This week I am experiencing the sharpest contrast in guest service that I have ever seen. In the hotels and restaurants here in Key West, there is a huge swing in quality of guest care and interaction.  Key West has a reputation for poor service standards and being full of transient workers who can be short of engaging.

Most operators work hard on running a good business, especially in today’s tough environment.  Our senses and sensitivities to issues are keen.  We are practically living in a reactive mode. We are constantly stressing the importance of managing costs, ensuring that our products are great and trying to find the marketing silver bullet to give our establishments an edge over our competitors.

Conflict! The word alone makes us grimace, withdraw, run for the hills….. Often we do all we can to avoid the word all together. Within a team environment where members count on each other for growth and results, that’s simply the wrong strategy. When we get to the core of the word and meaning of conflict we realize conflict only happens when we care about something enough to have an emotion, thought or opinion.

It seems every business that sells food and beverage has taken an approach of couponing and discounting to counteract the sales decline which the economic challanges have created. Not too long ago, heavy discounting and couponing were business strategies largely reserved for the pizza industy and independents desperately reaching for market share.

It seems to me that this economic mess we have been battling has sharpened the edges of a lot of folks.  Stress can do that to people. We see it in our industry faster than we used to. Guests are quicker to judge, less tolerate of mistakes and can be brutal with their anger shared amongst friends. Stressful times create quick triggers.

It struck a chord with me a couple of days ago when a trusted friend asked me if I made all of the decisions within our company.  I cannot imagine the pressure of having to carry that kind of freight.  Not only am I not smart enough to make all the calls, there is not enough time in the day to do it well. Most importantly, if there is only one shot caller, there is no way for other team members to grow. Much less the organization.

The world is moving so fast now that keeping up with consumer expectations is becoming a sprint versus a marathon. In the hospitality world we used to be taught that  taking care of the guests with great products and service was the ticket to staying ahead of the field. While I still believe those are core values and foundations for success, it seems the world is connecting at a rate that does not permit us to focus on our core competencies alone.

I have been spending time with a fairly sizeable client that has had successful operations for well over 20 years.  Over the last few years however, sales have declined, employees have gone from eagles to turkeys and food cost control has justified serving prison type food.