The Modern Hotelier #208: How Hotel Polaris Creates a Great Guest Experience | with Nick Nations
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Nick Nations: That's really where we dialed in was do you actually care and do you believe in your interactions on a daily basis, I can teach you how to operate. I can teach you how to check somebody in. What I can't teach you is genuine personality and compassion.
David: We are here at the Hotel Polaris with Nick Nation's Director of Rooms. Welcome Nick. Thank you. Appreciate y'all having me. So Nick, guest communication is at the heart of great hospitality. How are you approaching that at Hotel Pilar? 
Nick Nations: So I completely agree with you. I mean, communication is absolutely essential to facilitating a fantastic guest experience.
You can use that both on the tech side. So we actually use a product called Alice, where it is kind of a, a multi-system wrapped up all in one. But one of the features that I really love about it is the guest communication texting platform. Through that, we're able to automate some messages, like a welcome message for when you first check into your room.
We're able to automate a departure message, but more importantly, we actually can do some two-way communication for it. So yes, you're texting, you might think that you're talking to a robot, but you're actually talking to a real live person on the other end of that. So if it's something as simple as, Hey, I need an extra toothbrush, you've got four different sets of eyes that immediately see that request and can put that request in to make sure it meets the guest timeline and needs.
If it's something as simple as, Hey, I need some more towels. We can facilitate that directly through easy communication. The guest doesn't have to pick up a phone. They're not waiting for the next operator. They're getting that instant gratification of knowing that somebody has immediately looked at this message and my needs are about to be met.
David: And I think one thing I'll just add staying here is that even the nice touch when they, you have your do not disturb on and they ask you, Hey, are you sure, you know we can actually help you? That's great.
Nick Nations: So, that's a feature that we were able to set up with it where our housekeeping team will put in the request that there's a do not disturb on the door, and within five minutes the guest is gonna get a text message that says, Hey, we noticed your do not disturb on the door.
We'd love to make sure your room is fresh and tidy for your return. Is there a better time that we can return or would you actually like us to stay outta your room all day? Right. Exactly. 
Steve: That's great. So since we've walked in, the service here has been incredible. What service standards are you putting in place to make sure the service matches your identity as a hotel?
Nick Nations: Absolutely. So one of the things that really intrigued me about this project and the management company that's operating Hotel Polaris is that, you know, every hotel has standard operating procedures. One of the things that really stood out to me during the interview process was they actually really focused instead on standards of care.
So we wanted to make sure that there was a heart first mentality, that it wasn't so much process driven to ensure the guest has a good experience, but genuine interest in ensuring the guest has a fantastic experience. So I was fortunate enough to be able to hire the entire front desk team to use that as an example.
Um, it was a pre-opening, so we had a hiring hall and really what I was looking for in that interview process, I didn't care if you had hotel experience. Because you might be bringing a habit from a different property that maybe that wasn't something that we were gonna follow. What instead I was looking for was your personality.
I wanted to know, could you think critically? Could you be presented with a problem and not just say, ah, I've never been taught this, or, that's not in the manual. Okay, if it's not in the manual, what would you think you should do in this scenario? What would you, if you were on the receiving end of this, what would you want to happen in this scenario?
So that's really where we dialed in, was do you actually care and do you believe in your interactions on a daily basis? I can teach you how to operate. I can teach you how to check somebody in. Right. What I can't teach you is genuine personality and compassion. So that's what we looked for instead. That's incredible. 
David: Well done. And so how do you see technology enhancing the guest experience, but without losing that personal touch? 
Nick Nations: Yeah, I mean, it's gonna go hand in hand. I mean, technology is never gonna stop adapting. So we have to learn how to adapt with it, but. One of the things that makes the hospitality industry so great is that personalized service.
So let's say Alice, again, if they send us that message, they could think that they're talking to a robot, but they need to also understand that they are in fact talking to a real live person who's in the building and knows how to address their needs or concerns. So. We do have some functions where if they call in and it's, you know, call routing system, we can make sure we get 'em to the right inbox without ever actually talking to a person.
But at the end of the day, you still wanna make sure that you have that genuine, personalized human interaction because they're the ones that are actually gonna understand the needs and they're the ones that are gonna really understand the scenario that you might be in or the service that you're looking for, and be able to deliver on that service promise That makes sense.
Steve: Well done. So as a director of rooms, what are some of the biggest opportunities you see to create a memorable experience here? Or do you have a cool story of something that you or your team have done? 
Nick Nations: You know, I think some of our biggest opportunities just come from one, having that first genuine conversation, but harnessing on that and fact finding.
So we had a guest who sent us a easy message that, Hey, my daughter wants to come down. It's her 12th birthday. She really loves your pool. We wanna hang out at the pool. What we didn't know that her dad was a local radio host. We had no idea, but we saw the opportunity of 12th birthday wants to hang out at our pool so we could have made her a cabana reservation and called it a day.
We didn't do that. We instead had our pastry team make. A custom birthday cupcake kit. We put the cabana reservation in, but we put a red velvet rope in front of it with her name on it so that when she walked out to that cabana, it wasn't just, Hey, this one's held for you. Go to number four. This was her cabana and it was her day, and she could spend the entire day at the pool while they're hanging out at the pool.
We had our bartenders actually make a mocktail in one of our custom water bottles, so when they got up there, it had the mocktail recipe. You know, she's 12. She obviously can't celebrate with anything but that. But having that acknowledgement that, Hey, we made this specifically for you. This is your mocktail.
This is your day. You're not just coming here to hang out at the hotel. We wanna make sure you are having the best 12th birthday you possibly can be. And that's something she'll never forget. Yeah. And then we found out her dad was the radio host. Right, right. So you got some good pr I it as well. You got a good marketing out of it there.
David: It was a good transaction in the end. That's a good story. So how are you leveraging feedback from the guest and from staff to improve service? 
Nick Nations: I think that's one of the most important things that you can do. I mean, it's, it's wonderful to create a fantastic guest experience. You're also gonna have some opportunities that you really need to capitalize on and maybe recover from.
I mean, we're in an industry of humans. Humans make mistakes. But I think the important thing is how do we recover from those? So one of the things that I do with my team is every morning we have our whole hotel stand up, but then afterwards I hold back the operational departments and we actually go through all of the arrivals by name with details every day.
So we look at yesterday's communication. We have a teams chat that we use where we call it our guest relations chat. Let's say the guest tells us a little bit of information at check-in, that it's their anniversary, one that gives the front desk the opportunity to capitalize on that, but they're also immediately gonna put it in that hotel wide group chat so that the restaurants can look at their books for the night.
Maybe that couple has a reservation, now they know they've got an anniversary. And how much more impactful is it when you walk up to the host stand? You haven't told anybody else in the entire property, but they immediately greet you with. Welcome in. Happy anniversary. We've picked out a fantastic table for you, right over here by the window.
It's just those little touches that you're able to do, but each morning we go through all those notes so that we can, one, communicate that information, but also it gives us an opportunity to say, Hey, what did we do great yesterday? What did we maybe need to pick up a little bit on? Is there anybody that might need some extra attention today to really make sure we're delivering on that experience and those standards of care that we have. 
David: Well, thank you so much for sitting down with us. We really appreciate it. Thank you. Thanks, Nick. 
Nick Nations: Appreciate it, gentlemen.
Steve:  Thank you, Nick.