Successful Meetings - August 2008 - (Page 47)

and unfortunately that wasn’t the case.” That sentiment is shared by Juliette Okotieeboh, the MGM Grand’s senior vice president of community affairs and administration. “I grew up in this town and know the role of manufacturing—it was good employment for many years,” she says. “But I’m really heartened when I look at where we’re going. We have jobs here that can easily turn into career paths.” At MotorCity, business woman and philanthropist Marian Ilitch is spending $300 million to transform her temporary gambling facility (housed in Detroit’s landmark Wonder Bread Building) into a 400-room resort. “This used to be a city with a sense of entitlement; it’s now a city with a sense of service,” says MotorCity vice president of hotel operations and Detroit native Randall Villareal. “Along with that attitude change we’ve had an infrastructure change—it’s a totally different city from five years ago.” CREATING A NEW MINDSET That said, Detroit’s casino operators still face something of a challenge with their new employees, as many hires have never worked anywhere but on an assembly line. “They’ve worked primarily in non-hospitality jobs before, so the question is, how do you get them motivated to compete?” says MGM Grand’s Hutar. “If they’ve never cleaned a guest room or waited a table we can teach them to do that. What we’re more interested in is, are they caring and how do we get a service culture in perpetuity?” Empowering employees is one way, according to MotorCity’s Villareal. “They’re not necessarily used to being in a job where they need to make decisions,” he says. “They’re no longer just pressing a button, but engaging with clients and solving issues, so we try to give them the confidence to do that through training and dayto-day activities.” Incentivizing workers can also instill confidence, and both casino resorts have reward programs in place aimed at bringing out the best in customer service. MGM Grand Detroit’s Shining Star Awards recognize staffers who consistently demonstrate the company’s core values of “pride, respect, integrity, diversity, and excellence”—PRIDE, per the resort’s official acronym—in their respective roles. Winners, nominated by fellow employees, receive an enviable corporate pat-on-theback as well: $500 checks, fine dining gift certificates, a congratulatory luncheon, and a month of preferred parking. At MotorCity, the Simply the Best program recognizes four monthly associates with $500 checks and an Associate of the Year and four runners-up with $20,000 and $5,000, respectively. The program, per vice president of public relations and community affairs Jacci Woods, goes to the core of http://motorcitycasino.com http://motorcitycasino.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Successful Meetings - August 2008

Successful Meetings - August 2008 Contents Editor's Note Industry Trends Industry Events On the Record Technology Calendar Websites of the Month Personal Success Technology Talk Food & Beverage Pre-Event On Site Tools of the Trade Pre-Event Crude Awakening Oil’s Well Betting on Development The Stuff Dreams Are Made Of No Spa, No Dice New & Improved Bean Counting Places & Spaces Cleveland Palm Springs, Desert Resorts Midwest Meetings San Antonio Yucatan Peninsula Gurus

Successful Meetings - August 2008

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