Like many of you, I was able to break out of my stay-at-home bubble over the holidays. Dusting off my weekender and my frequent flyer points, I headed to the airport for what seemed like a new adventure. And in some ways, it was.

Unlike many of you, however, all my flights were without incident. There were no cancellations, departure delays were less than 20 minutes, we made all our connections, airline personnel were on board, and there were no unruly incidents in the terminal, airline club, or in flight. (I will say, however, that those in-flight Bento boxes still leave a lot to be desired.)

Like many of you, our hotel stay was a different adventure - not bad, not good, just different. Since we had booked evening flights, it was nearly midnight when we arrived at the 47-story flagship hotel. Walking into the lobby – tired, sleepy, and hungry (remember those Bento boxes), we saw a line of about 30 equally weary guests waiting to be checked in by a single receptionist. You can imagine how happy we were that our granddaughter, who had landed earlier that day, had registered all of us into our connecting-rooms ahead of our arrival.

That long check-in line was a vivid reminder of the staffing issue that has plagued the hotel industry for years – and has been exacerbated over these past COVID years. There were other reminders too. The gift shop was open fewer hours. On New Year's Eve, the line for the hotel's renowned gala and overnight package stretched the entire length of the lobby waiting to be checked-in by one of the two receptionists at the front desk. And the string of cars wanting to turn into the hotel's driveway for valet service stretched two blocks, and at times, three. Yes, we all know that guests often wait until the last minute to check-in, get to their rooms to change into tuxedos and glittering gowns, then find their way to the ballroom for their first glasses of celebratory champagne.

Add the shortage of housekeeping staff. We got our clean towels, soaps, and coffee pods in large black trash bags from the front desk. And forget room service. For us, who gladly spent New Year's Eve night clad in jeans or sweats in one of our rooms watching movies together, we ordered Domino's to be delivered. An hour later, we get a call from the delivery driver saying he could not get closer to the hotel than two blocks away. So off two of us went meeting him there to retrieve our late-night pizza. These are perfect illustrations of how what happens in hotels doesn't stay in hotels; it impacts other businesses, other sectors, and other people who might be considered heroes too.

As we were waiting for our driver to take us back to the airport, I had the opportunity to talk with a Manager. He humanized, for me, the issues that he, like the entire hotel sector, were facing – staffing, supply shortages, cancellations, rising costs for virtually everything…ad infinitum. As we said goodbye, we "bumped elbows." He then smiled and said, We will get through this because my employees are heroes. They are all heroes. But are they heroes? Are they really? Or are they just doing the job for which they were hired and are being paid?

If you have read some of my other articles, you know that I often draw upon Latin (Yes, I truly did study Latin for several years.) and my Merriam-Webster Dictionary to get a fresh perspective on words because they often change meaning over time. Hot does not mean just a temperature anymore; GOAT is not just a funny-looking animal and Zoom has surely morphed from meaning "move or travel very quickly" to something with which we all have a love-hate relationship.

So what about hero? According to Eric Partridge, the word hero is rooted in Greek and akin to Latin, meaning "to protect" or "safeguard." It is thought to have evolved from the name Hera, the Greek goddess known for her protection. So are the employees in our hotel heroes? After all, they do protect and safeguard our guests, their colleagues, and, perhaps most important of all, the value of the hotel's brand name.

Just when I thought I had an answer, something I once read popped into my head about how Pixar's The Incredibles movie. You may recall the scene where Dash got in trouble in school.

On the way home, he says to his mother, "Our powers make us special."

To which she replies, "Everyone is special."

Dash then responds with, "Which is another way of saying that no one is…When everyone is super, no one will be."

By calling everyone a hero, are we diluting the specialness of what they do, who they are, and how they help, save, or serve? Are First Responders heroes? Are the truckers who drive through the night delivering much needed supplies to our grocery stores, pharmacies, or hotels heroes? Is the little 10-year-old boy who voluntarily shovels the sidewalk of an elderly widow living down the street – with out being asked and without expecting to be paid -- also a hero? And what about the receptionist, the housekeeper, the server, and chef who come in and work a double shift so that the hotel can function. Are they also heroes? It seems as if just about everyone is being called a hero today.

Maybe the dilution of the word hero evolved from the "every kid gets a trophy" era in which many of us received a blue ribbon or a little plastic trophy for just participating. Some of us might still have a few of those blue ribbons or little plastic trophies in an old shoebox tucked away in a drawer somewhere. But is just participating or just "showing up for work," worthy of a trophy, of being given the distinction of being called a hero? Tell that to Olympians or to the contenders for the Oscars.

Tell that to the National Spelling Bee contestants vying for the $50,000 prize. Should that award be equally divided among all the participants just for participating? As Dash pointed out, "They keep celebrating mediocrity, but if someone is genuinely exceptional, they shut him down because they don't want everyone else to feel bad!" Was the hotel manager right, then, when he said all the hotel's employees are heroes?

COVID seems to have up-ended every aspect of a hotel's operation. Things have not been normal for the past couple of years, nor will they be normal when this pandemic crisis is in the rear-view mirror. There will not be a new normal either. What there will be, however, is a next normal, giving us the opportunity to reimagination what it means to be a hotel hero.

To reimagination how we recognize our heroes; how we reward our heroes; how we honor our heroes. An article in Forbes called this Good Employership, pointing out that, in a world where skilled people are scarce and increasingly demanding, a successful [hotel] needs to embrace good employership as a key business strategy.

The bottom line is that every hotel needs its heroes. To borrow the lyrics from Bonnie Tyler's celebrated recording:

  • I need a hero
  • I'm holding out for a hero 'til the end of the night
  • He's gotta be strong, and he's gotta be fast
  • And he's gotta be fresh from the fight
  • I need a hero
  • I'm holding out for a hero 'til the morning light
  • He's gotta be sure, and it's gotta be soon.
  • And he's gotta be larger than life
  • Larger than life

Your REVPAR will thank you.

References:

  1. Eric Honeywood Partridge (6 February 1894 – 1 June 1979) was a New Zealand–British lexicographer of the English language, particularly of its slang.
  2. https://lessonsfromthemouse.wordpress.com/2017/07/15/the-incredibles-if-everyone-is-special-no-one-is/
  3. https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeroenkraaijenbrink/2021/03/04/four-essential-trends-for-every-post-covid-19-business-strategy/?sh=7cf4d7c9c4a0
  4. "Holding Out for a Hero" is a song recorded by Welsh singer Bonnie Tyler for the soundtrack to the 1984 film Footloose.

Reprinted from the Hotel Business Review with permission from www.HotelExecutive.com