Tiny Peabody Tops The Upper Upscale Winners
<B> Tiny Peabody Tops The Upper Upscale Winners</B>
By Maria P. Vallejo
When it comes to quality, achieving a consistently high level arguably is easier for a smaller company than a larger company. But few would contest the tiny Peabody Hotel Group's placement at the top of the upper upscale category. In fact, analysts and travel buyers seemed sure that the three-property chain is worthy.
According to industry experts, the small chain has all the key components to make it a winner, from personalized service to travel buyer and meeting planner programs, and from distinctive design to proper business services and amenities.
"The service is top notch," said Brooke Sommers, corporate meeting and event planner for Storage Technologies, based in Louisville, Colo. "They're always there when you need them. The staff is agreeable. They have the attitude of empowerment and the facilities are great."
Sommers coordinates up to 500 meetings per year and lists the Peabody as one of the company's preferred hotels in its meetings directory. While location always is the primary consideration when selecting a hotel site, facility service and adequate meeting space, which Peabody provides, are next on her agenda when choosing the proper meeting property.
"When you go to a Peabody, it's special," said hospitality analyst Bjorn Hanson, New York-based Pricewaterhouse-Coopers hospitality and leisure industry leader. "There's a handful of hotels in the United States that don't need a chain or system to do well. Somehow the employees have a sparkle, the physical plan is amazing and the people make you feel good there."
"They are a heavy meetings hotel and they have the ability to really monitor and implement their philosophy when they have only a few properties to think about," said Robert Mandelbaum, New York-based PKF Consulting's director of research. "This is really a good sales tool for them."
While its small size may be one of its greatest assets, the company is planning to expand its portfolio. A Peabody currently is being considered for Tempe, Ariz., and is expected to open in the first quarter of 2003. Additional properties are planned for Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas and San Francisco.
Despite an average occupancy of 80 percent, the chain continues to seek out and maintain preferred corporate relationships. Twelve sales representatives, located in the company's primary feeder cities of Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles and New York, address corporate demand. "We work closely to service our corporate customers in those cities," said Barry Anderson, Peabody's vice president of marketing.
To improve on-property service levels, the company launched the Peabody Service Excellence program in 1990. The program identifies unique behaviors each associate should adopt. Employees are given a "hospitality zone," where they must speak to any guest who enters that imaginary zone, Anderson said. If two employees are speaking when they see a guest approach, they must enact the "10 to five rule," which requires them to stop speaking to one another when a guest comes within 10 feet of their location and address a guest that comes within five feet of them.
This simple act of greeting a guest is enough to persuade a customer to return to the property, some experts said. Unlike some other upper upscale chains, the Peabody creates a more home-like atmosphere where its guests can feel comfortable without feeling pretentious, analysts said.
"People are looking for sophisticated casual," Hanson said. "Unlike the late '80s when people where looking for lavish formality, the differences here are subtle, but extreme in their impact."
A new software program will be installed in March to allow associates to meet any guest's needs from anywhere on the property. The employee simply picks up a telephone and is immediately channeled to the department head who best can handle the guest's requests. Department heads will carry cellular phones with them at all times for request retrieval.
"If we can accomplish getting service emphasis in place this year, then we've made a great jump to maintain our number-one position," said Alan Villaverde, the hotel's general manager and vice president. "We're looking at a very competitive environment. We don't want to rely on our past because we want to take care of our future."
The Peabody Orlando Hotel was built specifically to meet the needs of conventioneers, including function space and business amenities to support those groups. Each room is equipped with two-line telephones and dataports. The business center provides Internet access and rentals of cellular phones, fax machines and computers. An in-house audiovisual team turns every board room into a smart room customized to the group's needs. "When we expand, we'll continue in that direction," Villaverde said.
The hotel will expand between 700 and 1,000 rooms with 120,000 square feet of additional function space, and be attached to the nearby convention area. The company's Memphis property also will expand its ballroom from 18,000 to 26,000 square feet with, 100 additional guestrooms.
Like many of the other category winners, second place upper upscale chain Forte/Le Meridien Hotels, based in Paris, plans to focus its development efforts on North America. The company plans to develop a Le Meridien hotel in each of the 12 gateway cities nationwide within the next five years, said Bernard Lambert, Le Meridien's managing director. Currently underway in San Diego is a $90 million development project, a 350-room luxury hotel that will open in 2001.
The marriage of Inter-Continental with Bass Hotels & Resorts, owner of Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza brands, helped move the chain from fifth place in 1998 to third place this year. The consolidation resulted in an additional injection of capital that improved the brand's physical layout through renovation and improved the general managers' morale.
"I think Inter-Con has done some things that are subtle, but travelers recognize them," Hanson said. "The brand was tired. With the infusion of cash and enthusiasm of being a part of Bass, the managers are smiling instead of frowning and there is a new level of energy."
<center><B>Nikko Broadens Appeal</B></center>
Fifth-place winner and top Asian scorer, Nikko Hotels of Tokyo understands the importance of service to the travel buyer community. Unlike some other Asian-based hotel companies, Nikko reported only a slight reduction in travelers because it broadened its focus beyond Asia even before the continent's financial woes began to affect travel, said Evelyne Sansaricq, Nikko's director of marketing support.
"Nowadays people are paying so much for a room in a major city and they are asking, 'What are we getting for that money?' " Sansaricq said. "Giving them tchochkas is not what they are looking for. It goes beyond the amenities in the bathrooms. People are going for the service levels."
With an average of 400 corporate rates per property, the chain launched a Website with booking capability a year ago. The site will become fully enhanced by June, allowing corporate travel buyers to book their negotiated rates on the Webpage as well, she added.
Furthermore, Nikko is addressing the needs of travel buyers by providing discounted rates worldwide. If a preferred buyer has a negotiated rate in one property, travelers can receive discounted rates in other properties globally, although the company does not have an official worldwide corporate rate program for its 45 properties.
The individual properties are quick to respond to guest recommendations and share ideas with sister hotels when they prove successful.
One of the many areas the company focuses on is providing appropriate businesses amenities, a category in which Nikko won first place. During the past year, all room renovations included the addition of a fax machine. ISDN lines to provide high-speed Internet access will be rolled out chainwide within the next two years. Besides in-room technology, the chain looks at enhancing its business center services and amenities to meet each property's specific corporate needs.
A new 24-hour business center and a rentable office space concept is being beta tested in Mexico City. Given that many business travelers stay in Mexico City for longer visits and need additional office spaces, the property has dedicated an entire floor to the program, which also includes 24-hour-a-day secretarial services. Expansion to an additional floor and to other properties is being reviewed.