Group:9 Section:BManvendra P.S. Bisht

Mayank GuptaMohd. MohtashimNishant Agrawal

Nitesh Dalal

The HotelWorld famous architect of luxury hotels, first hotel to bear his name.

John C Portman

Relatively small- 348 rooms, 21 floors.Size

To bring Asian hospitality to the US.Objective

HR System

Each employee was called an Associate

‘Bill of Rights’ – Legally enforceable document to assure every associate of his/her rights.

Broad category of jobs- no special employees for room cleaning, ironing etc.

HR System (contd.)

Relatively flat hierarchy – less chance of growth.

Recruiting – Very stringent process. Only the most talented people were selected

Unions were discouraged. Management hoped the ‘Bill of Rights’ was sufficient.

Personal Valets (PV)

Largest group of employees – 85 out of 400

To be on the beck and call of the customer 24*7

To fulfil every single one of their customers demands

Personal Valets

Other jobs included cleaning rooms & hallways, restocking the minibar etc.

Reported to the Director of Guest Room Services through 5 supervisors

Pay was same as a maid’s in comparable hotels, but were expected to get lucrative tips.

Initial Troubles with PVsToo much confidence was placed into the hands of inexperienced PVsLack of Supervisors

• There were only 5 supervisors for about 80 PV who were mostly young – 80% were below 35

Actual amount was about $40 per week instead of the expected $200Lack of Tips• American customers were unfamiliar with the concept of Personal Valets and didn’t know how much to tip

Expected – 50% cleaning 50% serving. Actual – 80% cleaning 20% serving.Job Content• This resulted in them going “sweaty and smelly” to the customers when they were buzzed while they were in the middle of cleaning

Tensions with other employees such as porters and conciergesEmployee Relations • PVs felt that other employees treated them like maids

Result

The turnover among PVs was about 16% in the first month itself.

Solution: The 5 Star Team Plan Implemented by Patrick Mene, VP & MD and Spencer Scott, Director of Guest Room Services.

PVs divided into 15 teams of 5 and each team was assigned to a floor.

PVs were guaranteed work hours based on their seniority independent of occupancy – something which no other hotel did.

Working on the same floor helped them build a relationship with the customers which resulted in better tips.

5 Star Plan – Shortcomings.

• Low occupancy meant that number of PVs was allowed to drop and then Floaters were introduced.

• They worked on different floors everyday and hence dividing tips became an issue.

• Other PVs found them lethargic, while they found it hard to learn the layout of new floors every day

Floaters

5 Star Plan – Shortcomings (contd.)

• Scott was blamed for not being hard on PVs who were not performing by other PVs who had to pick up their slack which they felt was unfair.

• There was a lack of direct supervision by Scott which resulted in being taken advantage of by lazy employees.

• Scott didn’t believe in formally writing up employees and wanted to achieve discipline by appealing to their “sense of pride & fairness”

Discipline

Latest Developments [Positives] The PV experience was a hit with customers and many of them really loved it.

PVs & their “no rules for guests” policy had successfully helped them differentiate themselves in the luxury hotel market.

This all meant that occupancy was at a full 100% and Scott had to hire more people at a much faster rate than ever before.

Latest Developments [Negatives]• Complaints about laundry, minibars etc. had increased due to lack of training as the PVs were already

very busy.• Administrative costs were rising due to increasing levels of heirarchy and the hotel was still not

profitable.• Turnover among PVs was still high 50% for the first year.

Future Outlook One option to increase the quality of work was to create “Team Captain” for every 5 star team who

would be responsible for the floor quality.

He would be paid $1.10 more than other PVs and would report to the supervisor.

However this would increase costs as well as add a level in the hierarchy which was against their original philosophy.

Our Suggestions The “Team Captain” program should be implemented.

Scott can afford to be a little more strict and should make himself more available.

New PVs should be intensively trained and once that eases the load the existing PVs can also be trained in small batches.

A “Team of the month” award can be created for motivating the teams to do their best.

Thank You