David McMillan Hotel & Resort Consulting

WHERE GETTING IN THE CLOSET IS HARDER THAN COMING OUT!

MY WALK IN CLOSET IN A SUPERBLY DESIGNED JUNIOR SUITE WAS A GREAT SURPRISE.THIS INTERNATIONAL FIVE STAR HOTEL IS RENOWNED FOR ITS' ART, DESIGN AND PANACHE.

Little did  I know that my three shirts took up all the space in a walk-in closet and my suit, coat, ties and trousers would have to stay in the suitcase.

My first impression was that there were two bathrooms. That is certainly the amenity of the future. 

I was not disappointed to find out that this extra space was a 9' X 6' walk in closet with ceiling to floor, wall to wall mirrored panels.

I was immensely disappointed to find out that the Interior Designer forgot to communicate with the operator before finalising the design.

Of the nine feet of mirrored panels, only half were actually doors of which there were two.

Behind the first door, much like a game-show host, I swung it open to find a safe on top of three drawers. There was no hanging space. There was a clothes brush. However no clothes to brush in this section.

Behind the second door there was a clothes rack alright.............however, we are now down to about 18" and not all those eighteen inches are for my hanging clothes.

• About 8.5" are taken up with an ironing board and iron!!
• Another 5" are taken up by two healthy hangers occupied by two fresh bathrobes.
• That leaves 4.5" for my clothes.
• And nothing for my wife, had she been travelling with me.......or for whoever was going to wear that second bathrobe.

Ironically I am there to meet with the Brand Operator whose job it is to convince me and my client that the Technical Services that their company offers is designed to avoid any and all such small overlooked details that make our industry the equivalent of rocket science.

For a review of your plans for a renovation or a new project, contact davidmcmillangroup@gmail.com

A HOTEL IS A PLACE WHERE FOREIGN IS ALWAYS BETTER

DUCASSE BRINGS CONTEMPORARY FRENCH TO THE DORCHESTER

There is probably no hotel more British and traditional than the Dorchester. There is probably no French Chef more French than Alain Ducasse.

Both are at their very best when being either very British.....or very French. Do they belong together? I do not believe that they do! However I do not run the joint and those that do have concluded that it is 'a match'.

Jacques Chirac will of course be very proud. His relatively recent pronouncement about the state of British food has now been all but endorsed by the very institution that should be thumbing its' nose at his comments and promoting the fine culinary attributes of British Cuisine, British Design and the Culinary traditions of Park Lane.

..................or at the very least asking Chef Ducasse to use local ingredients in his interpretation of their very special qualities, as most executive chefs have to do as they travel around the world plying their trade.

Mais non........not only will Ducasse operate in a French designed restaurant, he will also import his Chef, his chicken, the caviar, the black truffles, the pigeon and most of the wines from France.

I may be wrong but it also looks to me like the service plate is from Germany so they are also avoiding British porcelains and fine bone china.

All this at a time when hotels and restaurants the world over are going to extraordinary lengths to explore the locally available ingredients, local artists, local furnishings and local talent.

Now here is a new one! One of their private dining salons has banquette seating and, heaven forbid, rectangular seating for maximum flexibility......and I might add minimum social interaction. They will doubtless be very successful and in spite of their foreign imports, will receive great accolades from all who are able to get a reservation. But it should be more than that. It should have been an extension of their existing traditions, a French interpretation of British values, British traditions....in fact a tribute.

This was a decision that someone made in a boardroom that sounded great and allowed blame to be delegated away but was not one that should have been taken for this property. The Dorchester is an iconic example of British hospitality.

Congratulations Alain, you will do well there...... and deserve to .........but please take some time to pay a little tribute to the traditions of the location and of the ghosts of those that preceded you in those hallowed kitchens on Park Lane.

And Jacques........don't you say another bloody word about this!!

Foreign is not always better! We have escaped, I thought, from the days where 'Continental or French Cuisine' was featured whether one was in Karachi or Kenya....or have we? The days have passed when travellers were looking always for their home food in the hotels where they travelled........ sure the Brits always seem to look for and find Fish & Chips in Spain and Americans their Hamburgers in Paris but we have moved on and now gain great pride from the traditions of the soil.

