“For all these steps we had tests, and I was very proud when I saw that over 50% of our associates scored 95 or higher out of a 100. So we must have done a really good job selecting people,” Grub says.
Every individual has a training passport that shows which subjects they have been trained in and what their score was. And all that training and development and measurement will then be used to further develop the individual.
“After three months, we have a chat with the associate and show them where they came from, how well they did and the areas that still need work. After five-and-a-half months, we then see whether we still want to work together.
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“After nine months of positive performance, we sit down with the individual and tell them we think they have great potential, we explain the next step and how we are going to help them further their career in a specific field,” he explains.
Staff empowerment is also an important area of focus during the training process.
“You cannot ‘own’ a guest in Starwood without staff empowerment. The worst thing you can do when you talk about empowerment is say, ‘you are a waiter; if a guest complains, you can only offer her a glass of wine’, or say the same to a restaurant manager for two glasses of wine,” Grub explains.
As such, the associates are given free rein to respond to guest complaints within measure, to ensure customer satisfaction.
“How many guests do you have that complain? I read a statistic that said if you run a good operation, you have maybe 1.5-2% complaints.
“So if you have 1000 guests, and 2% complaints, you have 20 complaints. If these 20 people walk away happily, and you give each one of them a night free, that’s AED 20,000 ($5444). If they come back, you have made your money back.”
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