Full Transcript for Chapters & Check-Ins: Special Edition – You Asked, We Answered!

able to grow and not have burnout. I mean, if you go back and you know, listen to the energy bus, the five leaderships, eat the frog, they are all giving us the roadmap to be organized and know what Bryan: Right. Tina Turner: to tackle first. and how to handle your employees. So if you are in GM burnout, I would take some, time out to listen to the podcast, grab the books, read them, and try to take, you know, back control so you're not having a burnout. Ronnie Rawls: Mm-hmm. Exactly. Well, I think it I think recognizing that, burnout is not a a personal failure. It's not a it's not a weakness, it's it's really a a sign of your current stress levels exceeding, your resources. So we've got to learn to to tell people when we're getting burned out. You guys, as GMs we need to be able to reach out to our directors and say, Hey man, I'm or I'm I'm I'm at my limit, what what can help me out here or you know, Bryan: For sure. Ronnie Rawls: family members or coworkers that you trust or something like that. But reach out to somebody and let somebody know don't don't suffer quietly, you know. They're that's what that's our job. We're here to support you guys. All right, that's awesome. Karen Jacob: Good. Ronnie Rawls: So I we'll move on to our next topic, guys, if you're already. It's it's it's accountability and team culture. That's that's a big one. How do we address poor performance or attendance while keeping good employees engaged? Karen Jacob: Well, I think, if you don't mind me jumping in, Ronnie, one of the things Ronnie Rawls: Mm mm. Karen Jacob: is that our mindset has to to be that accountability and positive culture are not opposites of each other. And I know sometimes we're afraid to address conflict and we're afraid, somebody's not gonna like me or they're it's gonna create a bad vibe. But honestly we've got some great employees. that are working the extra shifts, that are investing in the quality of guest service and in other areas and they're kind of watching us and it's very discouraging to those high performers when we don't hold the poor performers accountable. So to have private, respectful, honest conversations about expectations that are not being met and the expectation of what right looks like is the quicker we can do that the better we build a positive culture and accountability and then honestly you know you don't have to do it in the form of a write up but even if it's a record of conversation or just hey I'm just gonna put a note to file to remind myself that we had this conversation. But I'm expecting to see good things after this. And you know let them go out and succeed after that. But I think we have to turn off that voice in our head that says accountability means negativity or conflict and start seeing it as a road to a positive culture. Ronnie Rawls: Yeah, for sure. For sure. Tina Turner: I always Philip Carter: Yeah, Tina Turner: say that when you walk into an establishment, you pretty well know if there's a culture at that business within probably the first fifteen seconds. And I know that's quick and maybe somebody will say it's a little bit longer, but you'll you will Bryan: I don't disagree with that. Ronnie Rawls: Yeah. Tina Turner: know real quick. And so, you know, I I urge everyone to kind of step outside and walk in to your business and, and put yourself in a customer's, position to evaluate, your your cleanliness, your friendliness, your attentiveness. Is there someone at even at your front desk? How many times do we walk in and Philip Carter: Yeah. Tina Turner: there's nobody even there? You have nobody's Ronnie Rawls: Nobody, yeah. Tina Turner: there at the yet to to greet you and you're walk so you don't have a culture if that's the case. Karen Jacob: I had a boss one Ronnie Rawls: that's true. Bryan: there's a whole Karen Jacob: time tell me that when those doors open up, the front doors, that one of two things was gonna happen. Either a wild animal was coming through or it was a guest. Either way you better be ready. So always I always remembered that and laughed like when those doors open we we should be there. Yeah. Tina Turner: That's right. That's Bryan: I I I know some of you guys were watching some football lately, but you know, Nick Saban used to say of his teams that high achievers did not like mediocre performers, but they absolutely hated bad performers. And that that the he one of the things that he focused on as a coach is making sure that those people were addressed. It was a big, Ronnie Rawls: Yeah. Bryan: big deal for his culture. Karen Jacob: Yeah. Philip Carter: Same nation. Ronnie Rawls: Saber nation. Tina Turner: Yeah. Bryan: You I'm an Auburn fan and I miss the old guy, I do. Tina Turner: Yeah. Ronnie Rawls: Yeah. Tina Turner: Hey. He he was just not a great coach, but he was a great leader, as well. But yep, Bryan: Yeah, he was. Still is, I'm sure. Ronnie Rawls: Yeah. Tina Turner: he is. Yep. He definitely is. Ronnie Rawls: That's awesome. All right, guys. Let's move on to our third question here. Guess Tina Turner: All right, we ready? Ronnie Rawls: guess recovery and service scores. Tina Turner: wow. Ronnie Rawls: What recovery ideas work and when is compensation appropriate? Philip Carter: Well I would say what, most guests when they have an an issue, right, depending on when they report it, the easiest thing is just giving their money back, right? But obviously, Ronnie Rawls: Mm-hmm. Philip Carter: we're not we're not in the business to, just give people their money back. But I also always say it's not necessarily about the problem, but it's about how we recover. And if if we focus on that, right, making sure when before the guest walks out that door that their problem has been resolved, then Most times that's gonna affect our guest scores in a positive way, whether it be them not even, leaving a review or be, you know what, this team really made me to care of me, listen to me, and then follow up to make sure that I was I

