer service programs and some are quite good in their advertising value and in general guest satisfaction. Those programs may or may not exceed the guest’s expectations or hopes and that is why it is so critical for hospitality associates to truly “care” about their guests. It remains up to each individual hotel associate to deliver that exceptional “one-on-one” experience.
The American Hotel & Lodging Educational Institute has created a new guest service training program that shows employees and properties how to achieve a new standard of exceptional service based on emotionally engaging with guests in memorable ways.
The Guest Service Gold Program features a video with seven brief stories–based on true stories of award-winning guest service-focusing on the emotional elements used to motivate and inspire hotel employees to ‘go for the gold’ when it comes to providing service above and beyond guests expectations. This training can be delivered in two hours, and includes: a DVD, pre-shift lesson plans, one trainer’s guide, and five participant workbooks. It covers the topics of Authenticity, Intuition, Empathy, Champion, Delight, Delivery, and Initiative.
HospitalityEducators.com was created to help hospitality businesses address problems via a training and information resource site to help you increase your Hotel’s revenue, market share and profitability. With more than 800 pages of tips, guides, best practices, strategies, plans, budgets, videos and resources,HospitalityEducators.com is the #1 independent website for hotel owners and managers. This site can help you solve your problems now! Read More
KEYS TO SUCCESS is the umbrella title for my 2011 programs, hospitality services and columns. This year’s writings focus on a variety of topics for hotel owners, managers and professionals including both my “HOW TO” articles, HOSPITALITY CONVERSATIONS™, Lessons from the Field™, Hotel Common Sense™ , THE P-A-R PRINCIPLE™ and Principles for Success.
Feel free to share an idea for a column at john.hogan@hospitalityeducators.com anytime or contact me regarding consulting, customized workshops, speaking engagements … And remember – we all need a regular dose of common sense,
John Hogan is a successful hospitality executive, educator, author and consultant and is a frequent keynote speaker and seminar leader at many hospitality industry events. He is Co-Founder of www.HospitalityEducators.com , which delivers focused and affordable counsel in solving specific challenges facing hospitality today. www.HospitalityEducators.com is a membership site offering a wide range of information, forms, best practices and ideas designed to help individual hoteliers and hospitality businesses improve their market penetration, deliver service excellence and increase their profitability.
www.HoganHospitality.com
Your Hospitality Resource for the Hotel Owner, Innkeeper, Manager and Hospitality Industry Associations.
HospitalityEducators.com was created to help hospitality businesses address problems via a training and information resource site to help you increase your Hotel’s revenue, market share and profitability. With more than 1,000 pages of tips, guides, best practices, strategies, plans, budgets, videos and resources, HospitalityEducators.com is the #1 independent website for hotel owners and managers. This site can help you solve your problems now! Read More 
Guest Columnist Conor Kenny shares insights on business and financial challenges in this You Tube video on one of the world’s most established segments of hospitality – the local pub. While you may not have a “pub” in the traditional sense of the word, there are many similarities to other services in hospitality. We felt our global readers would appreciate this unique perspective.
