Colum asks: What is the most important responsibility of a manager in a hospitality business?
Ioannis Answers: People. Hospitality is a People's industry and hospitality managers should strive to become hospitality leaders and inspire their colleagues who will in turn be able to deliver inspirational service. They should always put People first, Product second, and Profit last. That is in my view the only order that will provide a sustainable success for a hospitality business.
Saturday, 28 May 2011
Friday, 27 May 2011
Should London hospitality businesses adopt the London Minimum Wage?
Jose asks: Should London hospitality businesses adopt the London Minimum Wage?
Ioannis Answers: No that's not enough, they should not adopt it. They should go beyond and pay MORE (even if it is 2 pence more per hour) than the London Minimum Wage and integrate this decision in their internal and external marketing campaign clearly differentiating themselves from their competitors, by showing they value every single member of their team above and beyond the average hospitality business.
They should proudly communicate that extraordinary businesses require extraordinary employees who deserve extraordinary packages so that they can continue to deliver extraordinary service!
Do not see added costs - See added benefits, where others see loses you should see opportunities.
Ioannis Answers: No that's not enough, they should not adopt it. They should go beyond and pay MORE (even if it is 2 pence more per hour) than the London Minimum Wage and integrate this decision in their internal and external marketing campaign clearly differentiating themselves from their competitors, by showing they value every single member of their team above and beyond the average hospitality business.
They should proudly communicate that extraordinary businesses require extraordinary employees who deserve extraordinary packages so that they can continue to deliver extraordinary service!
Do not see added costs - See added benefits, where others see loses you should see opportunities.
Monday, 23 May 2011
Measuring Love and Dream in Hospitality management?
Some suggestions in measuring Dream and Love two seemingly intangible elements...in my mind they have tangible results that can be measured.
Two ideas to measure Dream:
Once every quarter announce an innovative idea competition.
Install a Dream Box, separate from a suggestion box
Every quarter measure your collective employee dream output, plan a training program with visits and inspirational speakers to cultivate dreaming in your business.
Four ideas to measure Love.
Drop a piece of chocolate wrap or other small junk in your entrance just before your staff start arriving. See who picks it up, I always saw that as a measure of love for the place.
Seek out customer qualitative feedback where the customer tells you a story if one of your employees really made her feel extraordinarily welcomed.
Monitor internal customer love. For example how your waiters talk to your chefs (and vice versa) and how your receptionists talk to your housekeepers (and vice versa)
Check your tripadvisor comments for the Love-hate ratio and always strive for more love - Install a Lovemeter with rewards to the whole team if the customer Love for that month is x Level!
Two ideas to measure Dream:
Once every quarter announce an innovative idea competition.
Install a Dream Box, separate from a suggestion box
Every quarter measure your collective employee dream output, plan a training program with visits and inspirational speakers to cultivate dreaming in your business.
Four ideas to measure Love.
Drop a piece of chocolate wrap or other small junk in your entrance just before your staff start arriving. See who picks it up, I always saw that as a measure of love for the place.
Seek out customer qualitative feedback where the customer tells you a story if one of your employees really made her feel extraordinarily welcomed.
Monitor internal customer love. For example how your waiters talk to your chefs (and vice versa) and how your receptionists talk to your housekeepers (and vice versa)
Check your tripadvisor comments for the Love-hate ratio and always strive for more love - Install a Lovemeter with rewards to the whole team if the customer Love for that month is x Level!
Sunday, 22 May 2011
Dream and love as key performance indicators in hospitality?
Olivier asks: How much do hospitality professionals inspire their associates in their daily operational tasks ? Are the words "Dream" or "Love" compatible with performance or revenue generation and profits ?
Ioannis Answers: That is a really hard one, and I will have to put my industry hat on. For me hospitality is about PASSION and the words DREAM and LOVE are the key performance indicators that really transform a hospitality business from ordinary to extraordinary. Again I have been lucky enough to have known a number of professionals that are inspirational to their colleagues but two names I can offer as examples from the UK hospitality industry would be Mr Peter Lederer and Mr Jonathan Ragget. Does the industry as a whole in the UK do enough to embrace such key performance indicators? No I am afraid the answer has to be no.
