Hotel Inspections: Something fishy around here

It’s room inspection time at Opus. Every manager, from sales manager to controller, gets a block of rooms and a detailed list of items to check off. Walls, mirrors and artwork free of smudges? Check. Toilet paper roll folded into a perfect triangle? Check. Magnum Opus CD playing at turndown? Check. Mini-bar liquor bottles watered down? Check.

[kidding about that last one, of course]

It’s a lot of work, and it’s nerve-racking for our room attendants, but getting our managers into the rooms, checking under beds and lifting sofa cushions, is a great way to familiarize them with guestrooms. An eye for detail and general fussiness are prerequisites in this industry. Because if we don’t find it first, a guest will.

Some of the tricks of the trade to ensure a room has been properly cleaned include running your fingers along picture frames, baseboards and the far reaches of closet shelves. Look at things from a guest’s perspective. Place yourself somewhere a guest will go but an employee would not. Lie down on the bed. Sit on the lid of the toilet. It’s amazing what you might discover. Just make sure the room isn’t reserved or you’ll have some explaining to do when a guest walks in.

In addition to room inspections, once a day I do my “rounds” at Opus. This involves inspecting guest floors, outlets, facilities, meeting rooms and the building’s exterior. Along the way I often pick up debris, tidy up the lounge, seat patrons in Elixir or help guests with directions. My noble nature stops at valet parking, for which staff and guests are grateful (see Never a Dull Moment below). After an unfortunate incident in which a guest thought I was stealing her suitcase, I’ve learned to make sure I’m wearing my nametag before helping with luggage.

Years ago, while on my rounds at another hotel I detected the unmistakable odor of fish. I sniffed my way down the hall, the odor growing stronger as I approached the ice machine room. I lifted the lid. Grinning up at me was a large salmon on a bed of ice. It seems a group of executives had just checked in after a fishing expedition, and one of them wanted to keep his catch fresh. We put the salmon in the hotel cooler for safe-keeping, and drained the ice machine.

At Opus we have a program called "A Day In The Life" that allows employees to experience another position in the hotel for a day. A front desk agent can shadow the director of sales. A reservations agent can shadow the catering manager. So far no one has signed up to be general manager, but I’m still hoping, because I could use a day off. I myself am contemplating a day in housekeeping. I like to clean, and I want to gain a better understanding of what makes this department so good at what they do. But I have to admit I fear I might not pass my room inspections.

posted by Daniel Edward Craig at 11:42 AM

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5 Comments:

Anonymous said...
Hi there! I think that your GM Blog is a great concept. I just came across it as I was checking out Opus' site. I saw that in a previous post you were looking for people to hire. Have you filled all of the positions? Because I know a fab lady that would fit the bill!
3:52 PM

just call me jeff said...
It's nice to get a glimpse of my beloved and sadly-left-behind Vancouver through your musings. Love your work, Daniel.
7:56 AM

Daniel Craig said...
To Anonymous: Yes, we are always looking for great people, so please have "fab lady" forward her resume to careers@opushotel.com indicating which department she would like to work in.To Jeff: Glad to hear my musings put you in a Vancouver state of mind... But really now, how could you leave this city??
9:23 AM

Maryam in Marrakesh said...
What a great blog! With my husband, I am building a teensy guest house in Marrakesh. 6 acres of olive trees and 3 with incredible views of the mountains. My husband is an architect and the place is going to be amazing but it's the management part of things that worries me. It's so helpful to read your tips and sign me up as a regular reader. I am bookmarking, immediately!
2:13 PM

Anonymous said...
Bobby CDo you count the hangers? I recently checked out of a 5 star hotel in Beijing. Things seemed to be going fine until the process was interrupted by the front desk taking a call while processing my check out. This call seemed to be a catalyst for a flurry of people and activity (telephone calls, group consultations...) all in front of me and focused on the print out of my bill. Language was a barrier in that none of the 5-6 people new more that a few words of english (yes I said 5 star) and my Chinese is non-existent. I did not have a clue what was going on until the most senior person began to carefully draw something other than a chinese character - though it was very similar from my untrained eyes. She had drawn a picture of a hanger and presented it to me and my colleague. My colleague did not have a clue as to what it meant - he said "Is that a hanger". I feigned ignorance but inside I was panicking and considered bolting. Under my breath I said to my colleague "I've got the hangar, prepare to bolt". There was more activity but it slowly died down and they just let us leave. I realize that I should of taken the hanger out and returned it but things had progressed to far and I was waaay to embarrassed as it was.
4:19 PM

Hotel Inspections: Mystery Shoppers

Once a year at Opus we recruit “mystery shoppers” to stay at the hotel anonymously and evaluate the experience. They book a room like a regular guest, pay full rate, have drinks in the lounge and dinner in the restaurant, order room service, and test the hotel’s facilities and services. To preserve anonymity, we rebate their charges after they’ve checked out. Tough job, I know. But it’s a great investment for the hotel because it provides a detailed, objective assessment of the guest experience.

