All posts by Aurelian Anghelusiu

Perception is Reality

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Today I wanted to share with you the concepts of “perception is reality” and “driving the market”.  Meaning, what people perceive does become their reality and driving the market as in the Kevin Costner movie, Field of Dreams, where he kept hearing/saying “if you build it they will come”. While you’re probably thinking I’m crazy in stating the markets can be driven, I’ll share with you a story from my past.

A little while ago, OK…a long time ago, I had the privilege of working at a very high-end and exclusive establishment with a fine dining restaurant that only open for dinner from Wednesday through Saturday.  A small place with only 70-80 covers, and while Fridays and Saturdays were doing OK, Wednesdays and Thursdays were a different story!  Quite embarrassing actually, fine dining place with 80 covers doing only 10-15 covers a night,and uncomfortable for the patrons being the only ones in the large room.

So what did we do? Close the restaurant for those days? No! Quite the opposite!  For a period of two months, every time someone called for reservations for a Wednesday or Thursday evening they were informed that the restaurant was full with no availability, With the only open spots two weeks away.  Little by little, we built this mystique that something special was going on Wednesdays and Thursdays evenings and that people had to call weeks in advance to be able to get a table. Now, as those evenings booked up, we did add special things such as live jazz band and such, and before you know it the little restaurant “that could” became a sold-out success on all evenings that it was open.

Perception is a reality and the market can be driven!

As I always say: there are two things you can do, either you do it or you don’t!

At Your Service,
Aurelian A.

Service is King

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Hi,

In follow-up to my previous post, I am reminded of what Mr. Selfridge (founder of famous department store in London, at the turn of the century, yes last century and still in business today) once said: The Customer is Always Right! Or, what one of the most famous hoteliers in the world Cesar Ritz once said: The Customer is King!  No wonder he was known as the King of Hoteliers and the Hotelier of Kings!

I am reminded of one story, where Cesar Ritz, at the beginning of his career, was in the midst of planning and executing a grand soiree for lots of dignitaries in his establishment.  A few short hours before the event, they lost all heat and being in the middle of winter, the room got awfully cold awfully fast!  What to do? In those days they did not have the comfort of email or phones for that matter, the event could not be cancelled.

So Cesar Ritz, had the staff build bonfires outside and placed lots of bricks in them to heat them up. Then, shortly before the event was to start, he had those heated bricks placed underneath all the tables in the venue. Furthermore, the first course being served that night was a Bouillabaisse…so he instructed the chefs to make it extra spicy.

So what happened?  The event was a huge success and no one was the wiser that there was no heat in the room!  Go figure!  Talk about perception becoming reality!

No wonder he became the King of Hoteliers and the Hotelier of Kings!

Like I say: there are two things you can do, either you do it or you don’t!

At Your Service,
Aurelian A.

The Common Sense of Service

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Hello There,

How often have you gone to a restaurant and had to park a block or two away because the restaurant staff took all the parking spots up front?  How often have you gone for dinner and had to wait and wait for the server to come to your table because the wait staff was too busy chatting among themselves? Or, how often were you at a gas station, patiently waiting while the gas attendant finished reading his book or newspaper before coming over to help fill your gas tank? Even at a department store? Same thing…

So many places of business forget these so very basic common courtesies and service approaches, yet they wonder why they have to spend thousands of dollars on advertising and promotions just to get you in the door.

Customers are picky and they deserve the best. If we don’t have the time to do it right the first time…do you really think you’ll get the chance to do it again? Doubtful, because 9 out 10 of those customers never return!

So take a moment and look at the “golden rule”. Instill in your staff the importance of “first impressions” and taking ownership for their actions and ownership of the business. If they only treat it as a place where they can collect a paycheck, then soon enough they won’t get a paycheck and you won’t be in business to be able to give them one.

As I always say: there are two things you can do, either you do it or you don’t!

At Your Service,
Aurelian A.

Needless Markups

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Hello Again,

The other day I read in the USA Today about this new trend where large casino hotels and as a matter of fact most hotels are starting to copycat what the airline industry has been doing for the past few years, namely charging A la Carte for various services in order to keep their published room rates as low and competitive as possible!

So the Bellagio Hotel on the Strip is now charging a $10.00 fee for anyone that books their stay with a reservation agent on the phone, whereas if one were to book online it would be free!  $10.00 surcharge to speak with a reservation agent to book your stay?  What is going on? This would be on top of your traditional “resort fee” which many resort hotels charge on a nightly basis, and which now large gaming hotels are implementing as well.

