Ms. Silverman

Concierge

Strategies for Hiring and Keeping a Top Rated Concierge Team

By Marjorie Silverman, Honorary President, UICH, Les Clefs d'Or

In this article we will explore how to find these service specialists, how to keep them motivated and inspired and working to improve your turnover statistics as well as bottom line. We will discuss the techniques for creating loyalty and using their unique skill set to best advantage.

The search for a professional head or chef concierge

I recommend that you begin with the website of Les Clefs d'Or, USA Ltd., the professional association of hotel concierges. You can contact them at www.lcdusa.org. They represent 600 professional hotel concierges in 30 states and they link with a network of more than 3000 colleagues in 40 countries. If you have a job opening, it can be posted on the LCD website which is frequently visited by their members. All of these concierges have at least 5 years experience in the industry and they have had to pass extensive written and verbal service skill tests to get their keys. Before you invite one of them for a first interview, they have already been vetted by Les Clefs d'Or.

It has been my experience after more than 25 years in the industry that concierges can successfully move to a new location. Once they have the skill set of providing the service, they can quickly and successfully learn a new city, resort or region. Often there are promising assistant concierges and there is no opportunity for movement in their current hotel giving an incentive to move to a new position. Share your mission statement with them and they can benchmark a new service for you.

Hiring line staff for the concierge desk

All Les Clefs d'Or members are by no means chef concierges and they are perfectly willing to work as staff members. Some hotels have many Clefs d'Or members on staff. A perusal of LCD's most recent membership book identifies 14 LCD members at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, 10 at the Four Seasons Hotel in New York City, and 7 at The Ritz-Carlton Hotel in San Francisco.

Another source for management to find good concierge candidates is the local hotel concierge association. Most large cities and important resort regions have them, for example, San Francisco/Napa Valley- Northern California Concierge Association, Boston-Greater Boston Concierge Association, Miami- Southern Florida Concierge Association. All of these associations have their own websites. There are 35 of them in the US.

Morale is enhanced by promotion from within. If there is a promising front desk agent, bell attendant or page, they can become an assistant concierge and with additional training sharpen their skills. In a few years they will become professional hotel concierges. As a chef concierge needing staff, if I did not find someone in my own hotel, I would often consult colleagues in other hotels to check if they had identified any likely candidates. I found many good concierges that way. Guest service managers should always be on the lookout for good service personnel as they go about their personal and professional lives.

One of my best hires was a young woman who answered the phones for a restaurant. She was always professional, attentive, had a lovely voice and personality. She was working part time to put herself through school. When she graduated, I had an opening on my staff for a junior concierge, I invited her to join my staff and she worked with us for years. When we hire in this way, we really have been assessing the person's skills and performance for a long time, greatly increasing our chances of making a successful hire.

Create a team that is diverse and balanced

Management should look to hire both men and women for the concierge team, some young and some more mature. They should be as diverse as the guest population. Typically, the younger staff visits the dance clubs, and are up to minute on what's hip and with it. The more mature staff often specializes in fine dining, luxury shopping and cultural attractions. You also need some concierges who are literate in the latest technology both for creating handouts and for assisting guests with their high tech equipment. Guests appreciate this balance and it stimulates the team who challenge each other to keep learning new things. Speaking foreign languages at the concierge desk is a traditional skill epitomizing the willingness to reach out to all travelers.

You have found your dream team, how do you keep them happy?

It is no secret that the hospitality industry has one of highest turnover rates, about 50 percent for nonmanagement positions and 25 percent for management-according to J. Bruce Tracey, associate professor of management at the School of Hotel Administration at Cornell.

By tradition and training concierges tend to stay in their jobs for a long time. It takes time to set up their networks for making memorable experiences for their clients. They abide by the belief that the impossible can be accomplished. This is a powerful incentive that creates a positive mindset and a passion for their work-it is good for the hotel and goes directly to the bottom line. You do not have to go through the costly rehiring process as frequently. In addition you can keep them loyal and happy by using the following strategies:

1. Pay them well
   This is not an entry level position and should not be treated as one. Incentives can be part of the remuneration, just as you reward top management for achieving monetary goals. Concierge goals can be increasing business for the hotel restaurants, bringing x number of room nights to the hotel through their network, getting x percentage of good and fabulous comments on guest surveys, cross selling of spa treatments and promoting shows (as in Las Vegas), developing a sales or catering lead for the hotel.

2. Recognize their "Wow" moments
   Concierges love to share their extraordinary stories of finding a last minute photographer or pianist, or of a spontaneous act of generosity like bringing Thanksgiving dinner to the sick person in the apartment building next to the hotel, or materializing show tickets when none are claimed to exist. These stories inspire other staff to emulate these examples of going above and beyond. Many successful hotel concierge programs use the concierges for cross training other hotel staff.

3. Provide them with opportunities for additional training and education
   This can be as simple as the opportunity to attend a Les Clefs d'Or meeting which always includes ongoing education and networking opportunities, or an in house training such as "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People". Many fine hotels offer tuition reimbursement for job-related courses online or at local universities.
4. Consult with them to learn what your guests are thinking about your hotel
   They are a valuable extension of management in the lobby,giving you feedback that you may not be getting in writing.
5. Give them a say in the design of their workspace
   They know the tools they require to do their job well. They need space for guest mail and guest packages in addition to headsets, computers, and printers for their handouts and reservation cards. They need a concierge software system that tracks their reservations, guest packages and guest preferences. Some hotels are rotating some of their concierges to the back office to answer e-mails and phones so that those at the lobby desk are there solely to serve the guests standing in front of them.

Building a strong concierge team starts with recognizing and hiring the right people and continuing to develop them as they become an integral part of the hotel culture. Professional hotel concierges share common values and a very specific goal, that of exceeding the guest's expectations. If you nurture an environment that encourages their creativity, they will redefine the scope of service in your hotel. Their spirit of gracious hospitality and "Service through Friendship" will spread throughout the organization. Good concierges have a loyal following of returning guests who contribute generously to the hotel's bottom line.

Marjorie Silverman was in concierge for 25 years and now is a Consultant, Meeting Planner and Lecturer. She was the Chief Concierge of Hotel InterContinental Chicago, and the first female and first American to serve as President of Union Internationale des Concierges d'Hotels, Les Clefs d'Or. Les Clefs d'Or is the international association of concierges, headquartered in Paris, which groups 40 countries under its umbrella. The 3500 members join forces to promote tourism worldwide. She was a founding member of the Chicago Hotel Concierge Association. Ms. Silverman can be contacted at 773-248-7462 or marjoriesilverman@mac.com Extended Bio...

HotelExecutive.com retains the copyright to the articles published in the Hotel Business Review. Articles cannot be republished without prior written consent by HotelExecutive.com.