Top 10 Dining Trends for 2007 - Hospitality Maldives

FREE COPY ISSUE # 12 

HOSPITALITY 

MALDIVES 

Top 10 Dining 

Trends for 2007 

Health & Wellness Top The Menu

Impressum 

EDITOR’S NOTE 

Published by 

Beyond Hospitality Pvt. Ltd. 

G. Comrade Hiya, L1 

Dhonadharaadha Hingun 

Male 20350 

Republic of Maldives 

www.beyondhospitality.com 

Editor-in-Chief 

Ahmed Saleem 

info@hospitality-maldives.com 

Managing Editor 

David Kotthoff 

david@hospitality-maldives.com 

Advertising Sales 

Ali Muaz 

ads@hospitality-maldives.com 

Design & Layout 

Beyond Media Design Pvt Ltd. 

www.beyondmediadesign.com 

Print 

Softwave Printing & Packaging Pvt. Ltd. 

www.softwave.lk 

Contributors 

Dan Bobinski 

Joe Dunbar 

Tony Eldred 

Patrick Goff 

Dr. Rick Johnson 

Chris Longstreet, CHA 

Leslie Lyon 

Denise Moretti 

Roberta Nedry 

Kelley Robertson 

Susie Ross 

Neil Salerno, CHA, CHME 

Mary Sandro 

David Wheelhouse, CHRE 

Helen Wilkie 

Misty Williams 

APSWC 

DPPEA 

Hilton Resorts Worldwide 

Pennsylvania Dpmt. of Agriculture 

Per Aquum 

www.ehotelier.com 

www.baumwhiteman.com 

Dear friends and colleagues, 

Welcome to the 12th edition of Hospitality Maldives. 

Hospitality Hospitality! A word that’s almost everywhere in our industry these 

days, even in the title of this magazine. But what does “hospitality” actually 

mean Have you ever really thought about it 

Webster’s dictionary defines hospitality as “the act or practice of receiving 

and entertaining strangers or guests without reward, or with kind and generous 

liberality” and though the word itself derives from the Latin language, the 

origins of its meaning have its roots in Greek mythology. 

Entertaining a stranger without reward When was the last time you have really 

done that Sure, most of us are being paid for being hospitable towards 

guests (aka tourists), but what about colleagues, subordinates, superiors and 

suppliers When was the last time you were really hospitable towards them, 

without expecting anything in return True hospitality comes from the heart, 

not the paycheck. 

Unfortunately many of us seem to have forgotten the real meaning of hospitality, 

so why not take a minute and think about how hospitable you really 

are I’m sure it’ll be very well invested sixty seconds. On this note, Happy 

reading! 

Yours in hospitality, 

Disclaimer 

No parts of this magazine or its content 

(photographs, articles or parts thereof, 

design, layout) may be reproduced without 

the consent of the respective owner. 

Beyond Hospitality Pvt. Ltd. or any of its associates 

cannot be held responsible for the 

misuse of the information and intellectual 

property provided in this magazine. Opinions 

expressed in this magazine are those 

of the writers and not necessarily endorsed 

by the publisher. 

David Kotthoff 

HOSPITALITY MALDIVES 

APRIL/MAY 2007 

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APRIL/MAY 2007

CONTENTS 

CONTENTS 

03 

06 

12 

20 

30 

36 

44 

48 

52 

57 

64 

68 

Editor’s Note 

Guest Service: Don’t call me Sweetie! 

Do’s and Don’ts for Food Handlers 

Hotel Waste Reduction: Housekeeping 

Developing Departmental Trainers 

What Customers Really Want 

Hospitality Bites 

Hospitality begins at Check-in 

Top 10 Dining Trends for 2007 

Appointments 

Creating a great first Impression by Phone 

Last words 



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SERVICE 

Guest Service: 

Don’t Call Me Sweetie! 

By Roberta Nedry 

“Happy New Year ‘Sweetie’! What can I get you” “Hey ‘Honey’, 

let me help you with that” “Let me put you on hold, ‘Doll’, 

while I check for you.” 

Aaaaggghhh! I don’t know these people!!! Do they think they 

know me well enough to forego all formalities Why are they 

using such familiar terms upon our first encounter I can actually 

feel the hairs on my neck stand up one by one when I hear 

these names. In a society that is often much less personal than it 

used to be, this is the other extreme…way more personal than 

appropriate. 

“Terms of Endearment” was a fantastic movie and emotionally 

riveting. Terms of endearment from my husband or son are 

meaningful and touching. Terms of endearment from a waitress, 

valet or hotel employee are not any of these and in fact, are 

annoying, inappropriate and sometimes offensive. Why do 

employees use familiar or intimate terms with those with whom 

they are not familiar or intimate The way employees address a 

guest can make such a positive or negative first, last and middle 

impression. 

names and titles remembered and stated correctly, it’s one of the 

‘emoluments’ to which one feels entitled.” I admit I had to look 

up the word emolument, but I loved its meaning of “a form of 

compensation” to capture the feeling of recognition and a form 

of reward from hearing one’s own name. 

And though friendliness is one of the most basic guest needs, 

you have to become friends first! Actually once a connection is 

made, knowing the guest’s name can make the most personable 

and appropriate impact. Saying hello to “Mr. Johnson” or “Ms. 

Smith” shows respect and recognition for loyal patronage. Once 

a regular guest or customer says, “Please, call me John” or “you 

know me by now, please call me Doris”, then the employee can 

make the next 

less formal move. Now, a 

gracious approach has 

b e e n made and 

gracious 

When employees serving guests and customers use these terms, 

they risk creating “uncomfortableness” and uncertainty. In 

some cases, while attempting to be friendly, they may instead 

be offending the guest. Instead, focus on other options that 

universally will be accepted and positive and get the experience 

started on the right foot with the words to follow. 

Greeting a guest is the first powerful moment to make an 

impression. When a cheerful hello or welcome is made, 

followed by that employee’s own name, the guest 

experience can begin to flow and both guest and 

employee are on sure footing. If a promiscuous 

greeting is made, the guest may be thrown off 

and the experience begins with uncertainty 

and possible discomfort. When an employee 

introduces themselves, they have begun to 

build a relationship with the guest versus the 

one-sided aspect of only calling the guest 

by name. It also makes it easier for the 

guest to call upon the employee by name, 

instead of “waiter” or “bellman.” Employees, 

like guests, also like to hear their own names. 

As Letitia Baldrige, the renowned protocol and 

manners expert once said, “People like to have 

their 

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permission has been granted. Both guest and employee can feel 

comfortable and empowered to be on more familiar terms. 

However, the employee must still always take care and still use 

respect and professionalism even on this level. As Ms. Baldrige 

notes, “if you have to stop and think about whether or not you 

should use a person’s first name when you greet him, the answer 

is you should not. Familiarity does indeed breed contempt and 

no one likes to be addressed by his or her first name by someone 

who does not have the right to do so.” I remember this so well as 

a young girl. A few times, some of my friends would address my 

mom by her first name, without her permission. She was always 

Mrs. Nedry so this completely caught her off guard and I’d notice 

a red flushness in her cheeks. She was too much of a lady to say 

anything but I knew those friends were placed in her own version 

of a “contempt” box. I made sure never to do the same, knowing 

how uncomfortable it made my own mother. 

not allow that to happen by offending the caller with terms of 

endearment. Do introduce yourself and ask for permission for 

how to address the caller. The words and tone of those words will 

lead the call’s effectiveness and impact. 

Hospitality leaders and employers need to recognize the difference 

between using names and HOW to use names. Keep these points 

in mind when “name calling:” 

• Train employees to build relationships at 

a personal level. While using a guest’s 

name is important, it is more important for the 

employee to introduce themselves first. 

• Do not use terms of endearment at any point, 

beginning, middle or end. Risks far outweigh 

the remote possibility of any rewards. 

SERVICE 

In some cases, using sir or ma’am, may be more appropriate. Age 

and title distinction may warrant more formal salutations. When 

more senior guests show up, they may appreciate respect for 

their generation and a time when formality was more common. 

They may appreciate “Yes Sir” and “No Ma’am” and feel like 

their longevity has earned them those titles. If those senior 

guests then request less formality, the employee has permission 

to do so and has followed a gracious protocol. Dignitaries may 

also warrant formal salutations by virtue of their positions and 

titles. Showing deference is important. As Letitia Baldrige states, 

“Deference is defined as high regard and respect owed an elder 

or superior and we should pay deference to visitors from the 

outside (beyond our organization’s walls).” Employers should 

determine standards for greeting guests and better define formal 

and informal possibilities. 

Using nicknames with fellow employees can also undermine 

a guest or even an employee experiences. Back to “sweetie,” 

“honey” and the plethora of other clever and catchy names… 

don’t use them in any public environment, especially where the 

guest is being served. If one looks up the word “sweetie”, it 

actually comes from the word “sweetheart” and one definition 

is “lover.” If taken literally, a lot of eyebrows might go up as 

unnecessary impressions are formed. And, though fun with fellow 

employees, a guest or even fellow employees may not understand 

or more importantly want to understand why a nickname came 

to be. Why leave it to chance and allow guests and employees to 

ponder Save the nicknames and fun names for after hours and 

when with those who know you on a personal level. 

Another problem with using nouns other than a person’s last 

name is they can sound patronizing, even without that intention. 

Perhaps a guest has a lot of questions and the employee is 

getting frustrated. An employee may attempt to use one of these 

terms to calm the guest down. Be prepared. They will become 

less calm. Keep the terms neutral and professional at all times. 

• Get permission for using a guest’s name and 

how they prefer it used. Do not make the 

mistake of informality. With employee name 

and guests’ preferred names in place, 

the employee now has permission and can 

engage the guest and build the relationship 

and experience. 

• Show deference where appropriate. Define the 

standards for these situations and make 

greetings and introductions a part of 

any employee’s initial training. 

Monitor these standards and reinforce 

them consistently. 

• Apply these standards and name points in 

phone etiquette as well. Make sure professional 

reference to guest takes place throughout the 

whole phone call. 

• Do not use nicknames with employees or 

guests. Camaraderie among colleagues 

is wonderful but not at expense of guest or 

other employees. 

Be aware of how jargon can “jar” guests into being gone! 

Understand how little words make big impressions and focus on 

the ones that make the guest experience difference. 

Roberta Nedry is President of Hospitality Excellence, Inc., consultants in 

guest experience management and audits, service excellence training for 

management and frontline employees and concierge development. To 

learn more about the programs her firm offers and their service expertise, 

visit www.hospitalityexcellence.com She can also be reached at 954-739- 

5299 or roberta@hospitalityexcellence.com 

Each of these thoughts applies to phone service delivery as well. 

Professional salutations are especially important as are employee 

name introductions. Without in person contact, the opportunity 

for misunderstanding or miscommunication can be greater. Do 



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HUMAN RESOURCES 

Artline - MHTE AD 

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SPA 

The Spa Director’s 

Ever-Expanding Job Description 

How are you Managing 

By Leslie Lyon 

As I think back to my days as a Resort Spa Director and onward to 

my current position as a Spa Educator and Consultant - I marvel at 

how this position has evolved. I’ve always believed and continue 

to see proof that the Spa Director’s Job Description is one of the 

most demanding positions out there. But I also happen to believe 

it is one of the most rewarding, exciting, mind-expanding, lifeenhancing 

journey’s possible! Where else do you have the chance 

to explore every corner of your creative, leadership and business 

talents… to make such a difference in the lives of the people 

you touch, while at the same time living the good life inside the 

thriving health and beauty phenomenon This flourishing industry 

of ours continues to shower us with potions and procedures that 

bring incredible hope and amazing results and as a Spa Director, 

it’s all in the palm of your hands. 

With this demanding position, we sometimes find ourselves in 

the predicament of needing more support, more guidance and 

more training in order to perform to set standards. Like any 

Management position, a successful Spa Director develops with 

education and experience that addresses both their life and 

business skills. The Director needs to be “equipped” with the 

best industry-specific practices and guidelines in order to do the 

job effectively. Many of you reading this story will be both the 

Spa Owner and the Director. 

But no matter what position you are in, you will need to explore 

many industry resources to fulfill the demands that the job will 

put on you. This may mean the support from a Mentor; your 

existing Spa Management team; industry websites; publications; 

associations; trade events; outside professionals; and training 

courses. I suggest all of the above. Throughout your career as Spa 

Director, you will benefit from the ongoing boosts of confidence, 

self-affirmation and camaraderie that these resources will provide 

you with. 

Spa Director Job Descriptions come in all shapes and sizes. 

At some Spa’s, the Director is expected to be responsible for 

financial budgets and outcomes, for growing new business 

opportunities, developing the market, overseeing the human 

resource department and so on. Other locations require their 

Director to simply assist in managing the day-to-day operations 

with no set targets or real accountability for the bottom line. 

So depending on the set of expectations that you assign to 

the position, the Director should of course be paid accordingly. 

When considering payment for the Director, you may also want 

to consider the size of the facility. It goes without saying that you 

will need to evaluate the individual’s proven and perceived skills 

and value; their experience in the industry; your company’s 

philosophy and stability; industry standards and the current cost 

of living. 

In the Spa Industry, there are many available options by which 

we can pay our staff, but we commonly see Spa Directors paid 

a combination of fixed and variable pay systems. This may be 

in the form of an annual salary (paid bi-monthly) and perhaps 

supplemented with some form of incentive pay, such as a bonus 

or profit sharing (perhaps paid quarterly). An experienced 

Director will want to see strong management support, to know 

pay scales, understand incentives, the job’s current description 

and future potential. 

“Spa Director Job 

Descriptions come in all 

shapes and sizes.” 

In the Spas2b 4 & 5-Day Successful Spa Management & Operations 

course of study, we train existing and potential Spa Directors in 5 

fundamental categories. However many of these responsibilities 

you assign to your particular Spa Director’s Job Description, your 

goal should always be to strive for a realistic balance between your 

expectations, the Director’s abilities and proposed compensation. 

If you can’t find someone to fill every skill required, remember 

that you can gradually train these individuals on business skills, 

but you probably won’t have as easy of a time changing their 

attitudes and subsequent behaviours. When recruiting a Spa 

Director, you may want to consider two scenarios. How important 

it is to you that this person can demonstrate an exceptional level 

of professionalism for the staff to emulate, while at the same 

time being able to create a motivating environment of sincerity, 

warmth and fun for staff and guests Very important I would say. 

Or is it more of a priority for your Spa Director to possess strong 

financial leadership, marketing savvy and operational expertise 

Hmmm - business skills… or life skills. Ideally both, but you may 

have to choose. 

Almost no one can fulfill these criteria as laid out below right 

off the bat, but rather these responsibilities are gradually and 

incrementally introduced as you see your Director becoming 

more proficient at mastering outcomes and proving results. Here 

are the key points Spas2b believes you need to consider when 

developing the Spa Director Job Description: 

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Financial 

• Interpret Financial Reports and provide expertise on 

(projected) Revenue vs. Expenses. 

• Project and maintain acceptable payroll commitments. 

• Use financial plans for spotting trends, measuring 

productivity and monitoring progress. 

• Control ongoing service and product margin analysis 

to ensure profitability. 

• Implement opportunities for managing operational 

costs and boosting the bottom line. 

• Develop procedures for accurate inventory control 

and monitoring. 

• Implement full Spa product and service purchasing 

standards and ensure compliance. 

• Administer staff and client scheduling for maximum 

revenue generation and profitability. 

Marketing 

• Develop Spa’s Marketing Strategy and ensure a consistent 

image is being portrayed. 

• Be proactive in developing publicity opportunities and 

effectively dealing with media. 

• Develop and maintain gracious and efficient front 

desk procedures. 

• Maintain and update all necessary internal and 

external signage. 

• Create ongoing in-house promotions and activities to 

stimulate sales, staff and customers. 

• Guide business decisions by staying on top of Spa 

industry trends. 

• Maintain a strong menu of services with both 

exceptional artistic and aesthetic value. 

• Consistently develop and grow retail sales through 

training, tools and monitoring. 

• Ensure the Spa is always staged for maximum buyer 

impact. 

Customer Service 

• Anticipate, identify and ensure customer needs are 

being met in the best possible way. 

• Monitor customer satisfaction with surveys, focus 

groups and comment cards. 

• Develop and deliver credible, competitive, value-plus 

service to the customer. 

• Guide staff to become caring problem solvers, 

cooperative, accommodating and fair. 

• Exhibit a professional attitude, diplomacy and an 

Ability to handle difficult situations. 

• Uphold gracious front desk procedures in the booking 

and handling of customers. 

• Maintain fresh, effective programs to consistently 

retain and grow customer base. 

• Develop and maintain compensation guidelines for 

customer complaint handling. 

Staffing & Human Resources 

• Develop a Recruitment Kit for effective recruiting, 

screening, interviewing and hiring. 

• Develop Value Packed Proposals and maintain internal 

staff retention programs. 

• Implement ongoing skills training to ensure service 

standards are being upheld. 

• Develop and monitor Job Descriptions and Staff Goals 

Planning 

• Create and maintain Staff Contracts, ensuring 

accuracy and compliance. 

