I am in the business of hospitality. When I got my first hotel job I had been a hairdresser for 7 years. It was something that I was very good at, not only because I could cut hair well but also because I am the type of person to whom people felt comfortable telling their stories. This seemed to be two of the major talents needed to be successful, but for me it was hard. I was young and I did not always want to be the receiver of someone’s story.

I decided that it might be best for me to change careers and landed as a switchboard operator, in a Vancouver hotel. The switchboard was old; a cord board in fact, like you have seen in those old black and white movies. When the telephone rings you plug one cord into the incoming line slot and the other cord into the extension the person is requesting. You have to pay attention to when the line is no longer active to disconnect the calls. This could very quickly become confusing and frustrating and I was glad when they finally upgraded to a more modern system. It has, however, been a great story over the years.

When I arrived at my first hotel job in San Francisco people would say that I did not smile enough. This as it turns out is a result of being Canadian, although friendly we do not tend to be as externally happy as needed in California. In fact when I first started to practice a bigger brighter smile it felt false and insincere. That was 25 years ago and although I feel very much a Canadian I have developed a great California smile.

So how important is all of this anyway? I have had many opinions over the years. Sometimes when I am confronted with an angry guest I wonder what they must be thinking, “This hotel manager got up this morning and went out of her way to make my life/stay miserable and I am so angry I am going to talk to her in an angry condescending way to make her do something to make it better.”  This, of course, is completely counterintuitive to the word “hospitality”.

Everyone that walks through the door of the Stanford Terrace Inn is very important to the success of the hotel. We want to please everyone and make him or her feel welcome and important. We go out of our way to do what we can to make each stay a great experience.  Does that mean that some people will not like the hotel anyway? Most likely.

What happens when you drop a tiny pebble into a large body of water? It has a big effect. I try to think of this when I am speaking with others. I am important and what I say could have a big effect on them. Do I need to be loud, and rude or demean them to force them to bend my way? My power is in my empathy. I don’t always remember but I am constantly reminded that my importance is connected to my kindness and that is when I make the biggest impact.

How important are you?

Shanti,

Barbara