The Modern Hotelier #98: Better Battery Solutions for Hospitality | with Michelle Potorski
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Steve Carran: Welcome back to another episode of The Modern Hotelier. We're excited to release this episode with Michelle Petorski from Duracell. David, what were some of your favorite takeaways from this episode?
David Millili: it really surprised me because being an XGM, I would have thought I would have known or thought more about batteries in a hotel and what, you know, Procell, which is part of Duracell is doing is just, uh, is really cool. It just kind of, kind of reinvigorated a part of my brain that I hadn't been thinking about in many, many years.
Steve Carran: Totally. I loved it and I guess I thought about how many things in the hotel run on batteries and if they go out, how that really impacts the guest experience. And for her to talk about the new system that they're coming out with that, you know, helps you see the battery life and be more efficient with the staff's time, I thought it was awesome.
So, enjoy the show.
David Millili: Enjoy.

David Millili: Welcome to The Modern Hotelier, the most engaged podcast in hospitality. I'm your host, David Millili.
Steve Carran: I'm your co host, Steve Carran.
Jon Bumhoffer: And I'm the producer, Jon Bumhoffer.
David Millili: Steve, who do we have on the program today?
Steve Carran: Yeah, David, I'm excited for today. We have on Michelle Potorski. Michelle is the VP and general manager of Duracell Professional. Michelle has a long track record of success and growing long term growth with some of the largest consumer brands. Welcome to the show, Michelle.
Michelle Potorski: Thank you, Steve. I'm happy to be here.
David Millili: Okay, Michelle. So we're going to go through, we're going to go through a lightning round. We're going to get to know a little bit more about your background, your career, and then we're going to jump into some industry topics. Sound good?
Michelle Potorski: Sounds good.
David Millili: All right. What was your first job? That's
Michelle Potorski: My first job was actually with Duracell. I was merchandising for Duracell right out of college, and that meant running around Home Depots and stores like that, merchandising our Duracell Coppertop batteries and making sure the displays were up and, uh, it was a lot of fun.
David Millili: great. What's something you wish you were better at?
Michelle Potorski: I wish I was better at writing more quickly, being able to write papers and, and, uh, and, and, you know, things for work, but being able to do it faster.
David Millili: Yeah. Is there a luxury you can't live without?
Michelle Potorski: I could not live without my coffee.
David Millili: Got it. All right. Superpower you wish you had.
Michelle Potorski: I wish I could read people's minds.
David Millili: a good one. So where's a place you've never been but you'd most like to go to?
Michelle Potorski: Oh, that's a good one. I would love to go to Australia.
David Millili: Okay, great. All right. You've got your own late night talk show host. Who's your first guest gonna be?
Michelle Potorski: Oh, my first guess would be, oh, that's a really good one. I think my first guess would be Oprah.
David Millili: That's a good one. All right. Here's the last one. So you've got a time machine. You can go into the future or into the past. Which way are you going and what year are you going to go to?
Michelle Potorski: Oh, I think I would go into the past to 1996.
David Millili: Wow.
Steve Carran: Great year. Great year. I always say that's the best year ever. So, great great year. There's many reasons I vote for 1996 being one of the best years ever. So I might be there with you, but that was great, Michelle. Thank you for, uh, for going through those. Now we're going to learn a little bit more about you, where you grew up, what makes you tick.
So, so you grew up, is it Hopkinton, Massachusetts? Is that correct?
Michelle Potorski: I did, I did. I grew up in, in the Hockington Framingham area, right west of Boston. 
Steve Carran: Love that. How did that shape you into who you are besides being a Patriots fan?
Michelle Potorski: very good question. I think growing up in Boston or near Boston, it, it helped me, um, learn some, I would say some, some really great skills about, uh, I would call like street smarts, being able to navigate the city, being able to, um, you know, to really, you know, become who I wanted to be, but in a, in a very fast paced and exciting environment.
David Millili: So you got your bachelor's from Providence and then your master's from Boston College. give us a little insight as to why those schools and why those majors.