• Perform Staff Evaluation Reports with proposed 

action plans. 

• Effectively administer and monitor Staff 

Scheduling procedures. 

• Demonstrate an exceptional level of professionalism 

for the staff to emulate. 

• Create a motivating environment of sincerity, warmth 

and fun for staff and guests. 

• Implement Negative Staff Behaviour and Dismissal 

guidelines with follow-through. 

Operations 

• Maintain an up to date version of the Spa Procedure 

Manual and ensure compliance. 

• Develop and maintain Spa literature, documentation 

and process handling requirements. 

• Attend Management meetings and convey all relevant 

information throughout the Spa. 

• Hold regular staff meetings to keep staff up to 

date on all aspects of the Spa’s operation. 

• Ensure equipment is maintained in good working order. 

• Maintain professional relationships with suppliers 

and providers. 

• Ensure stock and cash items are kept safely under lock 

and key. 

• Minimize or eliminate losses through negligence with 

monitoring programs. 

• Implement a clearly established opening and closing 

procedure. 

• Manage inventory effectively; follow purchasing 

standards; ensure compliance. 

I believe that when we create a Job Description, a Job Evaluation 

follows right behind it. We lay out our set of expectations, and 

we base pay increases on tangible results. Just a word of caution, 

as you attach these expectations to the Job Description, you must 

hold up your end of the deal with the aforementioned support, 

guidance, training and compensation. Let’s not burn out our Spa 

Directors, rather let’s set forth to deliberately develop these VIP’s 

into the business and human experts we really need them to be. 

To find out more about how you can educate yourself and your Spa 

Director to meet this ever expanding job title and run the business the 

best way possible, visit www.spas2b.com 

SPA 



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FOOD & BEVERAGE 

Do’s and Don’ts 

for Food Handlers 

Do: Clean and sanitize, prior to use, all choppers, grinders, 

slicing machines, cutting blocks, knives, and any other surface 

which potentially hazardous foods contact. 

Do: Wear suitable hair restraint to keep hair out of food. 

Do: Keep storage rooms clean. They quickly collect dirt, insects 

and old clothes. 

Do: Place all wet garbage and refuse containing food wastes in 

leak-proof containers with fly-tight covers. 

Do: Keep shoes, handbags, and other personal items in the 

lockers or other facilities which have been provided for this 

purpose. 

Don’t: Thaw frozen foods at room temperature. Thaw them 

in the refrigerator, under cool, potable running water, or by 

cooking. 

You have a great responsibility. The quality of the food to be 

consumed by the patrons is literally in your hands. Examine the 

food carefully. If there are any signs of spoilage or contamination, 

don’t take a chance. Discard it at once, or call it to the attention 

of your supervisor. The responsibility for the cleanliness of a large 

part of the establishment, a part that is usually out of sight of the 

patrons but none the less important, rests with you. Treat your 

work area as though there was a sign on the door that read “This 

Kitchen is Open for Inspection at all Times.” 

Do: Keep hot foods hot (140° F or higher) and cold foods cold 

(41° F or below) at all times. Remember that milk and milk 

products, poultry, fish, shellfish, meat, and many salads and salad 

dressings are potentially hazardous food. If these foods are not 

handled properly and kept at safe temperatures, they will spoil 

very quickly and may cause someone to get sick. 

Do: Keep all foods covered or otherwise protected from 

contamination while being sorted, handled or prepared. 

Don’t: Allow hot foods to cool at room temperature prior to 

placing them in the refrigerator. 

Don’t: Use your hands to handle food when a utensil or other 

suitable equipment is available to use. 

Don’t: Line refrigerator shelves with newspaper, foil, or any 

other material. Air circulation in refrigerators is essential to 

proper operation. 

Don’t: Allow unnecessary items and objects to accumulate. 

Throw away, or store elsewhere, all nonessential items which 

only make cleaning the kitchen and storage areas more difficult. 

Don’t: Allow vegetables, fruits, or other containers of food to 

stand on the floors. Dampness or spillage will spoil the foods, and 

the presence of these materials on the floor hinders cleaning. 

Don’t: Let spattering of grease collect on stoves, floors, or walls. 

Other dirt soon sticks to this and you have a mess which takes 

time and energy to remove. 

Do: Wash your hands thoroughly before beginning work, before 

handling potentially hazardous foods, and after using the toilet 

or performing any task which would result in soiled hands. 

Do: Check your refrigerators frequently for cleanliness and proper 

temperature. The temperature should never get above 41° F 

Do: Wash thoroughly in clean water all fruits and vegetables 

intended to be eaten raw. 

Don’t: Wash your hands in utensil-washing sinks or food 

preparation sinks. 

Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture 

Bureau of Food Safety and Laboratory Services 

2301 North Cameron Street 

Harrisburg, PA 17110-9408 

USA 

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13

RECIPE 

Italian style Maldivian Lobster Sashimi 

Renato Arlati 

Executive Chef 

Moofushi Island Resort 

Ingredients: 

Method: 

• 1 live lobster 500g. 

• place the lobster in boiling salted water 

• 2 leaves of fresh basil 

• 1 tablespoon of lemon juice 

• 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil 

• salt and white pepper 

Decoration: 

• remove after little over 30 seconds and 

Immediately place in ice water 

• carefully shell the lobster with a pair of scissors 

• keep the antennae and 2 legs aside 

• with a very sharp filleting knife slice the meat and 

with the help of the dull end of a mallet gently 

pound it until thin slices are obtained 

• 1 pair lobster antennae 

• 2 lobster legs 

• place the slices in a plate and marinate the meat 

with the basil, the lemon juice, a pinch of salt, a 

dash of white pepper and the olive oil 

• 1 leaf of iceberg lettuce 

• 1 celery stalk 

• 1 lemon wedge 

• let the marinated lobster rest in the fridge and 

serve it on a leaf of iceberg lettuce 

• garnish with the lobster antennae and legs, the 

celery stalk and the lemon wedge 

Created with the support of Mr. Salvatore Puma, General 

Manager and Mr. Siddiq, Sous Chef. 

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15

SERVICE 

You Never Know Whom You Are 

Serving 

By Susie Ross 

When the economy struggles as it is now, people want to tighten 

up the purse strings and watch every penny spent. The restaurant 

industry feels this just as surely as the malls and department stores 

do this year, perhaps more so. Dining out is a luxury most of us 

cut out first when watching our respective budgets. Does that 

mean we ease up on our customer service skills Absolutely not! 

I believe you cannot afford to let people eat in your restaurant 

once, only to determine that they will not come back, either in 

the near future or when their money flows easier. 

Perhaps you might consider spending the money now to train 

staff that would like to keep their jobs and still make money. 

Help them create future customers of the few you have now. 

The economy and our response to it are rather like a faucet; the 

water is at a trickle now. The faucet will be turned on again; the 

question is, “where will the water flow” You want it to be into 

your business. 

Recently in an article in The Rocky Mountain News, entitled 

“Smart Companies Put Customer First,” written by Harvey 

Mackay, he cited a story of how Herbert Marcus, one of the 

founders of Neiman Marcus, valued his customers. His son, the 

late Stanley Marcus, recounted the story: 

“A customer had ruined a dress she had obviously worn and 

was loudly demanding her money back. When Stanley seemed 

resistant, his father admonished him and told him to give the 

woman her money back, no questions asked. 

Later, Stanley argued with his father that the woman had worn 

and abused the dress and that the manufacturer would not 

help pay for it. His father replied that the woman wasn’t doing 

business with the manufacturer, she was doing business with 

Neiman Marcus. He didn’t want to lose a customer over a $175 

dress. 

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Years later, someone calculated that the woman had spent more 

than $500,000 at Neiman Marcus. The customers may not always 

be right, but it’s a good idea to let them think they are.”1 

This may not seem practical to a restaurant owner with a guest 

who has just eaten an entire plate of food, when he/she was 

asked if everything was prepared to his/her satisfaction shortly 

after serving the food. Yes, there are differences, but should you 

treat your guests differently than those of a department store I 

am not saying restaurants should adopt this policy. It’s a puzzle 

and only an individual owner/manager can determine the correct 

answer for his/her business. 

That is basically the end of the story. You can be assured that no 

one apologized to him for ignoring him. They happily took his 

money, though. According to Jerry, and I believe him, they won’t 

be receiving any more of his money in the future. 

Jerry didn’t complain to the hotel management; he didn’t think 

it would do any good. Who did he talk to His family, other 

guests, including me, all of whom were having their own issues 

with the hotel. We all certainly told other people. The tragedy 

for the hotel is that it is not only located in Oklahoma City; it is an 

international chain. People came from all over the United States 

and Canada for this wedding. 

SERVICE 

But let me pose another situation. I recently was part of a 

wedding party in Oklahoma City. The wedding and most of 

the guests were housed in a well-known hotel, noted for its 

outstanding customer service qualities. I must remark that it was 

indeed a physically attractive building; I can understand why my 

friends chose this particular hotel in which to have their wedding 

take place. The attraction ended with the marble floors, wood 

trim and beautiful draperies. 

Among many other things that were disastrous as far as customer 

service goes, this one event stood out to me as the epitome of 

judging someone by appearances and, happily enough, creates a 

great cornerstone to this month’s newsletter! 

The bride’s uncle and his wife drove up from a small town in 

Texas. I’ll call them Jerry and Marilyn. Jerry and his wife are 

unassuming in appearance and probably aged in their mid-sixties. 

When they drove up the afternoon before the wedding, in their 

very expensive, shiny black Corvette, the valets eagerly awaited 

the opportunity to jump behind the wheel of the car to drive it 

100 yards to a parking space. 

Marilyn spotted a family member and went to chat with her 

in the lobby while Jerry stood back from the counter waiting 

to be acknowledged. The hotel employees were assisting other 

guests. When they were finished with those guests, they saw no 

other would-be guests to whom they should be paying attention. 

They did see a maintenance man, dressed in dark work pants, 

work boots and a blue, striped shirt with a name patch, on which 

was embroidered the name “Jerry.” They ignored him. 

Now Jerry is a smart man, a businessman. He owns a company 

that paints commercial aircraft. It’s not a large, Fortune 500 

company, but he is successful at what he does, in part because 

he is a hands-on kind of business owner. He enjoys driving 

his Corvette and he is comfortable wearing his work clothes 

wherever he goes. As I stated, Jerry is a smart man and he 

understood what was happening. So he went to the counter 

and asked if he could check in. He was a little angry, but he was 

willing to let their ignorance go. However, the person he chose 

to talk to acted as if he might be insane to think that he could 

afford to stay in a hotel such as this. He skeptically began the 

check-in process. 

Statistics show that, instead of complaining to an organization 

directly, 96% of dissatisfied customers will gripe to an average of 

nine other people. 

You never know whom you are serving. Appearances can be 

deceiving. When you are serving a party of 65 for the holidays, 

know who the host is, whether it is an individual or a company. 

Also remember that the rest of the people, nameless as they 

may appear, all have names, careers, influence on others, and 

many have reasons and means to pay for a party of their own 

someday. Bad hair or a cheap-looking suit should not be taken 

for a bad person who has no value or influence. Besides being 

extremely rude to someone who is a guest and doesn’t deserve to 

be ignored, you may be quashing a future opportunity to make 

money and promote your business. 

I refer to my own website’s index page table: 

Some startling facts regarding the reasons restaurants lose 

customers: 

Customer dies 1% 

Moved away 3% 

Influenced by friends 5% 

Lured away by the competition 9% 

Dissatisfied with product 14% 

Turned away by an attitude of 68% 

indifference on the part of a 

company employee 

Can you afford to have your wait staff having an attitude of indifference 

toward your guests 

Source: THE PRYOR REPORT, Vol. 10, No. 4a 

Susie Ross has been involved in the hospitality industry for ten years. She 

has just written a definitive work on front of house customer service and 

techniques for waiters and waitresses. For more information about Susie’s 

book, “A Waiters Training,” her training manuals and training seminars 

please visit her at http://www.waiter-training.com or email her at susie@ 

waiter-training.com. 



17

MISCELLANEOUS 

What flavor is your management 

tea 

By Dan Bobinski 

When it comes to coffee or tea - I’m a coffee guy - I will 

occasionally get decadent and apply for a bank loan so I can 

get what my friends call a Froo-Froo Cappafluffa - a.k.a. Overly- 

Priced Coffee-Flavored-Milk - but most of the time I’m opting for 

a plain old cup-o-joe. 

What I’m really trying to say is I’m no expert in tea. I’ll leave that 

to my wife and the entire population of the United Kingdom. 

My preferred cup of tea has been described as barbaric by tealovers 

everywhere: Just give me a basic Lipton tea bag. No flavors 

necessary. Besides, I only drink tea when I have a cold, and even 

that’s rare. 

But one thing I like about watching people make tea: It’s symbolic. 

You take some leaves, put them in hot water, and the water 

changes. Some leaves make the water sweeter, some make it 

bitter. Sometimes the change is dramatic, sometimes it’s mild. 

When you find yourself in hot water, what kind of effect do 

you have on the environmentSo my question is “what flavor 

is your management tea” When you find yourself in hot water, 

what kind of effect do you have on the environment Do you 

become bitter and turn your surroundings bitter as well Or are 

you soothing, with a corresponding ripple effect on those around 

you Is the effect mild, or can people tell from far away what 

results you’re generating If you care at all about how deeply 

your coworkers engage, it behooves you to get feedback on how 

you handle yourself in a crisis - hot water, so to speak. Over the 

years, I’ve found that many people have no idea how they’re 

coming across and what kind of effect they have. 

Perhaps the best tool to get this information is a 360 feedback 

report. Although they’re touted by some and scorned by others, 

I believe that the usefulness of a 360 feedback is hard to beat 

- if it’s done well. 

Example: You may think you’re an idea-generating catalyst 

bringing innovation and valuable momentum to a team, while 

those around you perceive you to be an arrogant, egocentric 

grandstander who ignores or belittles the input of others. 

Upon learning of such perceptions you might realize why nobody 

offers up their opinion any more. It’s not because they’re lacking 

ideas or suggestions (as you’ve surmised), but rather they’re tired 

of being castigated publicly whenever they open their mouth. 

Another example may be the person who perceives himself to 

be a critical thinker, but is perceived by others to be a downer, 

always pointing out what could go wrong. Some companies 

wisely use a 360 approach when collecting information for 

annual performance reviews. 360’s are also useful when deciding 

what direction to take for a leadership or management coaching 

initiative, or for honing the skills of those being groomed for 

advancement. In fact, 360’s can measure perceptions in many 

areas - performance, integrity, communication, teamwork, and 

customer service are just a few. 

Because so many varieties of 360’s exist, don’t be hasty in 

choosing one. Do a little research on what’s available to you 

and choose carefully. If I could offer a few other suggestions, 

I strongly recommend anonymity for all contributors. The 

more anonymous the input, the more accurate it’s likely to be. 

Information collection must be well-thought out so the source of 

“who said what” remains secret. 

Second, I recommend the results of a 360 be delivered in private by 

someone trained to do so. The idea is to create plans for growth, 

development, and/or improvement in a “safe” environment - not 

blame, insult, cut down, or even soften or coddle the results. 

Perceptions, however painful, shouldn’t be glossed over; but 

they shouldn’t be delivered with callousness either. 

For those who’ve not heard about them before, 360 feedback 

reports gather information from coworkers about a person’s 

effectiveness. The “360” means a “full circle” view, in that 

feedback is gathered from all the perspectives around you: 

Superiors above you, peers alongside you, and those who are 

“under” you on the corporate ladder. Some versions include the 

opinions of customers! 

The purpose is to get feedback on your strengths and weaknesses 

- as perceived by others. The assumption is that perception 

is reality. You may think you’re behaving a certain way, but if 

everyone around you sees you acting otherwise, you can bet 

they’re responding to you in an “otherwise” fashion. 

Bottom line, the emotionally intelligent thing to do is know 

and understand your preferences, then adapt as necessary for 

optimal success. Not everyone likes tea, and not everyone likes 

coffee. I like my coffee, but I’m not going to force it on everyone. 

A good manager, like a good host, provides the flavors necessary 

for people to want to stay around and do their best. 

Dan Bobinski is an 18 year veteran in consulting on workplace 

issues. Visit his website at www.LeadershipAnswers.com, 

or interact with him at his blog: www.workplaceexcellence. 

wordpress.com 

18 






19

ENVIRONMENT 

Hotel Waste Reduction: 

Housekeeping 

By DPPEA 

A shampoo bottle a sugar packet a light bulb a note pad 

These are small items, but in guest rooms, they represent more 

than just dollars and cents. Each of these amenities can become 

an opportunity to improve the environmental image of your 

facility — whether you install refillable shampoo dispensers and 

energy-efficient lighting or reuse linens and purchase recycledcontent 

products. 

• Wait to replace tissues in bathrooms until dispensers 

are almost empty. Leave new rolls or boxes for the 

guests to replace. And if company policy is to replace 

half rolls, save them for use in employee rest rooms 

or as donations to shelters. Also consider using 

double rolls, which provide twice as much paper per 

roll. 

