Trent Freeman had a challenge. His hotels had topped the charts of guest satisfaction. “That’s a very difficult place to sustain,” he told us. In this case study, we’re going to dive into how he got there, the challenges of maintaining consistent excellence, and how he overcame them through listening to guests through technology and motivating his team. First, a bit of context. Trent is the Corporate Director of Operations Development and Quality Assurance, Valencia Hotel Group. Based in Houston, Texas, Valencia Hotel Group is a hotel management company specializing in the development and operation of full-service luxury hotels. Named a leading hotel developer, owner, and operator by Smith Travel Research, they consistently deliver profit generation rankings in the top tier of all U.S. full-service hotels. Valencia Hotel Group is also a preferred resource for development and property management services for upscale hotels owned by third parties. A unique aspect of Valencia’s properties is a focus on creating a local, outdoor experience with large courtyards, frequent live music, and fire pits in the evening. “We’re taking that experience and making it a luxury experience at the same time,” Trent told us. “Our aim is to give people a reason to travel because staying in our hotels is an experience in itself. It’s very unlike the thousands of other options out there, where you wake up in the morning and may forget what city you're in. It's pretty hard to do that in our hotels!” Valencia Hotels have won Traveler’s Choice Awards and consistently achieves customer satisfaction ratings above the 90th percentile. But therein was the challenge.
Challenged to maintain excellence
“It's difficult to sustain being number one,” Trent reflected. In his experience, rallying staff around a common goal of reaching a high guest satisfaction score or position on a review site is tough, but unites the teams. It’s even more difficult to sustain that level of excellence day after day.
Doing that requires coming up with ways to re-energize the team. “Over time, unless people find new motivators, they lose focus.”
Framing is important here. "I always say it’s not my team, it's not the general manager's team, it's not anybody's team. It's everybody's team, and everybody is just as important as each other." This encourages each individual, regardless of their position, to dig deep down and find that energy day after day to deliver the experience to the guests and to their fellow associates. “It can be challenging sometimes, but at the end of the day we always have a way of figuring it out and moving forward.”
The key to doing that? “We had to take a step back, take a deep breath, and then really figure out how to continuously improve. We can't really rest or take our foot off the gas.”
Part of the process of continual improvement was listening to and acting on guest feedback. And doing that in a timely manner.