Michelle Potorski: Absolutely. So Providence college was absolutely an excellent experience. It was, uh, again, I'd grown up in Boston. It, you're near Boston. It was far enough from home, but close enough that I could go when I go back when I needed to, but it had a great business program. So I was a business administration major.
And I really loved the program. I also loved the culture. It was a very inclusive culture on that campus and it was just an absolutely gorgeous campus. So it was a terrific experience that is still very meaningful in my life today.
Steve Carran: That's awesome. So you studied abroad in Florence, Italy. And how did studying abroad change it? Did it change your perspective on anything from living in the United States?
Michelle Potorski: Absolutely. It really gave me great perspective on just, first of all, the richness of other cultures and how, uh, as Americans, sometimes we can just be very focused on being American and not necessarily open our eyes to and be very, you know, And not only open our eyes, but be very accepting of other ways of life and, and other cultures.
So it was very eyeopening from that standpoint. And again, terrific from a survival skills standpoint. I studied in Italy, I learned the language to the best of my ability and traveled quite broadly across Europe. So every experience was a different one. You had to, you know, come up to speed very quickly and learn how to navigate, but it was a really life changing experience for me.
Steve Carran: That's where those street smarts came in. Right there.
Michelle Potorski: Jacque. That's great. So it's great to learn a little bit more about you. Now we're going to understand how you got to where you are. So like you said, you started your career actually at Duracell. then Duracell got bought by Gillette and you moved to the product manager side over there.
Steve Carran: What made you choose Duracell after graduation? And what did you really learn from those early years that helped you in your current role?
Michelle Potorski: Great question, Steve. So I did start with Duracell right out of school. They had a great management development program, which is something that I was very much looking for, you know, an opportunity to apply what I had learned in school, but do it in a way that I could see very intentional career progression.
And I also love the brand, you know, from one time I was little, I remember the Coppapop brand and, um, you know, some of its iconic advertising. so that was very exciting. And then once I started with Duracell, again, I realized that from a cultural perspective, it was very, progressive, very inclusive.
It, they really were intentional about developing, um, you know, their people. And it was later bought by Gillette. And I think you retained a lot of that and actually were able to infuse some of the, you know, expertise from, uh, from Gillette as well.
Steve Carran: can you elaborate a little bit more how Duracell and Procell work together and how they How they fit together.
Michelle Potorski: Absolutely. Most people know Duracell as I did when I started from the copper top batteries. That's been, you know, it's been around for about a hundred years and, uh, most consumers interact with Duracell copper top. we've had, another side of the business that, um, is called our professional side.
And I think over the years it was, you know, we. We dabbled in it. I would say we did a few different things. It was very disparate. We had disparate brands. And in 2019, we decided to really, we were now part of Berkshire Hathaway. And we saw the B2B side of the business as something that was very exciting and that we really had a right to win in.
So we consolidated the brands, brought them under the ownership of Berkshire Hathaway. ProCell name. And we do something very different from our competition on the professional side with ProCell. We actually design our batteries to meet the needs of professional devices. So that's very different than how our consumer counterparts design the copper and black batteries meet consumer devices, to meet the needs of consumer devices.
We actually look at the aggregate and the device, the energy needs of the professional devices, and we design very intentionally for those devices. Right now we have a, uh, actually a dual portfolio called Procell Intense for the, uh, more high, higher drain devices and Procell Constant for lower drain devices.
So it really meets the needs of the device.
Steve Carran: Very cool. 
David Millili: So before you're with Doris L, you left with the Proctor Gamble and then CVS Health, uh, Tell us a little bit in some ways that you'd help those companies grow. And what was the, what were those experiences like before you came back to Dorso? 
Michelle Potorski: Sure. So, my first move out of the Duracell business was on Gillette. I led their male blade razor business on the, um, brand side for North America for a number of years. At that time, we were, we were launching, uh, Fusion and Fusion ProGlide and some of the, line extensions of Gillette and the upgrades of Gillette.