A typical occupied guest room generates between one to two 

pounds of waste on a non-checkout day; that amount doubles 

on checkout days. One study found waste levels for one room to 

be over 28 pounds per day, depending on the property type and 

the number of guests staying in the room. Regardless of exact 

figures, an estimated 80 percent of these wastes are recyclable. 

Measurable savings in waste disposal and energy and water use 

are available if guest rooms are targeted for waste reduction and 

other environmental activities. 

This fact sheet explains successful environmental efforts in guest 

rooms and outlines ways to reduce and recycle waste and conserve 

energy and water. It also suggests effective ways to communicate 

these efforts to guests and highlights the success of one property 

in implementing a sheet and towel reuse program. 

GREENING GUEST ROOMS 

Depending on the property type and customer base, some of 

these opportunities for cost-effective environmental initiatives in 

guest rooms will be more suitable than others. Try as many as 

you can. 

Reducing Waste 

Question the presentation and packaging of each amenity 

offered. Eliminating a product entirely or some packaging usually 

saves money because you do not have to pay for it up-front or 

again at disposal. Several examples of ways to reduce waste in 

guest rooms follow. 

• Reduce the volume of discarded newsprint generated 

by Giving out newspapers in a central location such 

as the lobby or restaurant rather than distributing 

them to each guest room. At check-in, ask guests 

whether they would like a newspaper, or provide a 

door hanger for those who want in-room delivery. 

• Eliminate unwanted or under-used amenities such as 

shower caps and shoe shine cloths — or offer them 

by request only. Eliminate plastic liners in ice buckets. 

• Donate to local charities products such as linens and 

furniture that still have useful life. 

• Try reusing materials. Re-cut linens that are damaged 

and make them into other necessary items such as 

chef scarves or aprons. Consider reusing stained bath 

towels as cleaning cloths. 

• Choose reusable or durable goods over disposables 

whenever possible. For example, provide reusable 

drinking glasses and coffee cups in guest rooms, and 

purchase sheets with high thread count for longer 

wear. Choose reusable baskets or plastic containers 

for guest laundry over disposable paper or plastic 

wrap. 

• Try refillable dispensers for shampoo, soap, lotion and 

conditioner. By choosing 24-ounce pump dispensers, 

the Boston Park Plaza eliminated over two million 

plastic bottles from its waste stream each year. The 

property used the money saved to buy higher quality 

products for the dispensers. Many properties also 

reduce waste by not replacing bars of soap for stay 

over guests. 

Recycling Waste 

Common recyclables from guest rooms include aluminum cans, 

glass and plastic bottles, and newspapers. Business travelers 

may also generate significant amounts of white office paper. A 

convenient way to collect recyclables from rooms is to use bags on 

the side of housekeeping carts; however, some carts are too full 

for any add-ons. In that case, consider placing bins in common 

areas such as near vending machines or elevators, but make sure 

to also place trashcans near any recycling bins in public areas to 

cut down on contamination. The best option may be to place 

bins under desks or in closets in individual rooms. Another option 

20 



is to request that guests leave recyclables on bathroom counters, 

dressers or tables so that the housekeeping staff does not need 

to dig through the trash. 

SERVICE 

Conserving Energy and Water 

A typical U.S. hotel uses 218 gallons of water per day per 

occupied room. Water-efficient fixtures can save 25to 30 percent 

on water and sewer bills with no loss of comfort to guests. These 

fixtures are an easy way to reduce water consumption with a 

short payback period. 

• By mixing air into the water flow, 

water-efficient showerheads and aerators reduce 

the actual amount of water leaving the faucet while 

maintaining good water pressure. 

• Low-flow toilets are also designed to perform with 

less water without sacrificing performance. A good 

alternative for older, water-wasting toilets is toilet 

dams or flappers. By limiting the amount of water 

flushed from the bowl, these water conservation 

devices reduce water use and costs. 

Another water and energy saving approach is to offer guests the 

option to keep the same sheets and towels for stays of more than 

one night. Properties all across the country, from resort properties 

to Holiday Inns, place sheet and towel placards in rooms explaining 

to guests the environmental impacts of changing sheets and 

towels daily. Such reuse of linens not only saves thousands of 

gallons of water, it keeps another batch of detergent from being 

dumped into waterways. Additionally, facilities can save 50 cents 

per day per occupied room on laundry and toweling costs by 

reusing linens. Preprinted cards are available from the American 

Hotel & Motel Association. 

Consider using more efficient lighting in guest rooms. Depending 

on the choice of lamps, an energy savings of 50 percent or more 

is possible when rooms are occupied. The following options are 

available: 

• Compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs). These lamps 

produce more diffuse light than incandescents, so an 

appropriate wattage is important. Consider CFLs in 

the 22- to 38-watt range to keep rooms bright and 

ensure guest comfort. Bathrooms maybe a good 

place to start with CFLs as research shows 

that bathroom lights have the longest burning hours 

(possibly because they are often used as night lights). 

Caution: A concern with screw-in CFLs in desk lamps 

is that they can be easily stolen. To circumvent this 

risk, lamps are being hard-wired to new, specifically 

designed fixtures from which they cannot 

be unscrewed. These fixtures are somewhat more 

expensive, but they prevent theft and save money 

over time. 



21

ENVIRONMENT 

• Make sure employees, especially front desk and room 

service staff, can accurately and clearly respond to 

guest questions about the waste reduction options in 

effect. 

• Whenever possible, convey your message in easy-tounderstand 

terms with visual descriptions; for 

example, instead of telling guests that the property 

has recycled 100 tons, tell them how many trees or 

how much energy was saved. 

CASE STUDY 

• Another option is to use long-life or lower wattage 

lamps in guest rooms. 

Occupancy sensors are energy-saving devices that can trigger 

lighting and heating/air conditioning units when guests enter 

the room and/or lighting in closets. Some properties have keyactivated 

systems that automatically turn off when people exit 

the room and are reactivated upon re-entry. If sensors are not an 

option, have housekeepers turn off lights and turn HVAC units 

back to specified temperatures when rooms are unoccupied. 

The 281-room Radisson Hotel in Asheville, N.C., has allowed 

guests to choose to keep linens or towels for stays of more 

than one night. This effort has not only saved person-hours, 

detergent, and hot water, it has also limited wear and tear on 

linens, washing machines and dryers. And to top it off, costs 

have dropped over 30 percent, from about $1.15 to $0.75 per 

load. 

Here’s how it works: when rooms are made up, a special card is 

placed on the bed asking guests to leave the card on the bed the 

next day if they wish to keep the same sheets and towels. When 

housekeepers see the card, they know the sheets and towels do 

not need to be changed. Of course, rooms are totally stripped 

between guests. 

INFORMING YOUR GUESTS 

Many ways exist to inform guests of the property’s environmental 

initiatives. Send the messages clearly and often to avoid any 

confusion or misunderstanding. Use as many of the following 

techniques as possible to educate guests. 

• Send an environmental message with reservation 

confirmations. For example, announce that guests 

can recycle papers and beverage containers 

throughout the hotel, and give a number that they 

can call for more information. 

• Require staff to inform guests and check-in of 

environmental efforts such as the option tore use 

sheets and towels. 

• Use placards in rooms to inform guests of 

environmental efforts; for example, signs in 

bathrooms can tell how much waste the refillable 

dispensers for soap and shampoo have eliminated. 

Training housekeeping staff is critical to success, according to 

Bob Ray, Rooms Division manager at the Radisson. He suggests 

starting with a trial run. Make instructions available in the 

primary language of your housekeepers (Spanish, in this case), 

and test their knowledge. For example, have inspectors mark 

sheets and set-up various scenarios. Then check whether the 

proper instructions were followed for each scenario. 

Your best measure of success will be guest response. Many luxury 

or upper-tier facilities are nervous about initiating such programs. 

According to Ray, their fears are unfounded. He’s heard only two 

complaints in 8,000 room nights; in that same period, he’s had 

over 25 written compliments. 

The N.C. Division of Pollution Prevention and Environmental Assistance 

(DPPEA) provides free, non-regulatory technical assistance and training 

on methods to eliminate, reduce or recycle wastes before they become 

pollutants or require disposal. Telephone DPPEA at (919) 715-6500 or 

(800) 763-0136 or e-mail at nowaste@p2pays.org for further information 

about the issues discussed in this fact sheet or to discuss any of your waste 

reduction concerns. 

• Place signs near recycling bins in public areas or guest 

rooms that clearly show acceptable recyclable 

materials and that explain the positive environmental 

impact of recycling. 

22 



MISCELLANEOUS 



23


24 



LOCAL NEWS 

German Master Baker tours Maldives 

Mr. Ingo Wenseritt, Master Baker and Baking Engineer of IREKS 

GMBH Germany, is visiting the Maldives for a period of two 

weeks to support, improve and demonstrate baking methods 

and to teach the latest innovations on how to use IREKS Bread 

Improvers and Pre-mixes to the Maldives market. 

quality control system serves as a highly sensitive monitoring 

facility for all raw materials, checking them for minute levels of 

heavy metal and pesticides – down to 1 gram of toxic substance 

in 1,000,000 tons of raw material. 

According to Mr. Ingo Wenseritt, one of the secrets to the 

success and popularity of the company and its products is the 

easy accessibility for technical support from throughout the Asia- 

Pacific region. “I visit the Maldives and other countries where we 

have customers of IREKS products regularly, spending an average 

of two weeks on each visit. For instance, when I am visiting 

Maldives, I make it a point to visit the hotels and resorts that use 

our products. I train the staff in baking new varieties of bread 

and also offer them any other support they request for. I think 

this is very important for a company such as ours where the final 

product is very much dependant on the teamwork of a number 

of professionals.” 

According to Mr. Wenseritt, IREKS was started in 1856 by Johann 

Peter Ruckdeschel, a German Master Baker and Home Brewer in 

the town of Klumbach in Germany. Since the beginning in 1856, 

IREKS has remained within the family and has developed over the 

years, now employing 1800 people and serves over 70 countries. 

The company has been represented in the Maldives since the year 

2000 by Bestbuy Maldives (Pvt.) Ltd. 

Quality control and consumer safety are given the highest priority 

at IREKS. Equipped with all the latest hi-tech apparatus, the IREKS 

During his two week visit, Mr. Wenseritt will be traveling to a 

number of resorts where he will be mostly working with chefs. 

These resorts include some of the most established as well as 

those upcoming resorts who are interested in quality products. 

While he might not be able to attend to all the customers of 

IREKS during the visit, he is available via email for any queries 

you might have throughout the year (wenseritt@csloxinfo. 

com). Additionally, you can also make an appointment with Mr. 

Wenseritt for his next trip to the Maldives through IREKS’ local 

partner, Bestbuy Maldives (Pvt.) Ltd. Alternatively, Mr. Mazloom 

(General Manager) at Bestbuy can also be contacted for any 

assistance; Mobile: 7782580 



25


Are you in breach of the 

Communication Contract 

By Helen Wilkie 

Under the terms of what we call “The Communication 

Contract” every message sent out must be received and 

understood by someone - somewhere. If that does not happen, 

there is no communication because someone has breached the 

contract. How can we be in breach of the contract Well, as the 

poet said, “Let me count the ways.” 

When someone else is speaking, you are usually silent. But if you 

are running over your reply in your mind and waiting until the 

other person finishes so that you can jump in, that’s not listening. 

Instructions, information, messages, news—all of it goes in one 

ear and out the other without any interference from the brain. 

Oops—breach! 

Oral communication 

Written communication 

Have you ever gone into a store to buy technical equipment 

without a lot of knowledge of the technology Some time ago, 

I bought a digital camera. When I approached the salesman in 

a major photography store, he launched into a long technical 

explanation of the various models and prices—lots of talk about 

pixels, resolution, capacity, and other mysterious attributes of 

digital cameras. I had no idea what he was talking about. It 

apparently never occurred to him to ask me about my level of 

familiarity with the technology, or what I wanted to do with it. As 

a result, he expressed his message in his own language, not mine, 

and it was neither received nor understood. Oops—breach! 

Do you have someone in your organization whose constant 

lament is “Nobody ever tells me anything around here” Did you 

ever hear that person say, “I never listen” Probably not, but 

that’s usually the problem. Most of us don’t listen as well as we 

think, and some people never listen at all. Contrary to common 

belief, listening and hearing are not the same thing. 

Hearing involves only our ears. Sound reverberates off our 

eardrums, producing words we can recognize, as well as other 

sounds we must interpret. It happens all the time, even with 

s o u n d s we don’t consciously notice: traffic in the 

street, radio or television playing in 

the background, the conversation 

When it comes to the written word, far too many business letters 

are jargon-filled pages, sent to people who don’t understand this 

inside language. Is the reader a member of your company, your 

organization, your industry or profession If so, a certain amount 

of jargon may be appropriate. After all, jargon evolves because 

it is often the best means of communication among members 

of a particular group. The problem arises, however, when we 

forget that a particular reader may not understand our “inside 

language”. For example, do you know what the following terms 

mean 

1. full bleed 

2. GAAP 

3. to die intestate 

4. term life 

5. laproscopic procedure 

If you were a printer or graphic designer, you would know No. 

1 means the ink covers the paper right to the edge of the sheet. 

An accountant would know No. 2 stands for Generally Accepted 

Accounting Principles. Any lawyer could tell you No. 3 refers to a 

person who dies without making a will. To the insurance industry, 

No. 4 represents a type of insurance policy, and surgeons perform 

No. 5 when they make perform a specialized 

type of surgery with the 

help of 

at the 

n e x t 

table in a 

restaurant. 

But that’s not 

listening Listening, 

on the other hand, involves 

not only ears, but also mind, 

eyes, smile and even body. 

Your mind processes the sounds 

you hear into a coherent message, 

while your eyes and body convey 

to the speaker that you are, in fact, 

receiving and understanding the 

message. 

computers 

a n d 

c a m e r a s . 

So there is 

no reason why 

you should know 

all these terms from 

various industries and 

professions, and it’s 

important to remember that 

other people have no reason to 

know yours. Outside your group, 

use plain language that people will 

26 




understand. Jargon is a useful communication tool created for a 

good purpose—but greatly misused. Oops—breach! 

You may not have thought about reading as a communication 

technique, but it is an important part of the contract. A child 

died in hospital in unusual circumstances. At the hearing, 

a nurse testified that she didn’t properly read the doctor’s 

instructions about monitoring. There was nothing wrong with 

the instructions—she just didn’t read them properly, and a child 

died. Sadly, this story is true, and it illustrates a serious breach 

with tragic consequences. 

Non-verbal communication 

How can non-verbal messages breach the contract Well, have 

you ever called someone and listened to a voicemail greeting 

delivered in a flat monotone Do you feel inclined to believe 

that this person will be pleased to do anything, let alone call 

you back The words say one thing, but the tone says another. 

Oops—breach! 

And what about company presidents who stand up before the 

press or shareholders and say, “Our employees are our most 

important assets”—and then proceed to close a plant and put 

900 of their most important assets out of work The words say 

one thing, the actions another. Oops—breach! 

It’s important that there be congruence among the written, spoken 

and non-verbal clauses of The Communication Contract. If the 

words say one thing but the actions or body language another, 

the non--verbal cue will always be believed. Think what that can 

do to your credibility. 

When you consider how easy it is to breach The Communication 

Contract without even noticing, it’s no wonder we have so 

much difficulty getting our message across. 

© 2006 Helen Wilkie All Rights Reserved. You may reprint this article for 

your online or print publication so long as you include the complete article 

and the following paragraph: 

Helen Wilkie is a professional speaker, consultant and author who helps 

companies do better business through better communication. Her latest 

book is “The Hidden Profit Center”. To received free monthly tips and 

techniques on communication, visit www.mhwcom.com or www. 

HiddenProfitCenter.com and sign up for “Communi-keys”. Reach Helen 

Wilkie at 416-966-5023 or hwilkie@mhwcom.com 



27

LOCAL NEWS 

Bar Supervisor from Anantara Resort Maldives 

excels at Tea Sommelier Competition 

Debendra Kumar Ojha, Bar Supervisor from Anantara Resort 

Maldives, takes on 1st runner-up at Asia Pacific Dilmah Tea 

Sommelier Competition 

Debendra Kumar Ojha, Bar Supervisor from Anantara Resort 

Maldives, proudly took on 1st runner up place at the first ever Asia 

Pacific Tea Sommelier Competition which was held in Colombo, 

Sri Lanka on 27th March, 2007. Dilmah Tea in collaboration with 

the Chefs Guild of Lanka and endorsed by The World Association 

of Chefs Societies (WACS Asia Pacific Region) started the Asia 

Pacific Tea Sommelier competition for tea sommeliers in the 

region to compete and showcase their skills and creativity using 

the finest Ceylon tea as the main base. 

in the makings of his own original concoctions and impressed the 

judges with the flavours and presentation of his Redberries Iced 

Tea as a tea cocktail, Lemon Lime Cobler as a tea mocktail and 

the classic Earl Grey Tea for the hot tea beverage. 

Guests at Anantara Resort Maldives can take a stroll down to 

Aqua bar and sip one of the award-winning tea concoctions 

by Ojha and at the same time relax and be mesmerized by the 

stunning infinity pool overflowing into the expansive turquoise 

lagoon. In the evening, order the irresistibly sexy Redberries Iced 

Tea cocktail served in the champagne glass as you watch the 

beautiful sunset on the beach. 

