Friday, February 22, 2008Human Capital

Susanna HennighanRaising the Service Bar - The Little Dix Bay Resort Experience

The tourism industry has changed since the 1970s, 80s, and even the 1990s. It is more competitive than ever, and there are many places around the globe where travellers can go for beautiful beaches, crystal blue water, and sunny days.

The BVI’s tourism leaders have responded to this pressure. This is why the Government is encouraging new investments in the tourism sector. It is also why the Tourist Board has placed a renewed focus on service; since today’s travellers are looking for more than just a place to get away—they are looking for superior service on every level. The Board’s Tourism Industry Service Standards programme includes training, evaluation, and recognition of people who provide service to tourists, whether they work at a hotel, restaurant or the Immigration and Customs Departments.

Little Dix Bay, A Rosewood Resort on Virgin Gorda, the oldest and most esteemed property in the BVI, has always had its own service standards. One of 15 Rosewood Resorts in the world, Little Dix was established in the 1960s by conservationist and philanthropist Laurence Rockefeller. The resort has long been considered the jewel in the crown of the BVI’s tourism product. While some managers would take comfort in this stature, Managing Director Martein van Wagenberg does not. After arriving at Little Dix Bay just over two years ago, he recognized that Little Dix needed to take a new approach to service, one which emphasizes consistency. “We’re no longer competing within the BVI or even within the Caribbean,” he said. “We’re competing on a world stage and so we need to make improvements.”

Sharon Flax-Mars, Little Dix’s Rooms Division Manager and a veteran of the Virgin Gorda hospitality industry, echoes van Wagenberg’s sentiment. “Today’s guests expect more. They expect a whole lot more. For $900-plus a night, at that level, they don’t expect mediocre service. They expect consistency,” said Flax-Mars.

The most important part of Little Dix’s energized service delivery programme is training, and last May the resort appointed a dedicated training supervisor in the person of Shantal Taylor. “We are trying to bring back a service culture, and to do that we have to train. Without training there will be no consistency,” a passionate and energetic Taylor said.

Taylor, a BVIslander and 6-year veteran of Little Dix, is a disciple of training. When other managers are focused on keeping the guest rooms clean, preparing and serving meals, and the complexities of resort maintenance, Taylor reminds them about training.

“There is never a right time to do training, so I push them to train all the time,” she said. The training programme, which Taylor runs, extends from the general to the specific. Every employee undergoes an orientation about the Rosewood collection and Little Dix in particular—its history, its service standards, and what makes it unique. But employees also receive training on matters specific to their jobs—how to fold a napkin, how to escort a guest, or how to turn down a bed, for example. The objective is to break routine tasks down to a formula, which everyone knows in order to achieve consistency. Taylor explains that the training programme also includes regular shift meetings and a service principle of the week, which spotlights the resort’s 18 core service principals, such as positive body language or the importance of personally escorting guests, rather than pointing, when they ask for directions. Taylor says that her job will never be done. “It’s very important to have training every day in your workplace because it keeps consistency so employees don’t get relaxed and fall back.”

In addition to training, Little Dix is finding other ways to achieve its service improvement goals. Mystery shoppers visit the hotel regularly and write reports, with photographs, that detail every mistake and every triumph, down to the smallest detail.

Flax-Mars said that she and other managers use this “gap analysis” as part of their training programme. “The reports become a training tool because we go back to each and every interaction and determine what we could have done better.” The resort has also instituted a greater push to promote from within, which provides incentives to employees and another opportunity for training. When a supervisory post becomes vacant, a handful of candidates are chosen from among the staff to undergo intensive training for the position. The candidate who performs best will get the promotion. Kelbert George, a Little Dix employee for more than 25 years, is an example of someone who was promoted from within. He started as a bus boy and over the years he was promoted to waiter, wine steward, assistant head waiter and then head wine steward. Then last June George was promoted to banquet captain and put in charge of organizing group functions and events on the property. “It made me really happy when I was promoted and now I feel like doing more in this line of work,” he said. “I’m trying to improve my skills and I don’t expect to ever stop learning. There are a lot of things I need to see.” When Business BVI visited Little Dix last July, George was preparing for a wedding to take place later in the day. The break he took to sit down and answer our questions was probably the only one he would have until the wedding was over. “It’s extremely challenging, and you have to believe in yourself,” George said. “But when you do something and you do it well, it makes you feel good.”

Work assignments at Little Dix’s sister Rosewood properties is another cornerstone of the resort’s training programme. Over the years, many employees have been sent to Rosewood properties in Dallas, New York, London and Mexico for periods ranging from one week to one year. In the past two years, this cross-training programme has been intensified. Housekeeping supervisor Nelda Vanterpool is presently in New York at the legendary Carlyle Hotel on a one-year attachment. Vanterpool’s supervisor, Sharon Flax-Mars, says that she can already detect a difference in Vanterpool’s perspective. “It gives me goose bumps because I can see that she gets it,” Flax-Mars said.

Christine Parillon, assistant manager of the Spa at Little Dix, is another Little Dix staff member who was given an opportunity to cross-train at one of the sister properties. Parillon spent a week at the Hotel Crescent Court in Dallas studying the spa operations there in great detail. In addition to seeing the level of service provided at the Dallas spa, Parillon also picked up tips in other areas. “I was impressed with the way that they portioned their spa supplies, and so I have introduced that at our spa,” she said.

Van Wagenberg says that one of the objectives of cross-training is to show Little Dix staff what they are competing against on the world stage. “We are giving people the opportunity to see what is out there. For many staff members their point of reference may be what was done 20 years ago. The point is now that things have changed, and so we must change as well,” he said. Van Wagenberg said that finding ways to improve staff satisfaction and morale is another one of his management goals. There have been changes to the employees’ pay and benefits packages, and an annual staff satisfaction survey is used to gauge trends. As a result, a new “Legendary Achievers” programme rewards staff with gifts after they have received 10 commendations from head of department/managers, so we congratulate staff for a job well done, which was one of the items on the survey.

Van Wagenberg says that he and other managers at Little Dix are committed to making the entire programme work—from training to employee morale. “It is a commitment because it is a necessity,” he says. Van Wagenberg is encouraged by the early results. “There is a big difference. The guests have commented on it. We are not there yet, but I think we are starting to make headway. The fact is that if everyone is doing what they are supposed to do, then we can blow everyone away and offer guests an experience that will last a lifetime and be the best in the world. But we have to do it every day, every hour, and for every guest,” he said.

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