The Biospheric Front Desk Approach

Has this really happened? Have we found ourselves in the position to have a guest blogger? Oh my have we. I wouldn’t normally do this, but 1) I am always insecure about the pertinence and efficacy of my posts and would love a very, VERY smart man to bolster them, and 2) Property level employees — no matter how thoughtful, philosophical, and skilled — rarely have time to sit down and blog. Therefore, I would love the opportunity to represent some of the finer, more polished minds that are still doing the prop level grind.

So.. I present one Theo McKinney, The Concierge & Guest Service Specialist at Hotel Carlton, a Joie De Vivre property in San Francisco. In the past couple months, working on the previously mentioned “Hotels that Help” (and more to come) charity. In our conversations, Theo had offered some of the most intelligent, passionate, and competent conversation about hotel management and operations. I fear it is a conversation I stray from too often, and have plans to start a part of the blog focused solely on property level operations. Until I can muster the time and intelligence, I give you something far more interesting. I hope you enjoy!

A Biospheric Approach To The Host/Customer Experience – By Theo McKinney

“THE FRONT DESK ‘YES CULTURE’“: – When asked why they are in the hotel bizz, the most engaged hospitality employee will invariably say “I like to help people”. This is what I have sometimes identified as “The Yes Culture” of a great Front desk team. Nothing is too much trouble. Sounds great at first; the only drawback is that they will often extend the exact same open-minded courtesies to certain non “guest-centric” issues; problematic because there is no one else in any hotel system to pick up slack in this area; from the following, you will see how distractions are rarely welcome in The Sphere.

The only “given” in the minds of a hotel guest, is that in most cases, the guest is intentionally choosing one hotel experience over another chain’s hotel experience. Most chain hotels represent a reliably fixed and known quantity to please their most loyal guests, (i.e. A Holiday Inn in Twin Twiggs Iowa, population 12,033, looks suspiciously identical to the one in Los Angeles). In other words, the experience begins and ends with the chain’s design process. Nothing more is required, and their targeted guests are fine with that (for now)

A boutique hotel guest, on the other hand, is really looking for a different kind of experience; one that merely begins with a hotel’s chosen theme and design process which serve as a staging area for something deeper than just a nicer bed/view/TV than they have at home. The very best boutique hotel experience ideally ends with each guest feeling as though they were a part of something unique.

So what’s the Biosphere connection?

Hundreds, possibly thousands of science fiction starship scenarios include the necessity of a closed (i.e. protected), self-sustaining environment, where a certain level of purity is essential for survival, yet nothing goes to waste, not even the waste (one organism’s “refuse” becomes another’s fertilizer) It is the follow-through on the integrity of this “bubble environment” that keeps all the good stuff in and filters all the bad stuff out.

So long as the “sphere of experience” takes precedence, a thriving interactive hotel will be able to sustain itself indefinitely to the desired benefit of all factors involved within the sphere, leading to a sustainable unique hotel experience. Comparing a given ideal boutique hotel with an ideal bio-system is not really all that spaced-out:

• SOIL – The Physical Environment -A Hotel’s physical environment including the physical building, its grounds, and the immediate neighborhood that the hotel’s guests will likely be experiencing during their stay
• AIR – “The Intended Vibe” – i.e. the culmination of the hotel’s chosen environmental goals- making sure the environment of a given hotel is being filtered and refreshed on a continuous basis.
• TOPOGRAPHY- What does it all actually look like to your guests? Here, it’s about ALL of the distinctive geological details, both the positives and the negative: are guests experiencing any impassable obstacles? (Consider the meaning of the majesty of beautiful white water rapids set off by a nearby snow-capped mountain range) Its all about the physical interactions that will be present in all guest contact areas, including the condition of the furnishings and area cleanliness, as much as the very demeanor and expertise of the employees hosting them. Are we looking at obstacles which block “the Vibes”? Or beneficial presences that reconfirm them?
• RELIABLE WATER – “The Flow” -The better a FD staff can maintain a positive flow, the more likely it is that the desired one-on-one partnerships will emerge
• FILTERING SYSTEMS – It follows that the ultimate responsibility for the levels of “impurities” allowed to enter the sphere of The Guest Experience, are best analyzed and controlled on this level.
• LIFE – A strictly purists approach to The Sphere is a guarantee that The FD/contact employees will understand their mission. Activities that should not take place at the front desk (example: having a FD host “sell” the hotel after a guest has checked in; the guest is already there, so instead of hard-selling, forcefully up-selling, and/or re-selling, there needs to be a concentration on delivering the actually product they have already purchased.

A fully realized and delivered product, in a reliable, and hermetically sealed, joie-filled environment, is what a great boutique experience is all about.