For press enquiries please contact: 

Seventeen countries from the Asia Pacific region participated 

in the competition with an audience consisting of Dilmah Tea 

representatives and distributors from around 90 countries. Each 

participant was required to prepare and present tea cocktail, 

tea mocktail and a hot tea beverage and they were judged by 

a nominated member of the Chef Associations of each country. 

The judging criteria was based on utilisation of Tea and actual 

taste of Tea, creativity, presentation, and working technique and 

timing. Ojha exemplified his skills, innovation and showmanship 

Marion Walsh – Brand Director of Public Relations 

Tel: + 66 (0) 2877 5803 Ext. 28 Fax: + 66 (0) 2877 7497 

Mobile : + 66 (0) 89 811 3829 

Email: mwalsh@anantara.com 

Janice Nopvichai – Director of Public Relations, Anantara Maldives 

Tel : + 960 664 4100 

Mobile : +960 980 8865 

Email : jnopvichai@minornet.com 

28 






29

TRAINING 

Developing Departmental Trainers 

By Dave Wheelhouse, CHRE and Chris Longstreet, CHA 

Training activities that focus on operational procedures and skills are 

generally conducted either by department managers or individuals 

designated as department trainers. There are no hard and fast rules 

about whether the manager should conduct skills training or delegate it 

to department supervisors or to talented employees. The general principle 

that should guide the decision of “who” is consistency. If some employees 

are taught one way and others are taught a different way or not at all, 

the result is confusion in the work area and the failure to provide the level 

of the guest service desired. The greatest consistency comes from using 

the same trainer as much as possible and effectively communicating the 

performance standards of the job. 

Performance standards are the observable, measurable benchmarks by 

which you decide when the job is well done. Performance standards 

should not restrict employee initiative, but should enable employees to 

know when they are doing their jobs right. For example, if giving fast 

service is important, one of the standards for restaurant cashiers might be 

“a complete transaction should be rung up within one minute – if more 

than four people are waiting to pay for their checks, call for assistance.” 

About 20 clearly defined standards per job may be enough to determine if 

an employee is performing the job well. It is the manager’s responsibility to 

ensure that performance standards within the department are compatible 

with the overall goals of the organization. 

For training to be properly received, those leading the training must create 

the right climate through an effective approach and attitude toward 

training. Trainers act in three capacities: 

1. As a master craftsman – the expert – passing skills on 

to an apprentice 

2. As a coach – teaching and refining the skills of the 

players (employees) 

3. As a role model – for every person that is trained. 

Training involves so much more than merely lecturing or passing along 

information. The trainers mission is to share experience and develop the 

talents of the employees. Establish an atmosphere of trust by displaying a 

sincere interest in the trainee as an individual and clearly expressing your 

desire to help him or her succeed. A good trainer sees the job through 

another’s eyes. 

When people experience difficulties in performing new tasks, they may 

become discouraged and develop a self-defeating attitude. On the other 

hand, as they achieve success in learning new skills, their self-esteem 

grows and their confidence in doing a good job improves. Effective 

training allows trainees to develop pride in their abilities. 

If a manager doesn’t have the time or qualities to become a good 

trainer, it is preferable to turn the skills training function over 

to someone else. Obviously, managers of large departments 

or teams may be unable to handle all of the training activities 

without assistance. Regardless of the size of the department or 

team, the manager cannot avoid the responsibility of the training 

function. The accountability for seeing that every employee is 

trained cannot be delegated. 

30 



When selecting a trainer for your team, consider that a good 

trainer may not always be the supervisor or employee who had 

the least difficulty in learning the job. In fact, the best trainer 

may be an employee who had more difficulty than most in 

learning the skills of the job. They, most likely, excel at the job! 

Employees who become effective trainers are generally those 

who are: 

TRAINING 

• Good judges of skill and talent 

• Objective 

• Aware, understanding, and accepting of the 

differences in people 

• Good at listening and communicating 

• Good role models for the department 

• Optimistic about the job, the department, 

and the company 

Good trainers take pride in their work and give attention to detail, 

accuracy, and neatness. They are logical, patient, good planners, 

and are tactful, cooperative, helpful, sincere, and honest. They 

have a sense of humor and make friends easily. Obviously, 

finding good trainers isn’t easy, but once found, they may prove 

to be your best and most valuable employees. 

Individuals selected as trainers must be taught how to train, given 

adequate feedback, and rewarded for their effort. Give trainers 

more contact with you than you give the average employee. 

Monitor performance more often and show support for their 

efforts. 

No matter who conducts actual training activities, the department 

manager is responsible for defining and communicating the 

team’s goals and values. Even when routine skills training is 

delegated to a supervisor or lead employee, the manager must 

continue to monitor and evaluate the progress of the trainees, 

show a sincere interest in their efforts, and communicate to them 

that quality and consistency are important. 

Adapted from Managing Human Resources in the Hospitality Industry by 

David Wheelhouse, CHRE (Educational Institute of the AH&LA, Lansing, 

MI, 1989) For more information on the SOCIETY FOR HOSPITALITY 

MANAGEMENT, visit our website at www.hospitalitysociety.org or call us 

at 616 457-3646. 



31

LOCAL NEWS 

Raffles to manage luxury resort 

in Gaafu Alifu Atoll 

By ehotelier.com 

Raffles Hotels & Resorts announced that it will manage a 49- 

villa luxury resort, Raffles Resort Konottaa, its first venture in the 

Maldives. The resort, owned and developed by Platinum Capital 

Holdings Pvt Ltd, is located at the pristine and the newly-developed 

Gaafu Alifu atoll, in the southern part of the Maldives. 

Scheduled to open in Spring 2008, Raffles Resort Konottaa 

features 49 duplex villas, all with individual plunge pools. The 

duplex villas, of which 22 are over-the-water villas, are the first 

of its kind in Maldives. The water villas, which have an additional 

Jacuzzi pool, are set in secluded surroundings and enjoy 

unobstructed spectacular ocean views. 

The villas, spread over an expansive 1,250 to 3,700 square feet, 

will be designed with a contemporary edge, but yet embrace the 

best of Maldivian architecture with tropical accents and details 

from the region. 

Guests who seek the spa experience can rejuvenate and indulge 

at RafflesAmrita Spa, a sanctuary of calm and pampering luxury 

treatments. The brand name is derived from an ancient Sanskrit 

legend in which deities searched for Amrita, an elixir that would 

grant them eternal youth. Launched in 2000, there is now a 

RafflesAmrita Spa in all the Raffles properties in the world and 

several such as RafflesAmrita Spa in Raffles The Plaza and Raffles 

Hotel in Singapore, Raffles Le Montreux Palace, Raffles Resort 

Canouan Island, The Grenadines have received awards as best 

spa in their respective destinations. 

One of the top leisure destinations of the world, the Maldives 

is ranked 8th in the world with the fastest rates of tourism and 

travel growth, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council 

(WTTC) and Oxford Economic Forecasting (OEF). With a tourism 

growth rate of 7.2%, Maldives is forecast as one of the top ten 

countries in the world’s tourism industry. 

“This is another milestone for the Group, as we extend the 

Raffles presence to one of the premier travel destinations of the 

world,” commented Mrs. Diana Ee Tan, Managing Director of 

Raffles Hotels & Resorts. “The Southern Gaafu Alifu atoll, with 

its pristine waters and untouched surroundings is certain to be a 

haven for the discerning traveler in search of paradise and luxury. 

We are extremely gratified that Platinum Capital Holdings has 

entrusted Raffles to manage this luxury jewel.” 

Mr. Mohammed Shaweed, President & Chief Executive Officer, 

Platinum Capital Holdings Pvt Ltd, said, “We are delighted with 

our partnership with Raffles Hotels & Resorts. The name Raffles 

represents a promise to provide the best. Its uncompromising 

standards in products and service are well renowned and 

legendary. We believe that the Raffles difference will set a new 

benchmark in the Maldives.” 

This new venture, Raffles Resort Konottaa, marks Raffles Hotels & 

Resorts’ expansion into the top leisure destinations of the world, 

and reaffirms the brand’s global position as a leading and much 

sought after management group. 

A tantalizing selection of food and beverage options awaits 

guests. They may choose to dine at a specialty restaurant, an 

all-day casual dining restaurant or at the elegant Grill Room for 

exquisite fine dining. The culinary creations by Raffles chefs will 

feature specialties from the region and the freshest catch from 

the sea. For glorious sunsets, guests can unwind with signature 

cocktails at the Main Bar, which overlooks breathtaking ocean 

vistas. 

Guests will also have access to an extensive library of DVDs at the 

resort, while the more energetic may choose to practice on a golf 

simulator, play tennis, scuba dive or snorkel at some of the most 

untouched and spectacular coral reefs in the Maldives. Other 

water sports include catamaran sailing and deep-sea fishing. 

Accessibility to Raffles Resort Konottaa is made seamless through 

a 50-minute flight from Male to Kaadedhdhoo airport, and a 

relaxed 15-minute ride on the well-appointed Raffles speedboat 

to the resort paradise. 

Raffles is a collection of luxury hotels around the globe that distinguishes 

itself through the highest standards of products and services. Each hotel 

is a landmark in its respective city, positioned at the top of its local market 

and rated among the very best in the world. 

Raffles’ relentless pursuit of service excellence has earned for its hotels 

and resorts a legion of international accolades, including Condé Nast 

World’s Best Places to Stay and Travel & Leisure World’s Best Awards. Its 

flagship, Raffles Hotel Singapore, was named Best Luxury Hotel 2006 by 

Travel Trade Gazette Asia. Raffles Hotels & Resorts was ranked second 

among the world’s top hotel brands in the 2006 Condé Nast Traveler 

Business Travel Awards. The award-winning collection of legendary 

hotels includes Raffles Hotel and Raffles The Plaza in Singapore, Raffles 

Grand Hotel d’Angkor, Siem Reap, Cambodia, Raffles Hotel Le Royal, 

Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Raffles Beijing Hotel, People’s Republic of China, 

Raffles L’Ermitage Beverly Hills, California, Raffles Resort Canouan Island, 

The Grenadines, Raffles Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten, Hamburg, Germany and 

Raffles Le Montreux Palace, Montreux, Switzerland. Raffles Dubai, United 

Arab Emirates, will open in the third quarter of 2007. 

32 



LOCAL NEWS 



33


34 



SALES & MARKETING 


Branding Standards or 

Standardisation 

By Patrick Goff 

The move by many groups from being property owning operators 

to being brand franchisors is gathering pace around the world 

and truly global brands are being created. Franchising enables 

growth to be speedy and to penetrate new territory using local 

knowledge and finance to create new branded units. 

Branding however carries risks as well as the advantage of major 

international marketing clout through a strong identity. As a 

designer I worked for many individual hoteliers and one medium 

sized and one major brand for twenty years, completing over 

400 hotel projects in that time, ranging from small conversions 

(a stable block into four bedrooms for example) through rolling 

refurbishment programmes to major extensions and new build 

resort hotels of up to 400 bedrooms. 

Often this kind of homogenisation is not acceptable to travellers 

either who want the brand standard but also want to feel that 

they are in a different state, to have an interior that reflects the 

location of their hostelry. Most difficult in this kind of approach is 

when dealing with a non-standard building, where considerable 

adaptation of the brand scheme may be required. Variety is after 

all the spice of life and should be possible within the brand 

standards 

Another drawback of implementing this kind of standard scheme 

is that it removes from the brand the ability to change and grow 

with market conditions. A good designer is a honeybee, carrying 

the pollen of ideas and change from hotel group to hotel group. 

Removing the pollen stops fertilisation and creates stasis. 

In all instances the client saw design as a major tool in setting 

the character and sales ‘characteristics’ of the hotel. Yet in no 

instance was the design brief phrased in such a way as to limit 

the initiative or creativity of our design studio. Nor was the brand 

standard compromised or damaged. We were able to interpret 

and develop the brand through reflecting the local culture and 

identity, whilst retaining a family likeness to previous designs 

thereby keeping the brand identity and standards intact but 

developing them. 

The brand finds itself losing ground against competition, or 

maybe a franchisee acts to improve the standard of his unit 

causing the brand to look again at its own standards, or exciting 

other franchisees with the quality and causing problems for the 

franchisor in turn. Lack of progress through design leaves the 

brand behind the changes to be seen elsewhere in the hotel 

industry. Brand ceases to be brand but becomes bland, the first 

step to decay. 

Recently I have spoken with major brands on how they are 

retaining their brand identity across continents and have become 

concerned that the management of design is being achieved 

by actually removing the design concept and replacing it with a 

brand implementation. Some have said that they have bedroom 

schemes that are implemented by the builder and that there is no 

need for a designer to be involved. 

This is not always acceptable to communities whose architectural 

heritage is valuable to them, nor on a site where the setting of 

the architecture matters to the local community preventing a 

standard unit being implemented. 

Design is a tool for increasing market share and exciting the 

traveller. Used with success by some chains such as Rocco Forte 

Hotels, invested in heavily by others to create new excitement in 

their property empire such as Starwood’s under Barry Sternlicht, 

brand does not need to be bland. The rôle of the designer is 

crucial in interpreting the brand standards against the highest 

standards elsewhere. The designer is the grain of sand that 

makes pearls of individual hotels – set your standards, trust the 

designer and none of us will be losers. 

www.hoteldesigns.net 



35

SERVICE 

What Customers Really Want 

By Kelley Robertson 

“R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Find out what it means to me.” 

Although Aretha Franklin was referring to relationships when she 

sang these words, they relate to the business world – more so 

now than ever before. 

Although respect means something different to most people, 

there is one certainty – good customer service is at the heart of 

it. Here are four strategies you can use to keep your customers 

coming back: 

1. Under promise, over deliver. 

Although this seems fundamentally simple, the consistent 

execution is challenging. In our haste to please people and close 

sales, we often make promises we can’t keep. We tell a customer 

we will deliver by 3:00 P.M. forgetting that we made a similar 

commitment to several other people. We promise to return a call 

by the end of the day but get caught up in other tasks and forget. 

Or, a salesperson tells a client that a back-ordered product will 

be available on a certain day without first confirming this. These 

situations end up causing us stress and strain the relationships 

we have developed with our customers. Avoid these types of 

problems by thinking through your decision before you make a 

commitment. 

2. Hire the right people. 

My wife and I recently shopped at a local supermarket. The 

cashier smiled and struck up a conversation with us as she rang 

through our order. Another cashier who was not busy stepped 

over to bag our order and also smiled and talked to us. There was 

a friendly energy in the store and as we left, my wife said, “That 

is why I shop here.” 

In addition to creating a good working environment, the 

management team also hired the right people. Front line staff 

have a tremendous impact on your business. But many managers 

make the mistake of focusing strictly on technical skills when 

they interview and hire new employees. Invest the time to hire 

individuals who have excellent interpersonal skills and who can 

relate well to other people. Ask questions such as: 

“Tell me about a difficult customer problem you have had to deal 

with in the past.” “What would you do if you were faced with 

this situation…” 

“Have you ever had a customer yell at you How did you 

respond” You can always teach someone the technical aspect 

of a job. However, you cannot teach someone to have the right 

attitude. 

36 



3. Proactive communication. 

I once ordered furniture from a national chain and was told it 

would be delivered on a certain day – it was on back order at 

the time I made the purchase. I called the company the day 

before the furniture was to be delivered only to be told that it 

was still on back order. Had I not made the call, I would not have 

discovered this until the next day – when my furniture would not 

have been delivered. It would have been simple for the company 

to notify me and preempt my frustration. 

LOCAL NEWS 

In another situation, I was told a service person would drop by my 

home by 1:00 P.M. on a particular day to give me an estimate on 

a repair. Two hours after the scheduled appointment, I received a 

call telling me that he would not be able to drop by until the next 

day. As a result, I wasted two hours of my time waiting for him. 

When things go wrong, and in business they often do, it is how 

you respond that makes a difference. Don’t make your customer 

call you, call them instead. A small local repair shop makes this 

their policy. When a customer brings an item in for service, they 

give that person an approximate time frame when the product 

will be ready. Then they tell the customer, “We will call you when 

it is fixed so you don’t have to waste your time checking with 

us.” It is little wonder this business continues to flourish even in 

a challenging economy. 

4. When you make a mistake, apologize. 

Most people can accept mistakes, providing they are treated with 

respect afterwards. This past summer I was inconvenienced on 

several occasions by different businesses, yet not one bothered 

to extend an apology to me. In each situation, an apology would 

have quickly and easily remedied the problem. However, their 

lack of concern to the problem – which was caused by the 

organization itself – caused me to stop doing business with each 

company. 

Competition is fierce in every industry. Yet, it is very easy to 

differentiate yourself from your competition by showing your 

customers respect. This behavior starts at the top, with you, the 

owner or manager. The leader of the business must treat both his 

customers and employees with respect if he expects his team to 

take care of the customers. Companies that treat customers with 

respect will always thrive, as long as they provide a good product 

or service at a competitive price. 