While resort fees can be explainable, even though they tend to range from 5% – 20% of the room charge, and typically are used to cover such fees as “free Wi-Fi”, 24-hour room service, beach and pool services and such…to now charge an A la Carte price for various services which traditionally are built-in, is most certainly a downward spiral to doom.

Why is it happening you ask?  Because everything is market driven, and if the Joneses do it, why not the Mitchells and so on. Until we, the consumer, start voting with our feet and stop accepting these shady practices, nothing will change!  But that is the problem with complacency, with accepting the status quo and for laziness.

So while a $225.00 room rate in a  5-star resort on the Strip sounds like the deal of the century, when you add in the 20% resort fee, the $10.00 reservation surcharge, the $15.00 turn-down service…you’re looking at $295.00 ++…not to mention the fact, which is the true insult, that these additional surcharges are for services/amenities which are always typically included in the hotel operating budget anyway…so these fees in effect simply translate to more profit on the bottom line of these companies, at the cost of the consumer!

Talk about the magic of marketing – making people feel they’re getting a deal and value for money, all while making them spend for things which they should have access to in the first place?

What will you do about it?

Like I always say, there are two things you can do!  Either you do it or you don’t – the rest is up to you!

At Your Service,
Aurelian

Lamb and Wine Anyone?

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Hello,

With Easter Sunday right around the corner and Passover beginning this evening and tomorrow, I thought I’d share with you some of the better wine pairings that go along with these celebrations.

Needless to say, while food items range across all religions, one underlying connection between the Jewish faith, Catholic and even Greek-Orthodox, is that Lamb plays a prime spot as a favorite food item.

Lamb is a very versatile meat and when you look at the various cuts you can get, such as a chop, leg, rack and tenderloin of lamb and then looking at the different ways it can be spiced, garlic, rosemary, herbs de Provence, etc., then looking at the cooking methods and sauces – the wine pairing possibilities are indeed endless!

First a quick word on pairing food and wine, always look at the following:

  • Number one priority – always drink and eat what you like and don’t listen to others, including me…Remember: the best wine in the world is the one that you like.
  • Look for balance between the food and the wine, such as the body, richness, flavor…the heavier the food (i.e. more fat) the heavier the wine should be, otherwise the wine will be lost.  Then again, just because you’re eating red meat doesn’t mean that you should always drink red wine (that routine is old and passe) but you should still have a strong, rich and heavy white like Chardonnay/White Burgundy and some of the Rhone Valley whites.
  • Do not match the wine with the main food item (i.e. the meat) but rather with the main character/soul of the dish such as the one predominant spice in the dish, or the sauce or even the accompaniments.
  • Lastly, instead of pairing the wine to the food, try the reverse and pair the food to the wine, meaning, is the wine fruity with black cherry undertones?  Cook something with a black cherry sauce or reduction…you get the point.

And now back to the best wine pairing for lamb dishes.  Taking everything into account and that the possibilities are endless the best few options one has are:  Cabernet Sauvignon or Bordeaux blends, or if you’re feeling adventurous try an old Rioja or a Reserva from Ribera del Duero (i.e. Spain), or even a nice New Zealand Pinot Noir and an older Australian Shiraz!

What’s my favorite you ask? I’m most certainly biased towards Chateauneuf-du-Pape as my old-time favorite for ANY lamb dish…including lamb burgers and lamb schoarma! Such wines have flavors that are rich & silky and ripe & juicy.  With predominant wood, earth and berry bouquets…what can go wrong? Nothing!

As I always say: there are two things you can do – either you do it or you don’t!

At Your Service,
Aurelian

Top Performing Private Clubs

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And now I thought we’d dabble in one of my favorite areas of private club management.  Social clubs, city clubs, golf clubs, country clubs and the like are typically either public or private and either owned by a municipality, developer (single owner), corporate owner or by the members themselves (equity membership).

I’ll spend some time on the topic of private and member owned as well as developer owned clubs and what makes a top performing club tick.  Why are some clubs better performers than others (money is not the right answer)? Why some clubs can’t stop the bleeding of cash, why some clubs are like black-holes and why are others against all odds, doing well, with strong balance sheets, strong cash positions with happy staff and members alike!  Impossible you say? I wish!

