When hotel managers voted Heart of the House Best of Staffing Client Satisfaction for 2022, the reason was unanimous: guest satisfaction. Nationwide, surveyed property managers said they consistently received higher guest satisfaction scores when staffed with Heart of the House talent.
How does Heart of the House keep hotel managers and their guests happy?
“It’s all about training,” says Kenia Gonzales, Vice President of Operations for Heart of the House. “Every associate goes through specialized housekeeping or foodservice training depending on their career path. Even if they come to us with experience, we train them to our standards. Which are very high.”
Now Heart of the House is taking its commitment to training even further.
Going “Live”
The award-winning staffing company has launched new offices with “live environment” training spaces. These spaces are replicas of hotel guest rooms and banquets, allowing the company to provide on-the-job training right from their offices.
Housekeepers train in a guest room, complete with bed, furnishings, and color-coded cleaning products. Banquet servers practice setting tables and serving guests at a simulated dinner service.
“Live environment training takes things to the next level for our hotel clients,” Gonzalez says with excitement. “Our training will now be faster and more efficient while maintaining the quality we’re known for. We can train to a property’s specific requirements right at our office, so when our associates show up at the hotel, they are ready to go from day one. It ensures quality, and quality means happy guests.”
Providing Training Every Step of the Way
Training begins the second you step in the door. Mounted TVs in reception, and throughout the office space, play interactive training videos around the clock. Topics include workplace safety, uniform guides, and information about company benefits like health insurance and PTO.
“We take an holistic approach to training,” says Chris Taylor, CEO of Heart of the House. “When we train for safety, it’s about more than avoiding accidents. It’s also about financial safety and the value of benefits like our 401(k) plan with company match. Now, even when new associates are applying in our reception area, they can start learning about these benefits in a fun and engaging way.”
A Model for Success
Dressing for success is also a theme of the new offices. Throughout the space are mannequins donning housekeeping, banquet, and chef uniforms. Every detail is accounted for, right down to the non-slip-soled shoes their staff are required to wear for safety.
Nelkar Pereira, National Special Projects Manager for the company, who helped design the new offices, elaborated, “We want associates and clients throughout the country to have the same experience. Quality relies on consistency, and with 32 hotel markets counting on our support, consistency is essential. There’s the correct way to do everything, right down to how our servers wear their vests. They say, ‘don’t sweat the small stuff’ but that’s exactly what we do! In hospitality, all the little things add up to big results. Our new offices and training program reflect this.”
Heart of the House launched the new office design in Lexington and Louisville, Kentucky earlier this month, with openings in Boston, Charlotte, Dallas, Denver, and Nashville, coming soon. Buildouts for all 32 of their locations across the country are already underway.
Contact Heart of the House to learn more, or if you need immediate staff for your hotel or event, request talent today.