Two silent shoppers stayed at Opus last month. Their silence is now over; the reports are in. I read through them yesterday, holding my breath, fearing something unusual and horrible might have happened.The shoppers were Susan, a respected industry veteran who has run some of Vancouver’s best hotels, including the Pan Pacific and the Metropolitan, and Tom, an executive with Morgan’s Hotel Group and formerly with Ritz Carlton.

Opus is a contemporary boutique hotel, but we seek a range of backgrounds in our shoppers. Contemporary or traditional, large or small, many of the same standards apply - luxury is luxury. To get a variety of perspectives, sometimes we bring in shoppers with no hotel background. Last year we recruited Chris, a partner with Rethink Advertising, avid traveller and boutique hotel aficionado. His assessment was so impressive we hired his firm to refresh our brand.

At chain hotels I’ve worked at we were always in fear of shoppers, whether from head office, ownership, the management company or a travel rating program like AAA. Our greatest dread was that we would appear in one of these reports as the indifferent employee, or the incompetent one, or the one who spilled hot coffee on the inspector. So we regarded each guest as a potential shopper.

The AAA evaluation process was always interesting. The inspector would arrive in town to check out a bunch of hotels, and by the time he got to ours we had been tipped off. We’d roll out the red carpet, so the inspector’s experience was never that of a typical guest. This was sometimes necessary in order to pass the inspection, however, for AAA criteria is strict and unforgiving, particularly for 5-Diamond hotels. One hotel I worked at had its rating downgraded from 5-Diamond to 4, which was devastating to morale. At the time I feared I was somehow responsible, that my name was highlighted repeatedly in that fateful report, even though I worked in sales and had no contact with the inspector.

Certain membership organizations have sales people they pass off as “inspectors”, dispatching them to hotels to evaluate the experience, then extending an “exclusive invitation" to join the club – for a substantial fee.One night when I was duty manager at the Pan Pacific we were expecting the chain’s president to check in. His suite had been inspected by virtually every manager, with a meticulousness and paranoia rivalling the Secret Service. Unfortunately, no one recognized him upon arrival. He was registered without ceremony and sent off unescorted to one of the smallest rooms in the hotel. When I found out I was mortified. I chased him down, but he waved me away, insisting on experiencing the hotel from a regular guest’s perspective. Things must have gone okay, because I didn’t get fired.

As for this month’s shoppers reports, I'm happy to say that Opus fared exceptionally well. There is always room for improvement, of course, and the feedback from Tom and Susan will help us to get better. This week I’ll be reviewing the report in detail with all department heads.And then we can focus our attention on the really important shoppers, our paying guests.

posted by Daniel Edward Craig at 4:29 PM

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3 Comments:

Bensen said...
Hi Mr. Craig, thank you for sharing your experience with us in your blog. As a student who wish to enter the hospitality industry, the information petains in your blog allows me to gain insights in some of the things that are involved in the day-to-day operation of a hotel. It's ironic you mention mystery shopper in this article because one of my instructors work as a mystery shopper for hotel operations.
9:48 PM

Jess said...
Two years ago I was a witness of such "silent shoppers" "project" too!!! You know, almost every very luxurious hotel let this thing happen, because hardly anything unpleasant may happen with the anonymous visitors, which will damn the hotel's reputation!!! It happened in the Emirates or rather in the Dubai hotel!!! It cannot leave anybody indifferent, because the service, rooms and entertainments are perfect!!! Consequently there were no complains!!! ;)
12:22 AM

Christopher Wood said...
Mr. Craig, Interesting post! As a Hospitality Professional I too have shared the same dread - "Our greatest dread was that we would appear in one of these reports as the indifferent employee, or the incompetent one, or the one who spilled hot coffee on the inspector"...and feel that the best approach (to provide memorable guest service and to avoid a quick termination), is to regard "each guest as a potential shopper."I have been through a recent critique of Hotel amenities and service delivery by an agent of the chain I worked for the past 10 years (until moving here to Vancouver) and I can't understand how the Hotel is better off having advance knowledge that a shopper is descending upon us?We knew his face, car, and room-type and dining preferences in advance and were able to stage the facility tour so just those areas prepared for inspection were highlighted. Our in-house guests, enjoyed the beefed-up attention to detail they received during his stay, but this wasn't a realistic slice of daily life at already excellent property.I am a believer that an empowered team with pride in the property and in their abilities, coupled with an Executive staff that have all the tools and procedures in place - is enough to WOW the guest and make them feel special. I would rather hear about my failings and receive praise for a true job well done, than by unethically fabricating a shopper's "experience".
11:40 AM