HRD

Inward branding

While branding is usually associated with targeting the right clientele and building the hotel's image, it is also vital that its staff also understand the vision behind the branding. Sanjeev Bhar analyses the importance of educating the hotel staff about its core brand philosophy.

The business of hospitality sustains on its human resource. While they are known for the products they offer, their reputation is also based on the quality of service they provide. This means that the hotel's vision must be aligned to and in synchrony with that of the staff.

Educating the hotel staff about its core brand philosophy takes centre-stage here because it is continuously reflected through its people. Arun K Agrawal, a hospitality HR consultant, feels that employees today don't work under very good conditions. "What we need to do is lend ear to their cause. This way, we can get the desired results. The entire process of inculcating the hotel's brand philosophy in its staff should be done more as a human activity and not as a professional requirement."

This entails two aspects - making them understand what needs to be achieved and features that distinguish it from others, which is done through training programmes, etc, and understanding the employee's mindset and their aspirations, personally and professionally. S Muralimohan Rao, training manager of Hotel Le Meridien Bangalore, is of the opinion that identifying guests is a crucial step towards understanding a brand. "Once employees understand the hotel as a 'brand' for its 'customers', half the job is done. Then comes the process of helping them identify ways to achieve this.

The brand philosophy is built over a period of time. It is vital to educate staff about who the target customer is and the parameters for service quality. Rao avers, "Apart from training, there are certain technicalities that are left to make the staff understand things better and in a far more apparent manner." For instance, Le Meridien that was bought over by Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide last year, primarily has international clientele. Branding for the same has already been achieved over a period of time but the process carries on. Some key points that find a mention here include:

• Value addition
• Tolerance and consistency
• Open approach to staff queries

Employees are key assets

The aim of going through this process is to offer a consistent standard of products and services, says Agrawal. "That determines how the brand maintain its identity and today hotels are doing just that," he adds.

However, Rao feels that employee aspirations need to match the realities existing in an organisation, or run the risk of losing the basic context of having a philosophy that guides an organisation. "The behavioral front is the softer side of the brand philosophy and sometimes the greater urge of reaching targets sidelines this part of employee that plays the most important role of achieving the brand philosophy of a hotel. In order to ascertain that, the basic brand structure must be understood by all. We work on an eight-module training course which is observed with general managers, heads of departments, executives and entry level staff," says Rao.

He further explains, "Our focus is towards low effort-high impact and high effort-low impact. Both are equally necessary for an employee to understand because real life situations are such that either method can prove beneficial." Thus the call for creating a strong brand is about looking inwards to develop a strong team.