Recommended Reading- Historian Turkel reminds us how the past influences the future

This is  worth reading for a University class , or on understanding how the past influences the future

    Stanley Turkel has spent his career with a number of well-known companies in management roles. These include Loews, Sheraton and Americana. He consulted with Dunfey (now Omni) and found his permanent home in his favorite city – New York. Turkel is well-known in the hotel industry, from his writing, his hotel consulting practice, his expert witness service in hotel-related cases, as well as asset management and hotel franchising consultation. He is certified as a Master Hotel Supplier Emeritus by the Educational Institute of AH&LA.

At times, Stan can be sometimes controversial in his monthly editorials NOBODY ASKED ME, BUT… yet without a doubt he has left his mark on the industry with his insights, his shared knowledge, the questions he asks and in his writing.

Turkel loves to share insights and stories about the history of hospitality. He was designated as the Historian of the Year in both 2014 and 2015 by Historic Hotels of America, which is the official venue of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. This honor is presented to an individual for making a unique contribution in the research and presentation of hotel history and whose work has encouraged a wide discussion and a greater understanding and enthusiasm for American History.

I just finished a book I meant to read years ago and wish I had done so earlier. Great American Hoteliers: Pioneers of the Hotel Industry is a fascinating and interesting refresher of where much of our industry found its foundation.

At a time when the industry is soaring and ownership is as widespread as it has ever been, it is appropriate to look at where some of that success originated. Turkel considered 16 hospitality professionals he ranked as significant. Alphabetically, they are:

1. John Bowman – founder of the Biltmore Hotels brand

2. Carl Fisher – the developer of Miami Beach

3. Henry Flagler – the multi-industry entrepreneur who developed much of eastern Florida through railroads and hotels

4. John Q. Hammons – an early Holiday Inn franchisee who developed his own systems and destiny

5. Frederich Harvey – a turn of the century western developer who innovated national parks and service delivery

6. Ernest Henderson – a real estate developer who accidentally created the Sheraton Hotel brand and came to enjoy some of the facets of hospitality

7. Conrad Hilton – a name recognized by most, but with stories that are worth reading about how he came to unintentionally make hotels his niche

8. Howard Johnson – a restaurateur now mainly forgotten, but who made interstate food and lodging an essential part of American travel

9. J. Willard Marriott – the father of better known Bill Marriott, Jr, this pioneer had to be convinced to change his beliefs and switch from food service in many facets to hotels

10. K M Patel – one of the early innovators from India who found inn keeping as a bridge to success for his and many other Indian immigrants who found being a hotelier an honorable profession

11. Henry Plant – a lesser known developer who developed the Gulf Coast of Florida
12. George Pullman – not usually thought of as a hotelier, this innovator created hotels on wheels. This is a mixed story of success and unpleasant actions, in my estimation

13. A M Sonnanbend – creator of a family business that managed many of New York and America’s better known eastern hotels as well as creating several brands

14. Ellsworth Statler – I admit to a bias here, in that I know a great deal about one of the most innovative and creative hoteliers America has ever known. While he passed away in 1928, his legacy remains in construction, service, training, profitability, marketing and value for both guest and hotel owner.

15. Juan Trippe – known primarily as an airline executive, this Pan Am innovator partnered travel with both hotels and air travel

16. Kemmons Wilson – a construction builder, Wilson used his personal family travel challenges to create a family friendly hotel that grew to one of the world’s largest and best known brands

A book worth reading for a University level program, or for those who are looking to understand how the past influences the future.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

 

Comments and suggestions for future articles are always welcome john@hoganhospitality.com 

 

John J Hogan, CHA CMHS CHE CHO

Hotelier, Speaker, Educator, Author, Expert Witness

• Principal,  HoganHospitality.com   Expert Witness Services, Workshops, Consulting
•  Co-Founder & CLO, HospitalityEducators.com, Resources in Customer Services, Training, Marketing and Sales, Profitability
• Visit  johnjhogan.com for Coaching and Development

John@Hoganhospitality.com    Office 480-436-0283   Cell 602-799-5375

The Best Boutique Hotels In _______ / Are you getting tired of this heading?