was taken care of, in despite of whatever situation. Transport. Tina Turner: Yeah. Well, I'm going back to some old Hilton days and Ronnie, we've been on a lot of Marriott training calls lately and they have something very similar to this as well. But I love, the acronym LEAP, for guest recovery. And that's listen so many times, just the very first one you hear guests saying, Nobody really listened to my problem, And We we have to just be quiet and let the guests talk and not try to combat their problem, and then we have to emphasize. And, you know, that is just, you know, putting yourself in their shoes. It's not taking, you know, ownership or making excuses, it's empathizing with them and then apologizing. You know, you also hear that. Nobody even apologized. And I I think we do have to apologize, even though we're not saying, Hey, we accept responsibility. it's just a matter of, Karen, I'm I I'm sorry that you feel that way. we are, let's see how we can resolve this. And that's where you go into problem solving, and the idea is, taking care of that guest and in my mind, pretty much no matter what, because they will talk about how we handled that situation either positive or negatively, and it will have a dramatic input with your service scores. So I always look at it as a opportunity to wow a customer, a Ronnie Rawls: Yeah. Tina Turner: pr a guest problem we should actually get excited about. Bryan: We should. Ronnie Rawls: Mm-hmm. Bryan: We should, because that is an opportunity for us to flip that guest. there's there's all those studies that Hilton did years ago, and I'm sure many of you have already heard this. But if a guest comes into your hotel, they have a good experience and they leave, they check a box and said, Yeah, it was fine. It was my expectation, But when they have a problem and you successfully resolve that problem over and above their expectation. You have one that guest, and that guest is a is gonna give you a 10 every time. They're gonna tell ten people. They're gonna they're gonna be Tina Turner: Absolutely. Bryan: they're gonna be a walking billboard for your hotel. It's really Tina Turner: That's right. Karen Jacob: Right. Bryan: the cheapest form of advertisement you can possibly you can possibly think of. It really is. If you can flip them. Karen Jacob: Yeah, and I I I love that, Brian. And also I think in regards to the part of the questions where it's like when what compensation is valuable and when is it important? Well, when it's important is when it's important to the guest. And the one that's valuable is the one that's valuable to the guest. So I think one of the things that, you know, we got at least at my hotel, kind of got into a little hamster wheel of is just deciding what's valuable to the guest for them rather than engaging them in finding out what that is. So it was always like, I'll give you points. Well wait a minute. or I'll give you breakfast. Well hold on. Is the guest a member? Are points even valuable to them? And is the guest gonna be here with us when breakfast is served? Is that valuable to them? Sometimes we have to ask them, hey, I you went through something that is so disappointing to me that that happened in my hotel. How can I make this right for you? And a lot of times they'll tell Tina Turner: Absolutely. Karen Jacob: you what's making them what's valuable to them. And that's the thing and and also because they participated in the solution, they have buy into it. So you can't they're not gonna walk away feeling like they didn't get the solution that they wanted because they participated in offering up what solution that they wanted. So they have buy into that. And Tina, to your point, the the last letter was of your leap, or learn is I guess the one I'm c remembering is to notify. I find Tina Turner: Yeah. Karen Jacob: sometimes that we do solutions but we don't follow back up real quick to tell the guests that we gave them a solution. And sometimes our sense of urgency makes such an impression on the guest. So I try within 15 minutes is what I'm teaching of solving Tina Turner: Mm-hmm. Karen Jacob: a guest's issue and providing whatever compensation, whether that be points or a discount or a gift card or whatever we have agreed upon, that I send a follow-up text, phone call, or email that says, Hey. I want you to know I didn't I didn't forget about this as soon as you walked out the door. It's been bothering me ever since we talked. I want you to know I made it my priority to take care of this and this is what I've done and it's already been handled. And I send that off and it's just amazing to me how much that's appreciated by the guests and how they respond to that as opposed Ronnie Rawls: Yeah. Karen Jacob: to just letting it lay flat and then wonder. Well, I wonder if they ever really did anything or if they followed through on their promise. so that that was that's been a big help. Bryan: Philip was Tina Turner: I think go ahead, Brian. Ronnie Rawls: Yeah. Bryan: I was just gonna say Philip earlier was talking about empowerment, you know, and I and I think go ahead, Philip, you were you were talking about that before, I think. Philip Carter: Yeah, so just from the from the standpoint of just whoever takes on the problem, right? The ownership of that problem and then giving them guidelines on how to deal with these problems. Because if it gets to if if the person in front of you doesn't do anything and they say they just stole it and I'll I'll talk to my GM, that's not helping the guests at all. That's not giving them any type of resolve. If if anything, that gets their water boiling a little bit more. So now by the time Bryan: Yeah. Ronnie Rawls: Ha ha ha. Philip Carter: you the GM or the person that's in the leadership has to deal with them, they're already off the rails. So it's important that your team knows that they have that, they have that ability to make these decisions and then but also, keep you in the loop

