ELECTRONIC HOUSE CALL - August 8, 2003

I am back from Boca Raton and ready to settle in to Gig Harbor, at least for a few weeks ... although just today I got two requests for consulting so who knows? The big concern in our corner of the country right now is forest fires. We have had virtually no rain all summer and the forests are not just dry, they are explosive! Wish us well.

Nickels and Dimes
The conference I attended earlier this week was at a four star resort in Boca Raton, Florida. They lost their fifth star a few years ago but it is still definitely a class property with an amazing and historic physical plant. There were multiple bars, excellent restaurants, pools, a beach club ... the works. So what memories will everyone at the conference take away after four or five days in this amazing place?

They will remember six bucks for a beer, $12 for a margarita and ten bucks a glass for the house wine. They will remember being charged five dollars to drop a prepaid FedEx package in the pickup box. They will remember that three people expected money just to get the bags out of the car, into the building and up to the room. And so it went.

People are free to run their operations any way they want but the result of these policies was to cause most of the attendees to steer clear of the hotel's bars and to one-up each other with tales of even greater extortion. People always remember (and repeat) these kind of stories. I know that this is what people will remember about the property because it was the leading topic of conversation throughout the entire conference! I wonder if the attitude behind these policies was the reason that the hotel lost their five star status.

What kind of memories are you giving people at your place? Do you have little add-on charges that guests don't expect like an extra 50 cents for blue cheese dressing? Nickel and diming people this way may produce some marginal income, but at what price? Charge a fair price so that people can afford to give you their business and raise prices if you must to avoid the need for the surprise extra charges. In the long run, it will be far more profitable.

Maximize Profitability
While we are on this theme, a lot of people ask me how they can maximize profitability. My response? Stay in business a long time! it is easy to think of profitability with a short term mindset -- "How much did we make tonight? I think the smarter approach is to make a little less money and make it for a lot longer.

Don't try to get every penny in your guests' wallets tonight. Leave them with a little change so they can patronize you tomorrow. Under-promise and over-deliver. Do more than you have to. Give them something for nothing. Do the work and you can reap the rewards ... year after year after year.

Super Summit ... 2004
The Super Summit, originally scheduled for September 8-9 in Anaheim has been postponed until January 2004. Too many people had conflicts with the September date and since a significant part of the value of the event comes from the interactions with other operators, we felt we could -- and should -- gather a better crowd after the holidays.

The Perpetual Question
What did you learn from your staff today?

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