We kick off a new series of articles (an e-column!) by veteran hotelier and educator Fritz Gubler. Here is the first installment of the series, called “Exceeding Expectations – Every stay, Every day”. Hope you enjoy it – we look forward to your comments and feedback!

Exceeding Expectations: Every Stay, Every Day

As a long-time hospitality professional, I believe it is important to pass on some of the lessons I’ve learned throughout my career, along with a few behind-the-scenes stories of the great hotels uncovered while researching my book, Great, Grand & Famous Hotels.

Within the world of hospitality, we hear very often about the glitches in service delivery. Travel writers entertain with colourful tales of mishaps, under-performance and disappointments. Because good leadership requires a motivating balance of criticism and positive reinforcement, I would like to counterbalance the negative and report on experiences where expectations were exceeded. I hope that the stories in this column will not only be a pleasure to read, but will also encourage you to exceed expectations and go that extra mile.

In his book Heading North: The Seven Principles you need to succeed in the Hospitality Industry, Max Hitchins suggests that in order to succeed in hospitality one must “stand out from the herd”, and what better and simpler way to stand out than to deliver extraordinary service. For my first column, I’d like to share a story about the power of exceeding expectations that comes from a personal experience.

I was once out having a catch-up drink with friends in Sydney when we all decided, at about 10 pm, that we were very hungry. I telephoned the Park Hyatt in Sydney and said, “I have a few friends with me and we’re famished, can we come for dinner?” to which the answer was, “Yes, Sir, we are open until 11 pm.”

As is sometimes the way when you are out with a group, time got away from us, and we didn’t arrive at the Hyatt until 11:10. The restaurant manager told me, apologetically, that the chef had left a few minutes before. Seeing our disappointment, she took pity on us and said, “I might be able to catch him,” and phoned down to the changing room. The chef was still there, and after speaking to him briefly she told us to wait. Within 10 minutes the chef had changed back into his uniform, returned to his kitchen, and cooked us a meal. We stayed on and had a few bottles of wine, which contributed positively to the hotel’s daily turnover, and a good time was had by all.

That was almost 10 years ago, and I’m still talking about it. The actions of the Park Hyatt staff would not be remarkable if performed by the hotel owner or a chef-patron, but for employees to have such positive attitudes is something special. My years in the hospitality business have shown me that when employees have this kind of attitude, it raises the standard of hospitality exponentially.

The day after our meal at the Park Hyatt I phoned the GM, who I happen to know (we were fellow alumni at the École hôtelière de Lausanne) with a glowing report on his staff, and I’m sure that he passed on my positive comments to the chef and the restaurant manager, meaning that their actions helped not only the hotel and its image, but their professional careers, too.

My hope for this column is that it will not only be enjoyable to read, but will also encourage you to go that extra mile, and each time you go that extra mile you travel one more mile on that long road to success.

Happy travels,

Fritz Gubler

A little about Fritz Gubler

Fritz began his career in the hospitality industry as an apprentice chef, before studying at the famous École hôtelière de Lausanne. He worked for the Swiss hotel and restaurant chain Mövenpick, then the pre-opening team of the Swiss Government-financed Kenya Utalii College in Nairobi in 1975. As GM, he opened the Leisure Lodge Club in Kenya and managed the hotels of the Severin Hotel Group in Mombasa. The biggest challenge of his career was to oversee final construction and opening of Egypt’s 450-room Isis Hotel Luxor.

Fritz introduced Swiss-style hotel management training to Australia at the Blue Mountains Hotel School. In 2007 he began publishing books, first with Great, Grand & Famous Hotels, a comprehensive introduction to the world’s great hotels, and most recently with Great, Grand & Famous Chefs and their Signature Dishes. For more information, visit http://www.greatgrandfamous.com/