if you need to, insert yourself a little bit more. And then Karen was saying, just that just that follow up call, hey, I know that, you you you experienced this and obviously this is not a reflection of our hotel. But I just wanted to let you know to make sure everything was good, you were taken care of, and then that speaks that speaks volumes and does. Ronnie Rawls: Yeah, for sure. Karen Jacob: Yeah, when when they get that answer, Philip, I I'm like you. That's one of my pet peeves when they say, Well, I'll be sure I talk to management about that. Well, you might as well put them on hold with techno Hilton Technology Bryan: Yeah. Philip Carter: Yeah, I think that's Karen Jacob: or whoever the technology support number is and and tell Well, I'll tell I I'll escalate Ronnie Rawls: They're gonna call. Bryan: no. Karen Jacob: that to to to the level two. Okay. Who's level two and when are they gonna call me? And so that's never And so that's the feeling Tina Turner: Exactly. Karen Jacob: you leave with. Yeah. Bryan: Level two. I'm gonna go tell my dog all about it. It's level two. Ronnie Rawls: Yeah. For sure. What do you Karen Jacob: So important. Ronnie Rawls: do when you walk into a hotel? And and and I've been to hotels and and someone comes down and they complain. And the automatic response from that front desk agent when the guest walks off is they're just trying to get a free room. I know y'all have heard that, you know, and Philip Carter: I didn't. Ronnie Rawls: and it becomes the sentiment. I mean, it's I mean, they think that every single time somebody complains. Tina Turner: Right. Ronnie Rawls: how do you deal with that with your employees, guys? I mean, how do you how do you address that? Tina Turner: I think that's Philip Carter: Yeah. Tina Turner: also culture. Philip Carter: Yeah. Ronnie Rawls: Mm-hmm. Philip Carter: Yeah, for sure. Culture mindset thing. Tina Turner: Right. Philip Carter: again, and that and that's again when you when you're constantly pushing, well showing them rather how to handle these issues, then they they see it less of a a mindset of they're just trying to get their money back and more. So, hey, this guest might just be trying to report this so the next guest doesn't have to experience those things. Right. And then I I actually when I hear things like that, I actually appreciate the guest more. Because there's guests that don't say anything. And you hear about it in a a review and you're like, wait, what? They we just when they stay here, they didn't say anything. But, so it's it's important that, they understand the difference. And then it's again, Ronnie Rawls: Mm-hmm. Philip Carter: address it again, depending on the situation and appropriately and in a timely fashion. You don't let it you don't let it wait. You jump on it immediately. Ronnie Rawls: Yeah. Karen Jacob: Well too, I tell you let me worry about Ronnie Rawls: Yeah. Karen Jacob: the ones that are taking advantage of it, but that but don't because at the end of the day, just like most employees I firmly believe come to work to do a great job and they don't come to work to disappoint people or most employees wanna come to work and feel good when they went home, that they contributed and they did something. I feel like guests too, when they come and they invest their money, their hard earned money into for whatever reason, whether it be vacation or a company event or something, you know, a funeral, whatever, they invested that in you. I think that they honestly want to have a good experience and and probably don't even put on their checklist I sure would like to talk to the general manager and and critique them on everything that they're doing in the hotel. That's the last thing on their mind. They just want to come in and have a peaceful, pleasant experience in a clean, safe, well-maintained hotel with friendly, problem-solving employees. That's all they want. And so Bryan: Yeah. Ronnie Rawls: Yeah. Karen Jacob: you let me worry about the ones that are taking advantage of us, but you're gonna pr hear What that guest has to say, it's the first time you've ever heard it, that you're flabbergasted that the event could have occurred in this hotel, and Ronnie Rawls: Mm-hmm. Karen Jacob: that you're just gonna take care of them. And if you feel like there's some motive, bring it to me and let me deal with that. But when you're in front of the guest, you take care of the guest. And we we have a saying over here say yes to the guest, kind of like say yes to the dress, on Ronnie Rawls: Mm-hmm. Karen Jacob: Yeah, see we say yes to the guests and if you have a feeling about a motive, bring it to my attention and I'll look into it further. Bryan: I love it. Say yes first. Tina Turner: I love that saying. Bryan: Yeah. Say yes first. Karen Jacob: Yeah. Philip Carter: Yes. Bryan: That's awesome. I I Ronnie Rawls: That's gonna stick in that's gonna stick in my head now. Bryan: I stayed at a hotel recently. It wasn't one of ours, but I stayed at a hotel recently where my key died. I went to