I use a google search that uses the term “Boutique Hotel” because I have been retained to complete some research in recent months for a number of clients for a range of reasons. The number of “news” articles that lead off with this heading seems to be growing at an incredible pace. In reality, most of them are essentially PR promos.

My question is this- what do you at your property to make it special? Unique? Memorable?

Feel free to contact me if you could use an independent, 3rd party resource.

Comments and suggestions for future articles are always welcome john@hoganhospitality.com 

 

John J Hogan, CHA CMHS CHE CHO

Hotelier, Speaker, Educator, Author, Expert Witness

• Principal,  HoganHospitality.com   Expert Witness Services, Workshops, Consulting
•  Co-Founder & CLO, HospitalityEducators.com, Resources in Customer Services, Training, Marketing and Sales, Profitability
• Visit  johnjhogan.com for Coaching and Development

John@Hoganhospitality.com    Office 480-436-0283   Cell 602-799-5375

Lodging Leaders Podcast Guest Blog: HOTEL CRIME- How to manage a high-profile case

When a hotel becomes a crime scene, there is little an owner or manager can do to ward off publicity. But a hotel can recover from a crisis and save its image if it has a plan in place to deal with the aftermath of a high-profile incident. Hotel crime has escalated around the world, and the U.S. is no exception. Some U.S. hotels have been indelibly marked by crime. No matter if the hotel redesigns or even closes, the site is known forever for the high-profile incident. In a few cases, owners have embraced the notoriety and actually made it work for their business. In this episode, we talk with: Nancy Patel, a hotelier who acquired a Texas hotel without knowing its infamy Chris Daly, a hospitality PR expert who specializes in crisis communication Imesh Vaidya, a hotelier who has been a spokesman for his city’s lodging community in the aftermath of hotel-related crimes Click here to listen to the full episode Jonathan Albano, CHO Host of the Lodging Leaders Podcast Co-Creator of the Build Great Hotel Teams Training Program (404) 594-4484 Connect with Lodging Leaders        Copyright © 2019 The Lodging Leaders Podcast, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you opted in to our email list on LodgingLeaders.com

Comments and suggestions for future articles are always welcome john@hoganhospitality.com 

 

John J Hogan, CHA CMHS CHE CHO

Hotelier, Speaker, Educator, Author, Expert Witness

• Principal,  HoganHospitality.com   Expert Witness Services, Workshops, Consulting
•  Co-Founder & CLO, HospitalityEducators.com, Resources in Customer Services, Training, Marketing and Sales, Profitability
• Visit  johnjhogan.com for Coaching and Development

John@Hoganhospitality.com    Office 480-436-0283   Cell 602-799-5375

7 Practical Steps on MBWA

                           7 Practical Steps on MBWA:  Hotel Common Sense 

I was looking at some of my earlier articles written for hospitality publications and realized how well this one was received. Interesting to me that while so much in our businesses has changed, so much remains within our control to influence.

An earlier article used one of Tom Peters and Robert Waterman’s fundamentals from their groundbreaking book on changing the ways we do business.  IN SEARCH OF EXCELLENCE introduced a formal name for what the more successful hospitality managers already knew about motivating their staff. The phrase “Management by Walking Around” was based on Hewlett-Packard’s commitment to their staff with interaction – not micromanagement, but ongoing listening and responding to staff ideas.

Hotel Common Sense – Philosophy #2 , Or, why the Open Door policy no longer works… article outlined how today’s workforce wants and needs to be considered as individuals who can contribute to the success of their organization.

Reader feedback showed the growing awareness to that need for additional management and leadership “active listening” and this follow-up message on MBWA offers some concrete ways to notch up that effort of positive involvement.

1. Allow your staff to share complete stories and messages.  Many hospitality companies are trying to improve their customer care programs, yet how often do leaders and managers actually ask an hourly staff member to share a story about either an unhappy or very satisfied guest? Listening to the entire story could provide best practices that might be substantially more effective and less expensive than hiring a consultant.

