April, 2010

Shilo’s Philosophy of “Just Say Yes” Reaps Rewards and Returning Guests

V ern Spatz, Auditor of Grays Harbor County praised the staff at Shilo Inn Oceanfront Suites Hotel-Ocean Shores for their excellent “Yes” service. “You took the initiative to contact me to let me know about the benefits of meeting at your facility. My first im-pression whenever I arrive at a hotel is the atmosphere and cleanliness of the front lobby. The second impres-sion is the front desk. My experience checking in was very positive due to the professionalism and friendli-ness shown by Mona. She was not only efficient, but relaxed and friendly. She exhibited a nice sense of hu-mor that set a good tone for my whole stay.

“I had requested the hotel try to feature local products in our meals. Your kitchen crew exceeded my expecta-tions with the seafood salads for lunch and the razor clam sauce and salmon for dinner. I got rave reviews from our attendees about all the food, particularly about the Tuesday lunch and the breakfast on Wednesday. I got an order to go of Chef Larry’s corned beef and soda bread as I left. Wonderful!

“Without exception, the staff was friendly and atten-tive to our needs. Lealani was particularly helpful meeting our requests every day, all day. She was our main go-to person each day. She has a great smile and customer service skills and represents the hotel well. You have a great team in Ocean Shores! From Start to

Finish, your staff did well. So well, I am sure our group will be back with an-other confer-ence!”

A recent article in the AOL Small Business website reminds us that with 26 million businesses providing services, there is no shortage of places for customers to take their business. Who wants to do business with a company that has rude employees? And, the secret to keeping these customers loyal is one word—Yes! Saying “Yes” may cost a little extra time or money and may be inconvenient. But, “Yes” is posi-tive. “Yes” opens doors. “Yes” creates goodwill. “Yes” engenders customer loyalty.

It is always more cost effective to retain that customer standing in front of you than it is to garner a new one. In fact, it costs five times more to obtain a new guest than it does to keep an existing one happy, according to guerilla marketing experts—a 5% increase in cus-tomer retention can translate to as much as 75% in-crease in profitability. And how do you retain exist-ing customers? By providing a delightful, high-quality experience during their check-in and stay. By offering good value for their dollar, and by exceeding your promises and your customer’s expectations. Listen to what your guests are saying. Provide gra-cious service, such as helping to find a dry cleaning establishment, perhaps recommending an ethnic res-taurant (if they ask!) for their second night’s stay. Or, helping with an emergency. Of course, one of the best ways to win a guest’s loyalty is to cater to the kiddies. If their kids are happy, the parents are happy.

Mark and Shannon Hemstreet underscore, “With all of our friendly Shilo staff reinforcing the Shilo Posi-tive Attitude of “Yes” and the sincere Shilo smiles and gracious service, we can provide our noted friendly, efficient Shilo Brand of Hospitality to all of our Shilo Hotel and Restaurant customers 24 hours a day every day of the year!”

They said “Yes.” Standing, L to R, Chef Larry Dufrane, Tyler Krenz, banquet server, Laurie Beck, director of sales and Tim Van Houten, GM. Seated, L to R, Mona Vowell, hospitality agent, Rabekah Judkins, director of catering, Leilani Lacey, banquet manager, Leanne Carl, front desk supervisor.

Dan Loftus is Corporate’s Employee of the Month for April. Dan has been a GL guru since 1997 and keeps tallies for 13 properties.

Dan and Susan have two “kids” named Tessa, a border collie, and Saman-tha, a lab mix. Since Dan is an avid NASCAR fan, it follows that his pas-sion would be cars. He readily admits to being one of those “Car Crazies” we hear about and watch on TV these days.

Proud Daddy Brad Medlin, Seaside Ocean-front Res-taurant server, thinks his littlest angel—Fiona An-gela Raven Medlin, born March 21st, 6 lbs, 8 oz. and 18 inches long is simply awesome!

Who’s Doing What at Shilo Inns . . .

Mark Hemstreet:

I would like to commend your Shilo Inn Suites Hotel-Killeen for holding our Texas State Council Vietnam Veterans of America meeting in February. The hotel bent over backwards to make us feel at home. They didn’t know the word, “No.” It was what we can do for your delegates and guests. Just about every one of our delegates had something nice to say about the hotel and how they were treated. The rooms were outstanding and very accommodating for our members. The staff was always cheerful and helpful in everything that was asked of them. Our banquet on Saturday night was well attended and the meal was over the top.

I would like to recognize the two ladies—Barbara West, director of catering and Donna Fischbach, director of sales— that were extremely important in accommodating us from Friday through Sunday. These two ladies went over and above the call of duty for us to make us welcome and have a great time that weekend. They made sure that our convention not only ran smoothly, but helped in any way they could possibly help.