What sets those that succeed apart? What is different about them?  In most, if not all cases, it comes down to this:

A culture and operating philosophy with a focus and relentless dedication to:

• Service
• Attitude
•  Consistency
•  Communication
• Teamwork

The above are indeed the Five -Steps of any Five-Star operation…

When it comes to developer owned clubs and/or single owners (individual or corporate) the answer is slightly easier: one vision, one agenda (yes I said it!), and one mission! I had the privilege of working at a top performing club, with a top performing team that was developer owned and operated.  I remember the members joking that this club had only 1 member and 300 guests…but when they bought the club from the developer and tried running it on their own, oops…guess what…within two years they sold it back to the same developer they just bought it from…going back to the “1 member and 300 guests mentality”…you can’t make this up!

Member owned clubs are a different animal!  Depending on the legal structure of the club, corporation, for profit or not for profit, equity or non-equity, for the most part members own a stake in the club and have a “voice” in how the club is run and the direction its going, and frankly, rightfully so!  The BIG mistake these clubs make is that regardless of the talent of the management and staff teams, members and boards alike (for the most part – some exceptions do exist) think they can do a better job and that they know more.  It reminds me of the current commercial on TV about some over the counter medication whose tag line is: “You wouldn’t want your doctor doing your job – why do theirs?”

Or better yet, I remember this sad experience from an early job I had as a junior manager in a 5-star hotel, where there was dinner of 50 doctors being hosted by some hospital.  During the course of the dinner, one of the doctors suffered a heart attack and then all hell broke loose! It was so tragic, 50 doctors (more precisely 49 doctors) were screaming at each other that each one was more qualified to take care of the patient than the next person at the table!  They huddled around the unconscious person, thereby delaying the hotel’s security team from performing CPR using the defibrillator and such…911 was called on time, and I don’t know if the person survived or not, but what I do know is the EMTs when they arrived yelled at the top of their lungs for the doctors to get out of the way and to shut-up and to let them do their job…what I also know, is that when they finally carried the person in the ambulance to leave for the closest hospital – the lights were flashing but the siren was quiet…

Moral of the story?  Too many cooks spoil the broth!  If you don’t know what you’re doing – hire someone that does and let them do the job! Just because you’re a captain of industry and when you were a teenager you once worked at McDonalds doesn’t mean that you know the intricacies of Food Cost %, Menu Engineering and Pricing Analysis….

So many member owned clubs spend top dollars to hire top managers only to cuff their hands and feet, blind fold them and then irritably wonder why the manager and team can’t take the club in the right direction!? Furthermore, the more board members a Board of Directors has, the greater the chance that the club is an under-performing club!  Any boards larger than 9 members are doomed to failure (for the most part)…the higher the number the higher the chances…I once worked at a club with 17 Board Members! Yes!  17 chairs!!!! 17 committees…that is the definition of insanity!

Hopefully you can catch the message here…and if you’re not here’s a summary:

Top performing member/equity owned clubs, are ones with small Boards of Directors (7-9 should suffice), with Boards that understand that the role of the GM is to manage the operation and the role of the Board is to establish policy and provide guidance to the GM and management team – NOT micro-manage and question every single decision and in most cases even countermand manager decisions while still blaming management for failures…and last but not least, top performing clubs are ones where the Board of Directors view the GM and management team as partners in a common mission/venture and…here’s the best for last: where Board Members speak with the same voice and unity as opposed to an impossible number of personal agendas, infighting and mistrust!

The economy over the last few years has impacted many clubs in a very bad way…a number of private clubs have filed for bankruptcy protection and/or have gone fully belly-up! I challenge you to do your own research…what percentage of those failing clubs were led by large and inefficient boards? I know the answer – I am sure you do too!

As I like to say, and sadly it’s so true: There are two things you can do!  Either you do it or you don’t!

At your service,
Aurelian

The Best Wine in the World!

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Ah!  Finally!  A topic that we can all savor!  Wines!

While I am not a Master Sommelier or a Master of Wine, I have dabbled in this field for quite a few years now, having created and implemented a few Wine Spectator Grand Award lists…and what have I learned?

For one thing, one of the biggest misconceptions about wine, is that it was invented for drinking…If that were the case, civilization would have never developed past the ancient times!  Wine was truly created to enhance the experience of food and life!

As for the best wine in the world?