It is our responsibility to our neighbours, our farmers and our children...plain and simple.

Happy New Year!

A HOTEL IS A PLACE WHERE TOILET PAPER HOLDERS ARE MOUNTED BEHIND THE USER

WE WERE NOT HAPPY WITH SINK STOPPERS THAT DON'T...... OR NIPPLE HIGH SHOWER HEADS... AND SLIPPERY PANTS CLOTHES HANGERS

Now we have come up with a new one!  Toilet paper holders that are hung where no human hands can reach.

It is one amusing thing after another.  First they teach the maids to fold the first toilet sheet into the shape of a rocket. Now they have taught the installer to find the one place in the bathroom where it is physically unreachable.

The sequel to this will be that someone will introduce a swivelling toilet seat.

  PUUUHLEASE, gimme a break. Enough already!

We have been designing and redesigning bathrooms for centuries. Can't we figure out some basic principles of design that really work, that are user-friendly and that everyone follows? Let's face it, a two-star customer is not that different from a five-star customer when in the bathroom and their needs are more or less similar.

Here are my Top Ten Rules for hotel bathroom design.

1. You can give me 3 sinks in the bathroom but please give me one where the sink stopper works.
2. Mount the shower head at a level of 80" from the floor beneath. Gravity will do the rest, I promise you.
3. Please increase the font size on the shampoo bottle. I know the name of the hotel where I am staying. I don't care what brand it is.....just make the product readable without having to find my reading glasses or install my contact lenses.
4. Place the toilet paper holder within reach and eyesight of the user. Please refrain from shaping the first sheet into rockets.......!
5. Showers that require running to get the right temperature should not be aimed at the user.....or the open shower door......or the towel rack.
6. Hairdryers designed by a plumber are useless......even if they have concertina mirrors and electrical plugs that fit every known electrical appliance even if it was built in Kabul.
7. One ounce soap bars wrapped in two ounce paper wrappers are a joke.
8. I do not mind using the same towel again tonight......just wash it and bring it back!
9. Most of your customers do not have 32" waists or less. Your bathrobes therefore resemble hospital gowns on most of us........make them larger.
10. Toilet seats are manufactured differently for males and females. Unless you only deal with ladies, choose a seat that works for both.

And for my 11th........If the shower is in the bath, ensure that the floor is not rounded. If it is, the 'showeree' will be facing in the wrong direction and can not turn around. A well rounded bath will mean that the 'showeree' is standing on his own foot. This is OK for storks but not for most of us that have appointments in 43'.

For comments on your design plans, contact davidmcmillangroup@gmail.com

HOTELS FAIL MISERABLY AT GROUP BOOKINGS

HOW COME HOTELS ARE NOT USER-FRIENDLY FOR GROUP BOOKINGS?

Would you believe that most group booking order takers in the major hotel companies seem not to know know what they are doing.

One would think that with today's technology, the training focus and the expertise of tens of thousands of hotels, that we would learn how to accurately and competently bid on a meeting for 200 people, some bedrooms and the related F & B.

Our company recently took on the challenge of negotiating room blocks plus meeting & banquet space in seventy cities throughout the USA and Canada. This involved dealing with the Central Sales Offices of three of the largest hotel groups in the world. We are therefore dealing with some 200-300 hotels.

This first step was pleasant, efficient and professional. The Regional Sales staff are everything that one would expect. The promise of additional business in Europe, Asia and South Americal in future years is definitely considered a 'good lead'.

After careful crafting of a detailed RFP (request for proposals) in which we requested that the +/-200 or more hotels to fill in the blanks and PDF it back by EMail,  this was the outcome,

• All hotels but two failed to fill in all the spaces.
• Two hotels filled in no spaces at all.
• 12% of the hotels faxed the information to our client directly, totally ignoring the PDF/EMail instructions.
• 78% did not PDF the proposal but returned the MS Word document
• 68% of the hotels sent a huge AV price list instead of responding to our request for a price on 4 items.
• AV suppliers expect to take orders, not provide service.
• Huge quantities of Monday to Friday Menus came for our weekend lunch.
• 53% of the hotels would not provide a price for a coffee break per person, only by gallon.
• 87% of the nice regret notices did not indicate what dates were not available.
• One major city convention centre was more interested in selling F & B rather than conference space and bedrooms for the adjoining hotel for which it was probably financed and built.