I would like to again thank your Shilo Management Corporation for a great hotel in the Killeen area and your whole staff for having our convention at your hotel here in Texas.

Sincerely yours, Don Kennedy, Jr. Vietnam Veterans of America, TX Council VP

Donna Fischbach [L] and Barbara West [Ctr] accept an appre-ciation plaque on behalf of the entire hotel staff from Don Kennedy, Jr. and the Vietnam Veter-ans of America after their recent conference. They both also received a Texas State Council Challenge coin.

April Anniversaries: Coeur d’ Alene: Laurie Oksness, 5 years Grants Pass: Barbara Moulder, 5 years Helena: Kathy Carlson, 15 years Idaho Falls: Larry Dale Jensen, 5 years Corporate: Val Chua, 10 years Nampa Suites: Norman Turner, 5 years Pomona/Diamond Bar: Victor Martinez, 5 years (Now at) The Mark Restaurant: Constance Collier, 5 years Seaside Oceanfront Restaurant: Manuel Juan Penne-Ortega, 5 years

Four hun-dred guests joined Mayor Denny Doyle, Mark Hem-street, Staci McDonald and The Mark’s General Manager Brad Proudfoot in the April 15 Grand Opening of The Mark at the Shilo Inn Hotel-Beaverton.

Director of Restaurant Operations Sam Sharaf, Corporate Executive Chef David Bloomfield and Execu-tive Chef Elden Arquette plan to serve the finest in Northwest Bistro fare, focusing on high quality, pro-gressive American cuisine.

“A positive dining experience is at the forefront of THE MARK,” says Mark Hemstreet. “We’re thrilled with the changes we have made. It’s another opportunity for locals to enjoy good food, wine and atten-tive service in a friendly, enjoyable atmosphere.”

Gracious Shilo Service, Special Guests & Kudos

“I stayed at the Shilo Inn in Medford recently. I want to let you know that I had a wonderful stay at your hotel. Growing up in Oregon and going on family vacations, I remembered staying at a Shilo and having a blast. I think that my favorite memory was the indoor pools and being in Oregon is definitely a plus. I am a single mother of three teens, all of whom are in sports. My daughter had a tournament in Medford, so I decided to see if I could afford it. I almost didn’t look at the Shilo since I remem-bered it as being very nice and didn’t know if I could afford it. I was pleasantly surprised when I realized that “Affordable Excel-lence” was real. “Upon arriving in the lobby, I was greeted by Sarah, who was a blessing sent from above. I had traveled from Springfield and was extremely tired and I am dealing with a disability so it is painful to sit for long periods of time. Sarah was amazing. She was fast, efficient and really nice and compassionate. I really ap-preciated the hospitality after a long drive. Thank you, Sarah, for being so nice. The hallways, lobby and rooms were very clean. The hot tub felt great and I got a great night’s sleep. I have already recommended this hotel to the high school where my daughter attends for the next

tournament and I know I will be staying there as well. It was an awe-some experience. Sin-cerely, Kelly Casto.”

Shirley Bartow, who travels from Central Oregon to Beaverton for medical visits to OHSU, stays at Shilo Inn Hotel & Suites-Beaverton. She praised Esther for making each of her visits more spe-cial than the last. She has observed Esther with other guests and appre-ciates her efficiency, her calm de-meanor and the caring way she con-veys information. Shirley added that she appreciated the hotel staff pro-viding her with the corporate office phone number with no interrogation. Shirley calls the Shilo Inn her home away from home and Esther is the primary reason.

To the staff at Shilo Inn Suites Oceanfront Hotel–Newport from the coordinator of the Newport Fire Department’s recent banquet:

“Hello, Arika [F&B Director] and Shan [Director of Catering], The banquet was a great success! The food was wonderful, the steaks cooked to perfection, the chicken fabulous. It’s a Wow! I loved the veggy medley, all of it was really great. And we all ate way too much dessert. The view from the café is really outstanding; the table settings were simple and classy; the service staff was wonderful. Have I gushed enough yet? Thank you all so very much. And thanks for working with me to use local vendors. I do believe that a return to sustainability, using local goods and services, is the wave of the future. Meredith Savage, Sen-ior Planner, City of Newport, Com-munity Development.”

Andrea Pierce, disenchanted with on-line booking, called Andy in Cen-tral Reservations. She was so touched by his considerate service, she broke out in tears. She asked for connecting rooms at Shilo Inn Suites Hotel-Salt Lake City for a special reunion—an aunt and sister who had not seen each other for years, one of whom is a recent cancer survivor.

Scott Hartcorn, Shilo Inns’ South Region Director of Sales relayed a mes-sage from Michele Frost of New World Riviera Series tours: “People en-joy the intimacy and homey atmosphere of the Shilo Inn Suites Hotel-Oakhurst.” Scott encourages, “Keep up the good work and please pass this along to the entire team at your hotel. These comments are very timely since I had just sent in our proposal for this series in 2011—30 tours of 30 rooms.”