the front desk and and they gave me the old, did you put it next to your cell phone thing? And I'm like I looked at the guy behind the desk. I'm like, Are we still doing that? I said, Really? I mean, I thought that was over. I thought we Ronnie Rawls: Ha ha ha. Karen Jacob: Yeah. Tina Turner: Yeah. Yeah. Philip Carter: That's true. Bryan: I thought we quit blaming the guest when there was a problem, you know. Ronnie Rawls: Yeah. Tina Turner: Yeah. Why even say that? You're blaming the guest. Take it out of the equation. Ronnie Rawls: Yeah. Yeah, stuff. Karen Jacob: All right, let tell you something, Mark Brian, since you said that because this was just in a survey is so embarrassing. So there was a guest that said their telephone didn't work. Now, granted, our young folks are like, telephone, why do they care about a telephone? But they some Ronnie Rawls: Yeah. Bryan: What's a telephone? Yeah. Karen Jacob: people

do care about a telephone for safety reasons or whatever. Tina Turner: Right. Karen Jacob: And so they got they reported that the response that they got was Well, you would have had to pay for a call if it did work. my God. My hair Ronnie Rawls: Ho ho ho ho ho Karen Jacob: turned red, my skin was on fire. I'm running Ronnie Rawls: yeah. Karen Jacob: around with this pe like who would ever respond to a guest? I mean, that's just being honest. That was said. Ronnie Rawls: Yeah. Bryan: my god. Karen Jacob: But my gosh, what a reminder of you know, people value different things. And when there's a Ronnie Rawls: Yeah, they do. Karen Jacob: problem It's a problem. So let's get it Tina Turner: That's right. Karen Jacob: resolved and not make excuses. Bryan: Amen. Ronnie Rawls: That's awesome. Tina Turner: Yep. Yep. Ronnie Rawls: Well, what do you guys, what do you do on the flip side of that when you know when when you do have a guest that kind of does it kind of you know, crosses that line, you know, where it enters into personal harassment or or screaming obscenities or are, you know, threatening the well-being of a worker? you know, where do you draw that line in being customer service minded and Tina Turner: Right. Ronnie Rawls: saying enough's enough? that's a That's a tough line to to to define, really, sometimes. Bryan: But important because I think, you're and it goes back to this whole culture thing. you you have to protect your employees. That that is it Philip Carter: Mm. Bryan: you know, not only is it good culture, it's the law. You know, you Ronnie Rawls: Mm-hmm. Bryan: can't you can't allow those folks to be to be verbally abused or or you know, any or sexually harassed or any any of those things. That that that's where to me that's where the line is. And I and believe me, I know you guys as directors and you guys at GM You've probably all come across this at least once. I know I've I've seen it many times in different different properties. It it takes the form of, you know, like I said, sexual harassment sometimes. Other times it's just you know, Philip Carter: Yeah. Bryan: yelling and cursing to the point where there's a huge scene in the lobby and all that. You you know, those are those are times when you just really have to and if you're not there, you gotta call the police. I mean, that's all there is to it. I think you have to stop those those types of things immediately. And if you don't, your your employees they're not gonna think that you have their back anyway. that's four. Ronnie Rawls: That's exactly right. Mm-hmm. Yeah, one hundred percent. Karen Jacob: If I can't de escalate then I will instruct. I mean, if it's that far gone that this person is not going to listen to reason and they're not gonna allow Bryan: Yeah. Karen Jacob: you with your best efforts to de escalate and solve the problem, then then I will ask them to leave and we won't charge them for the room. Have have Ronnie Rawls: Mm-hmm. Karen Jacob: I'll let you check out. There won't be any penalty. I understand your frustration and if they if they still won't then I'll ask trustful spinals to come assist them in making that decision. Well but you gotta throw Bryan: Yeah, I probably jumped a couple of steps. Sorry, Karen. Thank you, Karen, for Philip Carter: Yeah. Ronnie Rawls: She's like, let's pull it back a little bit. Let's pull it back a little bit. Tina Turner: Ha ha Bryan: Thank you, Cara Crew, for getting me for getting me back on track. Karen Jacob: your body in between the the employee and the guest, that's for sure Ronnie Rawls: Yeah, yeah. Karen Jacob: if you're there. Tina Turner: Well and and a lot of times you don't once you start raising your voice to the other person, then they're gonna get louder and you're just accelerating, you know, their their frustration, their madness and so you have to, you know, let them know, Hey, let's I'd love to talk to you about it, but you know, I need you to bring your voice down. I need you to Let's have a reasonable conversation. and sometimes Ronnie Rawls: Yeah. Tina Turner: if you tell them that, they they will. They'll calm down a little bit. Ronnie Rawls: Yeah. And if you Karen Jacob: Yeah. Ronnie Rawls: pull people away from the desk sometimes you're like, Hey, let's come over here and let's talk about it Karen Jacob: Absolutely. Ronnie Rawls: over here and they don't have a crowd, you know, and the person that they're mad at is maybe that front desk agent right now anyway, it does help to de escalate it sometimes if you kind of Tina Turner: Yep, absolutely, Karen Jacob: Right. Tina Turner: Ronnie. Philip Carter: Hundred percent. Karen Jacob: I even had a kipsu conversation that got out of line one time that I had to Ronnie Rawls: Yeah. Karen Jacob: step into. So