Respect your customers’ time, feelings, opinions, beliefs, and 

business and they will respect you. 

Copyright 2004 Kelley Robertson. All rights reserved 

Kelley Robertson, President of the Robertson Training Group, works with 

businesses to help them increase their sales and motivate their employees. 

He is also the author of “Stop, Ask & Listen – Proven sales techniques to turn 

browsers into buyers.” Visit his website at www.RobertsonTrainingGroup. 

com and receive a FREE copy of “100 Ways to Increase Your Sales” by 

subscribing to his 59-Second Tip, a free weekly e-zine. 



37

NEWS 

Leaders from luxury resorts and prestigious spas 

will participate in Planning the Future of the Spa 

& Wellness Industry 

Asia-Pacific Spa & Wellness Council (APSWC) marks its first anniversary with an Invitation 

Only Strategic Planning Forum hosted at the Conrad Bali Resort in Bali, Indonesia 

Bali, Indonesia March 27, 2007-- Asia-Pacific Spa & Wellness 

Council (APSWC), the region’s leading proactive spa industry 

council, marked its first anniversary with a strategic planning 

forum revealing ground-breaking new developments. APSWC 

council members representing 18 countries in the Asia-Pacific 

and Middle East formed the back bone of the leadership forum. 

Present were senior management of large companies that 

influence the industry through their regional presence, individuals 

or companies that lead the industry through innovation and fresh 

approaches. 

About APSWC 

regulators and industry professionals, and thereby create positive 

force for change. The Council will operate as a group of interested 

parties and will actively seek input and guidance throughout the 

Industry at all levels while working on various assignments. 

About Conrad Bali Resort & Spa 

The luxury Conrad Bali Resort & Spa is located on the southern 

coast of the island of Bali and is an ideal venue for the Asia- 

Pacific Spa & Wellness Council Forum. The Resort’s expert 

meeting planners provide each client with a complete array of 

excellent services and facilities, custom designed agendas. 

Asia-Pacific Spa Wellness Council is a regional body which 

links the national spa associations of the Asia-Pacific nations. 

The Council was formed to meet the challenges presented by 

the evolution and growth of the Asian Pacific spa industry. In 

addition to gathering and communicating market information 

and resources, APSWC’s planned activities for the region include: 

identifying and recommending appropriate standards, training 

resources, and performance benchmarks and establishing a code 

and best practices format to be adopted throughout the region. 

It’s important that local representation becomes a focus while 

looking at the region guides in it’s entirety including a range of 

topics relevant to Asia-Pacific countries. 

“Conrad Bali Resort & Spa is honoured and privileged to play 

host to the prestigious 2007 Asia-Pacific Spa & Wellness Council. 

As this is an anniversary event it is of particular significance to 

our resort.” says Michael Burchett, General Manager Conrad Bali 

Resort & Spa. 

Conrad Bali Resort & Spa received top honors as Best New Beach 

Resort from TTG Asia in the 16th Annual Readers Choice Awards 

and was named one of the best new hotels in the world by Condé 

Nast Traveler in the publication’s annual Hot List for 2005. 

Editors Notes 

Council will act behind the scenes - establishing, guiding and 

supporting national associations so that they can provide 

maximum benefit to their members. 

The Council is developing strong partnerships with like-minded 

industry leaders, and utilises a united voice to educate consumers, 

APSWC Officers: Samantha Foster (Chairperson), Mary Darling (Vice Chair) 

and Carina Chatlani (Media Relations). 

FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT: 

Carina Chatlani | t/ +1 818-789-2020 

Asia-Pacific Spa & Wellness Council (APSWC) 

Communication: http://spawellnesscouncil.com/ 

38 



LOCAL NEWS 



39


Why the Design of Your Hotel 

Web Site Matters 

It’s more than just Personal Taste 

By Neil Salerno, CHME, CHA 

With so many hotels relying on the Internet to help fill their 

rooms, it amazes me that there are still so many hotel web sites 

that are not designed to produce room reservations. After-all 

isn’t that the primary reason why hotel sites are published to 

the Internet to begin with It’s also shocking that so many web 

site designers don’t have a clue about search engines, how they 

work, nor how and why people select a hotel in which to stay. 

So much of the planning and designing of a productive hotel 

web site starts with the intent of the designer, when the site is 

being designed. Does the designer understand the purpose of 

a hotel site Stephen Covey, in his best seller “Seven Habits of 

Highly Effective People”, teaches us to “Begin with the end in 

mind”. 

so strongly that it takes knowledge of hotel marketing to design 

a productive hotel web site. It’s because an effective hotel web 

site must incorporate the basic hotel marketing principles of 

location, facilities, and attractions (both business and leisure); 

and, most importantly, the site must include dominant wellwritten 

sales text. 

While a hotel brochure is designed to describe facilities and 

services, it is not relied upon to “close” sales. The purpose of 

a web site is far more complex. It must be designed to create 

search engine popularity, so the site can be found using many 

different search terms; it must create interest in the hotel’s 

location, facilities, and services; and, most importantly, its text 

must be written to convert “lookers into bookers”. 

With hotel web sites, the “end” to keep in mind is that a hotel 

web site must be designed to “sell” reservations; not simply to 

be an online brochure. Many people have asked me why I feel 

40 



It’s Location, Location, and Location… 

Some Web Site Common-Sense 

With few exceptions, people visit an area but stay at a hotel 

because of its location, nearby attractions and facilities. Knowing 

this, it makes pure common-sense to highlight your hotel’s 

location. It is always amazing to me to see so many hotel web 

sites which give no clue where the hotel is located; some even 

without a posted address. Your location is a very special place. 

Your location has its own special attributes which attract visitors 

from all over the World. Your web site should prominently 

highlight your location’s special attributes and provide a reason 

to visit that location. Simply listing your hotel’s address is not 

enough; generating new visitors to your hotel’s location is most 

important; sell destination first, your hotel second. 

Having a Web Presence 

In the beginning of the Internet’s popularity, only ten or so years 

ago, many hotels had the foresight to take advantage of the 

opportunity to have a presence on this radically new marketing 

medium. But the Internet has changed a lot since then; we 

learned that merely having a presence on the Internet does not 

necessarily generate reservations. 

Many of these early sites were designed by pure technicians, or 

in some cases the owner’s nephew, with a flair for design and 

some techno-knowledge of how to publish a web site on the 

Internet. Some sites were good; many were terrible, but in those 

days, few hoteliers knew how much the Internet would impact 

our industry and they knew even less about how to design a 

hotel web site to sell reservations. 

During its maturation process, the number of web sites on 

the Internet has grown exponentially and search engines (the 

heart of the Internet) have been refined and improved; and are 

constantly being improved today. If a site cannot be found easily, 

it’s useless. 

The Internet’s explosive growth has been unprecedented in 

our lifetime. Google, one of the Internet’s most popular search 

engines indexes more than 6.8 billion web sites. World population 

is 6.6 billion people; that’s more than one site for each and every 

one of us! Without search engines, navigating the net would be 

nearly impossible. 

At this point you may be wondering what web site design has to 

do with search engines; the answer is everything. Search engine 

requirements must be built into the site’s design. Keep in mind 

that search engines, at the present time, read text; images and 

graphics are, for the most part, invisible to them. Search engines 

seek-out sites which contain the words contained in the search 

term. 

Many web site designers do an excellent job of making web sites 

look attractive, but fail miserably to comply with search engine 

and hotel sales and marketing needs. It’s what your site “says” 

and “how it says it” that creates popularity with search engines 

and converts visitors into reservations. 

Hotel site designers, even those with hotel marketing experience, 

tend to be very right-brained creative types. Don’t assume that 

they always know all those key factors which make your hotel’s 

location unique and popular. When you select a designer for your 

site, either new or replacement site, make a list of sales features 

and keep them in priority order. A good designer knows the 

prime web site real estate to occupy those most important details 

of your location and hotel. Remember, it’s not just what you say; 

it’s how you say it. Begin with the end in mind; the “end” is to 

generate reservations not just increase the number of visitors to 

your site. 

I know it’s tempting to let your designer create a work of art; 

after-all you have all those beautiful images of your hotel, but it’s 

often their lack of hotel sales knowledge which will doom your 

site to obscurity and mediocre performance. 

Good simple navigation of your site is also essential. Basic 

rule; don’t make users learn how to navigate your web site. 

Understanding how and why people choose a hotel is the first 

ingredient in designing a hotel web site. It is not a matter of 

simply describing all your hotel’s attributes; it is how they are 

presented that really counts. 

Take an Objective Look at Your Site 

If your site is not producing a good volume of reservations, it’s 

probably time to have a marketing analysis done of your site. A 

site analysis can reveal why your site is performing poorly; often 

some minor adjustments can make a substantial difference in 

your sales results. It can also reveal a need to scrap your current 

site in favor of a new, properly designed, one. 

Are you measuring your site’s conversion rate If not, why not 

Don’t be fooled by simply measuring the number of visitors 

to your site. Most hotel web sites only convert less than four 

percent of visitors into reservations; increasing that ratio is the 

ultimate goal. Properly written and placed sales text can make a 

huge difference. 

A web site is a living breathing sales tool which needs to be 

adjusted constantly to keep up with changes in your market, your 

hotel, and the ever-changing search engine parameters. Your 

web site is generating data and statistics, which you can use to 

improve your web site and its performance. Ask your web master 

to produce and evaluate this data. Sometimes there may be a 

small additional fee, but it is very worthwhile. 

Your web site is capable of producing 30% to 70% of your total 

reservations; get it to work for you. 

Author’s Contact: 

Neil Salerno, CHME, CHA 

Hotel Marketing Coach 

Email: NeilS@hotelmarketingcoach.com 

Web Site: www.hotelmarketingcoach.com 




41

SERVICE NEWS 

42 



Hot, Hip and Happening Huvafen Fushi launches 

compilation CD with DJ Ravin of Buddha Bar, Paris 

LOCAL NEWS 

Hindu family, which explains his musical style. He moved to 

France as a teenager and his first stint at spinning was at The 

Rex in Paris, where he eventually met Claude Challe, owner of 

Les Bains Douches and the inspiration behind the Buddha Bar 

album series. Ravin and Claude collaborated on Buddha Bar I 

and II and later compiled Buddha Bar III on his own, gaining a 

double gold disc. 

Says Maldives Area General Manager, Mark Hehir, “Huvafen 

Fushi has been leading the way in the Maldives since opening 

in 2004. Our belief is to not only deliver outstanding service 

and products but to bring the best ‘groovologists’, spa gurus, 

mixologists and performing artists to the scene. The Maldives is 

definitely one hot, hip and happening place and Huvafen Fushi is 

making it happen now”. 

Trendsetting luxury resort in the Indian Ocean has just collaborated 

with DJ Ravin, the celebrated Buddha Bar groovologist from Paris, 

to create an exclusive compilation CD inspired by Per Aquum 

Resorts • Spas • Residences pioneering luxury resort, Huvafen 

Fushi in the Maldives. This compilation is set to define the next 

generation in chill-out music. Huvafen Fushi Maldives By Ravin 

premiered on November 2nd 2006 at Boujis, one of London’s 

trendiest nightspots. 

Out on Avril Prod Records, the CD features 13 brand new 

unreleased tracks and two exclusive mixes for Huvafen Fushi, 

promising cool ambient-house mixes, a touch of electro and 

groovy bass beats. Total chill factor guaranteed. 

Home to the world’s first underwater spa, Huvafen Fushi has not 

only caught the attention of the discerning traveler, but also of A- 

listers who are used to the highest standards of sensual living; DJ 

Ravin himself is a regular around the resort’s signature fibre-optic 

lit infinity pool. Each of the 43 ‘naturally modern’ bungalows 

combines contemporary design with traditional Maldivian style, 

boasts its own secluded oasis and freshwater pool as well as 

every conceivable luxury including oversized beds, Frette linen, 

day beds, plasma screens and Bose surround sound systems with 

DVD players. 

Says Ravin, “Huvafen Fushi is just a dream, the music you hear 

on the CD paints a crystal clear picture of what it is all about. 

Shimmering clear water, blue skies, so much life, so much 

passion, my music fits beautifully here. I chose the tracks while 

reminiscing on my stay at Huvafen Fushi, it’s all about being at 

peace and one with nature”. 

DJ Ravin regularly appears in some of the world’s most cutting 

edge clubs. Still the resident DJ at the Buddha Bar in Paris, he 

is increasingly interested in the art of remixing and producing, 

and is now solicited as one of the music world’s greatest talents. 

Originating from Mauritius, Ravin was brought up by a traditional 

Huvafen Fushi Maldives By Ravin will be available in all major 

record stores worldwide and online through iTunes and amazon. 

com from February 2007. A bonus DVD is also included in the 

album with exclusive footages of a little patch of paradise in the 

North Malé Atoll of the Republic of Maldives, Huvafen Fushi. 

Per Aquum Resorts • Spas • Residences 

A Universal Enterprise, Per Aquum Resorts • Spas • Residences is a 

specialist luxury resort, spa and residence management company that 

offers a different kind of company ethos: one that is passionate, visionary, 

imaginative and naturally modern. Each property embodies regional 

tradition and combines luxurious fittings and furnishings in a culturally 

sensitive way. No two properties are alike. Literally translated, Per Aquum 

means ‘through water’, and the vision of the company is to develop 

and manage properties in desirable locations using naturally modern, 

ecologically responsible design. Per Aquum currently manages properties 

in Maldives, Sri Lanka, Dubai and Seychelles and is looking at additional 

locations in the Indian Ocean region, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, 

Morocco and the Middle East. 

For any further information, please contact: 

Angeline Leo 

Huvafen Fushi, Public Relations and Events Manager 

Email: angeline@huvafenfushi.com 

Website: www.huvafenfushi.com 



43

NEWS 

Hospitality Bites 

Reprinted with permission from ehotelier.com 

Marriott Hotels International signs Hospitality Graduate 

Recruitment to promote graduate programme 

Marriott Hotels International has signed up Hospitality Graduate 

Recruitment (HGR) to handle its 2007 graduate recruitment 

scheme for the UK & Ireland and Middle East & Africa. Marriott 

will be taking on up to 110 graduates as part of the newly branded 

M!Voyage program, which is a two-year scheme. Under the 

seven-month contract, HGR will market M!Voyage to more than 

100 hotel schools and hospitality universities internationally. 

Chris Dunn, regional director of talent management at Marriott, 

said: “We are delighted to be working in partnership with 

Hospitality Graduate Recruitment, and look forward to recruiting 

Marriott managers of the future via this source.” 

pool with Jacuzzi, a books-music-movies library, a football field, 

a retail shop, Internet stations, a diving school & seaports centre, 

and a picnic island located just five minutes away by speedboat. 

Headquartered in Singapore, HPL Hotels & Resorts is a hospitality 

management company, operated and wholly-owned by Singapore 

main-board listed, Hotel Properties Limited (HPL). The HPL Group 

has interests in 22 properties in 8 countries with more than 4,900 

rooms. 

HI Design on track to facilitate great business for Designers 

and Hoteliers 

Successfully launched last year to high acclaim, HI DESIGN EMEA 

2007 is on track to attract over 150 delegates from major hotels 

groups, architects, designers and key international suppliers. 

Hilton Hotels signed HGR to promote its graduate recruitment 

program, Elevator, in December, in Europe and Africa. 

HPL Hotels & Resorts Expands Presence in the Maldives 

with New Resort 

Taking place at the Intercontinental, Berlin on 26-28 April, HI 

DESIGN will enable over 1000 senior level, face-to-face meetings. 

The event is entirely focused on providing those involved in the 

specifying side of the hospitality industry a hugely efficient and 

quality medium to realize new products/materials and build 

effective relationships. 

HPL Hotels & Resorts has announced that it will manage a new 

160-villa property that is currently under construction in the 

Maldives. Expected to open in early 2008, Kandooma Beach 

Resort will be the company’s second property in the Maldives, 

after Rihiveli Beach Resort, which it has been managing since 

2004. Both resorts are located about 15 minutes by speedboat 

from each other in South Male Atoll. 

According to HPL Hotels & Resorts’ Marketing Communications 

Manager, Ms Karen Chan, the company has acquired a good 

understanding of the Maldivian market and sees an unfilled 

demand for the provision of an affordable, contemporary 

experience, one that does not go overboard on expensive services 

that may go unnoticed. 

“Kandooma Beach Resort is conceptualized to provide its 

guests with an experience that seeks to make the guest holiday 

uniquely Maldivian, focusing on the delivery and enhancement of 

the natural beauty of the environment,” she said. “We see our 

market as wanting to come away richer, not only in relaxation 

and rest, but also in knowledge and experience.” 

