Extraordinary levels of customer loyalty year after year? Yes we can!

Achieving extraordinary levels of customer satisfaction, year after year after year? Anybody running a business knows this is anything but a piece of cake. And that might be even more the case for the hospitality business: a sector known for its hard work, low wages, high employee turnover rates and small profit margins – all topped off with a serving of demanding customers.?And yet there are those special few for whom it DOES seem to be a piece of cake –

Alpenresort Schwarz?being one of them. I had the opportunity to interview Katharina Pirktl, ‘Chefin’ at the resort.?

57 years ago, Alpenresort Schwarz arose out of nothing when farmer?Franz Pirktl?and his hairdresser wife decided to start up a two-room bed and breakfast.??“Zimmer mit flie?end Wasser” – “rooms with running water” – is what it said on their nameplate. Fast-forward to anno 2021 and the meanwhile 165-room resort finds itself classified as one of the most beautiful?and?most successful family hotels in Europe – employing no less than 310 people these days! Not a year passes by without it being showered with prizes and awards – including?the European Excellence Award – EEA. They were even awarded with the State Prize for Tourism “Staatspreis für Tourismus” in the category “Leadership”.

The big question obviously is: what makes this specific hotel so special? Without a shadow of a doubt, I would say it’s the authentic and warm atmosphere that welcomes you the moment you step through their charming front door...?

Katharina, former-farmer Franz Pirktl’s daughter-in-law, has been an active part of the family business for 25 years now.?In my interview with her, she shared the basic ingredient of the family strategy that generates those famously extraordinary levels of customer satisfaction: no decision – big or small – is ever made without consulting their in-house “Culture Compass”!?

Obviously, I asked Katharina how they set their “Culture Compass” and she – for the very first time ever – decided to share with me (and you!) 9 of their successful guiding principles:?

1.???Numbers – but the?right?numbers! – as a guiding principle

Every week, the numbers reflecting that week’s levels of customer?and?employee satisfaction are carefully analysed. For the management of?Alpenresort Schwarz, those are the most important numbers on their dashboard! This stands in sharp contrast to all those many other organisations, in which the net profit margin numbers are what steers the decision-making process.

2.???Love for your employees as a guiding principle

The Pirktl Family finds it tremendously important to invest in every single employee, so that he or she is given the opportunity to grow into the very best version of him- or herself. In practice, this means that they invest a relatively substantial amount in coaching and training. Every month, for example, every employee gets to participate in a group coaching session. And every year, they invest in 30-some young people, who get to be a part of a 3-year long in-house resort training programme. After those 3 years, the interns get to choose themselves whether they stay on at?Alpenresort Schwarz or not. On top of that, every manager is given the opportunity to follow a course on the themes of selfcare and loving leadership at the Abbey of?Anselm Grün?– the German Benedictine monk who in the course of the last 50 years has written around 300 books on spirituality and is known for introducing spirituality into the corporate world and providing spiritual counselling for managers.?

3.???The?17 UN Sustainable Development Goals?as a guiding principle

Every decision made at?Alpenresort Schwarz is aligned with one the 17 SDG’s. A beautiful example here is the initiative the resort takes to partner with regional famers, as a way of sustainably supporting their local production processes.?

4.???Systemic family constellations as a guiding principle

The Pirktl Family chooses to work with systemic family constellations. The purpose of such a constellation is to gain an insight into the underlying dynamics that are at play in the relationships between all members of the management team. At the root of this systemic observation lies LOVE. The purpose is to transition and evolve from restriction to connection. This initiative allows people to step into their power – being completely themselves and living from the right intention, inherently aligned with their own unique gifts and qualities.??

5.???Asking the right questions as a guiding principle

In the course of the last 20 years, the?Alpenresort’s management style has evolved from a directive leadership style to a participatory leadership style. In practice, this entails that every employee is given a clear framework within which he or she can contribute his or her thoughts and take initiatives. You can compare it to a beautiful frame for a painting, in which you yourself get to paint the canvas! By asking the right questions,?the?management challenges their people to think for themselves and come up with their own answers.

6.???Diversity as a guiding principle

70% of all of?Alpenresort Schwarz’s employees are women.?And their management is made up of no less than 75% women! This is a very conscious choice – one that equally fits the 17 UN SDG’s. And just like all the other women on the Schwarz team, the women in management functions are given the possibility to work part-time.?

7.???Recognition as a guiding principle

The Pirktl Family wants to stimulate and reward positive behaviour. So, for example, when an employee comes up with a new idea, or follows a training, or a customer mentions the name of a particular employee on the customer satisfaction form, the employee in question can win and save “points”. The employees can then use those points to choose a gift or incentive: they can trade in the points for a family dinner in one of the restaurants or redeem them for a spa treatment or buy a gift in the giftshop. On top of that they can visit the award-winning wellness area of 5.500?m2?(water park, sauna and relaxation rooms) for free and twice a week they can bring a friend or invite their family to enjoy the paradise together.?

8.???Connection as a guiding principle

During the COVID-period,?Alpenresort Schwarz was closed for no less than 10 months. In the course of that period,?Katharina sent each and every one of their employees a personal letter – every two weeks! Every eight weeks, she organised an outdoor gathering in nature, to which every employee was invited to come and dine deliciously with his or her family. During advent, every employee was sent a postal package with an advent calendar, accompanied by a personal message from the Pirktl Family. During that same COVID-period, the Pirktl Family put together a team of 6 people, who contacted every single employee every single month. All of these initiatives during those crucial months did nothing but strengthen the ties: not a single employee ventured out to find him- or herself another job elsewhere! This is a beautiful example of how times of crisis – if you handle them well – can really lead to having an even stronger relationship with your team than you had before...

9.???The power of the heart as a guiding principle

Spiritual leadership – leading from your ‘heart’ and ‘soul’ – is tremendously important to Katharina. First and foremost, this kind of leadership entails connecting to your inner self. In this context, Katharina likes to use the phrase “positive energy”. This means that on a management level, every rational decision is equally assessed emotionally and energetically:?how about the energy, does it feel good??Of all 310 employees and 30 interns, Katharina knows their names and personal stories. And every time a new employee starts working at?Alpenresort Schwarz,?Katharina makes sure she is around on that first day, so she can personally welcome that new member to the team. And that personal warm welcome? That is something you equally get to experience as a guest! Together with her wonderful team members, Katharina manages to always give you the feeling you are the most important guest of the entire resort…

Conclusion

For more than 20 years, we have been spending our family summer holidays in Alpenresort Schwarz. And although I have travelled most of the world, I don’t know a single resort with such a warm and customer-oriented culture! You simply pick up on the Pirktl Family’s loving approach to life in every single detail: the love they have for people and animals, the love they have for nature, the love they have for kids, the love they have for the gift of life.?

Every single year I return home feeling inspired and full of bright new ideas on how to further strengthen ties with employees and customers alike. So, it goes unspoken I strongly recommend a stay at this amazing resort… for a thousand and one different reasons! Alpenresort Schwarz just gives off a special vibe, a kind of wondrous magic – the kind that wiggles its way deep into your heart…

Nathalie Arteel

Culture & High-Performance Expert

Leading Angel of the Arteel Group