And that was really from their business model. It was always about upgrading, giving people, um, men a better shave and, you know, providing value to the consumer. So during that time, I, you know, I, I led a few of those launches and we also delved pretty deeply into sports marketing and really understood our customer and how to relate to them, how to build our equity with them.
hence my love of, of sports. Uh, I was able to apply some of that and, and, uh, lead their NASCAR program. Do we had an NHL sponsorship, sponsorship as well as Major League Baseball. So again, it was really delving into the passion points of our consumer and helping to build that business.
Steve Carran: That's awesome. That's very cool. So, uh, in 2017, you boomeranged, came back to Duracell and worked your way up to VP and General Manager. what made you come back? And since you've been back, do you have a proudest accomplishment that, that really sticks out to you?
Michelle Potorski: Yes, absolutely. So the reason I came back was, uh, first of all, again, I'd always loved the brand and it had a very special place in my heart. That's where I spent the first 10 years of my career. And, um, it was also going through some transition. I had stayed, um, close to some of the leaders at Duracell And, um, I knew that they were, they had just been acquired by Berkshire Hathaway. They moved over from Procter Gamble the reason, you know, Berkshire, um, bought Darcel is because they were very excited about the equity and also very excited about the innovation. So to me, those were two things and they were willing to invest in that to really, again, create the best possible products and value to our customers and to consumers.
So to me, that was a very exciting place to be. I loved the way that they had structured. I loved the organization and again, of course, I loved the brand and the innovation behind it. So, um, I came back in 2017. I led a commercial segment, um, for a few years on the, on the Duracell side. And then I moved over to North America Marketing, which I led for three years, and then moved over to the B2B side.
And it's very hard for me to pick just one, uh, one thing that I'm particularly proud of, but I would say on the, When I was leading marketing on the consumer side, we led the launch of Duracell Powerboost, Duracell with Powerboost ingredients, which was a major innovation on the consumer side. So I think that's one of my proudest accomplishments.
And I would say, moving over to the professional side of the business, I actually believe that the launch of Insight, ProCell Insight, is one of my proudest moments, even though we're very early on. We'll talk a little bit more about that later.

Steve Carran: All right, Michelle. So this is where we get into more of the industry thoughts, how you're helping the hospitality industry.
And one thing that we have talked about so much on this show is staffing shortages and with that, how hotels need to be more efficient on the operational side. What are some common challenges that hotels are facing with device management and how do these issues. Impact operations and, and the guest satisfaction side of things.
Michelle Potorski: Yeah, so in hospitality, operational efficiency and guest experience are really critical. Yet, most hotels actually rely on devices that are battery powered. you know, the devices across hotels that are battery powered, Everything from the door lock to the safe in the room to touchless bathroom in common areas.
So it is, uh, it's, it's really prevalent. And if that battery fails, it's actually a very negative experience for customers. I mean, if you can imagine, if this has ever happened to you, you go, you're exhausted after traveling on business. You go to your room, you swipe the key, And it doesn't, nothing happens.
It doesn't light up. So if that door lock is dead, it's just in, it's going to take time to get somebody to come in and change out the battery. You have to go back and forth to the front desk. It can be really frustrating and it can be really a pain point. So it's very inconvenient. And then from an operational standpoint, it, leads to, maintenance that is unforeseen and often because it is, uh, they didn't plan for it, it is less efficient than it could be and disruptive to normal workflow.
David Millili: Could you dive a little bit deeper into some, uh, Additional maybe pain points for the hotel staff and then give us some more of the real world con, real world consequences of, of poor device management.
Michelle Potorski: Absolutely. So the very clear when you consider that impact to guests. and also to hotel operations. For guests, for instance, you know, a malfunctioning device can be very painful. Again, there's a if you have a door lock example where it doesn't work when you want to get into your room, you could be in a situation where you want to get your valuables out of the hotel safe.
And if it doesn't work at that moment, you know, you may need your computer for a meeting that's about to start.
