Want honest, sound advice? Go to the SOURCE!

By Stephen W. Ayers. CEO STAY Ahead Hospitality. 11th. September 2016.

Years ago, when I had reached the heady heights of being executive assistant and food and beverage director, I learned one of the most valuable lessons in life from the founder of Isrotel, Mr. David Lewis. He was a remarkable man in many ways, and a very wise one.

I had arrived only a few months prior to the opening of the King Solomon’s Palace Eilat. I was busy and caught up with the myriad of things to take care of when opening a 420 room hotel with multiple food and beverage facilities. Time passed very quickly and we were soon underway with the pioneering hotel that led the way to the renaissance of Eilat as a major winter destination for sun hungry Europeans.

All of a sudden we were hit with a food poisoning that brought the hotel to its knees. We closed the kitchens and restaurants immediately and cleaned, scrubbed and disinfected all food service areas. The health ministry gave us the go ahead and we planned the re-opening.

However, before re-opening I visited my friends at the health ministry and discussed a problem that I was keen to solve in the main kitchen; the dishwasher. I had my doubts about the machine when installed and I was proved correct. It was a beautiful Hobart pass through but not suitable for both the plate traffic and the water quality in Eilat. For Europe it was idyllic, here, a flop.

So, when discussing the certificate for re-opening the hotel, I asked my friend to make it one of the conditions to replace the dishwasher with a round conveyor type made in Israel called Palbam. This was the machine for us, something that could handle the water in Eilat.

I dutifully inform Mr. Lewis that this was one of the conditions and asked him for permission to purchase as this was not a paltry sum of money.

He told me that he would give me his answer in a few days. It seemed simple and I wondered why he wanted to take the time to consider this.

Two days passed and he gave me the go ahead. We bought the machine, installed it and the whole dishwashing operation breathed a collective sigh of relief. The traffic jam of dishes, chiefly at breakfast, disappeared. We put the food poisoning behind us and I forgot about the dishwasher ‘incident’.

A couple of months later I was doing my morning tour and entered the main kitchen where the new dishwasher was humming merrily away, two stewards within the area stacking the dirty dishes. One of them waved me over and I approached him.

“A couple of months ago there was a short man wearing sandals who wandered into the kitchen,” he said, “Would you know who he is?”

“Sure,” I answered, “He is our owner, Mr. Lewis. Why do you ask?”

“Because,” he answered, “He asked us if in our opinion we needed a new dishwasher.”

Back in my office I digested this information and smiled to myself. I had just learned a valuable lesson, and I have never forgotten it. It has been with me throughout my career.

Years later, when I was the GM of the first hotel of the Paradise, I came up against a recurring summer problem that was really impacting both operations and guest satisfaction. As I sat at my desk I thought back to the dishwasher and David Lewis. I rang HR and requested that the best and longest serving room maids come to my office.

They were a little nervous but I told them that I needed their advice and ordered coffee for us. I then told them the problem. It was well known that on Thursdays and Sundays there was around a 95% check out and check in, meaning that around 200 rooms turned over on those days, resulting in a very large number of guests arriving early to take advantage of their first day of vacation, and many staying late to enjoy their last hours at the hotel. A full hotel is complicated to run, but one where there are twice as many guests at the same time for almost a day was getting to be impossible.

“What do you think we can do?” I asked the four ladies.

They huddled for a few minutes and then spoke.

“Firstly, why don’t you make us a nice sandwich lunch we can eat on the floor rather than waste time going to the staff dining room? I am sure that we will all accept that willingly. Secondly, why don’t you hire each maid a summer student whose primary job will be to take down dirty bed linen and garbage, that will free us up to make the rooms faster?”

Of course, we put the ideas into operation the next full changeover day and cut a full hour of the wait times for the arriving guests!

The people who actually work at the source of problems will very often be the ones who have a solution. So that is where I go first when I have an operational problem, and after I remember the dishwasher incident and David Lewis.

www.stayaheadhospitality.com