I could sit here, right now, and write about: Chateau Margaux 1920 or 1947, 1953 and 1961, or how about Champagne Bollinger 1911, one of the most beautiful Pinot Noirs, Romanee-Conti 1921, or the heavenly Sauterne, Chateau d’Yquem 1921…Chateau Latour 1928, or the Austrian wine from Neusiedlersee-Hugelland know as the Ruster Ausbruch vintage 1934, 1960…or another unsurpassable Burgundy - La Tache 1937 and 1975, or the 1947 Chateau Cheval Blanc, Saint Emillion…or the surreal Australian product of Penfolds Grange 1962! What about the tremendous Spanish wine from Ribera del Duero, the Vega Sicilia “UNICCO” 1970…Let’s not forget something from Rhone like Chateauneuf-du-Pape, Chateau Rayas 1978…the 1995 Champagne Dom Perignon..or the 1985 Bolgheri wine, Sassicaia or something more recent like Barbaresco Sori San Lorenzo GAJA 2010! And I could go on and on….

Or perhaps, I should talk about the soils, the climate…the terroirs, the grape varietals and why some produce greater wines than others…but coming back to the question at hand…the best wine in the world?

Well, the best wine in the world is truly, the one that you like the most! Yes, it’s fine and dandy to do research and taste wines that “others” have deemed fabulous and grandiose…but my suggestion is…buy and taste whatever you can afford and make your own impressions and opinions….that is the beauty of wine….it’s not so much about the taste or the “nose” of the liquid as it is about the memories it brings to mind and the dreams it helps conjure!

Hope you enjoy!  And remember, as with everything else, same as with wines: There are two things you can do! Either you do it or you don’t!

At Your Service,
Aurelian

Welcome to Hospitality du Jour!

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No! I did not mean to say Soup du Jour!

After a progressive and continuing 20+ year career in the Hospitality Industry, with executive roles ranging from restaurant management, hotel & resort management and the private club industry (both city clubs as well as country clubs), I felt that the timing was right to begin documenting and sharing some of my thoughts, observations and personal opinions on the status and current trends in the world of hospitality today.

While I will share industry specific data, points and strategies that could impact one’s operation for the better (profitability and customer satisfaction and retention), I will also strive to share general points which consumers outside of the hospitality industry could use to their own benefit when traveling and/or deciding which venue or product to choose and why?

As such, here is the first radical thought: Hospitality du Jour!  Meaning, hospitality is not and should never be something that is “dictated” to consumers…hospitality needs to be fluid, ever changing and adaptive to the needs and demands of the consumer/customer.  Much in the same way that quality is or should be, while quality is indeed the “freedom from deficiencies” and the “consistency” of service/product…most importantly, quality is giving people what they want – you do that and you achieved quality!

Hospitality is also about relationships. Being in the service industry and being of service to others, does not mean being subservient- it means developing relationships that allow you to know your customer in order to better anticipate, meet and exceed their needs.

That is one reason that the restaurant industry is one of the toughest to succeed in and why so many new restaurants (9 out of 10 to be precise) go bankrupt in the first 12 months of operations. They only have on average, about 1-hour to make and develop that relationship with the customer, hence the saying “you’re only as good as your last meal”.  In hotels, and most certainly in urban hotels, where the average stay is only 1-2 nights, the same principle applies, hoteliers only have that one or two day time-line to build trust, meet the needs and create a repeat customer – if they succeed great! If they don’t, guess what? Someone else will!  In resorts, the same dynamic applies, except that one has more time at their leisure (no pun intended), in resorts the average stay is 4-7 days and if the operator plays their cards right, even if there are inconsistencies in the beginning, they have the time to build back the relationship and gain the long-term trust that customers and most certainly repeat customers, demand and deserve.

Last but certainly not least, we come to private clubs…where the customer/member does not have to leave in 1.5-hours or check-out in 2-days or even 7-days…they are there for good (for the most part).  Whereas one would think that operationally things are much easier, since one has the luxury of months if not years to build strategies and processes that satisfy that customer/member – in reality, one does not!  For the most part, members of private clubs are part equity owners in such clubs and even in the ones that they are not, members still act as owners, and rightfully so since they do have a vested interest in their investment in their club!  As such, an operator does not have the luxury of time to build and foster trust and in meeting and exceeding their needs and wishes, as members will be very quick to impose their own demands and expectations if the operator is not quick enough to deliver on that promise first!

Hence, Hospitality du Jour! The easiest way to “win” is through letting your customer dictate the level of service they want, the product they need and the experience they expect…then, all you have to do is give it to them…

Lastly, in this business, no matter who you are and what you do…it will always come down to this basic mantra:  There are two things you can do!  Either you do it or you don’t!

At your service,
Aurelian