Smile more - every two thousand frowns creates one wrinkle. That's all.

Happy Friday, Service Metrics Group friends.

I can’t tell you how many times we’ve heard those words come out of a client’s mouth. And when do we hear it the most? When someone gets a low-scoring quality inspection report, a less-than-favorable customer survey, or an online review that you hope other customers will miraculously fail to see.

“That’s not fair.”, “We were slammed.”, “That’s a really busy time of year.” “Why do they come when things are so crazy?”

The idea of not measuring your customer experience simply because things are busy is kind of a silly premise. One of the main objectives of establishing standards and training staff to meet them is so that an expectation of performance is established. We expect our staff to perform consistently and we have standards to communicate to them that certain behaviors, skills, policies, and procedures are a non-negotiable part of doing business. Simply put, when you choose not to measure your customer’s experience, simply because its “busy” you are, in essence, pre-emptively negotiating with your standards. The same standards you established in the first place to achieve consistency. Now whether or not you communicate these advantageous breaks to your staff is another question, but the principle remains the same.

To be fair, there are situations when conducting a quality inspection might be ill-timed. From a provider’s perspective, we never want to displace a paying customer in exchange for a non-revenue hotel room, dinner, or other product or service. Furthermore, our Analysts are trained to never intentionally cause undue stress to staff members. As an extreme example, if an Analyst walks into a restaurant and there’s a kitchen fire, they’ll likely comment on it in their report, and simply return later to complete the evaluation in a more normalized operating environment. Some more common examples would be approaching an employee that is handling a legitimate customer complaint or an employee who appears to be temporarily overwhelmed due to a short-term business demand (short staffed, customer health/safety issue, etc.). After all, that’s only fair. To that end, we don’t manufacture complaints or other issues to “test employees”, unless it is directly required as part of the evaluation. We will never compromise a legitimate customer’s experience to complete an evaluation. In some instances, although rare, we’ve even aborted entire evaluations simply because we didn't think the information would provide a clear picture of a typical customer experience.

Now that a disclaimer and some insight into our business practices are out of the way, the main point remains the same. It is just as important (if not more important in certain instances) to evaluate the experience you’re providing to your customers during busy times as it is when things are bit more subdued. Adjusting your operations to accommodate more people is not only smart, but absolutely necessary to meet the demands of a larger audience. There’s a lot to be gained from evaluating your staff’s performance during various business cycles. During your slower periods, learn how employees are engaging and spending time with customers when they have the luxury of doing so. A normal operating environment gives you the best idea of how your staff performs when things are going right, or when there’s plenty of time and resources to rectify things when they don’t. But evaluating your staff’s performance during your most demanding and lucrative periods gives you some incredibly valuable insight into not only how standards are upheld, but more importantly, how well your team thinks on their feet and makes decisions when things aren't so black and white. After all, a staff that knows how to think and make decisions is better for everyone.

How would you react if one of your employees said “I’m not going to smile and greet our customers today because it’s busy.”? Don’t say the same thing to them.

It was an honor to be recognized at the Dallas Business Journal's Best Places to Work awards luncheon yesterday at the Fairmont Dallas. Other than being awarded as one of the winners (we were certainly amongst some great company), it was fantastic to see some fellow honorees from the hospitality industry. So here's a special shoutout to our industry comrades for their commitment to being a great place to work. Congratulations!

Brinker International
#3 - Large Companies

Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center
#7 - Large Companies

Westin Galleria Dallas
#7 - Medium Companies

Hyatt Regency Dallas at Reunion
#11 - Medium Companies

A week not celebrated by many, but well worth noting is International Housekeeping Week. As a guy that got his hospitality career started in the rooms division, housekeeping is one of those departments that will always be near and dear to my heart for a number of reasons. I fell into the housekeeping department out of necessity. I was doing just fine keeping my front office department running like a well-oiled machine, but things were a different story on the other side of the building. I was asked, make that told, that help was needed in the housekeeping department and so I obliged (code for: did what I was told).

I loved my time in the department, and have enjoyed my time in numerous other housekeeping departments throughout my career. It’s fast-paced, detail-oriented, and process-driven – all things I have a personal affinity for. For me, it was when I truly learned how a hotel actually works and all the work that goes into hosting a total stranger from start to finish. So for all of the hardworking housekeepers out there, thank you for everything you do. For everyone else, here are five things you might not know about hotel housekeeping and maybe a couple of things they wish you knew.

1. The front desk isn't usually lying to you when they tell you your room isn't ready. Yes, it can be frustrating, but believe me, you don't want them cutting corners up there. You should see what some people leave for housekeepers to clean up! Besides, isn't it in our best interest to get you to your room, anyway?
2. Hotels pay housekeepers in different ways. Some hotels pay these employees hourly, just as they do many of the staff members. Others pay by the room. While both systems have their advantages, they come with their pitfalls, too. There’s so many variables… trashed rooms, the number of ‘do not disturb’ signs, occupied room locations on different floors, hotel occupancy, varying room types and sizes, and many more.
3. The average number of rooms a housekeeper cleans in an eight-hour shift is 14 to 16. And that includes time spent on other things such as attending the daily pre-shift meeting, loading and unloading carts, traveling between floors, restocking, guest interruptions, and more.
4. It’s not the guest’s job to make things easier on the staff, but simple things can help make someone else’s day a little better. I’m not asking you to strip your own bed, but placing your used towels in a single pile and making sure all trash is in the bin doesn't take a lot of effort and will cut down on the work the staff must do to prepare for the next guest. And for trash cans without a plastic bag, dental floss and other personal items should be wrapped in toilet paper or tissue before going into the bin.
5. Tips are nice. Many guests don't tip housekeepers. And even when guests do leave cash in the room, they usually can't take it. If money is left on the bedside table without a note, they won’t take it because it could mean that it’s not intended for housekeeping. Better safe than sorry on that one – trust me. Leaving money on top of or underneath the pillow typically means it’s for the room attendant. It’s best to always leave a note or place it in a labeled envelope (usually available with the stationery in the guest services directory).