they come on your cell phone and I saw this guest that had already checked out now. It had been a day since they checked out. But they were reaching back out via kipsu to one of my front desk employees who happened to be a cute little young lady. And he was saying, How old are you? And are you married? Ronnie Rawls: No. Karen Jacob: and all those kind of things. And so I stepped into the conversation sub and surprised the heck out of him. And just said, Hey, glad you had a great experience while you're here. Just want to rein the conversation in because I've instructed my employees that personal things like their marital status and age are not appropriate for kitsu. And And then boy you should have heard that backtracking, I didn't mean it you know, really backtracked. But the employee really appreciated because at that point it was awkward. Ronnie Rawls: Yeah, yeah, Tina Turner: Right. Ronnie Rawls: for sure. Philip Carter: You said say yes to the guests, so that's probably Karen Jacob: Yeah. Ronnie Rawls: Yeah. She did say that, didn't she? Yeah. Yeah. Karen Jacob: I did find that. Philip Carter: Right. Ronnie Rawls: awesome, awesome. Well, the next topic, guys, let's let's move on to

that. Well, this is something that's near and dear to my heart. I absolutely, you know, can't stand. is when there's a communication and and and conflict. How do you handle gossip? the big gossip, right? How do you handle interruptions Tina Turner: Mm. yeah. Ronnie Rawls: and disagreements? How do you help affect them before they affect your team? How do you take care of those? Karen Jacob: Well, one of my favorite little tips and tricks that has really not failed me yet, I if it does I'll be sure and update this comment, but so far it has served me well, and that is when somebody starts gossiping or complaining about another person who works at the hotel, whether it be a manager or a peer, I just Say, give me just a second, and then I'll pick up my phone and call that person and say, Hey, can you come to our office real quick so we can resolve something? I got a question for you. And the person who started the conflict is in panic at that point because they're Ronnie Rawls: Mm-hmm. Karen Jacob: like, my gosh, I can't believe you did that. But boy, does it st stop them from coming to you with unnecessary complaints Ronnie Rawls: Mm-hmm. Karen Jacob: and and conflict. because now they're gonna have to face the person that they were just speaking about and it shocks them into better behavior. Bryan: Yeah, they I bet they speak a lot sweeter when there's when there's somebody Ronnie Rawls: Well when you Yeah. Bryan: standing right in front of it. That's what that's an incredible thing, by the way. Karen Jacob: And I yeah. I don't ask Ronnie Rawls: Yeah. Karen Jacob: do you wanna have the conversation? I just ask for a quick pause Ronnie Rawls: Yeah. Karen Jacob: and call that person, say, Hey, come to my office real quick. Ronnie Rawls: Yeah. When you get two people in a room together, the truth definitely comes out, sometimes. So all right. Anyone else got anything on? Tina Turner: Well, I also yeah, I think, having that zero tolerance, you have to address it right then because if you do not, it will create a f smoke and then you've got a big fire if you do not address it. Bryan: Hundred percent. Yeah, it it's one of those things that we and you talk about culture, man, y that kind of stuff destroys culture so quickly. And allowing, you know, that that bad performer or that bad actor to to be on your team and have that and not address it immediately is that's negligence as as far as I'm concerned. Tina Turner: Yeah, you're gonna start losing your good employees. Bryan: Mm-hmm. Philip Carter: And then it's also it's also identifying what's gossip and what's not. So if something's reported to a manager, I've I've had a couple instances where team members will say you guys are gossiping, gossiping about me, and when you have another manager talking about well, let's say evaluating, we use that word, another team member's performance, that's not gossip. You know, that's what we're supposed to do, Ronnie Rawls: Mm-hmm. Philip Carter: to see where they're at, how can we help them. And also when you have in the same instance when you have two people talking, you know, it takes two to tangle, right? So if if that person's got something you do not have to in engage in that. You can just, you know, allow them to say what they wanna say and then you can also report that to the to the manager and let and let them deal with it. So it's that's very important. Karen Jacob: So good. So good, Philip. Ronnie Rawls: Yeah. Karen Jacob: And also among the leadership team, one of the things when we're setting a vision or expectation in our leadership closed door sessions, sometimes you I mean you can sense it when somebody disagrees with with the direction that you're setting. And so it's a great time to ask, Hey, I you know, somebody wanna play devil's advocate with this because Here's the thing, we're gonna agree or agree to disagree, but once we walk out this door, we're unified as a as a leadership team and we gotta march to the same, drum and we have to stay in unity because we can't fracture ourselves. There's plenty of other outside factors that are gonna try to attack us, but we can't we can't fracture ourselves. So I have to ask sometimes. I understand that you may not agree with this vision, but what I'm asking you to do right now is commit to it. And if we need to come back and evaluate it later and change the recipe, Ronnie Rawls: Yeah. Karen Jacob: we can come together and talk about that. But once we walk out this door, we're either