The Art of Housekeeping owner, Lonny Wolfe returns to our podcast with powerful words of advice for hoteliers challenged with mixed reviews due to housekeeping issues.

Just as COVID-19 increased the need to inspire trust with travelers on our cleanliness and hygiene practices, the industry was thrown into a second crisis- how to hire and retain sufficient housekeeping staff.

The world may refer to “The Great Resignation”, but in the case of our industry, it was simply a lack of desire to return back to work. Even when the enhanced federal unemployment support ended, workers failed to return in full force. Many left for less taxing higher-paid jobs with more benefits, fewer hours, better schedules, and a better work-life balance.

There has been a lot of discussion about the need to enhance the employee experience in the industry, but it makes one wonder why it takes a pandemic to think about treating our teams with the care and compassion we want them to give to our guests.

The Hospitality Industry recently celebrated Housekeeping Week, a time when hotel leadership takes the time to show extra appreciation for our hard-working housekeeping teams, but the time has come to show appreciation to all our staff every day.

Lonny Wolfe, Owner of the new company, The Art of Hospitality, is a former GM who is a shining example of how you can challenge your team every day, set the highest standards and expectations of excellence, and keep a loyal, engaged, high-performance team who stayed with the hotel year after year. The 3-Star hotel was one of the highest-guest rated hotels in Florida, thanks to an unwavering flow of five-star reviews.

I hope you enjoy this conversation about how Lonny shows hotels how to create employee and guest loyalty, starting with the hardest working people on any property, the housekeeping team.

Ken McGarrie, Author of the Surprise Restaurant Manager joins Adele Gutman on the Hospitality Reputation Marketing Podcast to discuss:

• Why even 1-star reviews are great feedback for restaurant managers

• How to inspire your restaurant team

• What topics you must not forget on your pre-shift huddle

• How to build great reviews starting at the interview process

 Please LIKE, SHARE, and SUBSCRIBE! If you have any comments or questions for Ken McGarrie or Adele Gutman, please leave us a comment below! We are here to help!

 Buy the Book Here: https://www.amazon.com/The-Surprise-Restaurant-Manager/dp/B08YP1R14Y

 Connect with Adele: 

Website:     https://www.adelegutman.com/

LinkedIn:    https://www.linkedin.com/in/adelegutman/

Twitter:      https://twitter.com/AdeleGutman

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/InspireFiveStars/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/inspirefivestars/

Tracking Customer Satisfaction Score (CSS) can often give managers and teams a false sense security. Alternatively, tracking Your Hotel’s Net Promoter Score (NPS) can be a shocking experience. But it can also be a very rewarding experience as you identify where you are with guest loyalty and work collaboratively with your team to reduce friction and elevate delight for your guests.

In this 13-minute video, Adele Gutman explains how CSS and NPS are different, why these leading indicators matter to savvy hospitality revenue and marketing professionals, and how to track these KPIs with your team, your leadership, and hotel owners.

What’s in your tech stack enhancement plans this year? Contactless, AI, CRM, CRS, PMS, Revenue Management, all great tools that everyone should have and use to the fullest.

But according to Jordan Ekers, the Co-Founder of Nudge, technology alone will not transform your business’ guest experience nor your ability to retain clients and employee’s loyalty without working to win the hearts and minds of your team. When everyone is fully engaged and aligned with your company’s mission, goals and values, incredible financial results will follow.

 No, I am not talking about Reputation Management tools, although they are wonderful to have and very worthwhile.

 I had the pleasure of speaking with Jordan, who talked with me about how Nudge, an internal communication tool that can help hospitality leaders transform the culture of companies by facilitating 2-way communication between teams and leadership.

 Is that a Marketing tool? I say, 100% yes! Absolutely!

Your Business’ Reputation is the foundation on which to build any commercial strategy for success. Sales, Marketing, and Revenue initiatives will all be greatly impacted by the loyalty created on the strength of your Guest Experience.