If this were an occasional situation, I might understand.

If we were dealing with a bunch of independent properties in remote rural locations, I might also understand.

If we were not dealing with huge major convention hotels in North America's major gateway cities, I might understand.

However, this is the 'bread and butter' business of these hotels. This represents one third or more of the business to most of these hotels. Some of them rely on 40%-50% of their business from this meetings & conferences market segment.

I am now a frustrated client. Actually mad as hell.

Having operated 40+ hotels at one point in my career, I recall clearly going through some excercises in which we would 'secret shop' our reservation & group booking services and be amazed by the amateurish responses to straight-forward questions. I therefore do not pretend to be any better than today's managers.

Here however are the common findings,

1. Smaller hotels are better at the details than larger hotels.
2. Suburban hotels are more efficient than their urban brothers (or sisters)
3. Large hotels outsource stuff like AV and let the client scramble.
4. City Centre AV providers think like Hollywood producers.
5. Suburban AV providers take a more realistic approach.
6. Hotels with F & B Minimums lose my business because they are unable or unwilling to explain the formula.
7. You think oil is expensive!! Have you looked at coffee recently?

However, I think it is high time that we learn to be precise in our proposals, to listen to the customer and to refrain, where possible, from making our potential customers....mad as hell, in the process of doing business with us!!

GGggggggggggggggggrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!

WHAT CATEGORY OF HOTEL SHOULD I RUN?

AM I AN UPSCALE HOTELIER, A MIDSCALE HOTELIER, A BUDGET MOTELIER OR A MOM & POP?

If you run a management company, are a hotel or resort owner or are choosing a career, be sure to realise that 'there are 'horses for courses'  and yes, you must match the choice of manager for the style and needs of a hotel.

Many hotel people gravitate to one style of property in which to work because it reflects their own style of living or how they would like to be seen to live. To answer the question on what type of hotel one should run, answer these simple questions.

1. During my last holiday, some quality time was spent
   1. On a friend's yacht.
   2. On a Blackberry.
   3. Driving there in a Porsche.
   4. On my porch.
2. When our hotel re-does the wine list, my involvement includes
   1. Deciding the best house wine by its' name
   2. Deciding the best house wine by its' price
   3. Deciding on whether to have house wine at all
   4. Leaving the decision to the sommelier
3. When the restaurant was named, I preferred
   1. The long name of a waspish British poet
   2. A pronounceable Italian opera singer
   3. The combination of the names of a Jew and a Chinaman
4. When I wear jeans in the hotel
   1. I always wear a clean T-Shirt.
   2. I generally match them with a blue blazer.
   3. They are generally cut-offs
   4. What!!!....jeans in a hotel!!
5. When I call my male Assistant Manager at home and a lady answers
   1. She recognises my voice and we chat.
   2. I introduce myself and ask for her husband by his sirname.
   3. I refrain from guessing her name & ask for him by his first name.
   4. My Assistant does not have a telephone at home
   5. I have no Assistant Manager
6. I would describe myself primarily as,
   1. Elegant at all times
   2. Hard working
   3. A family man
   4. A business person
7. The household chores that I do at home include,
   1. Choosing the wine we drink/carving the smoked salmon.
   2. Vacuuming/Unplugging the toilet
   3. Building a deck.
   4. All of the above
8. The suit that I wear
   1. ....was made for me by my favourite tailor.
   2. .....has two pairs of pants.
   3. .......is used for funerals only
   4. ........is dry-cleaned twice a year if it needs it or not.
9. The reports that are presented to our owner,
   1. Are assembled by my team of managers & I take no blame
   2. Are edited by me
   3. Are written by me
   4. Are completely ficticious
10. My style of hotel will always be described as,
    1. Luxurious
    2. Profitable
    3. A favourite of the community

It is forever amazing to me that general managers feel it critical to take on the styles of the hotels they run which is in turn subsequently emulated by their employees. Luxurious, elegant upscale hotels are run by managers who have sometimes taken on unnatural airs of elegance and standoffishness. Usually not sherry-drinkers by nature, they order Kirs or Amontillados and sometimes drink their tea with their 'pinkies' pointing skyward.