in agreement or agree to disagree with respect to the vision. Ronnie Rawls: Yeah. That's very important. Tina Turner: Yeah, absolutely. Ronnie Rawls: All right. Well, guys, our our last question we wanted to gear towards our salespeople. it's growing business in a in a challenging market. You know, which local partnerships and sales opportunities are producing room nights? does anybody wanna have any comments on that? How to grow your business in a challenging market? Tina Turner: Well, I think it depends on your market, whether or not you're in a rural market or if you're, in a major city. I think, there's a lot to to go with that. But I I think, you know, there's lots of avenues, but you know, Brian, I I know you you and I are old school. I hate to admit that, but you know Yes. Bryan: Old school still works. Tina Turner: You wanna w I'm gonna let turn this over to you. Bryan: No, I well I I'm I'm always an advocate of of of getting out in your community and figuring out what's going on. I know it's it's real real tempting. And and and by the way, it has a ton of merit to be able to do internet research and figure out what's going on that way. But but being physically in your market and attending, you know, chamber events and doing parking lot shops, I'm sorry, but they do work. It's qualified business, usually, you know, for depending on what kind of tote you are. But do doing those parking lot shops, man, I have y I can't I we have completely turned hotels

around with parking lot shops. just being able to get qualified business in the door, you know, that's already in your market. And you know, I think you know b again being being in being out, I if you don't know the other gyms, I'm I when I was a gym I had breakfast in my in my competitions hotels about three times a week. I I'd go have a cup of coffee and just sit around and listen. hey, what's going on in this market? Yeah, I know the internet is there and you can find out a ton of information. Absolutely you should, but old school still works. Ronnie Rawls: Yeah, it does. Well, Brian, for for individuals that maybe doesn't Bryan: Yeah. Ronnie Rawls: understand market parking lot shops, Bryan: Mm. Ronnie Rawls: can you kinda explain when's the best time to do it? how often should you do it? what are y'all's what do you what is what is your take on Bryan: Well, really good point. I think, when you do it a l a lot of times depends on when your need is, So if you're if you're a hotel that fills every weekend, you don't need weekend business, then then you don't worry about the weekends. But really that for me, the Tuesday through Thursday, being able to catch the white truck guys as I call back coming back from the job and before they go out to dinner, usually you can hit those parking lots about four or four thirty and you've caught they'll get off work at three, they'll be back to change clothes before they go out. And so hitting those parking lots late in the afternoon, you know, and and doing some research. And, you know, once you've got those by the way, you if you've got a DOT number, we can show you how to figure out what company it is if it doesn't say it on the side of the truck. but but getting those getting those company names and then and then going to your desk. And getting on the internet and figuring out who the contact person is. And that that's man, we've we have turned literally we've turned hotels that were losing money into moneymakers. That is no lie. Over and over, by the way, doing that. So very Ronnie Rawls: Awesome. Tina Turner: Yeah, and I I I think, the how did to to grow, there's a lot of opportunities to look at business license, new construction that's coming to town, Ronnie Rawls: Mm. Tina Turner: reading the newspaper or, all of those things will get you ahead before you see the new shopping center that's being built. And believe it or not, that shopping center was probably planned over a year ago. So you've missed that whole opportunity before you actually see the construction happening. And so Ronnie Rawls: Mm-hmm. Tina Turner: I think, there's there's opportunity ahead of time to do research, but you know, I would ask yourself, who's in my comp set? And do I know their top three, top five accounts for each hotel in your comp set? If you do not know the answer to that question, I urge everyone to go out and uncover that. Because a lot of times, if especially if you're not number one on your star report and occupancy and you're, you know, three, four, five, you know, you've got some opportunity there. And the best way to get business. is from your comp set because those guests are already in your town staying. And so you have to figure that out. And knowing your comp set's key account is one way to try to gravitate. Because if they're Ronnie Rawls: Mm-hmm. Tina Turner: not taking care of their, top accounts, then, you should be knowing who their key contacts are at that company. Bryan: Yeah, knowing that, if the GM down the street got fired or the director of sales got walked or, knowing that stuff and all's fair and love and war and hotels because, you know, if if there's a hotel in your market that's vulnerable and you're not taking advantage of that, then you're not doing your job. 