The resort will feature villas of various categories, ranging from 

garden and beach villas to sea front duplex and water villas, 

including one Royal Water Villa. Accommodation at the resort 

will be fresh and contemporary in appearance with clean lines 

and minimal clutter, while retaining the warmth of natural wood 

finishes. Recreational facilities at Kandooma Beach Resort will 

include several restaurants and bars, a spa and gym, a swimming 

“Anyone specifying or influencing products and services for a 

new hotel project or major refurbishment, or suppliers looking 

to build their market share, in Europe or the Middle East should 

attend HI DESIGN EMEA”, states Jonathan Needs, Director of 

the event organisers. Buyers (hoteliers and designers) already 

include Intercontinental, NH Hoteles, Shangri-La, Qatar National 

Hotels, MKV Design, Plasma Studio and DiLeonardo. Alongside 

the personalized meetings schedule is the Supplier Showcase and 

the exclusive, relaxed social functions. Hoteliers and designers 

attending last year’s event variously described this formal and 

informal mix as “highly efficient”, “a good source for making vital 

personal relations”, “a positive blend of business networking” 

and simply “a great way of networking”. 

The final touches are being put into place on this year’s 

inspiring seminar program that follows the focus of the event 

- hospitality design. Presented and moderated by Guy Dittrich, 

Hotel Consultant and Journalist, the program will feature four 

highly topical presentations and two panel discussions by 

industry experts. Each presentation, designed specifically for 

the HI DESIGN audience, allows delegates to learn, debate and 

discuss issues, trends and developments pertinent to their role 

and industry. You need to book now to benefit from this effective 

platform for business. Contact Jonathan Needs on 0208 589 

9885 or email jonathan@pelicanevents.com 

Visit www.hidesign-emea.com for more information and seminar 

programme details. 

44 



Vietnam to build more hotels to meet growing demand 

Vietnam plans to have 170,000 new hotel rooms by 2010 to 

meet the demands of growing numbers of foreign and domestic 

tourists. The new hotels would help in catering to six million 

foreign visitors and 21 million domestic visitors travelling across 

the nation during the next three years, said deputy head of the 

Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT), Hoang Tuan 

Anh. The administration estimates that the number of visitors 

will be higher than initially expected, said Anh. The VNAT has 

invested in infrastructure construction and has called for more 

investment into the hotel sector. In 2006, the country spent a 

total of VND620 billion $US38.7 million) on improving tourism 

infrastructure. The figure was set to rise by VND110 billion across 

2007, said Anh. 

In addition, the sector would call for investment into four-and 

five-star hotels across the nation, especially in HCM City, Hanoi, 

Hue, Da Nang, Quang Nam, Phu Quoc, Quang Ninh and Hai 

Phong. There were already several projects for new five-star 

hotels in Hanoi, while HCM City authorities had given approval 

to plans to convert several four-star hotels into five-star hotels. 

Vietnam has 142,000 hotel rooms at 7,065 places of 

accommodation, including 25 five-star hotels, 64 four-star hotels 

and 135 three-star hotels. Demand for three-five star hotels had 

increased in recent years, due to the great growth of foreign and 

domestic visitors, said Anh. The nation had 45,000 rooms that 

met three-to five-star standards, which fell short of demand in 

large cities. 

The VNAT would continue to provide certificates for two-to fivestar 

hotels and re-check hotels after two years of certification to 

ensure quality, said Anh. In addition, the administration planned 

to carry out a 12 million euro project backed by the EU on training 

staff in the tourism sector nationwide and developing a network 

of tourism training schools in cities and provinces, including Can 

Tho, Nha Trang, Da Lat and Binh Thuan. 

Source: Asia Pulse 

Marriott Hotels International signs Hospitality Graduate 

Recruitment to promote graduate programme 

Marriott Hotels International has signed up Hospitality Graduate 

Recruitment (HGR) to handle its 2007 graduate recruitment 

scheme for the UK & Ireland and Middle East & Africa. Marriott 

will be taking on up to 110 graduates as part of the newly branded 

M!Voyage program, which is a two-year scheme. Under the 

seven-month contract, HGR will market M!Voyage to more than 

100 hotel schools and hospitality universities internationally. 

Chris Dunn, regional director of talent management at Marriott, 

said: “We are delighted to be working in partnership with 

Hospitality Graduate Recruitment, and look forward to recruiting 

Marriott managers of the future via this source.” Hilton Hotels 

signed HGR to promote its graduate recruitment program, 

Elevator, in December, in Europe and Africa. 

Anantara Resorts Announces Extensive Development 

Plans 

Anantara Resorts is set to expand with at least six new properties 

in the next two years which will further intensify its international 

status. Among the key locations being tapped for strategic 

development - which complement the brand’s existing network 

- are Sri Lanka, Bali, Vietnam and Dubai as well as two additional 

Thailand properties in Khao Lak and Phuket. Anantara Resort 

Bentota, Sri Lanka and Anantara Resort Seminyak, Bali, are set 

to debut in late 2007. 

William E. Heinecke, Chairman and Chief Executive of Anantara’s 

parent company, Minor International commented ‘This is a very 

exciting time for Anantara Resorts, as the brand is very focused 

on developing in key markets which enable our guests to feed 

their passion for exploration and experience. The locations, 

which are predominantly in South East Asia, the Middle East 

and Indian Ocean, will extend the synergies and cross marketing 

opportunities with our existing Anantara destinations’ Over the 

next 10 years, Anantara Resorts expects to continue the extensive 

development to include at least 40 resorts in Asia, Africa, the 

Middle East and indeed Europe. 

Michael Sagild, COO Minor International added ‘Within the 

growth plans of Anantara Resorts, a central component is the 

way in which each of the destinations will synergise with existing 

and forthcoming resorts. The utilization of a ‘hub and spoke’ 

strategy ensures that resorts are connected to key regional hubs 

of operation. This provides economies of scale and operational 

efficiencies whilst enabling a profound knowledge of the 

particular destination’. 

Creating a ‘destination experience’ is at the core of the Anantara 

philosophy and one that the brand takes seriously. The Anantara 

team is passionate about constantly anticipating and assessing 

every component of the resort experience in order to ensure that 

guests are inspired by their choice of destination and their resort 

and also - most importantly - entirely at ease. 

Anantara is taken from an ancient Sanskrit word that means 

‘borderless water’, a name chosen for this element’s association 

in many Asian cultures with wealth and good fortune. Inspired 

by local architecture and sensitive to the indigenous culture, 

Anantara Resorts are currently located in the seaside town of 

Hua Hin (220kms south of Bangkok), on Koh Samui in the Gulf 

of Thailand and in the Golden Triangle in the country’s north. 

Anantara Resort Maldives opened in August 2006. 

Minor International (MINT) is one of Thailand’s leading hotel operators 

with a portfolio of 16 hotels and over 2,352 rooms under the Marriott, 

Four Seasons, Anantara, and Minor International brands. Through a 

joint venture with Marriott International, it has developed the 144 room 

Marriott Vacation Club Time Share in Phuket. It is also one of the largest 

spa operators in Asia Pacific with spas in Thailand, China, the Middle East, 

Africa and the Maldives under the Mandara and Anantara brands. It is 

Thailand’s largest food service operator with over 558 outlets system wide 

under The Pizza Company, Swensen’s, Sizzler, Dairy Queen and Burger 

King brands. 

NEWS 



45


Nine Essentials You Need to 

Know to Market Your Business 

By Misty Williams 

Building your business can be both an exciting and scary endeavor. 

To be successful, you must understand the most important 

strategies for marketing and growing your business. What do 

you need to know about your industry How do you know “your 

next move” Why will people do business with you Is there a 

proven formula for success 

Do you want a good definition of success Here it is: 

7. Know where to spend your money. Does the money you 

spend produce more money Before you commit your funds, ask 

yourself, How will this help me make more money Invest your 

money where it will work hard for you. Be aware of the areas 

where you have a tendency to spend money that doesn’t impact 

your bottom line (excessive administrative expenses, developing 

new products that you don’t have the distribution channels to 

sell through, etc). 

Success is making more money that it costs to create your 

products or services, run your business, and take a reasonable 

salary. 

Your chances for business success increase exponentially when 

you clearly understand the most important essentials for growing 

your business. 

1. Know what you do best. Know what you (will) sell and why it 

works. Know how you help people most effectively. 

8. Know the most painful and weakest areas of your business. 

Understand everything you can about why it is painful. Confront 

the pain with the goal of healing it. Make stronger and better 

strategic alliances. Build a great team of advisors. Master your 

sales process. Maximize efficiency. Know your customers and 

serve them better. Take ownership and responsibility for fixing 

the painful elements of your products, services, sales process, 

employees, and ongoing customer relationships. 

2. Know who your customers are. Know what they are looking 

for. Know where they want to buy your service or products and 

why. 

3. Know how customers find you. Know where they have the 

potential to hear about you, read about you, see things about 

you. Make sure they will find you there. 

Know your competitive 

business advantages! 

Know your competition! 

4. Know your “sales process” Understand the process you take 

a prospect through to persuade them to buy. Identify from start 

to finish what you do, what others do, and how you’re different. 

Make sure your sales process connects with what your prospect 

thinks they need, even if your solutions solve the ‘real need’ they 

haven’t identified! 

5. Know where you add the most value. Identify better and more 

meaningful ways to serve your customer. Understand their key 

frustrations and solve them. Do what others are unwilling to do 

to satisfy the customer and help them achieve the results they 

want! Showcase these “valuable” distinctions in your marketing 

materials and incorporate them into your sales process. 

6. Know your competitive business advantages. Know your 

competition. Be able to quickly and clearly state why you are 

different and / or better. Create marketing tools that communicate, 

emphasize and reinforce your competitive advantages. 

9. Know when to look for help. If it’s not your genius, it’s not 

your job! If you’re truly committed to growing in your business, 

deal with those areas or “weak links” that could sabotage your 

efforts. Read the best books. Get training where you need it. 

And when you clearly see the need for outside help, find it! Get 

a good business coach, get some counseling, hire an expert and 

develop and incorporate their advice into your decisions. Work 

smart! 

Williams is the president of Strategic Marketing Solutions. She helps 

independent professionals (consultants, speakers, coaches, authors, etc) 

build websites that work and develop promotional strategies to market 

their businesses. You can contact Misty at 615-834-2222 or via email 

misty@mystrategicmarketer.com. 

46 






47

SERVICE 

Hospitality begins at Check-In 

By Doug Kennedy 

Despite all the technology advances in front-office systems - at 

most hotels the check-in process itself has de-evolved into a 

scripted - robotic and heartless business transaction. 

If my recent experience during visits to 20+ hotels in the last 90 

days is any indication, this trend is apparent at hotels representing 

all market segments. 

For me, the welcome I receive (or don’t receive) at the front desk 

has nothing to do with the number of stars or diamonds hanging 

on the plaque behind the front desk. During the trip I visited 

hotels in every segment from economy to luxury. Only three 

times was I was properly welcomed on arrival: once at a twostar 

hotel and once at a four-star property. Granted most of the 

other check-ins were handled in a polite and efficient manner. 

However, at the front desk of a four-star hotel in Washington, 

D.C., I did experience one six-minute interaction with a clerk who 

limited herself to the following seven words: 

In fact “checking in” seems to be the overwhelmingly most 

common phrase used to greet arriving guests these days. 

(Although there seems to be a new trend for desk clerks to 

simply use the gesture of a raised eyebrow and a nod to find out 

your name.) 

How silly the question “Checking in” must seem to an arriving 

guest, as he or she stands in the lobby, luggage in tow and credit 

card in hand. I’m sure more than one guest has been tempted, 

as I have, to reply sarcastically “No, I’m not checking in, I just 

stopped by the front desk lobby with my luggage to check out 

your artwork. I’m actually a connoisseur of hotel lobby artwork 

and I heard you had some great pieces in your collection here.” 

You can’t blame the staff for this. The reality is that most frontdesk 

associates receive little if any exposure to the concept of 

hospitality. Most training is centered on working the front-desk 

computer, reservations system and telephone switchboard. 

• “Checking in” 

• “Your Name” 

• “Here you go.” 

Considering the overall state of “manners” (or lack thereof) in 

today’s real-world society, managers cannot assume new hires 

possess the social and interpersonal communications skills they 

need to relate to guests who are likely from a different socioeconomic 

background, age group and geographic region. 

48 



If you are ready to help your front desk staff remaster the lost art 

of properly welcoming guests upon arrival at the front desk, here 

are some training tips for your next staff meeting: 

1. Welcome EVERY guest upon arrival: 

Make sure no one starts any transactions before first using a 

sincere, proper welcome such as “Good afternoon, welcome to 

Any brand Hotel. How are you today sir” 

2. Avoid asking obvious questions: 

For example, if I am a card-carrying member of your hotel 

frequency program, or a known repeat guest, chances are I am 

more familiar with that breakfast buffet than you are. So before 

you tell me everything that’s on it and what time it starts, why not 

first ask if I am familiar with the buffet or if I have any questions 

about the hotel 

9. Properly end the transaction: 

Personalize your wrap-up remarks according to the human 

interaction that we just had. Welcome me one more time. 

SERVICE 

In other words, if I am at the desk at 7 a.m. holding my garment 

bag and room key, I am most likely checking out; if it’s 7 p.m. and 

I have my coat on, I’m probably checking in. 

3. Instead, offer assistance: 

At full service hotels, offer a bell staff escort by name: “Mr. 

Kennedy, may we have Chris escort you to your room” 

Please do not ask if I need help with my small garment bag and 

laptop case; do I look like a 98-pound weakling 

Rather than quizzing guests as to whether they are coming or 

going, why not simply say something like “How may I assist 

you today” Or use an assumptive question such as “are you 

checking out this morning” if you are simply not sure. 

4. Bring out the best in guests, vs. reacting to their demeanor: 

For hotels without a bell staff, point me in the direction of the 

elevators and make sure I am walking in the right direction. 

Training your staff on tips and tactics such as these, your staff 

can master the (nearly) lost art of extending the generous and 

authentic gift of hospitality at check-in. 

Be the first to express authentic and genuine hospitality by facial 

expressions, body language and non-threatening, short personal 

questions such as “What do you think of this weather today” 

Make these efforts even with guests who look tired and cranky— 

they probably are! You might even get a smile and kind remark 

back before they are done, and you are certain to meet more 

friendly people during your shift at the desk. 

5. If my reservation is missing and you have rooms: 

“No, I’m not checking in, 

I just stopped by the front 

desk lobby with my luggage 

Tell me the latter first before you break the bad news to me 

gently. At least I’ll know I have a place to stay. 

6. If I mention having had challenges en route: 

to check out your artwork” 

And if you can spare 90-120 seconds, I would so appreciate 

your therapy by letting me tell you just how bad it was. A little 

empathy and understanding is just that much better. 

7. If my credit card declines for any reason: 

Ask me for another form of payment before blurting out loudly 

“Your credit card was denied.” Or put the burden on the bank 

by saying “I was unable to get approval.” 

Doug Kennedy, President of the Kennedy Training Network, has been a 

fixture on the hospitality and tourism industry conference circuit since 1989, 

having presented over 1,000 conference keynote sessions, educational 

break-out seminars, or customized, on-premise training workshops for 

diverse audiences representing every segment of the lodging industry. Visit 

www.kennedytrainingnetwork.com for details or e-mail him at: doug@ 

kennedytrainingnetwork.com 

8. Ask me if I need information before offering too much of it: 

First appeared at Hotel & Motel Management www.hotelmotel.com 



49


50 



LOCAL NEWS 

Hilton Maldives Continues Its 

Winning Streak 

Hot on the heels of winning the “Best Hotel in the World” award 

by www.tripadvisor.com this January, the Hilton Maldives Resort 

& Spa has just been voted the “Best Honeymoon Hideaway in 

the World” by Brides Magazine in the UK in their March 2007 

issue. Similarly, the UK’s most influential travel magazine, Condé 

Nast Traveller, has also included the six-star resort in their annual 

Gold List: “Best Hotels in the World – Best for location” (January 

2007 issue) and in the “Best Spa in Africa, Middle East and Indian 

Ocean” (March 2007) summary of best spas in the world. 

Guests can enjoy beach life in a 300 square metre villa set right 

on the beach, with a private plunge pool in their own garden 

and a wonderful open-air garden-bathroom. Alternatively they 

can opt for a romantic, exclusive villa set on stilts over the lagoon 

with sun deck that has steps leading straight into the ocean. And 

finally, they can stay at the Spa Retreat, an over-water ‘resortwithin-a-resort’, 

which includes daily spa treatments and a full 

programme that includes spa cuisine, massages and exercise 

classes. 

“Since our re-opening after refurbishment in June 2005, we 

have won 17 different awards – including winning ‘Best Hotel 

in the World’ twice. That’s an average of one award every six 

weeks,” says the resort’s General Manager, Carsten Schieck. 

“These awards reflect guest confidence in our product and are 

an essential part in establishing the Maldives as a destination of 

choice.” 

It seems as though the whole world is talking about the Hilton 

Maldives. In just the last two months alone the resort has 

received positive press coverage in Condé Nast Traveller, Harper’s 

Bazaar, Tatler, the Luxury Travel Magazine, The Daily Telegraph 

newspaper, Die Welt newspaper, Paris Match and the New 

York Times amongst others Carsten Schieck explains his resort’s 

popularity, saying, “The Hilton Maldives’ main concept is of 

three resorts within one, which gives guests the opportunity to 

experience three distinctly different luxury experiences without 

ever checking out of the hotel. 

“Innovation also plays a key role in our success,” continues Schieck, 

“the resort is home to the only all-glass undersea restaurant in 

the world and is the only resort that has two entirely separate 

spas, each with its own philosophy and treatment menu.” 