2. Avoid the tendency to interrupt.   General Managers are results oriented people who are looking for the bottom line.  I know from personal experience the tendency to “hurry” people along is there, but allowing people to share the entire experience will encourage them to be more open.

3. Remember eye contact in conversations.  One of my first mentors taught me a great deal about hospitality, but his habit of looking over my shoulder when we were talking always made me feel I was missing something. Give confidence to people with your eyes.

4. Collect and communicate these stories of success (and failures). Sharing these stories (appropriately) at meetings of all staff, at training sessions, in newsletters and more provides an incentive to people to want to contribute because they have learned that you really do care. I have seen some outstanding examples of “you tube” like testimonials from a number of hospitality companies of all sizes.

5. Remember this is not a game of “one-up.”  As General Managers, we have likely been in the business longer or heard more stories and it is important to recognize that we should not try to offer one “better” story than the one we are hearing. Remember, MBWA is about “active listening.”

6. Credit the source.  When we add a new resource, form or best practice to our hospitality membership site, we obtain permission first and then always make certain we credit them fully. Each of us has unique approaches, messages and talents and sharing the credit with our associates and guests is essential to moving forward.

7. Build trust by honestly listening.  Some (correction, many) of the best suggestions I have ever heard as a manager or executive came from the people who are performing the job. I learned more about laundry sorting, washing pots and up-selling from people who were proud to be successful at what they were doing. Some of those suggestions needed clarification and some were not told as quickly as I might have preferred, but building teams means using all the team members’ strengths.

HOTEL COMMON SENSE was a phrase I learned from a great independent Vermont hotelier a generation ago,

Keys to Success Hospitality  Tip of the Week:

Focus on MBWA 

A challenge to every manager who is responsible for 5 or more people: measure your in and out of the office time and at the end of the week, see how much time you spent ACTIVELY INTERACTING with your team.

The goal is 70% of your time out of the office – how did you do?

What will you do next week?

As always, feedback is appreciated.

John J Hogan, CHA CMHS CHE CHO

John@Hoganhospitality.com    Office 480-436-0283   Cell 602-799-5375

Hotelier, Speaker, Educator, Author, Expert Witness

• Principal,  HoganHospitality.com   Expert Witness Services, Workshops, Consulting
•  Co-Founder & CLO, HospitalityEducators.com,  Resources in Customer Services, Training, Marketing and Sales, Profitability
• Visit  johnjhogan.com for Coaching and Development

How the World’s Largest Hotels have changed – Guest Blog

I have always admired Ellsworth Statler and am pleased to post this as a guest blog.

John J Hogan, CHA CMHS CHE CHO    John@Hoganhospitality.com

The Inside Inn Was the World’s Largest Hotel During the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair—Then It Was Torn Down
By Mark Young -October 30, 2018

Ellsworth Statler, the legendary American hotelier, was a visionary who applied late 19th and early 20th century advances in technology and modern business systems to hotel operations. In applying these modern efficiencies while simultaneously maintaining the comforts and elegance that customers expected, Statler helped create the most successful American hotel chain of the first half of the 20th century.

Before hotels, Statler operated dining rooms and restaurants. When the Louisiana Purchase Exposition and World’s Fair—better known as the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair—was announced, his interest was piqued. Fair organizers were worried that the existing hotels in St. Louis would be overwhelmed with visitors. Even with the construction of many new hotels to serve the fairgoers, there was a fear that the scarcity of accommodations might negatively impact the fair and city. Nervous fair organizers approached Statler, who had successfully operated a large temporary hotel at the 1901 Pan American Exposition in Buffalo, New York.

They asked if he would be able to construct and manage a large temporary hotel for the exposition. Statler offered to build a structure that would house fairgoers and provide dining facilities inside the fairgrounds. That hotel—the only one within the fairgrounds —was appropriately called the “Inside Inn.” Although a temporary structure, it was described as the “largest hotel ever built in the history of the world.” It occupied the equivalent of four city blocks and ranged from two to four stories high. Incredibly for the time, the Inside Inn contained 2,257 rooms, 500 with private baths and another 500 with bath/shower combinations; for guests in the remaining rooms, there were common facilities. There were 156 bellboys—as they were called then—to assist the guests. The room rates started at $1.50.