'Cause they're gonna do it to you, trust me. You Ronnie Rawls: They will. Bryan: know, if something happens at your property and you you you lose a salesperson or whatever, they're gonna come after your clients and you need to be aggressive enough Tina Turner: They will. Bryan: to to go get to go get that business and that and and I don't advocate this. We ha we have a a GM who who will literally go sitting parking lots and wait for the guys to come back from from work and then she'll get out of her car, walk right up to him and go, Why are you staying here? You know. But I'm not saying you ought to do that, but that's a little aggressive. Ronnie Rawls: Right, right, right. I may get that may get you ran off property there a little bit. So yeah. That's true. Bryan: Yeah, you you might get you might get handcuffed, I don't know, but it's Tina Turner: Yeah. Yeah. Bryan: probably not a good Karen Jacob: Well, we can definitely look at company names and new activity and our arrivals and see if there's something that's re peaking up that hasn't been there before that we can dig into. We do that a lot here and also just kind of knowing ourselves a little bit too about what problems are we u uniquely set up to solve for a company. that maybe somebody else is not set up to solve quite as well as we can and start researching those opportunities and sports groups and different things because you know just like for us even just having that bar means a lot to Harley Davidson. It means a lot to Ingersoll Rand. It means a lot to motion industries and people who like to and Wood Fruit occurred people that like to gather around cocktails in the evenings after their long meetings, whereas somebody else may be more incentivized to the free breakfast at Hampton, and that may be critical to their enjoyment of a stay. So I think knowing who you are and what you have to offer can go a long way to sell your hotel. Bryan: Huge. And don't waste time on on those that you're not going to be able to pull for I'm a you know, that's kind of what Tina was saying about having knowing who your top your competitors, who their top accounts are and having that hit list, you know, and I I advocate having

a list of ten or so all the time that you that you're going after. And then at some point when you realize that this company, Coca Cola or whatever it is, And you've been going after for six months and they're not leaving the Marriott because they all have Marriott points and you're you're never gonna get It's time to throw off that list and put somebody else on, you know, and and not not spend your your whole life beating your head up against the wall over one account when you could be, you know, exploring new I'm not saying give up right away, but i if you've put a significant amount of effort in it and you realize you're not gonna get it, get it off your list and and let's let's refresh that list. You know what I mean? Tina Turner: Yeah, absolutely. And I would Bryan: Okay. Tina Turner: urge everyone, if you don't have a hit list, make a hit list and print it out. If you've got a whiteboard in your office, write it so you see it every single day. So it's right in front of you so you can stay focused on it. And, you know, the other thing I would love to mention is actually having a maintenance program for your key accounts that you currently have because if you're not maintaining those key Bryan: Yes, I'll get Tina Turner: accounts, guess what? Your competitors are gonna come and try to take them from you. And Ronnie Rawls: Yeah. Tina Turner: and so Philip Carter: Yeah. Tina Turner: I would make sure that's part of your sales program is to protect, you know, what what you currently have. And if you Ronnie Rawls: Yeah. Tina Turner: are not going and visiting and checking in and see, how, everything's going with their account with the hotel, I would add that segment into your sales plan. Ronnie Rawls: Yeah, for sure. I've always I Bryan: If you're lucky enough to go ahead, Ryan. Ronnie Rawls: I've I've always heard it's easier to keep an account than it is to go out and get one. So, run run that top fifty every single month. If there's a decline, find out why. You know, you gotta stay on top of what you do have, for sure. Tina Turner: Yeah. Yep. Ronnie, you remember, when you were a GM, every Ronnie Rawls: Mm-hmm. Tina Turner: month we'd print, you know, that top fifty report and look for trends, you know, decline Ronnie Rawls: And look at that percentage. Yeah. Tina Turner: year over year, month over month, and Ronnie Rawls: Mm-hmm. Tina Turner: you know, ask, Hey, why did they drop off fifty room nights month over month or this month last year? And if we do not have a good answer, We need to go and visit them, pick up the telephone. and sometimes you'll have answers. Hey, they were, you know, adding on to their facility, you know, and that's Ronnie Rawls: Yeah. Are the the jobs over? Tina Turner: yeah, exactly. But you have to run your reports. Karen Jacob: And one of the things that has saved us a couple of times, kudos to Marcus, is watching those guest surveys and seeing where a particular company, LNR or group, brought up a couple of issues

that didn't go so well. And so then Marcus like, Whoa what wait a minute and he called his contact and got in front of it a little bit and said, hey, I Ronnie Rawls: Mm-hmm. Karen Jacob: I saw where this occurred with one of your one of your employees or one of your group and I need to make this right. Let's fix this. And they get so excited about somebody really caring about keeping their eye on the ball that, you know, they'll forgive the error, but the relationship part is, you know, really emphasized in in moments like that. Bryan: Yeah, and I think you guys have done an amazing job, not to toot your horn there, Karen, but you know, getting some of these companies that were there before we took over that hotel years ago used to be bread and butter for that hotel and they they've been able to flip and get back after just really, you know, a lot of a lot of relationship building, but but amazing job. You know, one other thing too, and I