That experience is, um, disruptive enough to the guest. We know that they will, they will complain. We know that hotels, uh, hotel guests, about 48 percent of them will be willing to write a negative review if they've had a bad experience at that hotel. So, if they write that bad, if they, if they write up that review, and that review, you know, is, is, is seen by many people, We know that single review can cost a hotel up to 30 bookings.
So it's really negative from both, you know, the reputation of the hotel as well as the, you know, the bottom line. so from a, you know, from a guest and, and, uh, guest experience standpoint, it can be very disruptive. And these types of experience can also be very negative on the operational side. So the lack of having a proactive monitoring, um, system or a way to predict when the batteries are going to run out can cause, uh, one of two things.
It can cause them either to hold off on the maintenance or the battery changing until it's needed. Which could create that negative experience, or it could cause them to change batteries on a schedule, or before it's necessary, which can lead to a lot of waste and wasted resources. So, for instance, a 500 room hotel, on average, could spend up to 100 a day on battery related costs.
So that's pretty significant. And again, if they, and it's either in lost, you know, in, in inefficient, you know, managing reactively or in lost resources. So without the proper monitoring, the hotel staff is really left to react to problems as, you know, when they, um, in a way that isn't optimal for their workflow.
So it really undermines what they can achieve from an operational efficiency standpoint. Yes. 
Steve Carran: traveling for work battery's dead. Like I never thought about that, but.
Michelle Potorski: Ironically, some of these things have happened to me or happened to some of my colleagues, even being in the battery business, which is, uh, yeah, it really can be a painful experience.
Steve Carran: Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. So you mentioned ProSell Insight earlier. Can you explain what that is and kind of those solutions, those offerings that you're providing to help solve these issues?
Michelle Potorski: Absolutely. So Paracel Insight is designed specifically to address the challenges that hotels face. It offers a comprehensive, real time monitoring system that, monitors, in a very integrated way, monitors all battery operated devices. And it provides great insights into the life of both the batteries and also other consumables.
Things like paper towels and paper towel dispensers and soap and soap dispensers. And it allows staff to proactively manage their workflow, proactively manage and prevent these issues before it becomes a guest experience issue. So we're really proud of this innovation and also what sets it apart is that it's, um, it's a simple retrofit.
So we can retrofit into existing devices in a way that makes even older devices, smart devices. So, this takes away the need for costly replacements of, um, you know, many of the devices and it works across many types of devices from many brands and it is a flexible and scalable solution that can really be tailored to the specific hotel's needs.
So think about it. If, um, for instance, a, operational manager at the hotel sees that, you know, on a certain floor, a number of the batteries are running low, he can plan, he or she can, they can plan for that maintenance on a time that is lower traffic time with minimal disruption to the guests. So it really transforms the approach and provides a much more seamless, much more guest friendly way that works, you know, again, universally, and really helps to enhance their efficiency and again, protect that guest experience. 
David Millili: That's great. And so we covered a couple, you know, we covered the safe. We, um, we, we covered, uh, door lock, so. Are there any other examples that maybe people wouldn't normally think about that real time mice monitoring leads to improve service quality? Is there something that we just, we don't really, we would never think of that, you know, we should?
Michelle Potorski: I think the other, area that has been most impactful is in the, like in the restroom in a touchless bathroom, think about how many times you get to wash your hands and there's no soap. And that could be because there's no soap, which again, Insight helps to monitor, but it also could be because the battery had died.
so that was what ProCell Insight is, you know, it looks at the, the paper towel dispenser, the soap and, um, other items in a touchless bathroom and really makes that experience, uh, you know, more seamless because it just protects against those outages.
Steve Carran: So it almost seems like You know, as I knew Duracell and ProCell as battery manufacturers, right? But it almost seems like you're transitioning from the battery manufacturing almost to a SaaS provider, with ProCell Insight. So, you know, what innovations are you seeing?
doing to keep you ahead of the competition in the SaaS space as David and I know coming from that space. It's a pretty crowded space. So how are you really standing out from your competitors and other folks that might be doing something similar?
