This is a replay of an ancient rant of mine—I can’t hide that fact. But the point was recently underscored. I was out PowerWalking a while back while staying at Hotel X. (No obvious purpose served by naming the hotel.) Among other things, I “ran around back.” I observed that the “Staff Entrance” was pretty shabby—well, truthfully, a little south of “pretty shabby.”
And that, in turn, reminded me of my lack of impact over time. Well, at least I can repeat myself.
I am a longtime fan of travel services superstar Hal Rosenbluth’s idea-philosophy, captured in a book he coauthored: The Customer Comes Second. That is, if you really want to “put the customer first,” put the people who serve the customer “more first.” Which leads me back to hotels in particular. As I see it, it’s axiomatic that the “Employee Entrance” should match the “Guest Entrance” in all respects. Period.
(Why a separate entrance at all, you say. Good point, I say. Maybe the maintenance guys in overalls don’t want to go through the front door? On the other hand, if the maintenance guys had only one entrance, maybe they’d wash the grease out of their overalls a bit more frequently. Whadda you think?) (Speaking of grease, a friend whose husband is a carpenter-contractor was commenting on the fact that he wears a freshly cleaned dress-business shirt “to work” every day. It’s part of his “Brand You,” to use my words. Love it. Comes pretty damn close to passing the “dramatic difference” test.)