Management Training Program, Innisfree Hotels

The training platform at Innisfree Hotels has been in development for years. When Andrea Case joined Innisfree as Director of Human Resources in 2015, she immediately identified the company was growing and needed leaders.

Together with senior leadership, Case worked to create the Management Development Program. Ultimately, the program will have three tiers:

Managers in Training – line-level employees who show potential

Managers in Motion – managers who need to refine certain skill sets

Executive Training – leadership training in fostering a team, coaching and mentoring

A huge proponent of internal promotions and succession planning, Innisfree wanted to create a platform that would prepare top-performing employees who had the potential and dedication and drive – but not necessarily the experience – for a leadership role.

“There’s an intrinsic, intangible value to having individuals grow up with Innisfree,” Case says.

Ironically, the first two individuals to come through the program came to Innisfree from outside the company. Nicole Klimkowski, a graduate of hospitality management, and John Rockett, who earned his degree in business – both impressed senior leaders, who invited them on board.

Klimkowski was attracted to Innisfree’s focus on hospitality and giving back to the community, and the fact that it is a growing company with vast opportunity for personal and professional development.

“Being in the first ‘class’ of Managers in Training was, and is, still nerve-wracking at times. More often than not it was due to me expanding beyond my comfort zone,” she says. “I could not be more thankful for the guidance and extra push from my peers, because without them I wouldn’t have learned nearly as much as I have for the duration of this program.”

During their year as Managers in Training, Klimkowski and Rockett have helped write the curriculum for the new program.

The pair have gone through six- to eight-week rotations through each department, beginning in housekeeping because it is the most difficult position in a hotel, according to Case.

In each rotation, they have learned technical, management and systems skills, spending the first two weeks performing the job, two more with the assistant and the final two weeks with the executive leader.

Managers in Training rotate through Housekeeping, Front Desk, Maintenance, Food & Beverage, and Sales. The capstone rotation is three months with an Assistant General Manager.

“The biggest thing I want them to gain from each rotation is to understand how their decisions in that department impact the property as a whole,” Case says. “They learn the mechanics, so when they are in a management position they will have a knowledge and appreciation for what their employees are doing on a daily basis.”

At Innisfree, you never ask someone to do something you’re not willing to do yourself.

Klimkowski and Rockett have performed interviews, disciplinary actions and even terminations. As new projects arise, they may be assigned to a property that provides the greatest learning experience. They have spent time with local hosts, with regional managers, on revenue calls and in culture sessions.

“Because of this program, I’ve been able to combine the best attributes I’ve seen across the different properties to create my own style of management,” Rockett says. “I don’t think people realize how critical learning from the ground up can be.”

The goal, but not guarantee, at the end of the 15-month program is a full-time line-level supervisor position with Innisfree Hotels, such as an Executive Housekeeper, Chief of Maintenance, Director of Sales or Food & Beverage Manager.

“They can pursue their passions,” Case says. “One thing that endears me to Innisfree is that wherever your passions are, that’s what we know you will do well in.”

The future of the program will depend on the rate of growth at Innisfree. Historically, the company has grown so quickly it has promoted standout employees who have never been managers, missing the opportunity to give them the skills they need to succeed, Case explains.

She calls to mind a line from Thomas More’s Utopia: “We create the thief, and then punish him.”

No more.

The Management Development Program of Innisfree Hotels will create a new generation of leaders.

“They will come out of this program with a network greater than most managers, who often do not have ongoing conversations with their counterparts at other properties,” Case says. “Our new leaders can take the best of the best and carry it with them.”

– Ashley Kahn Salley
Lead Storyteller, Innisfree Hotels

By Jason Nicholson, Vice-President of Hotel Operations

At Innisfree Hotels, our job is to create fun, memorable experiences.

Our mission in life – not just at work – is to make people happy and to serve others. It really is in everything that we do.

With that in mind, we intentionally seek out opportunities to engage our guests, while identifying opportunities to mitigate any concerns that may arise. We, as experts in the art of Excellent Guest Service, strive to remain aware of both positive and negative guest interactions before they occur.

Why do we seek out these opportunities? Well, all of us at Innisfree got into this business because we love serving people and we always prefer to help create positive experiences. However, if a guest in our hotels has a poor experience, we’d like to know about it sooner rather than later, so we can act on it quickly – creating a bond with that particular guest such that they become a lifelong advocate.

One of the tools in our guest engagement ‘toolbox’ is the Aloha Program.  

What is the Aloha Program?

The Aloha Program is an initiative specifically designed to identify and solve potential problems before they exist – and to react to existing problems to the guest’s satisfaction immediately (and extraordinarily).

We don’t want to do what everybody else is doing … we want to do a little bit more.

The program was developed originally by General Manager Gina Dudley of the Hilton Pensacola Beach. A native of Hawaii, its name is derived from the Hawaiian word Aloha, which has deep meanings – among them hello, goodbye, I love you and I want to be with you.

Our program was designed from an investigation of trends and data points specific to guest complaints. For instance, we found in our research that the No. 1 complaint guests have before they arrive at a hotel is their room type.

Oftentimes, when a guest books a room that has the word “beach” in the name, they perceive that the room is naturally going to be on the beachfront or facing the beach. We found this to be a very tricky complaint to attempt to solve at the Front Desk during check-in, at the very start of the guest experience on the property, when available inventory is at its most limited.