Michelle Potorski: So, the transition from being a traditional battery manufacturer to a SaaS provider really does mark a significant evolution for ProCell and for the Duracell company. But it started with our investment in, reliable power solutions and it's You know, which stemmed from the battery, but we've realized quickly that our customers had greater needs.
There was more that we could help them solve for, and we started to think about it as an intelligent energy management tool. And that really brought us to ProCell Insight, and it brought us into the SaaS space. But it allowed us to leverage, if you think about what we know and what we've done well for, many, many, many years in Duracell, we understand devices.
We understand how devices manage energy, and we took the depth of that understanding and then we're able to create a platform that offered this real time monitoring and predictive analytics and operational insight. So it took it to another level and it was one that is, again, very meaningful for our customers. I would also just say that we incorporated, the benefits of those, those analytics as we were thinking and, and understanding, you know, how the devices, how they work, how they consumed energy, and how we were able to really Read them quite accurately and be able to feed that back in a seamless, you know, integrated system that goes back to a, you know, a very user friendly platform and user friendly, interface for the manager, which can, you know, can give them insights into a single hotel or even multiple hotels.
If there's a, you know, if there's a change. So we do have that very simple dashboard that can glean those insights and really translate those into, insights that they can use to leverage and smooth out their overall operations.
David Millili: And so looking ahead, what trends do you see in the industry? And also, how is Procell positioned to continue to drive innovation in the space?
Michelle Potorski: So, I believe that the future of hospitality is all about connectivity, personalization, and sustainability. So, guests are increasingly expecting a seamless, connected, even sometimes tailored experience, but they are expecting it to be seamless, and they're expecting it to be effortless. So, this means that hotels need to adopt integrated solutions that really help deliver against those expectations.
So, at ProCell, we're really focused on staying ahead of these trends. We're trying to stay one step ahead and understand, how we can help to deliver against these needs and these expectations. We're continually looking at ways to, enhance the data and internalize and translate that data into insights.
We're looking at IOT, we're looking at other technologies to create smarter, more sustainable solutions for hotels and the hospitality industry overall. So our, really our goal is to continue to drive innovation that not only improves operational efficiency and enhances the overall guest experience, but is both seamless and sustainable.
Steve Carran: So I love this. You're talking about the connectivity being seamless. Are you all integrating with other technologies in the hotel system so these systems are talking to each other?
Michelle Potorski: So we have the ability to, absolutely, we can integrate into any program management system, any PMS or EPS system. We can also, if we have a stand alone dashboard, so if someone just wanted to look at the ProCell Insight dashboard and use that as a stand alone, it's very user friendly and very seamless, but we can integrate into any hotel system as well.
Steve Carran: That is so awesome. I come from the PMS space and one of the things that the maintenance team always did was schedule out their maintenance and that would be replacing smoke detector batteries, things like that, right? So now they can see exactly the battery life that is, you know, where it is and determine, like you said, when is the best time to change that.
so 
Michelle Potorski: Exactly, exactly. Whatever view of that they need to, they can pull very, you know, very quickly, very efficiently.
David Millili: And so, I'm a big Duracell fan. That's what we use here at home. Has Doris L done any study why your home smoke detector battery fails between 1 and 4 a. m. in the morning routinely? It never dies at like 2 o'clock or 3 o'clock in the afternoon. It always starts to chirp like at 1 or 2 o'clock in the morning.
So, any, anything there that Doris L 
is working on? 
Michelle Potorski: cannot help with that, unfortunately. But, in the hotel space, that's one of the things we can't avoid. Because I'm telling you, the stories we've heard of people, again, having the worst possible time for them to not be able to get into their hotel room, or their safe, the stories are pretty, uh, are pretty awful sometimes.
And it is Murphy's Law. It's always at the worst possible time. So
Steve Carran: Do you have a story that you've heard where you're just like, oh wow, that, that literally was the worst time.
Michelle Potorski: I heard one story about a bride trying to get into their door and the bride was running a little bit late and, uh, it, it absolutely, it actually compromised the timing of the wedding. And that was a very difficult moment for a bride. I, myself, I actually had a situation where, uh, it was about midnight.