The Inside Inn was the largest hotel in the world at the time it was built. To accommodate its many guests, the Inside Inn had 156 bell boys. Ellsworth Statler’s hospitality experience led him to create Statler Hotels, one of the United States’ earliest hotel chains.

The wood structure used a fireproof material called Sackett Patent Board, plastered over with green fire-retardant burlap wallpaper. Fireproof burlap was used on the ceilings and floors to add extra safety and comfort. The outside of the structure was given a whitewashed plaster appearance with Moorish turrets to look like most of the fair’s other structures.

The kitchen was said to be the largest in the world. For the month of June 1904, it used 12,270 dozen eggs, 1,180 bushels of potatoes, 401,618 pounds of meat, 244 barrels of flour, 9,605 pounds of butter, 8,824 gallons of milk, and 6,014 pounds of coffee. The dining room had the capacity to serve over 2,000 guests with the option of an American or European dining plan. Statler first hired male waiters but later switched to female waiters, finding them more courteous and dependable. The food was described as good and reasonably priced.

Thanks to Statler, the tourists visiting the 1904 World’s Fair were assured of a clean, safe hotel with dining facilities that ran smoothly. The fair ran from May through November. In the end, Ellsworth Statler made a tidy profit of over $360,000—not bad, considering the average American worker earned between $200 and $400 per year in 1904. At the close of the fair, the Inside Inn, like most other fair structures, was demolished and sold for scrap.

Mark Young
Mark Young, Ph.D., is director of the Hospitality Industry Archives at the Conrad N. Hilton College of Hotel & Restaurant Management, University of Houston.
John J Hogan, CHA CMHS CHE CHO   

John@Hoganhospitality.com       Office 480-436-0283   Cell 602-799-5375

Hotelier, Speaker, Educator, Author, Expert Witness

•   Principal, HoganHospitality.com    Workshops, Consulting, Expert Witness Services    
•  Co-Founder & CLO, HospitalityEducators.com, Resources in Customer Services, Training, Marketing and Sales, Profitability 
•  Visit  johnjhogan.com for Coaching and Development

Easy-to-follow guidelines on Real Customer Service from Disney

The author of this book has been responsible in his career for the customer service at one of the world’s best known service delivery companies -DisneyWorld. He was responsible for 40,000 people in hotels, theme parks, shopping, entertainment and sports centers.

Disney’s often been used as a training center for leadership and guest service and Lee Cockerell’s book on delivering sensational service is right on.

There are 39 chapters or rules in this 179 page book and they are all direct, common sense in approach in logical.

The introduction states simply “be nice”. He says this means being friendly, polite, pleasant, considerate and skilled. He cautions that rules and procedures will not work if you do not have the right people doing the right job. This is more common sense, but we have discovered in so many businesses that common sense is relatively unknown.

Examples of rules include:

• Number 1 – customer service is not a department
• Number 4 – do not get bored with the basics
• Number 12- rehearse, rehearse, rehearse
• Number 17- listen up
• Number 24- do not make promises, make guarantees
• Number 38- keep doing a better

The other 33 are just as direct and understandable, yet they need to be understood.

I have been in the hospitality industry my entire career and I find this a logical, easy-to-follow set of guidelines for anyone providing service to others.

Highly recommended!

John J Hogan, CHA CMHS CHE CHO   John@Hoganhospitality.com

Office 480-436-0283   Cell 602-799-5375

Hotelier, Speaker, Educator, Author, Expert Witness 

•   Principal, HoganHospitality.com    Workshops, Consulting, Expert Witness Services    
•  Co-Founder & CLO, HospitalityEducators.com, Resources in Customer Services, Training, Marketing and Sales, Profitability 
•  Visit  johnjhogan.com for Coaching and Development

Hot Topics for Hotel Owners and Managers

• Human Trafficking
• Carbon Monoxide Poisoning
• ATM and Vending Hoaxes
• Overtime and Salary issues
• Credit Card Fraud
• Terrorism Awareness

I invite you to watch this short video that addresses a number of issues facing all of us today.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=T04BAd0V7uc

John J. Hogan

Hospitality Educators

, Hogan Hospitality

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/hot-topics-hotel-owners-managers-john-j-hogan-cha-cmhs-che-cho/

Recommended Reference from HospitalityEducators.com | Hospitality Law by Stephen Barth

A University textbook is not normally considered light reading, yet a number of them can offer us valuable information and resources.