It is therefore not perhaps surprising to see that one of the leading upscale luxury brands  has now decided to launch an upscale casual marque (note the spelling) that will dress-down management to the level of their casually dressed nouveau riche.

Are there some parts of your hotel that are overdone? Are there some facilities that do not match the lifestyle of your public? For an honest evaluation of your facilities or management team, contact davidmcmillangroup@gmail.com ....for the results, scroll down.

	Answers
Question	1	2	3	4	5
1	-4	3	5	2
2	4	3	2	6
3	4	5	3
4	4	7	2	3
5	5	0	5	0	2
6	3	4	5	6
7	5	2	3	4
8	5	4	1	3
9	5	6	-4	4
10	3	6	5

Where my results should place me

17-25	Running a trailer park is a great career too
26-35	I own the place and my wife likes housekeeping
36-42	Three Star and satisfied with a life balance
43-48	Four Star & should be moving upscale soon
49 +	Five Star & Loving it

GIMME A BREAK...FAST!!

ONE OF THE WORLD'S LARGEST HOTEL GROUPS ANNOUNCES INTRODUCTION OF PERSONALISED BREAKFASTS.

Well this came as welcome news to me conjuring up images of customised culinary creations and extraordinary innovative dishes created by culinary giants, dieticians and food artists based on their extensive studies of our habits and their worldwide collection of breakfast data. Imagine the day when the Heavenly Bed can be followed by a Heavenly Breakfast. No, this was not Starwood! Finally a replacement for granola, hot cereal, eggs to order, muffins, croissants, fruit and smoothies. Finally an opportunity to take our public to culinary heights  in the mornings.

What did their VP Food & Beverage announce?  Hot cereal, Eggs to order, muffins, croissants, fruits and smoothies. Wow, that puts them on the leading edge of 'ornary' with perhaps a special mention for an Oscar for Anti-Climax.

Are we waiting for Barrie Sternlicht again to tell us how and what to cook in the mornings? Do we need Steve Wynn to return from Macao to reinvent our morning repast? Do we have no imagination at all until after our morning coffee? Are there no local suppliers of hot baked breads, whipped butters and fresh fruit jams. Are there no farmers who smoke or cure their own bacon & hams? Omelettes,tacos, pizzas and fritatas are crying out to be launched in old fashioned ways that our public know not how to order! Cardboard croissants and rubbery, sawdust brioches are as good as the 'boulanger' in the back which there rarely is.

I doubt that Ian Shraeger does breakfast anymore but if he did, it would probably be a meal with which to end the night, rather than a meal with which to start the day. As a a hotel general manager, there was many a night that we ended with a breakfast. Thick crusty bread toasted under a salamander, slathered with butter and draped with eggs fried in bacon fat.......hold the lettuce, the strawberry and the limp potatoes. But I digress!

Can we give the chickens a break? Can we turn our attention to alternative eggs? Quails, geese and ostriches come to mind. Let's not forget fish, home-made cereals, exotic juices or healthy biscuits & cookies.

Can we not take our morning beverages seriously? American coffee as its known is what the Hispanics describe as 'Aguas de Paraguas" or umbrella water. European coffee is a different experience as is Tea in China or Sri Lanka. Can specialty waters not become part of the morning experience?

Can we not lean on our colleagues from India, Malaysia or Indonesia for some tasty secrets from their rich and tasty culinary history. Is it not time we let them teach us the benefits of their ancient nutritional cultures. Several of my most memorable breakfasts were in such cities as Kuala Lumpur, New Delhi and Willemstad, the latter specialising in Indonesian Rijstaffel.

Some of my best breakfast experiences were in Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean where colour, texture and taste take precedence over speed or convenience.

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day but no-one can persuade me that this means that English & American tastes must dominate the selections. Hotel companies straddle the world and its culinary riches. It is high time that our breakfast went global.

For more information or assistance on spicing up your breakfast experience, contact davidmcmillangroup@gmail.com

A HOTEL IS A PLACE

......WHERE THE HOTELIER GIVES GIFTS TO HIS GUESTS TO COMPENSATE FOR DOUBTFUL SERVICES.