The six-star Hilton Maldives Resort & Spa is a stunning, romantic 

resort offering sophisticated barefoot luxury on two tropical 

islands. Awards include “Best Hotel in the World 2005” by 

the Sunday Times, “Leading Resort in the Indian Ocean 2006” 

by the World Travel Awards and “Most Exclusive Hotel in the 

World 2006” by VIP Traveller Magazine. Sited in a picturesque 

corner of the Maldives, it offers a sybaritic combination of three 

distinct resort experiences, surrounded by a vibrant coral reef and 

lagoon. The resort is home to the world’s only all-glass undersea 

restaurant and the Maldives’ only destination spa. 



51


Ten Top Dining Trends for 2007 

Restaurant Consultants Joseph Baum & Michael Whiteman Co. have 

recently released their forecast of this year’s ten major dining trends. 

Though these forecasts are based on the US American market, we believe 

they are a worthy read for everyone involved in the food & beverage 

industry. 

52 



Restaurant consultants 

Joseph Baum & Michael 

Whiteman Co. have 

forecast ten major dining 

trends that impact how 

Americans will eat in 

the year ahead. 


Joseph Baum & Michael 

Whiteman Co. creates 

high-profile restaurants 

around the world for hotels, 

restaurant companies, 

major museums and other 

consumer destinations. Their 

projects include the late Windows 

on the World, the Rainbow Room 

and five three-star restaurants in New 

York. 

They predict that: Tropical superfruits, chef-driven 

steakhouses, Peruvian cuisine, ethical eating, exotic salts, 

wildly flavored chocolates, and molecular gastronomy are on the 

menu for the year ahead. 

Their ten trends (and buzzwords) for 2007: 

1. HEALTH AND WELLNESS TOP THE MENU 

As baby boomers accept their collective aging, dietary issues gain 

momentum not just for 

themselves but for their children. Look for: 

• Rain forest “superfruits” and their extracts – açaí, 

cupuaçu, goji berries, coffee berry extracts, guava, 

guyabana, guarana, mangosteen, among others – 

that are loaded with antioxidants. These will appear 

in shakes, smoothies, ice creams and other desserts. 

• Fruit- and vegetable-crammed chips will grab 

market share from typical fatty-salty potato chips as 

manufacturers try sidestepping 

attacks on their obesity-causing mass market snacks. 

You’ll find these on platters next to your upscale 

hamburgers, too. 

• Better-for-you ice creams spiked with 

immune- boosting green tea, extra vitamins & 

minerals. 

• Next-generation yogurts enhanced with fiber and 

protein that fool you into feeling full; and yogurts 

that claim to improve your complexion. 

• Sodas with green tea, ginger and caffeine 

that theoretically make you lose weight, and vitaminenhanced 

beers. 

• 

Even 

D i s n e y 

is cutting the 

fat and calories of 

munch-food in its theme 

parks (and cutting portions, as well). 

• Wal-Mart’s muscling into organic food will force 

mass-market restaurant chains to follow. 

• Increasingly extravagant health claims on 

food packages. 

2. THE ‘NEXT’ CUISINE 

Most pundits point to India .But we say that Indian food is 

too complicated for home cooks and too obscure for most 

restaurant goers. So our vote goes to Peru. Why Its government 

is promoting the cuisine, which is a fabulous fusion of Italian, 

Japanese, Indian, Spanish and indigenous cookery; it is part of 

the next wave of specific regional cookery; Nobu came from 

there; its hot, spicy, creative flavors resonate with Americans; it 

has a growing cadre of “new cuisine” chefs, some coming to the 

US, who are updating old fashioned dishes. 

Most importantly: There are big enough clusters of Peruvian 

immigrants to make their restaurants and ingredients more 

visible. You can now buy frozen guinea pig, an Andean delicacy, 

in Houston, and Inka Cola is sold on aptly named Amazon.com. 

Restaurant consultants Joseph Baum & Michael Whiteman 

Co. have forecast ten major dining trends that impact how 

Americans will eat in the year ahead. Joseph Baum & Michael 

Whiteman Co. creates high-profile restaurants around the world 

for hotels, restaurant companies, major museums and other 

consumer destinations. Their projects include the late Windows 

on the World, the Rainbow Room and five three-star restaurants 

in New York. They predict that: Tropical superfruits, chef-driven 

steakhouses, Peruvian cuisine, ethical eating, exotic salts, wildly 

flavored chocolates, and molecular gastronomy are on the menu 

for the year ahead. 



53


3. CHOCOLATE 

– HEALTH AND 

EXOTICA 

A m e r i c a ’ s 

going nuts 

for chocolate. 

M a n u f a c t u r e r s 

are touting health 

benefits of the cacao 

bean (not mentioning 

the calories) -- from 

lowering blood pressure 

to elevating your mood to 

pumping you full of anti-oxidants 

(Google ‘chocolate and health’ 

and you get more than seven million 

citations!). Luxury chocolates seasoned with 

oddities like paprika, saffron, curry power, wasabi 

and even cheese are enlivening menus and retail shops. 

Bitter, rich drinking chocolates are the rage among people who 

years ago abandoned those packages of powdered cocoa. Look 

for restaurants to add shots of scotch, brandy or liqueurs to hot 

chocolate; for upscale food shops to feature high-priced nibs 

and chunks for easy melting; and for supermarkets to double 

their baking-chocolate selections as brands like Hershey’s, Nestlé, 

Ghirardelli’s, Scharffen Berger increase the cacao content of 

baking bars and trumpet their contents on the label. Next: 

Chocolate sommeliers. 

4. SENSORY DECEPTION 

Last year’s chef’s labored to bring out the pure flavors of topnotch 

ingredients. Next year’s chefs are dismantling the molecular 

structure of these same ingredients --whirling them in laboratory 

equipment with frightening sounding chemicals, dipping them in 

liquid nitrogen, inflating them with vacuum cleaners, fabricating 

cantaloupe caviar, deep-frying mayonnaise, turning sauces into 

powders, and spraying the air with flavors to suggest that what 

you’re looking at isn’t what you’re about to eat. It is equivalent 

to a gastronomic IQ test in which typical diners are all below 

average. Next time you eat a chocolate bonbon for dessert 

and find that it’s a blob of olive oil, you’ll know you’ve been 

ambushed by a Molecular Gastronomer. 

6. ETHICAL EATING 

“Fair trade” and “sustainable” are terms gaining traction with 

restaurant chefs and American consumers. People aspire to feel 

ethically comfortable about the food they buy: they want uncaged 

chickens and their eggs, humanely raised and slaughtered pork 

and beef, and environmentally friendly packaging. They’re 

looking for locally grown products that reduce the global 

warming impact of moving food around the world. They don’t 

want fisheries depleted for the sake of tuna steak on their plates. 

“Food miles” has entered the mainstream vocabulary. Starbucks’ 

battle with Ethiopian coffee farmers has raised consumers’ 

consciousness. There’ll be more fair trade coffee and chocolate, 

more compassionately raised meats, more organic chickens and 

vegetables listed on menus and sold in food shops than probably 

exist in the world. 

7. THE IZAKAYAS ARE COMING 

5. BELLIES ARE BIG 

Relentlessly searching for new things to serve, chefs are focusing 

on the nether regions of fish and animals. Pork belly, commonly 

called bacon, landed on menus all over the country last year, and 

savvy sushi chefs have long offered costly tuna belly, known as 

toro, to customers craving its prized fattiness. Next year menus 

will feature veal, salmon, swordfish and lamb bellies – all rich 

with fatty flavor, all (not coincidentally) cheap cuts that used to 

be trimmed away. They’ll generally be braised, and sometimes 

braised and grilled. This definitely is restaurant food, so don’t 

look for this stuff in your supermarket. 

Move over tapas – make room for Japanese small plates. 

Venturesome restaurateurs are opening Japanese taverns, called 

izakaya, all over the world. These are homey places emphasizing 

modestly priced Japanese hors d’oeuvres washed down with 

oversized bottles of beer and overfilled glasses of sake. Some 

of the food may be unfamiliar but people are willing to risk $5 

or $6 to experiment. You’ll find izakayas in London, Toronto, 

Vancouver, Seattle, LA (where, predictably, they’ve morphed into 

fusion menus), Omaha, Coral Gables and New York. The mavens 

behind P. F. Chang have opened a more Americanized version in 

Scottsdale, hoping to launch 

another chain. 

54 



8.CHEF-DRIVEN STEAKHOUSES 

Celebrity chefs are hanging their names on reinvented steakhouses. 

Wolfgang Puck, Bradley Ogden, Michael Mina, David Burke, 

among others, have launched newfangled beeferies that marry 

elements of serious cooking with simple but upscale grilling. 

More chefs are following this exercise in “brand extension.” 

When you get “sautéed snapper with edamame dumplings in a 

ragout of mussels” in a steakhouse, you know that the category 

is being redefined. Behind it: Hotels, casinos and shopping 

centers laying big money on these chefs because they’re 

competitively desperate to draw crowds. 


”When you get 

“sautéed snapper with 

edamame dumplings 

in a ragout of mussels” 

in a steakhouse, you 

know that the category 

is being redefined” 

9. BURGERS WITH PEDIGREES 

Rachel Ray is planning a hamburger restaurant. 

Laurent Tourandel has launched BLTBurger. Joe 

Bastianich, partner of Mario Batali, plans one serving 

sustainable beef. And several other famous chefs are toying with 

the notion. Perhaps they’re inspired by Hubert Keller’s Burger Bar 

in Las Vegas where, in addition to a standard hamburger, you 

blow your winnings on a $60 Rossini Burger of Kobe beef, foie 

gras and truffles. Also watch for more Kobe or wagyu burgers 

(and hot dogs) than there are Kobe or wagyu cattle. 

10. SALT 

Cardiologists aside, people are rediscovering what salt is all 

about. Not the powdery stuff in round cardboard boxes; we’re 

talking instead about crunchy, flakey, tinted crystals from outof-the-way 

places that have migrated from restaurant kitchens 

to dinner tables at home. Pink salt mined in the Peruvian Andes, 

black lava salt from Cyprus, ruddy Alaea salt from Hawaii, gray sea 

salt, smoked salts (a big seller at Dean & Deluca), herb-flavored 

salts, Tahitian vanilla sea salt, even truffle-flavored salt. More 

restaurants will identify these on their menus– and upcharge 

accordingly. Salted caramel has become the rage among 

upscale pastry chefs 

BUZZWORDS 

Marcona almonds, sweet potato vinegar, aji peppers, potatoes bravas, 

flavored salts, party-colored beets and other baby root vegetables, housecured 

meats and fish, fresh curd cheese, slow-poached eggs, Spanish 

hams and sausages, humanely raised cattle, American caviar, pastel hued 

cauliflower, molecular gastronomy, yuzu, bahn mi Vietnamese sandwiches, 

gnudi, savory ice creams, wildly decorative cupcakes, slow cooking at 

home, matcha green tea powder. 

http://www.baumwhiteman.com/ 



55


56 



Appointments 

Taj Exotica Resort & Spa is pleased to announce the following 

promotions that have been received during the past month: 

Kunal Juneija FO Manager to Rooms Division Manager 

GG Srijith Sr. Sous Chef to Executive Sous Chef 

Harshit Kumar Res. Supervisor to Asst. Reservations Mgr. 

Mohamed Ishan F&B Supervisor to Asst. Restaurant Manager 

GK Vinod F&B Supervisor to Asst. Restaurant Manager 

Anakathil Deepak F&B Supervisor to Asst. Restaurant Manager 

Suresh Singh Kitchen Assistant to Demi Chef de Partie 

Ganesh Diwale HK Section Incharge to HK Supervisor 

Just 4 months after opening the Four Seasons Resort Maldives at 

Landaa Giraavaru was excited to announce the promotion of the 

following staff: 

Abdul Jaleel and Ali Wafir to the Department Head positions of Senior 

Duty Engineer and Pool & Beach Manager, respectively. 

At the same time three other staff were promoted to Assistant 

Managers in their departments: Abdulla Faiz - Laundry, Abdulla 

Hussain - In Villa Dining and Ahmed Rasheed - Cafe Landaa. 

LOCAL NEWS 

Hussain Solah 

Executive Sous Chef 

Meeru Island Resort 

Roland Bosnyak 

Executive Sous Chef 


Ali Wafir 

Abdul Jaleel 

Pool & Beach Manager 

Senior Duty Engineer 

Four Seasons at Landaa Giraavaru Four Seasons at Landaa 

Giraavaru 

Adam Mohamed 

Asst. Front Office Manager 


Mohamed Latheef 

Executive Housekeeper 


Ahmed Rasheed 

Asst Manager - Café Landaa 

Four Seasons at Landaa Giraavaru 

Abdulla Faiz 

Asst Laundry Manager 


Meeru Island Resort is pleased to welcome its two new Executive Sous 

Chefs Hussain Solah and Roland Bosnyak and to announce the promotion 

of Mohamed Latheef to Executive Housekeeper and Adam Mohamed to 

Assistant Front Office Manager. 

Mirihi Island Resort is proud to announce the appointments of A. 

Victor Pushparaj as IT Specialist and Moosa Hameed as Housekeeping 

Supervisor. 

Mohamed Afeef 

Guest Services Manager 

Bandos Island Resort 

Abdulla Hussain 

Asst Manager – In Villa Dining 


Bandos Island Resort welcomes back Mohamed Afeef to the Bandos 

Family as the Guest Services Manager. 



57

MISCELLANEOUS 

It’s all happening too quickly 

By Tony Eldred 

One of the really interesting aspects of my job is the perspective 

I gain from working with many different people in a broad range 

of hospitality businesses. It’s a lot easier to grasp the big picture 

while you are moving around constantly than it is when you are 

largely preoccupied with local issues, as a lot of our clients seem 

to be. 

One of the issues that has become highlighted for me at the 

moment is the current rate of change that is occurring both in 

our society and in our industry. I was prompted to think about this 

recently when my father, who is 79, commented: ‘It’s amazing, in 

my lifetime we’ve gone from horses to astronauts.’ That caused 

me to reflect on my own experiences. 

Consider the changes that technology has brought to the 

hospitality industry in the last 20 years — the fax machine, 

computers, mobile phones, point-of-sale systems, the Internet and 

email, to mention a few. Look at the way hospitality businesses 

have changed as our economy rapidly becomes absorbed into a 

global trading village. Fifteen years ago you could have opened a 

45 seat restaurant and made a good living, now you will scrape 

out an existence that is not much better than wages. The small 

hospitality business is fast going the way of the corner milk bar 

and the local butcher. 

The old blood house pub is almost a thing of the past in our big 

cities, having been driven out of existence by zealously enforced 

drink driving laws and changing social attitudes. 

Many have just quietly closed while others have been replaced 

by modern food and entertainment oriented businesses. At the 

other end of the scale the old fine dining restaurant with dark 

wood panelling, stiff formality, gueridon trolleys and silver service 

has become a victim of economic forces and has made way for 

more casual, less complicated service systems in brighter, less 

imposing surroundings. 

Local catering companies have either grown or been swallowedup 

and the market is now dominated by multi-national 

corporations, and the same has happened with the hotel and 

tourism sector. I well remember the days in the mid 60’s when 

the Southern Cross Hotel was the only ‘international’ hotel in 

my home town of Melbourne. Now there are 55 hotels offering 

11,000 rooms, with another 9 on the drawing board. 

Look at the rise of new industry segments if you want another 

example of how quickly things change. The emergence of 

serviced apartments and bed and breakfast accommodation are 

good examples — they are hammering the top end of the hotel 

market and the regional motel markets respectively, and will 

inevitably be the catalyst for a further evolution in the way those 

older market segments do things. 

Aside from the uncertainty that businesses face in an accelerating 

economy, this fast paced development has a human toll that 

we’re seeing more and more of. Industry job roles that have been 

stable for centuries are suddenly forced (well, relatively suddenly 

58 



— perhaps over fifteen or twenty years, or so) to change quite 

rapidly. Take the role of a restaurant manager as an example. In 

times gone by all you needed to run a restaurant front of house 

was good waiting and reasonable supervisory skills. Technology 

has changed all that. 

Now a restaurant manager has to be able to use and deal with all 

the problems arising from a computerised point-of-sale system, 

and also cope with all the pressures created by the information 

that system provides. Restaurants used to be a lot more profitable 

— twenty years ago not many restaurant managers were 

overly concerned about customer averages, suggestive selling, 

precise rostering, complex wine lists, etc — now they have to 

be mathematicians, statisticians, computer operators, industrial 

relations experts, marketing gurus and spin doctors. 


The role of the Chef has also taken quite a turn. For centuries a 

chef was a kind of kitchen foreman who was primarily concerned 

with culinary skills. We are now demanding that they be artist, 

manager, technician and public relations expert. There are a 

whole bunch of them out there going from job to job wondering 

why they can’t quite cope. I’m not surprised. 

Look at the rise of new industry 

segments if you want another example 

of how quickly things change. 

On a divergent note, think about marketing for a moment. 