I ran down and get some water, came back. door lock did not work and I knew it wasn't you know I went back if the light doesn't even light up at all it means the battery is dead thankfully it did take about an hour ultimately for me to get in between having going back and forth and waiting for maintenance and having them you know shock it and then um change out the battery so I had to present to our Global team the next morning. It was a very important presentation. So I was very 
thankful. I went down and got that water that night versus doing it first thing in the morning, after the gym when I have to get ready. So, 
it's a, it does happen. And, uh, and and, ProCell Insite can help. 
Steve Carran: That's great. Oh, this has been great. So Michelle, we have been asking you the questions this whole time. So this is where we turn the tables and we let you ask David and I one question.
Michelle Potorski: okay, great. So I would ask who is your most, exciting guest on the show, Ben?
Steve Carran: one of my favorites was recently, we actually, we haven't, released it yet, but it is a, a glamping show we had. It's called Paws Up, and it's just a high end glamping location. And it was really, I, I love that show. I love the outdoors. I love glamping. So to hear how they incorporated the luxury side with the, uh, with the glamping side and then I'm a huge guest experience guy.
So to hear all the experiences that they had on their property was, was one of the, one of my favorite episodes. 
David Millili: for me, you know, maybe because, you know, my good friend was there, but, Judy Chen from Dream Live, uh, from Resort World Hotels in Las Vegas, was just a lot of fun. It was really the first time we did a And by live, I mean more in person type interview. and then she was, she was just hilarious.
And my good friend, Anthony Mercuri, was there. So we had this whole vibe going and it was just, uh, it was like a mini party. It was like the first time we really just had like a complete blast. And obviously we were in Vegas. So, you know,
it was one of those type deals, but that, that, that was probably my, most unique and interesting one that we
Michelle Potorski: Alright, well I'll have to check both of those out. I, the glamping idea is the only way I would camp, my husband can tell you, so I definitely will check that one out.
Steve Carran: Absolutely, absolutely. You'll have to. so this last section that we're going to do, our producer, Jon, he's been listening the whole time. We're going to hand it over to him for the final question, and then we're going to get you out of here, Michelle.
Great 
Michelle Potorski: All right, great.
Jon Bumhoffer: Alright, so when you talk batteries, I guess for me, I don't necessarily think like hospitality or hotels or like what's the impact, but you really painted the picture and really provided some solutions and like how these impact everything in this space. My question for you is like, what is like your favorite thing about working in the hospitality space or getting to work with people on these solutions?
Michelle Potorski: Great question. So my favorite thing in the hospitality space and working with this industry is just the The really intense focus on guest experience, like I'm also a big believer of of customer experience and I travel quite a bit myself. So I think that there's such an intentionality around designing for an optimal experience.
and there's so many amazing things that they can do from the architecture of the building to the design of the rooms, to the way you're greeted when you check in. There's so many layers to that. And for us to be able to play a role like you wouldn't wanna go, you know, as they go through all that effort to, to just flawlessly design these experiences.
For it to then be undermined by something so simple as the battery life, you know, or the battery dying before it needs to, I feel like we can help protect that guest experience and then help them deliver it in a more efficient way so they can spend even more time interfacing with those guests and really enhancing that overall experience.
David Millili: So that does it for another episode of The Modern Hotelier. So, Michelle, this is where you can tell people how can they go find out more about Procell, Doracell, get in touch with you so you can plug away.
Michelle Potorski: Absolutely. So look us up at ProSell. com. under that you can click on the ProSell Insight tab. Again, it's an integrated device management system that is really going to be transformative from driving operational efficiency and guest experience in a way that is seamless and sustainable. So look us up at ProSell. com.
David Millili: All right. Well, that does it for another episode of The Modern Hotelier, the most engaged podcast in hospitality. Whether you're watching or listening, we appreciate you and we'll see you next time. Thanks, Michelle.
Michelle Potorski: Thank you so much.
Steve Carran: Thank you, Michelle.