“Karen and Carol, et al. [Shilo Inn Suites Oceanfront Hotel-Seaside] On behalf of our entire group, thank you very much! We had an absolutely wonderful time with you this past week at our Husband and Wife conference. Many of our people commented on the beautiful facilities, great food, ameni-ties and staff. As I mentioned in the office, your entire staff is professional from top to bottom and it shows! Please pass along our appreciation to your kitchen staff and other services. You all receive high marks in my book! Thank you for attending to our re-quests down to the detail. We really appreciated the special personalized touch you made to our stay. It has been a pleasure working with you both these past two years a I only hope that we can get to work together again soon. Thank you for doing such a su-perb job! Sincerely, Cody Loveland, LDS Seminaries & Institutes of Religion Coordinator & Principal.”

“Dear Mr. Babbitt [Shilo Inn Suites Hotel-The Dalles], My husband and I enjoyed our stay at your inn, mainly because of the atten-tive and caring care given to us by Al-issa, who checked us in. Alissa went out of her way to accommodate my husband who is partially disabled. Her sweet demeanor was a very welcome treat and capped off our trip home from Southern California. Please thank her for us. Sincerely, Michelle Minor.”

The “Extra Mile” That Brings Guests Back . . .

Dear Guest Services:

Last week, I had the pleasure of conducting a three-day training workshop as a consultant with the Shipley Group at the Shilo Inn-Boise Riverside. I travel all over the country, staying at hotels from full-range luxury to econ-omy. My experiences vary as much as hotel quality and, while it would seem obvious that the more you pay for lodging and/or training facilities the better the quality of service, that occurs less often than one would expect.

Shilo Inn-Boise Riverside definitely fell into the budget side of the spectrum, but the service I received from Justin Haight, assistant general manager, and his staff was absolutely spectacular.

The evening before the workshop, I arrived after 6:00 PM. Although I always ask to see the workshop room the night before the workshop, often the staff who have keys to the room have already left for the day or the room won’t be set up until morning so I cannot see whether the layout will work. In this case, the workshop room was exactly to the standards requested, but because we had some late registrations and a lot of workshop materials that would require a fair amount of room, I requested that the room be reconfig-ured from classroom to “U” style. I requested permission to reconfigure the room myself, something I am used to having to do. However, Justin and his staff took care of everything. The room was reconfigured within an hour. I was asked to take a look to see if the new layout worked okay and also asked if there was anything else I needed. I mentioned “blue painter’s tape”—the ad-hesive I like to use to tape flip chart paper to walls without damaging them and, sure enough, first thing the next morning Justin brought me a roll of painter’s tape.

We experienced this level of attentiveness and service for the entire three days, including the last day when, unbeknownst to me, Justin had been told that our workshop would be over around noon. I had planned a full day of work and many of the participants, including me, who were staying at the Shilo Inn requested a late checkout. Justin and his staff scrambled to accom-modate our late checkout needs as well as the added burden of the conference room being used longer than expected.

So often people work very hard for little recognition. I want you to know that you have a wonderful staff working at the Shilo Inn-Boise Riverside. For that reason, I will be recommending that The Shipley Group continue to use this facility as its primary training location in Boise and I will also recommend the hotel as a great budget find for business and pleasure travelers. Sincerely yours, Nicole McCoy, PhD Consultant, The Shipley Group”

The Shilo Star is a monthly on- line publication for Shilo Inns’ Employees. Submit your ideas, information and photos to Leslee Gemmill for Editor, Linda Burt

American-Owned & Proud of it!

Shilo Inns

Shilo Inn Suites Hotel-Nampa, is a favorite of the Kendrick Junior-Senior High School boys basketball team. Principal Jeff Cirka relates to Stacie Harvey, director of sales, “Stacie, Thank you very much for all of your hospitality. As always, we had a great time in the Valley and at the hotel. We heard several good comments from some other guests about our boys and girls handling themselves well. Once again, thank you for everything!”

Warrenton is a small fishing vil-lage set near the larger, historic town of Astoria at the northwest-ern tip of Oregon where the mighty Columbia River meets the Pacific Ocean. The city boasts two marinas serving charters and a large commercial fleet.

Elsbeth Kenoyer has led the team at Shilo Inn Suites Hotel-Warrenton since 1991. Elsbeth lauds all her “key” employees and declares she couldn't keep the “ship sailing smoothly” without her great crew. “They go beyond their job descriptions every day to keep our hotel clean and our guests happy.” Elsbeth’s leisure time is spent on puzzles and counted cross stitch and she loves the challenging sports of the WII—golfing, boxing and bowling. But, as is the case with most grandmas (she sure doesn’t look like one!), her favorite

time is spent in the com-pany of her grand-kids.

In Focus . . .