There was a time when soap, shampoo and a smile was enough. Then, in the absence of the smile came pillows 'a la carte', newspapers, bath oils and breakfast. Now, hoteliers are pulling out all stops and are going for jewellery, customised marmalades, perfumes, personalised ice creams and bespoke suits.What comes next .... a kiss?

However, some 90% said they were really only looking for 'friendly service' and would pay an extra $20 for it.

Perhaps the real problem in our industry is our inability to expand on the real interpretation of a 'smile'. For after all, how long can one smile? A few seconds, twenty seconds........let's face it, after a while, a smile becomes a grimace and who wants to standardise a grimace into the operations manual? And what's a smile without that friendly touch?

What do we really mean by a smile? Some smart Alecs in the fast food game solved that by giving employees hats with "HI" written on it or the more active "HELLO" and SMILE buttons. Did that solve the problem? Hardly....Due to the involvement of the muscle near the eyes, it is sometimes said that one can tell whether or not a smile is "real" by whether or not it "reaches the eyes".

I think we are getting there slowly as we start to talk about experiences, memorable moments, real, sincerity, eye contact, hyper natural.....but some of those descriptors are open to other interpretations by employees, many of whom speak other languages before English and whose interpretation of memorable moments might be misinterpreted.

We have learned a bit about facial expressions and body language but not enough. Let's face it, our expressions and language change through the day.

So now the dreamers who are seeking to differentiate their product from the crowd are describing 'experiences' as warm interchanges that are anticipated or pre-engineered from the heart between the employee and the guest, moments when two people connect, entwine and then drift apart. Needs or wants are pre-anticipated, provided ........and only later invoiced.

Virtual kisses, in fact.... not necessarily fully French, but perhaps virtual air kisses, the types of facial body language that has now replaced the handshake........which was a late arrival itself  to my England from Europe. Perhaps even with the same uncertainty that surrounds the North American version, in which we are not certain on which side to start or how many times! Somewhat like the handshake that started with a military shake, and ended with a two-fisted hand embrace plus an arm pat to end it.

Today's HR people are now realising that it is difficult to teach 'hospitality' and that they now need to source people who have 'hospitality' as part of their nature. I would venture to add that with the link between entertainment and hospitality that what we really seek are candidates who are in fact natural entertainers.

Puts added pressure on the HR office who now also seek anticipators, mind readers and good guessors to replace the smilers and the servers with the great attitudes that have filled our past ranks for years.

Perhaps it will not be too long before we give the kissers a chance!! That should ramp-up the job applications from the young people we all seek.

Perhaps the real problem in our industry is that we describe it as hospitality rather than entertainment leading us to be hospitable rather than entertaining.

But, at the end of the day, entertainment is what we are all about. Being hospitable is an enormous, unqualified understatement of our function in life. We are 'entertainers', plain and simple and our producers, directors, stage designers, scriptwriters, costume designers, lighting technicians and cast members better realise this rapidly or we will bore our public to death.

In the meantime, for those who are incapable of entertaining in the truest and most sincere fashion, gifts may be the answer or at least some form of acceptable compensation.

For ways in which you can ratchet up your hotel's entertainment factor and ratchet down the giveaways, contact davidmcmillangroup@gmail.com

HERE WE GO AGAIN !!

ANOTHER CASE OF ILLEGAL IMMODESTY

Whatever happened to the value of 'Modesty' in our industry? Why is there such a rush to announce or proclaim a new 6 Star Hotel....this time in Scotland but more often these days in Dubai, where they are up to 10 and even 13 Stars.

How sad it is to see respectable countries who have worked long and hard to develop hotel and resort classification systems usually under a 5 Star method, be completely pre-empted by an owner or operator announcing or proclaiming his intention to open a property that completely obliterates a client's objective approach to the way we grade our industry.

How presumptive it is of an owner to think that he can dispell centuries of tradition and past focus on excellence that has built up around the best hostelleries in his country who have fought through thick and thin to earn that extra star......to proclaim he has an extra star.....an illegal star..... a star that he has virtually stolen and for which there is no space in the book. And this before he has laid one brick, or hired one single employee.

Instead of ignoring the announcement or proclamation, it is broadcast.

Does this ridicule of the star system not jeopardise the system itself when those who are to be judged, judge themselves? When those who should be striving for improvement announce their arrival already?