This is a law book used in university classes. It is very detailed, includes many solid examples and case studies. The Q&A sections at the end reinforce the highlights made throughout each chapter.  The headings of the 15 chapters are self explanatory and offer insights and potential direction.

 

1.  Prevention Philosophy
2. Government Agencies Affecting Hospitality
3. Business Structures
4. Business Contracts
5. Significant Hospitality Contracts
6. Legally Managing Property
7. Legally Selecting Employees
8. Legally Managing Employees
9. Your Responsibilities as a Hospitality Operator
10. Your Responsibilities as a Hospitality Operator to Guests
11. Your Responsibilities for Guest Property
12. Your Responsibilities when Serving Food & Beverage
13. Legal Responsibilities in Travel and Tourism
14. Safety and Security Issues
15. Managing Insurance

In addition to this reference book, I would also recommend The 2015 Hospitality Law Conference    http://hospitalitylawconference.com/ , which is not just for lawyers.

From development deals to management agreements, from food and beverage liability to labor and employment, and from claims management to anti-trust issues, the latest cases, trends and challenges in compliance, finance, law, risk, safety, and security are up for exploration at the 13th Annual Hospitality Law Conference, February 9-11, 2015.

The Owner Management Summit, co-located with the Hospitality Law Conference, intersects legal, finance and technology and includes sessions on: who owns the data, who is responsible for the data, development and unwinding management contracts.

I will write a separate column on this next week.

John Hogan       Kathleen Hogan

Dr. John Hogan CHA CMHS CHE CHO and Kathleen Hogan MBA CHO are the co-founders of  HospitalityEducators.com, which was created in 2010 to be a resource for hotel owners and professionals as they sought to improve market share, occupancy, operational efficiency and profitability.  The husband and wife team are transitioning the original membership site concept and evolving the business model today to a focused resource offering consulting, training, and individualized support to both hospitality and other service businesses.   Services include keynote addresses workshops, online support, metrics measurement, marketing and customer service from a group of more than a dozen experienced professionals.   While continuing to serve hospitality, the demand for these types of services is growing and can be personalized.

John Hogan is also the principal of HoganHospitality.com, which provides a range of expert professional services for hotel owners, including professional development for organizations, training, consulting and expert witness services.

Contact information:  Kathleen Hogan  480-436-0283, John Hogan 602-799-5375 or  service@hospitalityeducators.com

Keynotes: 

• It’s the Size of Your Idea,  Not the Size of Your Budget
• 15 Timeless Philosophies in Leadership and Hospitality
• Becoming a Class of One
• Where is Your Desk? 
• THE Service Code
• From the Chalkboard to the Front Line –  What They Don’t Teach You at Hotel School  
• Understanding Brands  Maximizing the Equity in All of Your Hospitality Brands
• Russell Rules – Teams Win 
• Pilgrims to Pioneer

General Managers – what are the hot spots causing you and your hotel the greatest challenges today?

Solutions for General Managers – A Short Survey – Please respond by 3/20

We are collecting information and opinions from professionals working as hotel general managers to identify what specific issues, problems and hot spots are causing you and your hotel the greatest challenges today. Your feedback will greatly help us respond to your needs.

Please take the time to answer each question as accurately as you can. We are looking for the areas that you need the most help

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/GM-Survey  

Kathleen Hogan and John Hogan  

480-436-0283           Service@HospitalityEducators.com

John Hogan CHA CMHS CHE CHO and Kathleen Hogan MBA CHO are the co-founders of  HospitalityEducators.com, which was created in 2010 to be a resource for hotel owners and professionals as they sought to improve market share, occupancy, operational efficiency and profitability.  The husband and wife team are transitioning the original membership site concept and evolving the business model today to a focused resource offering consulting, training, and individualized support to both hospitality and other service businesses.   Services include keynote addresses workshops, online support, metrics measurement, marketing and customer service from a group of more than a dozen experienced professionals.   While continuing to serve hospitality, the demand for these types of services is growing and can be personalized.

