In 1917, E.M. Statler sent to the manager's of all his hotels a memorandum on how to conduct business. The principle contained in this letter is just as applicable today (if not more so) as it was in the early part of this century, and it is applicable to
ALL food and beverage establishments, not just hotels. This is the letter:
From this date you are instructed to employ only good-natured people, cheerful and pleasant, who smile easily and often. This ought to go for every job in the house, but at present I'll insist on it only for people that come in contact with guests.
It does go, from this day, for all department heads, front office people, cashiers, captains, elevator men, porters, telephone operators, and other employees who have to deal directly with patrons.
And it isn't to be only a case of hiring. That policy is to govern all promotions; and you are to begin right now, to measure your present staff by it.
If it's necessary to clean house, do it. Don't protest. Get rid of the grouches, and the people that can't keep their tempers, and the people who act as if they were always under a burden of trouble and feeling sorry for themselves. You can't make that sort of a person over; you can't do anything with them profitably,
but get rid of him. Let the other fellow have him and you hire a man that can be taught.
You want to lessen complaints, don't you? You want your organization to run more efficient don't you? Well, I've been studying this one idea for months, and I'm convinced that it will help solve several problems that we have
- of complaints, of competition, of handicaps we've had in certain spots.
Not immediately, perhaps, not tomorrow, or in the middle of next week, but there will be noticeable improvements just as soon as it gets along.
Unless - unless you and your department heads are indifferent or antagonistic, in which case you'll want to go on just as before, without giving it a trial.
But, I've decided on this, and I'm going to do my very most toward seeing that it does get a fair trial, and that it gets the same attention and respect and adherence as any other basic principle of this organization
Which is exactly what it is - a basic principle! Hire pleasant, cheerful people, people of good disposition, and reject everyone who isn't.
It isn't enough to be courteous to 74 patrons and pert with the 75th. It won't do to be cheerful 58 minutes of the hour and disgruntled the other two. It isn't sufficient for 10 employees to give service and the 11th to go slack on his job.
In another hotel another clerk may have sold the guest just as comfortable a room, another bellman may have handled his bag just as deftly, another waiter may have served him piping hot dinner just as promptly, but the thing that made an impression on the guest was these latter employees seemed glad to do it, they seemed interested in him personally.
Gracious service means more than "perfect" service. The guest will wait an extra minute for his chops if the waiter brings him a newspaper and explains the delay pleasantly.
Every hotel employee is a salesman. He must satisfy customers with the only thing he has to sell
- service - and he must please them with the way he sells it.
I believe that a majority of the complaints in a hotel are due more to the guest's state of mind than to the importance of the thing about which he complains.
E.M. Statler
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