 Decision-makers will check your hotels' reviews before booking…

• after your sales team has made a call to a potential client.
• after a planner has seen your meetings and events advertising.
• after your sales manager has made a great presentation at a tradeshow.
• after a traveler has seen your hotel on a meta-search site.

 The list goes on. Great experiences drive loyalty and return visits better than any incentive. Travelers are willing to pay more and stay more often when friction points are minimal and kind, unpretentious service is in abundance. You lower the expense of acquiring new guests when not only do you keep more guests, but you inspire your guest to share their amazing experience with everyone they know and everyone online.

 I hope you enjoy the conversation. If you want to learn how to get the maximum impact from a communication tool like Nudge, please give me a call and I will be happy to help you with your Reputation Optimization plan.

www.adelegutman.com

Adele Gutman, the foremost expert on Hospitality Reputation Marketing addresses a few of the most commonly asked questions.

It’s time for Part Two of the Nantucket Hotel and Resort interviews! In our last episode, we had a thought-provoking conversation with Gwenn Snider, the owner of Little Gem Resorts, including the Nantucket Hotel and Resort, a hotel distinguished for year after year, topping the Top 25 Best of the Best Hotels in the US on the Tripadvisor Travelers Choice Awards. 

This time, I was honored to have the opportunity to speak with the hotel’s extraordinary General Manager, Jamie Holmes.

Jamie shared with me many insights on how his winning team keeps their guest satisfaction so high, by thinking as a team, working as a team, and even focusing on guest reviews as a team.

If you are a hotel manager or aspire to be a great hospitality leader someday, you will not want to miss a single word of this episode of the Hospitality Reputation Marketing Podcast, Get Great Reviews. 

There are so many words of wisdom in this interview with award winning hotelier Gwenn Snider, the owner of Little Gem Resorts. Her hotel, the Nantucket Hotel and Resort in Massachusetts consistently ranks as one of the top three hotels in the USA on the “Best of the Best” TripAdvisor Traveler’s Choice Awards- the top 25 most highly rated hotels in the USA, based on the reviews of their guests.

There are many people who will share well meaning posts on “how to manage your online reputation”, who have never actually done achieved award-winning guest review success themselves. The mission of the Hospitality Reputation Podcast is to share the philosophy and insights of those who are truly masters at Reputation Cultivation, and whose results speak for themselves.

In this conversation with Nantucket Hotel and Resort Owner, Gwenn Snider, she shared her tips on how she and her team lead by General Manager Jamie Holmes, inspire five-star reviews. 

• Being obsessive about the details and committed to creating a unique and welcoming guest experience.

• It’s all about the small moments, so it is important that everyone feels empowered to be able to change a guest experience in a positive way.

• It’s surprising what small detail or kindness can make a hotel a traveler’s favorite experience.

• Never take your guests for granted. Be unrelenting. Things don’t get ignored from an operational standpoint. 

• Truly listen to every guest review and survey and have leadership respond personally to every complaint.

• Kindness goes a long way to change someone from a state of stress to a state of relaxation.

• Forget, “it’s not possible.” Find a way to say, “Yes!”

For more show notes, visit adelegutman.com/blog

Thank you so much for listening!

Please subscribe, send us a comment, and leave a review on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, or Audible.

 You can also join my newsletter by leaving your email on www.adelegutman.com and never miss another episode of the Hospitality Reputation Marketing Podcast. https://www.adelegutman.com/blog

 Here are some other great hospitality podcasts I am sure you will enjoy: 

Loren Gray’s Hospitality Marketing Podcast: https://www.hospitalitydigitalmarketing.com/podcasts/

 Lily Mockerman’s Hospitality Revenue Management Podcast: https://www.thinkupenterprises.com/podcast/

 Holly Zoba’s Hospitality Sales Podcast: https://influencer-sales.com/podcast/

 Dean Schmit’s Hospitality Meta Search Podcast: https://www.audible.com/pd/Hospitality-MetaSearch-Podcast/B08K581QTP