Ioannis Answers: That is a really hard one, and I will have to put my industry hat on. For me hospitality is about PASSION and the words DREAM and LOVE are the key performance indicators that really transform a hospitality business from ordinary to extraordinary. Again I have been lucky enough to have known a number of professionals that are inspirational to their colleagues but two names I can offer as examples from the UK hospitality industry would be Mr Peter Lederer and Mr Jonathan Ragget. Does the industry as a whole in the UK do enough to embrace such key performance indicators? No I am afraid the answer has to be no.
Saturday, 21 May 2011
Mass mailing CVs in hospitality.
Jose asks: What's with hospitality candidates who mass mail their CV?
Ioannis Answers: Consider that not every candidate’s motivation is to actually be offered a job. Some are expected by a job center to apply for jobs so that they keep getting their benefits. There are of course those who consider a job in hotels & restaurants simply a job rather than a career and will play the odds game by sending the same CV over and over to as many organizations as possible.
Do not despair use really crap CVs as a training tool for your junior HR associates. Give them a pile of bad CVs with a couple of good ones and ask them to help you shortlist 3 candidates. Once they come up with the three candidates of their choice, spend some time discussing their thought process and methodology.
Ioannis Answers: Consider that not every candidate’s motivation is to actually be offered a job. Some are expected by a job center to apply for jobs so that they keep getting their benefits. There are of course those who consider a job in hotels & restaurants simply a job rather than a career and will play the odds game by sending the same CV over and over to as many organizations as possible.
Do not despair use really crap CVs as a training tool for your junior HR associates. Give them a pile of bad CVs with a couple of good ones and ask them to help you shortlist 3 candidates. Once they come up with the three candidates of their choice, spend some time discussing their thought process and methodology.
Where are all the Inspirational Hospitality Lecturers?
Olivier asks: How much do academics help inspire hospitality students on how great it is to work as "Professional Experience Providers" through their courses or lectures?
Ioannis Answers: Although I believe the students are best suited in answering such a question I would give it my best shot. I think there are some amazing individuals who do facilitate the understanding that hospitality is about the experience and the memories created. I could go on forever with names of such great inspiring individuals but here are some of my favorites, in the Netherlands Mr Olaf Hermans, in New Zealand Prof Nigel Hemmington in the UK Prof Lockwood & Prof Jones. My guess is that there is at least one such inspiring individual at every University that teaches hospitality it is just that sometimes their research may be disguised or labeled in a way that experiential does not come up as a keyword.
Ioannis Answers: Although I believe the students are best suited in answering such a question I would give it my best shot. I think there are some amazing individuals who do facilitate the understanding that hospitality is about the experience and the memories created. I could go on forever with names of such great inspiring individuals but here are some of my favorites, in the Netherlands Mr Olaf Hermans, in New Zealand Prof Nigel Hemmington in the UK Prof Lockwood & Prof Jones. My guess is that there is at least one such inspiring individual at every University that teaches hospitality it is just that sometimes their research may be disguised or labeled in a way that experiential does not come up as a keyword.
Friday, 20 May 2011
The value of joining online hospitality networks.
Jose asks (paraphrased): why should hospitality professionals join online hospitality networks?
Ioannis Answers: Networking is not about collecting cards! It is about creating meaningful professional relationships. Online networking hospitality forums such as hotcatUk.com or the various hospitality groups in LinkedIn give you the tools and opportunity to know a little more about your potential contacts long before you meet them and also provide you with a platform that allows you to remain in meaningful contact long after you have met them. For example in my experience in the UK, the hotcatUk live events, attract some amazing people from all walks of hospitality in some of the coolest venues I have seen in London, so you never know when you will meet your next project partner, employer or employee!
Ioannis Answers: Networking is not about collecting cards! It is about creating meaningful professional relationships. Online networking hospitality forums such as hotcatUk.com or the various hospitality groups in LinkedIn give you the tools and opportunity to know a little more about your potential contacts long before you meet them and also provide you with a platform that allows you to remain in meaningful contact long after you have met them. For example in my experience in the UK, the hotcatUk live events, attract some amazing people from all walks of hospitality in some of the coolest venues I have seen in London, so you never know when you will meet your next project partner, employer or employee!
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