Learning to Say Yes: Hospitality in Property Management
The days of 鈥渟ervice鈥� are gone. 鈥淪ervice was great 10 years ago,鈥� said Tamas Vago, hotel manager at The Diplomat Beach Resort in Hollywood, Fla. 鈥淣ow that鈥檚 really nothing. That鈥檚 average.鈥�
The days of 鈥渟ervice鈥� are gone. 鈥淪ervice was great 10 years ago,鈥� said Tamas Vago, hotel manager at The Diplomat Beach Resort in Hollywood, Fla. 鈥淣ow that鈥檚 really nothing. That鈥檚 average.鈥�
Vago was being purposefully provocative with this statement during an education session at the 2018 乐竞体育赛事直播 Global Summit, but he quickly followed up: 鈥淣ow we need to provide personalized service, call guests by their names, do something for their anniversary.鈥�
Vago wasn鈥檛 the only member of the panel who made a comment along these lines. In the age of Uber and the immediate assessment of services, the role hospitality plays in commercial and residential real estate is crucial and one that property managers cannot ignore.
The panel, titled 鈥淗ospitality Best Practices for Property Management,鈥� featured three different speakers who work with different types of properties. Tamas represented the hotel side of commercial real estate.
Cathy Kleve, CPM, vice president at Wildamere Properties in Minneapolis, has found a number of ways to bring the personalized service typical of hotels and large residential buildings to the office spaces at the Oracle and International Center in Minneapolis.
She began by holding weekly brainstorming meetings where 鈥渘o idea was too dumb.鈥� This led to a variety of different events for tenants. The large, open atrium in the building presented unique opportunities such as a weekly farmer鈥檚 market, yoga during lunch hours and a 鈥淪kol鈥� chant similar to the one performed at the U.S. Bank Stadium during the Minnesota Vikings鈥� 2018 playoff run.
However, Kleve and Vago agreed that personalized service doesn鈥檛 always require anything extravagant.
At the Oracle, Kleve holds doughnut meet-and-greet events in the management office and notifies tenants to drop by to say hello, which she said are 鈥減erfect for building relationships.鈥�
Vago also emphasized that it鈥檚 important not only to know your guests but also to let them know you and what makes you an individual. 鈥淏e genuine,鈥� he said. 鈥淭his creates a human level of interaction.鈥�
Kleve delivers this interaction digitally as well, through 鈥渕eet the staff鈥� emails that may include a favorite recipe in addition to more typical background information about the staff member.
Vago has observed that a quick solution is critical to guest satisfaction. When an issue arises with guests, solving that issue with the first staff contact leads to a loyalty rate of 70 percent. Pass the issue to a second staff member, however, and that rate drops to 40 percent. Involving a third staff member drops the rate even further. Vago noted that this impact makes it essential for supervisors and bosses to empower their workers to make decisions and solve problems on their own.
Seok Heon Moon, CPM, joined the panel from South Korea and added his experience with hospitality in residential real estate. Moon serves as general manager of the overseas marketing division at DOWOO Global Networks and helps manage the Signiel Residences in the Lotte World Tower, the tallest building in South Korea.
Moon finds that amenities are a key part of the Signiel Residences. 鈥淭he value of your property will naturally rise with the clients鈥� perception towards your services and property,鈥� he said.
Depending on the situation, a top-down approach has been necessary to either deliver the personalized service required or, somewhat ironically, improve satisfaction with a less personalized approach.
Rapid porter delivery services are well developed in South Korea, but unfortunately they were the lowest ranked amenity at the Signiel Residences with a satisfaction rate of 81 percent. In order to deliver on this amenity, Moon said the building had to develop a Signiel-only shipping bay. Prior to this change, there was one shipping bay for the entire building, which added days to delivery time.
The private theater in the building also had a low satisfaction rate of 82 percent due to scheduling difficulties. Concierges fielded reservations from residents but were unable to efficiently and fairly monitor several communication channels (phones, text messaging) while still performing other duties, which led to resident complaints. The solution was to take reservation requests and then decide the reservations by lottery each Monday.
In all of these cases, it鈥檚 vital not to fear running into issues with a guest, resident or tenant. Vago noted that 70 percent of 鈥渓ifetime connections鈥� started with a problem that was resolved by effective hospitality.
As illustrated in nearly all of the examples from this panel, effective hospitality often means going above and beyond, actively seeking out improvements even when customers are relatively satisfied with amenities.
鈥淚 treat every one of my residents as a celebrity,鈥� said Kleve. 鈥淸Property managers] love saying 鈥榥o鈥� because the lease says we don鈥檛 have to. Maybe we can learn to say yes, even if the lease is a little bit gray.鈥�
About the Author:
Daniel Morales is international programs liaison at 乐竞体育赛事直播 Headquarters in Chicago.