I had seen the red and white paperback in hotel night stand
drawers many times before but on one particular trip several years ago I
decided to take the time to open it and begin reading. It was longer then the
newer version I have seen in Marriott hotels since, this book was longer then I
could read on the short business trip so I asked and received permission to
take it home with me. This little volume was packed with Marriott history and
stories describing the Marriott way of doing business. The book was good enough
that it found a home on the library shelves of the professional development
library at work. The lessons are transferable so the following short summary
was written and distributed to colleagues (fellow consultants) so they could
benefit from the “The Spirit to Serve - Marriott’s Way”.
This book discusses the Marriott’s philosophy and how
important it has proven in building organizational success. The Marriott empire
had its share of hard times and is not perfect, but it has indeed been able to
deal rather effectively with the hurdles that have been faced. Marriott has
never directly won a “Baldrige National Quality Award” for performance excellence,
but it appears from this book that they certainly could meet the stringent
requirements. Ritz Carlton hotels, owned by Marriott, has won a Baldrige award
in large part because of doing business the Marriott way.
A quote from Jim Collins, bestselling author of “Good to
Great”, illustrates the axis on which the Marriott world turns; he says
“There can be no distinction between a company’s core values and the core
values of its leadership”.
As each of us considers how this statement relates to our
own world of work, we must ask ourselves if our respective organization’s core values
are internalized within its leaders.
I would like to highlight another quote from the first pages
of the opening section of Marriott’s book that describes some of the activities
and progression that are so important to Marriott and other successful
organizations.
“Even if you are on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit
there”.
Will
The Marriott’s opened their first business, an A&W
franchise in Washington DC, in 1927. Later, hot food was introduced and the term
“Hot Shoppe” was adopted, in time other locations were added. The following
story is told by Bill Marriott Jr.
“Back in the heyday of Hot Shoppes, the daily menu had more then 300
items on it. My Father insisted that every selection be available--and fresh--at
all times. Naturally, this is virtually impossible in the restaurant business,
but Dad would not hear otherwise. If he went into a Hot Shoppe and they were
out of something, he’d raise the roof. After a few such instances, the managers
took matters into their own hands. When my Dad showed up at a shop and ordered
something that was not available, the kitchen would call the next nearest Hot
Shoppe to see if they had it. If they did, runners from the two restaurants
would meet in the middle to rush the order back to my unsuspecting father”.
In 1929 Hot Shoppes Inc. was formed and Marriott stepped into
the airline catering business. Following several years of growth, in 1955
Marriott opened their first motor hotel beginning the enterprise that exists
now. Over the years there have been hurdles, division of product lines, the
buying of new companies and selling of less profitable ones. They even took a
shot at theme parks with a Marriott’s Great America Park in Illinois and one in
Santa Clara, CA. but eventually the parks were bought by Paramount. Marriott
took some time testing the waters in other businesses but eventually decided to
stick with those things that it does best. Regarding sales, Bill Marriott says
“what we’re really selling is our expertise in managing the process that
makes those sales possible. And that expertise rests firmly on our mastery of
thousands of operational details.”
Initially Marriott owned most of its hotels and earned a solid
reputation for smooth operations and exceptional service. Marriott now focuses
on hotel branding and management with many properties being owned independently.
The book I read is several years old but as of the late 80’s Marriott managed
7% of all hotel rooms in north America and 2% in the world, however, Marriott
owned just 1 in 10 of those rooms. There has obviously been incredible growth
since then. The percentage of hotel rooms managed by Marriott has grown
significantly, and there has certainly been an increase in the number of properties
that they own.
Marriott does a phenomenal job with the aspects in Baldrige
category 5, which is titled “Workforce Focus”.
“As important as companywide recognition programs are, it’s even more
critical to make associate appreciation a daily, ongoing, bone-deep philosophy”
- Bill Marriott Jr.
Large customer based operations, like hotels, have very
large support operations that go on behind the scenes, Marriott refers to the
location of this support as “the heart of
the house”.
“Every Marriott property has its own way of thanking and recognizing
associates, but one of my favorites is the Hospitality Gold Star program at one
of our vacation resorts. Each week, three guests are selected at random and
asked to identify the Marriott associate who has been most helpful during their
stay. Each guest receives a beach towel as a gift for helping out. The
associates who are identified by the guests receive a monetary award, plus gold
stars to wear on their uniforms. Simple enough, right? But there’s a twist. The
three winning associates are then asked to identify three associates in the
heart of the house who have been most helpful to them during the week. That
trio of associates likewise receives monetary awards and gold stars. Why the
second round of awards? The GM at the property knows that the folks on the
front lines could not do their jobs and win guest plaudits and gold stars
without the support of the people working behind the scenes. The second three
awards make sure that heart of the house contributions don’t go unrecognized or
unrewarded simply because they’re invisible to most guests”
The description of the “Hospitality Gold Star Program”
exemplifies the overall message of this book. The sprit to serve is not just
about serving customers, it also includes a critical element of positive
leadership, serving those who serve the customers.
Jeff Wright
ref: The Spirit to
Serve – Marriott’s Way
J.W. Marriott, Jr.,
and Kathi Ann BrownMarriott's Way PDF