How tragic that an Emirate like Dubai that is so strategically brilliant in its dramatic approach to tourism will risk its future reputation on unsubstantiated claims to fame from an as yet unbuilt or untried product? How risky it is that the owner sets the standards of guest expectations so high above the world's greatest hotels that the reputation of the destination itself is at risk. How much more powerful is the word of mouth that eminates from a great experience than the claim of the developer.

Adding to the proof that 'we really don't understand what we are doing on this project in Scotland syndrome' was the parallel announcement from a local official that with this extra +/- 150 rooms, we can now attract conventions to the city!

For some insight into the seriousness with which this subject should be viewed, see how the Caribbean Tourism Association viewed it in 2002.

Download hotelclassification1.pdf

For additional information on this and other subjects, contact davidmcmillangroup@gmail.com

BEEN THERE DONE THAT!

HOW SAD THAT WE DENOUNCE FLIPPING AND PEELING

As an industry, we react violently to those who would judge us as 'flippers' of hamburgers and 'peelers' of carrots. How tragic that we denounce and deny the very foundation of our apprenticeships.

Earlier this week, I was a panellist and overheard an industry specialist once again denounce the description of a career in our industry as one that actually peels carrots.

I was personally insulted and quick to point out when given the chance that my own background indeed included a most interesting time in my career when I was a 'professional peeler' and in fact had not yet gravitated to the more elevated position of 'flipper'........not I might add of hamburgers for this was a 'pre-hamburger era' in England, but of other things that needed to be flipped or turned at precisely the right second of caramelisation.

This was a period in my apprenticeship that was not at the beginning. No this was a level up from the more physically challenging task of making ice cubes from a block of ice, sorting empty bottles in the cellar and delivering kegs to the multiple bars. Yes, peeling and flipping came later and necessitated a smart cooks jacket & pants and a starched toque in which I felt extremely proud although highly underqualified!!

Later elevated to the position of  'aboyeur', I then acquired the confidence and the knowledge to be able to reject inferior quality dishes and demand replacements as the full team focused on perfection, one dish at a time. How appropriate that lesson was in later years when I discovered that only when conflict exists between kitchen and restaurant staff does quality exist.

Today, machines peel carrots and make ice-cubes but do not yet flip anything. I can bet you however that many a 'flipper' today will be a highy successful hospitality executive in the future, just mark my words.

For more information on the ancient arts of Peeling veggies and Chipping ice, contact davidmcmillangroup@gmail.com

A Hotel is a Place.....

EVERYONE HAS THEIR "TOP TEN"  MOST ANNOYING FEATURES IN A HOTEL

Does it not amaze you that Management can not take care of the simplest of details?

Here are some of the annoying things that I have found throughout my career are repeated and repeated over the years. Ours is an industry requiring extraordinary attention to detail and these common annoyances should have been fixed for good many years ago.

These are mine, but I have others,

1. Drain stoppers that don't hold water. One would have thought that after putting men on the moon that someone would have come up with a hotel sink stopper that works.
2. 2 Baby Pillows and 12 designer cushions. Nowhere serious to rest your head after dumping 12 designer cushions with heavy upholstery on the floor.
3. Anonymous Bathroom Amenities. Actual contents unreadable without 20/20 vision or a magnifying glass. Is it shampoo, bath soap or sun tan lotion? How can you tell when it is in a font of  # 2.
4. Electrical outlets behind 600lbs of furniture. Many are fire hazards and overloaded with a lamp, a TV, a minibar and now my computer.
5. Alarm radios pre-set for 5.00AM every morning and no visible "off" button without inserting my contact lenses.
6. Shower heads at shoulder level. Kneeling in a shower to wash my head is not acceptable. Did the architect not think that the bath would raise the level by six inches or did he leave the decision to the 5' plumber.
7. Irrelevant art. In towns and villages where artists abound, why do we buy posters from a central poster distributor.
8. Women's toilet seats. While fine for the ladies room, they are 'unacceptable' for the male population.
9. Low chairs/High tables. Eating from a plate at chest level is totally inhospitable.
10. 1 oz Drinks are a joke. Most people are not amused.

Tell me about yours at davidmcmillangroup@gmail.com