Three Steps of the Aloha Program

Step One: Call all reservations three days prior to arrival to confirm room type. This gives us an earlier opportunity to adjust the room type if available or to help guests find accommodations that will best fit their needs, even if it’s not in our hotels. This connection is profoundly powerful, and the properties that are committed to the calls have seen a drastic drop in guest room location complaints.

Step Two: Historically, what hotels are known for is calling the guest 30 minutes after they check in. What can you learn in 30 minutes? At Innisfree, we took that call one step further and elected to call the morning after check-in. At that point the guest has slept in the bed, connected to the Wi-Fi, interacted with staff and more. With our ‘Good Morning Call’, we strive to open the door for real connection, making the guest comfortable enough that they will tell us how we can improve their experience while they are still on property.

Step Three: If in the process of ‘Good Morning Calls’ or any other guest interactions we hear a concern or a complaint, it’s the role of the team at the hotel to note that concern in the Service Recovery Log. We collect limited information such as time of day, guest name, location and person who received the call, as well as the person to whom that individual delegated the recovery. We then identify a window of time in which they will call the guest back and ask the guest one very simple question.

“Have we solved the problem to your satisfaction?”

Let’s face it – if I ask one of my teammates to correct a problem and they report it has been corrected, that in no way suggests the guest is satisfied. Those are two different issues. We will set ourselves a notice to contact the guest and make sure they are happy with our corrective action. Follow-up of the guest’s satisfaction is the most important action of the Service Recovery Log.

Going the Extra Step

The Aloha Program also features a recovery tool for every property. Every teammate at Innisfree is given a virtual $200 credit to use for any guest for any reason, as long as it is specific to service recovery.

If we get a call from a guest in Room 202 that the air conditioner is not working, every hotel would be expected to fix the AC and ensure the guest is happy with the repair. At Innisfree, we are obliged to dip into our $200 credit to do something extraordinary for that guest … something so remarkable that they will remember the effort to make things right more than the problem that first started the interaction.

In other words, we’re not only going to fix the air conditioner, but we are also going to make our guest feel special and appreciated. This could be as simple as a handwritten thank you card for letting us know that the problem exists to a fresh bouquet of flowers with an apology from the maintenance person or anything in between.

The underlying intent of the Aloha Program is to create opportunities for us to welcome our new and old friends into our home and eliminate any obstacles to creating and enjoying positive, memorable experiences. We know that guests we make connections with, who are willing to afford us the opportunity to fix our issues or problems, will ultimately become our best friends and advocates.

In the future, they won’t be coming to our hotels … they’ll be coming to their friends’ home to enjoy their business travel or vacation.

– As told to Ashley Kahn Salley
Lead Storyteller, Innisfree Hotels

By Mike Nixon, President

In its current form, profit sharing at Innisfree Hotels is our founder and CEO Julian MacQueen’s vision for a company that supports its employees and gives back.

This is deeply rooted in his Baha’i Faith, but also in his leadership style. Giving back is fundamental to who Julian is.

Once a year, profits are shared among eligible employees. When I participate in distributing the checks, I make sure I let all of those people receiving checks know that they are responsible for the size of the check.

Anything that they do in the course of their daily work life contributes to those checks being larger or smaller.

Protecting resources is one way to increase profit sharing. It all adds up.

For example:

• If an employee sees a leak in a storeroom and they report it before that leak ruins the room, that’s contributing to profit sharing.
• If they make a guest’s stay better or address a problem in a positive way so the Front Desk doesn’t have to give a refund, that’s contributing.
• If, in turn, those guests go out and speak highly of our hotels and their friends and family come stay, that also contributes to profit sharing.

When Innisfree employees are focused on completing their tasks every day, that’s contributing.

We have to police ourselves, as well as our co-workers. For instance, it’s not uncommon in larger hotels that someone could clock in and disappear for 8 hours. If you know that’s happening, and you talk to the person or report it, you’re minimizing the impact and contributing to profits.

It’s worth noting that I believe Innisfree Hotels is the only hotel management company in North America that does profit sharing.

It feels good to share with the people who make our properties shine.

Hotel Company Plans to Renovate and Reinvigorate Popular Battle Creek Business Hotel

Innisfree Hotels has assumed operations of the McCamly Plaza Hotel located in Battle Creek, Mich. Adjacent to a shopping and dining complex and in close proximity to major corporations and attractions, the hotel is a popular stop for business and conference travelers.

Now under Innisfree management, the hotel will undergo a $3.5 million renovation and begin conversion to a DoubleTree by Hilton hotel in the first quarter of 2017. In addition to the renovation, Innisfree is planning a complete rebranding of the hotel’s on-site restaurant.

“Innisfree Hotels is proud to be part of the Battle Creek community,” says Jason Nicholson, Vice-President of Hotel Operations for Innisfree Hotels. “Our company has a history of not only improving businesses through our management practices, but also positively influencing the local economy and quality of life.”

The 239-room hotel features the following amenities:

• Indoor Swimming Pool
• Valet and Self Parking
• High-Speed Internet
• On-Site Restaurant
• 25,000 Sq. Ft. Meeting Room, Including 4,900 Sq. Ft. Penthouse Event Space

The McCamly Plaza hotel is owned by Neil Freeman, Chairman and CEO of Aries Capital. Originally built as a corporate hotel for Kellogg Corporation, the property still enjoys an intimate relationship with this and other Michigan-based industries.

“Innisfree Hotels will take intentional steps to foster these relationships to make McCamly Plaza the hotel of choice for corporate travel and meetings,” Nicholson says. “We’re very excited to see the improvements that will allow the hotel to better serve the local community and its long-standing corporate partners.”