John Hogan is also the principal of HoganHospitality.com, which provides a range of expert professional services for hotel owners, including professional development for organizations, training, consulting and expert witness services.

Contact information:  Kathleen Hogan  480-436-0283, John Hogan 602-799-5375 orservice@hospitalityeducators.com

Hotel Common Sense – Philosophy #2

HOSPITALITY PRINCIPLES of SUCCESS

Hotel Common Sense –  Philosophy #2

Or, why the Open Door policy no longer works…

Anyone who is familiar with my full-length columns or shorter blogs knows that I  am a fan of Tom Peters.  There was a period when he may have believed his own PR press a bit too much in the mid 1990s, but I have found his messages to be thought provoking with sound counsel that we need to evolve and change or we will not be around much longer.

Peters, in his first major book with co-author Bob Waterman, took the theme of one of the world’s leading computer companies, Hewlett-Packard, and expanded the notion of truly reaching out to the people in our organizations who are responsible for the bulk of customer contact and building customer loyalty.  They challenged us to look at the symbol of the open door, which has ceased to be a meaningful statement.

The Open Door used to mean an associate (better word for employee) could come to us and ask for help in resolving problems with overtime, schedules, a day off or other personal matters.  I maintain that the Open Door policy, once the symbol of the manager or leader who really cared about their staff, is just not effective any more. The reason I state this is I feel we must realize that the hospitality industry has embraced social media and immediate communication exists among our staff as well as our guests.

While the above situations of personal matters still exist, the reality of today’s hectic pace is frequently more complicated. Drugs/alcohol abuse, sexual harassment, extended families and other more complicated issues are realities of today. While some of us might naively prefer to think there are not serious problems in the workplace today, we need only to look online at the latest “headlines” to see the truth.

The hospitality industry is certainly not immune to the pressures of today’s realities. This industry has ample temptations (bedrooms, alcohol, cash, and “power”) and the added stress of long hours and the pressure to be profitable in periods of diminishing returns can be a manager’s nightmare.

Is there a solution?

Consider the OPEN FLOOR contrasted with the OPEN DOOR.  I am not trying to use a simple play on words, but rather I am focusing on the fact that we cannot rely on our “good intentions” of the open door to be really in touch with our staff.  There will always be some people who seek us out as managers, but the truth is we must take to the OPEN FLOOR every day, beginning today as we read this.  By this, I mean setting our priorities on what most of us say and consider to be our most important asset: our staff. The OPEN FLOOR means something as basic as managers and department heads warmly greeting each member of the staff each shift. It means being in the  kitchen, the laundry, the receiving dock, the security patrol, with the sales team on calls and in the parking lot each day with the people whose livelihood takes place in those areas.

Paperwork, reports and online promotions have their place and need to be addressed and submitted on time. Some of it can be (and should be) delegated like many Embassy Suites try to do with their assistant general managers.  All reports should be periodically reviewed to see if they are still useful (to anyone) or if they have become just busywork.

Howard Feiertag, my friend and co-author of LESSONS FROM THE FIELD, once shared his observations of a downtown New York City hotel.  He commented how EVERYONE (general manager, front desk, bell staff, concierge, F&B, etc.) shook hands with their fellow workers and colleagues when they first saw each other daily.

Like they were “friends.”

Imagine that, and in New York City.

I need  to call Howard and ask him if he knows if they still do this.

MBWA – Management by Walking Around – try it!

Hotel Common Sense Philosophy #2 = Learn to listen more, talk less. Management by Walking Around is Priority #1.

Keys to Success Hospitality Tip of the Week:   Focus on MBWA

A challenge to every manager who is responsible for 5 or more people:  measure your in and out of the office time and at the end of the week, see how much time you spent ACTIVELY INTERACTING with your team.

The goal is 70% of your time out of the office – how did you do?

What will you do next week?