September 2009 Developments - 34

Resort Mgmt e all understand the importance of personal health and ﬁtness. Young or old, large or small, it’s important to keep up with this aspect and be the healthiest and ﬁttest that you can be. But how often do we take the time to assess the health and ﬁtness of our resorts? What does it mean to have a “healthy resort?” It’s not like you can take your resort down to the local gym for a workout then off to the doctor for a physical or a stress test. You may be surprised, but the similarities between the two are real. All of the ailments that you feel as a human being can also be applied to your resort in one way or another. Whether it is your weight, stress level, overall agility, energy level, or heart rate—these can have a huge impact on your health and ultimately your performance. Here is a “Five-Point Resort Health Checklist” that may be helpful. Jeffrey Le and Robert S Lee ee Seneca Are Your Resorts Healthy? W Only the lean can be ﬁt enough and fully prepared to successfully meet or improve operational budgets! So here the goal is having all associates paying attention to controlling the “controllables,” and having management disciplined in monthly reforecasting standards. can make your property a fun but still safe environment for better vacations. Schedule regular safety inspections to ensure a safe working environment that is free of hazards and obstacles, which will only hinder efﬁciency at a resort. Point 3: Agility Point 2: Stress Levels Nobody likes stress, and people often perform very poorly when they feel enormously pressured. This holds true for your resort teams, too. Do a “stress test” on your resort—looking at your safety and workers compensation record can help determine results. Is your resort team safe? Do they have any direction or training? How about a daily ﬁve-minute brieﬁng on safety? Do your managers ever discuss this topic at their weekly or monthly staff meetings? If not, your team knows this and the message can be delivered that you don’t care. Since that is certainly not the case, all it takes is a commitment to keeping your team safe. Make a mandatory safety topic for each month. Analyze the claims you have and identify your most common occurrence. Routine resort safety inspections will help to identify and limit these occurrences in terms of associate and guest exposure. Go over these at every staff meeting and train your team accordingly. Spending just ﬁve minutes could reduce injuries and reduce team stress, all at once! And then what about safety for guests? They have safety needs, too. How safe do your guests feel when they step onto your property? A feeling of insecurity can ruin anyone’s vacation plans. Slips, trips, and falls are the majority of resort general liability claims. Think of the little things that go a long way to making your guests feel safe, and look at your incident reports and liability claims to see what needs to be changed. Is it extra lighting on the walkways and parking lots? Do you have resort safety signage? Is there a visible security patrol or a security ofﬁce open after hours? Identify the little things that Agility is the power of moving quickly and easily and being nimble. It is also the ability to think and draw quick conclusions with intellectual acuity. As you can imagine, this kind of ability can create a “super resort.” Can your team be agile and react quickly? If you want to have agility, you must truly know your guest’s experience. Read those comment cards and mystery shopper reports! We all see the extremes in comment cards and shopper reports, but what are your guests really saying about service and attitude? What do they like or don’t like, want or don’t want. What is the language of your team when the guests have requests? Do you hear “we can” and “we will,” or do you hear “we can’t” or “we never have”? Do you have Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) in place? These are imperative standards that must be followed to ensure optimal performance in ﬁnancial reporting, risk management, quality services, and employee performance. Quality Assurance Inspections are mandatory to verify your SOPs are in place and being used effectively. Completing and reviewing these inspections carry with them the authority of your commitment to the SOPs. Are you being consistent at the front desk? Are your rooms being cleaned and prepared the same way for each guest? Having your standards in pace and following up on them makes a team that is ready for anything. Don’t forget that fact, and you will be quick and nimble and simply smart. The goal here is to have effective QA audits and agility at meeting the property standards of your guests and your SOPs. Point 1: Financial Weight We all want to shed those dreaded pounds, but in this case, we want to reduce those dreaded operating expenses. Just as it is with those pounds, it can be tricky to effectively reduce the loss of money from your resort, as sometimes it may be out of the resort associates’ direct control. Cutting costs just to cut costs can be irresponsible and lead to further problems down the road. Get the entire team on board. All associates can focus on what they control, from ofﬁce supplies to in-room amenities. Each associate can contribute by being frugal and focused on controlling the “controllables.” Getting everyone to pay attention to expenses and reducing waste within their department will help to achieve this. Identify and track those costs that you and your team can control. These are usually the operation, payroll, and administration expenses. Set goals by forecasting reduced expenses and making those forecasts your new criteria for success. This is not a crash diet but a month-to-month effort that becomes a standard and prevents you from adding those pounds in the future. 34 Developments • September 2009

September 2009 Developments

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of September 2009 Developments