The Dilemma
This week finds me back in Peoria, IL and of course back at
the Pere Marquette Marriott hotel. I stay in this hotel frequently because I
can support two different DMAs(Designated Market Areas) from one single location.
When I arrived on Monday the manager met me at the front desk
when I checked in and thanked me once again for helping to resolve their DIRECTV
issues during my previous visit in November. To read more about my last visit to
central Illinois click HERE. I was able
to watch the NCAA Men’s championship game from the Great Room Restaurant in the
Hotel Lobby. Not the best game, but
always a good time. Thanks to Jessica
and her team for always treating me so well when I am in town and allowing me to interview her for this article.
Originally built in 1926, this historic hotel was the anchor property for downtown Peoria during the roaring 20’s and set the bar for upscale lodging. The hotel was painstakingly remodeled and restored to it's former glory in the early 2000’s. The owners purchased the property to the north of the Pere at the time of the extensive remodel and constructed a Courtyard by Marriott, which is connected to the Pere’s lobby. The Pere Marquette hosts six large ballrooms(Tastefully restored) and six separate meeting rooms. There are two restaurants(Sharing the same kitchen), a bar, lap pool with hot tub, fitness center and Starbucks Coffee shop next door inside the Courtyard lobby.
It has been a long road back to profitability for the Pere and her sister property, which are just two of thousands of hotels forced to close during the Covid-19 pandemic.The Pere was closed for three months starting in March of 2020. The Courtyard didn’t reopen until the fall of 2023. I started frequenting this hotel in the summer of 2020. Occupancy hovered around 5%. The hotel ran on a skeleton staff. The bar, restaurant, kitchen, executive lounge, Pool, Spa, meeting rooms all closed. The cleaning staff only cleaned one floor a week as there was really no rush due to the low occupancy rates.
In 2021 the Pere attempted to reopen their bar and
restaurants. This when the hotel ownership team first experienced the dilemma that
thousands of other hotels in the US were forced to face. The staff that they
had laid off months and months ago were no longer willing or available to
return to work. This hotel like so many
others had to literally start over from scratch to satisfy their staffing needs.
For the most part the only people willing to work at the time were not trained in
hospitality. The “Trainers” were no longer on the team. The new team members
had to learn “On the Job”. This included bartenders, servers, management, engineering and
cleaning staff. For years it was "Normal" to see your bartender also be your food server, cook and front desk attendant all on the same shift as this was the only person on staff for the evening.
In the Great Room restaurant, the new team were mostly
younger and not well acquainted with DIRECTV, our programming packages,
channel lineups, remotes, etc. Customers would ask for a specific channel on the
TV and on many occasions the staff could not physically make the channel change as they had no idea
how to use the service or even where to point the remote. The Pere is not
alone. I have visited dozens of hotels with staff who do not know how to use
our services in their establishments because they don't have DIRECTV in their homes and have never been exposed to the technology. Hundreds if not thousands of hotels in the US have experienced up to a 100% churn of staff in the the last 24-months.
This is why I began helping bars and restaurants inside Hotels with their DIRECTV support needs. I hand out commercial channel guides on hotel visits to #DIRECTVforBUSINESS properties. I never ask if they know our channels. I only ask if they would like the guides. If they accept, I then ask if they have QuickTune set up on their TVs and offer to show them how to use it if interested. For more information QuickTune click HERE. I make sure they know that they can see great programming like #NFLonDIRECTV, #MLBonDIRECTV, #NBAonDIRECTV and all of the other sports that their customers enjoy. In the Fall months I make a dedicated effort to push #TNFonDIRECTV from Amazon Prime. My conversations always end with a handshake and a sincere thank you for being a DIRECTV customer. Most importantly, I make sure that every establishment has a business card with DIRECTV’s commercial toll free number as well as my COU cell phone. It’s important to me that every DIRECTV customer knows who to contact if they are not completely satisfied with our service. If the customer cannot be satisfied with a call to the toll free number, I tell them to call me directly and I will do my best to help.
These quick and simple customer interactions can make all
the difference when it comes to overall customer satisfaction. Customers
remember my visits. They do keep my business cards(As I found out
all too well during a recent Satellite outage) and they do not hesitate to call when they have questions, comments or concerns.
I am starting to see the same servers, cooks, bartenders and front staff when I travel. The lodging industry is slowly but surely returning back to a pre-pandemic mindset. Menus are bigger, staffs are larger, the food is better, and the staff remember me when I come back to stay at their properties.
I am just one person out there, but I believe I am making a difference, one hotel at a time...
To learn more about John and the work he does for DIRECTV please click HERE.
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