meant to mention this before, but you know, having when do get that if you finally do get the right person and and you you convinced them to come do a site tour of your property make sure that your rooms are perfect when they come for the site visit make sure you've got 10 people in the lobby for it takes five minutes pull everybody together welcome them when they walk in the door get blows them away gives them it Ronnie Rawls: yeah. Bryan: it gives them a an unbelievable impression of your hotel To just pull all the housekeepers just for five minutes, everybody from the front desk, everybody. Tina Turner: But that that that also builds your team up. Wow, you want me to come down and you're gonna introduce me to, the president of the company? Wow, that's pretty impressive. Ronnie Rawls: Mm. Karen Jacob: aggressive, yeah. Bryan: Good stuff, man. You you you'll land that account Ronnie Rawls: That's a great that's a great Bryan: guaranteed, almost Tina Turner: Yep, yep, yep. Ronnie Rawls: Yeah. Tina Turner: And even if they're not down and you're walking the hallway, stop and introduce them. hey, I want to introduce Mary. She's our executive housekeeper. And, you know, I think that goes a long way as well. But having Ronnie Rawls: Mm-hmm. Tina Turner: you know, a handful of rooms as your showrooms, you know, if you don't have a list of showrooms, I'd I'd urge you to put that down on your to-do list of saying, Hey, let's find five, six rooms, a show rooms that we we know that are pretty well perfect and we just need to run in real quick and make sure, you know, that it that we don't have anything major going on and and kinda have them in your back pocket at at all times and see if there's anybody in there. But that's good stuff, Brian. Ronnie Rawls: Yeah, very good. Bryan: Mm. Ronnie Rawls: Well, guys, we've had a pretty good conversation. We've talked about our five topics. this was fun. I I enjoyed this. This was a lot of fun. Yeah. so you Tina Turner: Yeah, it was gr it was great. I I like it. Philip Carter: Same thing. Ronnie Rawls: know, I want to tell everybody thank you. You know, thank you, Karen, thank you, Brian. Thank you, Philip, for taking time out of Tina Turner: Yes. Ronnie Rawls: your day and jumping on here and answering some of the tough questions. you know, and and we we appreciate that. Tina, do you got anything you want to add before we close? I used like you did. You look like Tina Turner: Do I do Ronnie Rawls: you did. Mm-hmm. Bryan: You had that look. Tina Turner: Yes, yes, exactly. Hey, I just wanted to to give a couple of shout outs. We had several comments in the comment section during our podcast today. wonderful comments, you know. Hey Brian, I'll have to say give a shout out to Sherry. She said she's old school too and she loves baking cookies and taking out, you know. That's where Sherry got started was in sales. So Ronnie Rawls: That's right, the cookies, man. Yeah. Bryan: Maybe that's good. Yeah. Love that. Tina Turner: yeah, exactly. But hey I want to give a drum roll real quick for all of our integral managers out there. IGMC26 is right around the corner a few weeks away. Ronnie Rawls: Right around the corner. Tina Turner: Yep. And so our next podcast will be live at conference. And Karen Jacob: Wow. Tina Turner: so yes, yes. Bryan: Have no idea how that's gonna go. That's really loud. Really, really loud. Ronnie Rawls: It's gonna go swimmingly Yeah, Karen Jacob: Doctor. Tina Turner: Yes. Philip Carter: Yeah. Tina Turner: Yes, it is it is really gonna be Ronnie Rawls: it's gonna be live live in front of a studio audience. Tina Turner: live, live with a studio audience. And Ronnie Rawls: Yeah. Tina Turner: Ronnie, do you wanna announce our book club leader? Ronnie Rawls: Well, our book club leader for this podcast is the one and only Bill Murray. So yeah. Tina Turner: Woo pool! Yeah. Ronnie Rawls: He's gonna he's gonna lead lead and you know he's Bryan: Then Ronnie Rawls: a he's a podcast professional. You know, he's done it, he does it every month. Karen Jacob: He's got the FM voice and everything. Ronnie Rawls: he's got the you know what the Weatherbrain podcast. If you haven't seen that, I mean he's he's a professional. Yeah, exactly. Karen Jacob: Yeah. That'll be Bill Murray signing off. Tina Turner: Yeah. Yes, so it'll be a very special podcast. So and all of y'all will be able to be there live with us and so we will have some additional equipment for this and special setup. So Ronnie, shout out to you for making this happen and Ronnie Rawls: Yeah. Tina Turner: all of that fun stuff. So it'll be gr it'll be great. Ronnie Rawls: I got I got the ungettable. I got the ungettable. You know, the ungettable interview. So awesome. Karen Jacob: Yeah. Tina Turner: that is awesome. Well, hey, thank y'all again. This was so much fun, different special edition, I love to call it. So, Ronnie Rawls: Yep. Tina, do you want to do our catchphrase? Tina Turner: our catchphrase? Ronnie Rawls: Yeah, do you remember? It's been a while. Tina Turner: It has been a while. Well we got you gotta you got you Ronnie Rawls: I I remember my I r Tina Turner: gotta start it and then I finish it. Ronnie Rawls: yeah, okay. keep all I know is keep turning the pages and check it in with yourself, right? That's it. All Tina Turner: That's right. Checking in with yourself. That's right. See you got it. Ronnie Rawls: right. I've got it memorized. It only took me ten episodes to get there. So all Karen Jacob: Yeah. Tina Turner: that's great. Ronnie Rawls: right. Well, thank you guys again and we'll see y'all soon. Thank you. All right, bye. Tina Turner: Okay, thanks everybody. Karen Jacob: Thank you. Bryan: I think