Chapter Four, your management strategy. In this chapter, I'm going to be taking a closer look at your operations manual. So hold on to your hat, this is going to be a bit of a ride. In the last chapter, we looked at who you were and what job descriptions were needed to operate your hospitality property. We also talked about assigning the right people for each job determining the specific task for each job, and what is required to complete each task. This was to be done in an easy to follow step by step checklist for when all the checklists are completed and compiled.

You have a working operations manual. I would now like to dive into the actual operations manual itself, what it's going to look like and how it's going to be used. When opening up your completed operations manual. You should have nothing but a series of checklists, and the checklist should be easy to find. To do this, you have to divide checklists into categories and each category assigned a color for example, housekeeping blue, customer service red, breakfast green, accounting, yellow, maintenance, orange, and on and on and on, you get the idea. Each checklist details the specific steps each housekeeper, front desk agent, maintenance person, accountant, etc.

Must take to do their job. The checklists have to be very specific with step by step instructions of what to do and in what order. Let's take a look at housekeeping. When a housekeeper opens the door, they do not always know what they will find. The last guest might have been extremely tidy, and the room looks as good as it did when the guest first arrived, or the room could be turned upside down. My main instinct with the first room would be to start with the bathroom.

My instinct with the second room would be to grumble and then start with the bedclothes. What's the difference between these two sets? I wasn't consistent, and when you're not consistent, you miss things. Today when I open a room door, I would have a checklist in my hand and regardless of what the room looked like, I would start on my immediate left, I would check the closet to make sure the guests did not forget anything. I would check the lamp to make sure the lights work and was plugged in, I would look in the dresser drawers to make sure the extra pillows and blankets were there. I would continue around the room checking off my list as I went to make sure nothing was missed.

My checklist would have a drawing of that particular room on the back of the page. And as well as checking off my list. I would check off each area of the drawing as my tasks were completed. I would do the same in the bathroom, kitchenette, at the windows and under the bed. My checklist will also have space for any repairs required and if necessary, I would fill out a request for maintenance for the checklist cover every detail of that room and when they change checklist and the drawings were all marked as finished, I would feel confident that this room was complete. I would then sign the bottom of the checklist confirming everything was done.

Now you might have some employees who do not like the idea of being monitored like this. I've heard some say they felt like children. Oh, have you ever gone to a grocery store knowing you had to pick up three items, get to the store and only remember two of the items. If you had a checklist, this would not be a problem. If you run into this problem with employees not wanting to change, ask them how they would feel the next time they jumped on the flight. They found the pilot and the copilot did not do a preflight check.

Or the next time their car was in for a safety inspection. And the mechanic just looked at it and said, looks good to me. Without looking under the hood, or when their child was in to see the doctor and the doctor just touched their head and said perfectly healthy. They might be a little concerned. We've all heard the stories about the person going in for an operation. And having the wrong leg amputated, or lung removed.

This happened because the doctors went into the operating room, assuming they knew what they were doing. More and more hospitals are incorporating checklists into their day to day procedures. You might say, these are very important. Of course, they should be doing more checking. Well, your business is very important. And employees with a good work ethic are very important for your business.

With this step by step system in place, you will be ensured that employees will retain consistency and the chance to show real pride in their work. Okay, back to housekeeping. So the housekeeper arrives in the morning and checks their mailbox. They should have a mailbox to find out which rooms will be vacated that day. And to get the appropriate package of checklists go with each room. These would have been prepared the night before by you or your night auditor.

Each room package would include a room check List maintenance or repair requests and any other special requests for incoming guests, as well as any other checklists, you feel necessary. As each room is completed, both the front and the back of the checklists are signed, and then this package goes to their immediate supervisor. The supervisor can then do follow up or spot checks to make sure nothing was missed. This should not be taken personally, as even in the most organized companies, there are times when things are missed. If it does happen on a regular basis, however, there might be grounds for reassignment or dismissal of the employee. With a system like this in place, even a brand new employee would not require weeks or even days of training and monetary.

Instead, they would be turning over rooms like a pro in no time. Let's take a look at customer service as another example. You ever returning guests and that guest has a file that indicates they had taken advantage of your spa their last visit When the guest arrives, your front desk agent follows a checklist, which includes check customers likes and dislikes. They know to ask, would you like me to book your spa appointment for this afternoon or tomorrow. This is done before the guests even had mentioned the possibility of a spa appointment. They might not have planned to use the facility.

But now given the option might consider taking advantage. This is an excellent example of how a checklist to work for an upsell. We'll talk more about upselling later in the book. So you might ask, what else should I have a checklist for? The simple answer everything. When the outdoor lights turn on how much fruit should be in the bowl at reception and what it should look like.

What bills have to be paid and when what items are recycled. How towels should be folded? How uniforms should be worn. You get the idea? Everything should have a checklist with diagrams If you have this system in place and work properly, there will rarely be any errors. It works.

In no time, you'll be amazed by the number of people who come up to you, and thank you for the way they've been treated. In many cases, this is due to the consistency which happens because of your checklists. You might be thinking, following the same checklists every day, it's going to get boring for me and my employees. I should mention here that if your operations manual is complete, and used properly, it's worth its weight in gold. But it does not mean it's set in stone and has to be treated like a living breathing entity. If your employees are working off their checklists and come to you because there are aspects of it, they do not like you ask them, okay, how would you change it and if they come up with a way that improve the service or save your business money, change it and after you have changed it reward your employee.

This can be done financially, gift certificate or time off if possible. The only guideline you should have is that any criticism is constructive and with an alternative option I have seen when employees have been given this type of freedom in the development of their work routine, they have come up with some great ideas, and in turn a wonderful sense of pride. I'm interested in hearing from you. Do you have a system in place that works? Do you use hardcopy paper for your system? Or are you more high tech using tablets or computers that link directly to a database?

On the following pages, I have included sample checklists for room inspection, maintenance requests, and the last confound form. Feel free to take them and use them as you see fit.