Like most people you’re probably quite comfortable that you 

understand what the term means and happy to accept that 

marketing is an important aspect of modern business and a 

responsibility inherent in most key jobs. So what Well, marketing 

has only achieved normal status as a business skill in the last 

thirty years. When I was a kid no one had heard of it. 

What will the future bring I don’t know, but I do know things 

are evolving at a cracking pace and that our industry is in for 

some profound changes. I was watching TV recently and a 

scientist made the claim that the sum total of human knowledge 

is doubling every two years. How anybody would establish that 

is beyond me but the assertion seems reasonable. I’m trying to 

get the dust off my crystal ball and some polish on the old Ouija 

board so I can work out what we should be teaching people over 

the next few years. 

This presents an interesting challenge for business owners. Your 

business has to evolve at the same pace as our society, otherwise 

it will fall behind — and you have to do this during the time of 

the most rapid change in the whole of human history. Who was 

it who said: ‘act locally, think globally’ Maybe they had a good 

point 

Tony Eldred is the Managing Director of hospitality management 

consultants Eldred Hospitality Pte. Ltd. For more information visit www. 

eldtrain.com.au or email Tony directly at teldred@eldtrain.com.au! 



59


The X Factor of Leadership 

By Dr. Rick Johnson 

There is no such thing as a Born Leader. When people talk about 

born leaders, what they are really referencing is the X factor of 

leadership. What is the X factor Simply stated the X factor is the 

willingness, the desire and the willpower to become an effective 

leader. Effective leaders go through a never ending development 

process that includes education, self study, training, experience 

and coaching and mentoring from one or several individuals that 

have a very positive influence on their personal development. 

Leadership is the ability to influence, inspire and motivate others 

to accomplish specific objectives. It includes creating a culture 

that helps direct the organization in such a way that it makes 

it cohesive and coherent keeping short term tactical goals and 

objectives in alignment with long term strategic initiatives. The 

success of leadership in this process is directly influenced by the 

individual leaders’ beliefs, values, ethics, character, knowledge 

and skills. 

Position and title may give you power but power in itself does 

not make you an effective leader. To become an effective leader 

there are specific skill sets that you must understand and master. 

This does not come naturally. It takes dedication, passion and 

commitment to the process. That commitment, dedication and 

passion includes a tireless effort to improve on specific skills and 

the development of a personal leadership methodology. This is 

often referred to as your personal leadership model. 

If someone were to ask your subordinates to evaluate your 

leadership abilities, their response to this question would likely 

not be related to your character, integrity and values. Of course 

these are important to your success as a leader but people 

evaluate your leadership skills based on what you do to figure 

out who you really are. They are looking for that ‘X’ factor. The 

‘X’ factor is what really determines if you are honest, ethical, 

fair, trust worthy and not self serving. If the ‘X’ factor does not 

exist, employees are likely to obey rather than follow and only 

do exactly what they are told to do and nothing more. If the 

‘X’ factor does not exist, your success in developing the skills 

necessary to become an effective leader is likely to be minimal. 

• How well do you know yourself with regard to self 

improvement and development 

• Do you understand, admit and work on personal weaknesses 

• Do you seek responsibility and take responsibility for your 

actions striving to reach new heights. 

• When things go wrong do you take the blame instead of 

looking for others to blame. 

• Does problem solving, decision making and planning come 

natural to you 

• Are you a good role model and do you seek out employees 

with high potential to coach and mentor 

• Do you truly believe in the value of your employees sincerely 

caring about their well being without being so compassionate 

that it clouds your judgment on competence 

So you believe you and your executive team all have the ‘X’ factor. 

As effective leaders you must be able to interact with employees, 

peers, seniors and many other individuals both inside and outside 

the organization. You must gain the support of many people if 

you are going to meet or exceed established objectives. This 

means that you must develop or possess a unique understanding 

of people. The ‘X’ factor is the driving force that will help you 

develop these skills. Human nature is the common qualities of 

all human beings. People behave according to certain principles 

of human nature. Understand these principles that govern 

our behavior and success is imminent. Start with the basics by 

revisiting your college study of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. 

Armed with a refresher of this basic knowledge of human 

behavior you can now begin to reshape your personal leadership 

model. This is your manner and approach to providing direction, 

implementing plans and motivating people. If you have that ‘X’ 

factor you can become a very effective leader. But remember, 

There is no such thing as a ‘Born Leader’. Effective leaders go 

through a never ending development process. We never stop 

learning and we never stop growing. Keep working on your 

leadership model and share your knowledge and success with 

other potential future stars that have the ‘X’ factor. 

The ‘X’ factor shapes what and who you are as a leader. It 

involves everything you do and it affects the well being of the 

organization. Employees want to follow a leader they respect, 

one that gives them a clear sense of direction and a strong vision 

of the future. 

Ask your self these questions to determine if you or other 

managers in your organization have the ‘X’ factor. 

Dr. Rick Johnson (rick@ceostrategist.com) is the founder of CEO Strategist 

LLC. an experienced based firm specializing in leadership, strategic planning 

and the creation of competitive advantage in wholesale distribution. CEO 

Strategist LLC. works in an advisory capacity with distributor executives in 

board representation, executive coaching, team coaching and education 

and training to make the changes necessary to create or maintain 

competitive advantage. You can contact them by calling 352-750-0868, 

or visit www.ceostrategist.com for more information. 

60 



TRAINING 



61


Four Ways to Motivate Service Professionals; 

A Guide to Getting Wow Performance 

By Mary Sandro 

These Four motivation strategies can help your organization 

succeed - one professional at a time... 

Get Excited! 

Ironically, as managers the first professional to motivate is 

ourselves. If we lack motivation, employees will lack motivation. 

Motivation occurs from the inside out. If we want to motivate 

someone, we have to communicate to their inside. Emotions 

communicate on a deep level from inside to inside. This is why 

one bad apple spoils the bunch. It’s also why one excited manager 

can mobilize a team to move mountains. 

Dig deep. Feigning excitement is impossible because people’s 

insides come equipped with an infallible phony-detection system 

that is always on and has an amazing range of reception. Are you 

genuinely excited about the work your team produces Whether 

we manage rocket scientists or the custodial staff, we need to 

fall in love with our team’s contribution. A rah-rah attitude at 

the staff meeting, ho-hum attitude everywhere else will quickly 

be discovered. 

Hire Motivated Professionals 

It’s easier to hire motivated professionals than it is to motivate 

professionals. Experts assert, “Hire smart or manage tough.” A 

COO of a healthcare organization I worked with declared, “We 

only hire people with “It”. Where “It” is a pathological disease 

to want to serve people.” 

Do you believe that professionals exist who would revel in the 

kind of work your team produces The answer is…they do 

exist. However, if we are not excited about the work our team 

produces, we will never attract and hire people who are excited 

to do it because like attracts like and birds of a feather flock 

together. Consider that Disney esteems cleanliness. They hire 

only street sweepers and house cleaners who delight in cleaning. 

Result: Disney parks and resorts are immaculate. 

Measure 

Are you keeping score How long does it take, when two people 

are hitting tennis balls back and forth, for one of them to suggest 

playing a real game What happens to the level of play as soon 

as the game begins Is your department perpetually warming up, 

hitting balls around Or are you playing for real 

written page. Highlight too much and we overwhelm. Highlight 

the essential nuggets and we assure attention to the highest 

priorities. 

Measurements motivate employees for different reasons. Some 

employees are very competitive and thrive on distinguishing 

their performance from others’. Some are very competitive and 

thrive on distinguishing their own future performance from their 

past. In other words, they compete with themselves. And some 

employees are not competitive at all. They are very dutiful and 

focus their energy on whatever is highlighted for them. 

Institute Profit Sharing 

Tie the measurement to a reward. An adage predicts, “What 

gets rewarded gets repeated.” Robert Bosch- German Inventor, 

Industrialist (1861-1942) stated, “I don’t pay good wages 

because I make a lot of money. I make a lot of money because I 

pay good wages.” If you want to motivate employees even more, 

reward the results you reap from measuring. 

Sales professionals receive commissions based on their measured 

results: sales and sometimes repeat business or renewals. What 

about everyone else A manager of a printing company told me 

that he measures wasted paper. He sets a goal for “waste”. If the 

production employees meet or exceed the goal by producing less 

waste, the company splits the profits with them. My auto service 

center informed me that their sales, service, and auto body 

departments administer customer satisfaction surveys to every 

customer. If, together, they hit or exceed a certain predetermined 

satisfaction rating, they all receive enhanced benefits and 

bonuses from corporate. 

Rewards add precision to measurement inspired motivation. If we 

want salespeople to simply make sales, we emphasize the first 

sales commission. If we want salespeople to create relationships 

and long-term accounts, we emphasize the backend commission. 

By rewarding team measurements, we can influence internal 

customer service in addition to individual service efforts. 

Summary 

To motivate employees, be an exemplar. Being an exemplar will 

enable you to attract and hire highly motivated employees. Focus 

employees’ energy through measurement and reward strategies. 

Then…listen for the “Wows” to start coming in. 

Measure something, but make it relevant to your employees, 

your customers, and your bottom line. Measuring performance 

biases employees’ energy like a highlighter biases the eye on a 

By: Mary Sandro www.ProEdgeSkills.com 

62 






63

SERVICE 

Creating a Great 

First Impression by Phone 

By Denise Moretti 

Phone etiquette helps encourage clear lines of communication, 

build rapport, and avoid misunderstanding. It is an important 

part of customer service and influences the first impression that 

people form of your business. Here’s how to let callers know that 

they are dealing with a great company: 

Great customer service begins BEFORE the phone even rings. 

Make sure that you: 

• Have an organized desk 

• Pen and paper ready 

• A list of phone extensions nearby 

• Know the names, title, and responsibilities of 

everyone in your office 

• Have an updated list as to who is in the office 

today, who is in a meeting, who is out to lunch, 

and when will they be back 

• Have a list of who to refer calls to (general 

topic and person responsible) 

• Know who has assistants and where calls 

should be directed if the assistant is out of the 

office 

• If you are not comfortable greeting callers, 

practice in front of a mirror 

• Learn the call transfer system thoroughly 

• Familiarize yourself with the answers to 

general questions regarding your company 

• Do not disclose confidential information 

Some tips on answering the phone: 

• The best time to answer the phone is just 

after the second ring. You don’t want to catch 

the caller off-guard by answering too quickly, 

nor do you want them to wait too long. 

• Greet the customer; thank the customer for 

calling your company; identify yourself; ask how 

you can assist. For example: ‘Good morning/Good 

afternoon. 

Thank you for calling _____________. 

This is __________________. 

How many I direct your call’ 

• Answer in a warm, enthusiastic, friendly, and 

positive tone of voice. This makes callers 

understand that you are happy to assist. 

64 



• Smile! Believe it or not, it shows through the 

phone! 

• LISTEN carefully to what the caller is saying or 

requesting 

• Be patient. Stay cool, calm and collected. 

• Ask callers for their names, even if it is not 

necessary, and use their names during the 

remainder the call. 

DO: 

• Thank them for calling 

• Always end with a pleasantry, such as: ‘It was 

nice speaking with you!’ ‘Have a great day!’ 

• Let the caller hang up first; this shows you are 

not in a hurry to get off the phone. 

• DO make the caller feel special. 

SERVICE 

• Speak clearly, slowly and in a low tone of 

voice you don’t want to seem like 

you’re screaming) 

• Never talk with anything in your mouth. 

• Putting a Caller on Hold: 

• When putting callers on hold, always 

ask permission. 

• When taking callers off hold, always thank 

them for their patience. 

Transferring a Caller: 

• All co-workers should know how to use 

the call transfer system. Everyone should 

know how to transfer callers directly to other 

co-worker’s extensions; in this way callers will 

not have to repeat requests a second time and 

the number of transfers will be reduced. 

• When transferring callers, tell them the name 

of the person to whom you are transferring 

them; announce callers’ names to your co-workers. 

Taking Phone Messages: Be sure to record the following 

information... 

• Caller’s name and company (if applicable). 

Repeat this information out loud 

to ensure accuracy 

• Time and date of the call 

• Subject of the call 

• DO develop a consistent greeting (hotels be 

sure to meet any brand standards) that is to be 

used by all staff. DO use a Unique Selling 

Proposition in your greeting. 

• DO put the phone down in a gentle manner 

if this is necessary during the call; it will 

be easier on the caller’s ear. 

• DO speak directly into the receiver, without 

burying it on your shoulder or neck. 

• DO avoid background noise as much 

as possible. 

• DO put a small mirror next to the phone. 

Smile. Research shows that smiling can be ‘felt’ 

over the phone. 

• DO maintain a professional manner at 

all times! 

DON’T: 

• DON’T type or shuffle papers. It suggests that 

you’re not listening to the caller. 

• DON’T eat, chewing gum, or have anything in 

your mouth while talking on the phone. 

• DON’T sound rushed, as if you have more 

important things to be doing. 

• DON’T keep a caller on hold for more than 30 

seconds. Speed sells! 

For clarification or discussion, feel free to contact us: 

news@hamistergroup.com 

• Ask if callers want their calls retuned. If the 

answer is yes, get their phone number and ask 

what time would be convenient for them 

The Hamister Group, Inc. is a rapidly growing hotel management company. 

A leader in assisted living and health care management for over 25 years, 

the company now manages five hotels in Tennessee and Kentucky. 

Creating a Great Last (until next time) Impression: 

• Ask if you have answered all of the callers’ 

questions 

The Hamister Group, Inc. is actively seeking acquisitions and management 

contracts throughout the United States. For more details, please see our 

web sites: www.hamistergroup.com and www.hamisterhospitality.com. 



65

SERVICE 

Food Storage Rules 

By Joe Dunbar 

There are certain items which must be stored more carefully in 

order to hit your cost targets. Highly perishable items are the top 

priority. With most vendors running daily deliveries (despite rising 

gas prices), the quantity of highly perishable goods should be 

minimized. Schedule the purchases carefully and avoid excessive 

buys. Spoilage of highly perishable items should be kept to an 

absolute minimum. Make sure the coolers are well organized and 

always rotate stock after a delivery. 

Store items with a high risk of theft in very visible locations. 

Too often, I see small, high cost portions of premium meats and 

seafood left in storage areas far from management’s view. Certain 

operations stock 5 ounce tenderloin portions and jumbo shrimp 

in storage areas well away from the office. It’s much better to 

move these items close to your field of vision. 

If you like video surveillance systems, make sure one of the 

cameras is pointed at the location used to store high risk items. 

If you use pull sheets, keep the sheets for these coolers in your 

office and in plain view. You should know how many portions 

are available for sale to customers at the start of each shift. On 

a rotation basis, you should subtract the meal period POS menu 

item counts from the opening quantity and check the inventory. 

At a minimum, count these high risk items daily. 

Walkin coolers should follow the same rules as the freezer. If you 

need some space for rotation of special items, try to set aside a 

separate cooler or a defined section of your larger cooler. 

Most items should be stored in the exact same location at all 

times. Orderly freezers and coolers make ordering more efficient 

and help prevent unwanted losses due to theft and spoilage. 

Make your freezers easy to count. 

Keep everything in the exact same 

location at all times. 

Finally, dry storage areas are typically the best maintained of all 

inventory locations. Make sure super expensive items like saffron 

and truffle oil is in a place where theft is completely impossible. 

Keep the storage rooms dry and cool and watch expiration dates. 

Try to reorder dry items using a par stock system. Determining 

par levels may be difficult for event caterers but most operations 

should find two or three par levels sufficient. For busy periods, 

build the stock to the high par level. Drop the par when business 

is slow. Maintain the status quo at other times. 

Make your freezers easy to count. Keep everything in the exact 

same location at all times. Messy freezers are a problem which 

should be solved ASAP. If items are improperly stored in the frigid 

environment, it’s very likely you will order more when they are 

in stock. Once the staff see the new delivery, theft is easier and 

unlikely to be detected. 

Joe Dunbar 

Dunbar Associates 

11350 Random Hills Road, Suite 800 

Fairfax, VA 22030 

jdunbar401@aol.com 

http://foodcostcontrol.blogspot.com 

66 






67

LAST WORDS 

last 

words 

for comments please email: 

info@hospitality-maldives.com 

• “Hospitality Maldives is spreading its wings across the globe; I received a lot of CVs not just from Maldives 

but also from other countries! Thanks David!” 

Jennifer Del Rio, Human Resources Manager, Taj Exotica and Spa 

• “I research a lot about the hospitality industry and Hospitality Maldives is very useful for that. Thanks for 

doing this good job, keep it up!” 

Ali Ibrahim 

• “A great service for hoteliers and especially for job seekers like me. Thank you so much for this.” 

Lalu Purwata 

• “From the bottom of my heart, it was way too enlightening and definitely I could not ask for more.” 

Ahmed Faiz, Human Resources Manager, Mirihi Island Resort 

• “Wish you success always, and thanks for the valuable contribution to the industry from and on behalf of 

all of us here at Sunland!” 

Miuzam, HR & Admin Officer, Sunland Hotels 

Have Your Say! 

Email us at info@hospitality-maldives.com! 

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Top 10 Dining Trends for 2007 - Hospitality Maldives

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