Training Articles (formerly Member Blog)

Ok that didn't really rhyme, but when you have this many Regional Training Forums (RTFs), WHO CARES!!! CHART New Orleans is only two months away, but you don't have to wait until then to experience our unique brand of learning, sharing, growing and caring. There are FIVE RTFs happening in the month of May. If you're in Dallas, Southern California, Northern California, Orlando or Washington DC this month, mark your calendar and stop on into one of our RTFs!

How do you measure the quality of a hotel? For some people, it has to do with the physical elements of the property: spacious guest rooms, lavish decor, or thick walls to keep noise at a minimum. For others, it has to do with the amenities: luxurious linens on the beds, 24-hour room service to cater to their every whim, or an upscale spa where they can melt away their cares. And for some guests, it has to do with the location; they want something that will be within walking distance to a city’s stores, restaurants, and nightlife.

Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a widely recognized standard in benchmarking “intent to recommend” and an effective way to evaluate guest feedback and engage in meaningful dialogue about areas of improvement. Have you ever considered taking NPS into the evaluation of your training? If not, I suggest that you do. This simple step has the ability to better align training with business objectives and give employees a voice in creating meaningful improvements in training.

Two years ago I posted a blog on the CHART site titled, If I Had to Choose Just Three, in which I wrote about the three books that I couldn’t live without as a hospitality trainer. I still refer to all three of these books today and use them very regularly in my job as Director of Training for Ivar’s Restaurants

Is your field personnel stuck waiting on a broken escalator? In Atlanta, I shared how and why you should teach your field managers to get RIPd - rapid improvement programs. Training is operations and operations is training. It is key that you put together tools for them to use which will then improve profits, sales & people performance/retention

Move beyond Social Media to Social Reality. In Doug Busk's CHARTtalks session at our Atlanta conference, he shared that consumers are now providing you feedback directly and expect someone to be listening and responding to their compliments and complaints

Back in 2013, I wrote a blog post for CHART’s website titled “Hiring for Hospitality” ### (http://www.chart.org/blog/view/id/351/) in which I discussed recruiting and hiring strategies that hotel and restaurant managers could use to find the most qualified employees for their businesses.

There is a video of my CHARTTalks session in Atlanta that I urge you to watch. It's only 8 minutes long and if nothing else, you'll get some great hashtags to use!

At CHART’s 86th Hospitality Training Conference, which took place in the summer in 2013 in Miami, we were extremely fortunate to have Ty Bennett serve as our closing keynote speaker. Ty’s topic then was, “The Power of Influence,” and attendees began raving about him before he had even left the stage. Many touted him as the best speaker we had ever had at CHART, and he eventually received the highest scores ever for one of our keynotes on our post-conference survey.

Don't worry, you didn't leave the gate open. I meant that figuratively :-)

With the economy improving and unemployment rates low, the labor market for the restaurant industry is getting tighter and tighter. At the same time, many restaurant chains are planning for aggressive growth, especially in the Fast Casual segment. New store openings are key to driving that growth, but staffing those stores, especially finding qualified general managers, is becoming increasingly difficult.

I recently had lunch with a friend and co-worker at a popular Denver-area sports bar. I remember the occasion well because that’s the day I had a “Garbage Burger” for the very first time. The experience forever changed the way I think about the connection between service, selling and repeat business.