Page 159 - The New Gold Standard

Build a Business Focused on Others
properties, Simon Cooper readily admits, “Gallup does a great
job helping us make sense of our internal metrics and how we
are doing with our own guests, but the real challenge is study-
ing people in our market segment who are not staying in our ho-
tels. I find great value in research on my competitors’ guests
because they have much to teach us about how to further
strengthen our business for the future. It’s just extremely diffi-
cult to get quality data on those who don’t choose you.”

C Focusing on the Needs of D
Your Business Partners

In addition to listening to and measuring the input of staff,
guests, and desired future customers, Ritz-Carlton leadership
creates forums to secure the input of their key referral sources in
the travel industry (including travel experts who book individual
and corporate business with them), joint venture partners
(restaurateurs and other retail partners), and the investors and
owners of buildings Ritz-Carlton manages.
Nancy Strong, CTC, chief executive officer of Strong Travel
Services, shares how Ritz-Carlton has solicited her input: “I at-
tended the very first Travel Industry Advisory Council many
years ago at Buckhead in Atlanta. There were a number of travel
agents who sat at that table along with many Ritz-Carlton gen-
eral managers. Our group of travel professionals raised a num-
ber of issues, and I remembered thinking I hope the managers
are taking notes.” Apparently they were. Nancy continues,
“Within three to six months every issue we brought up was ad-
dressed and handled. You can imagine how we, as travel agen-
cies, their partner clients, felt after that. I mean, you talk about a
warm and fuzzy feeling toward a partner! We talked about that
for a long time. A large part of the success occurred because they
had their decision makers at the table with us. If we had a com-
plaint or a concern about the hotel in Boston, the general man-
ager stood up and said, ‘I know what you’re talking about; when

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