Having been in the hospitality industry for more than 12 years now, I have always believed in improvement through positive reinforcement. It always worked for me and my teams. However, in the last four years in Russia I have not seen much of it. We always talk about what is bad; how unprofessional we are or how low the service level is. We don’t tend to think about the law of attraction and the fact that negative attracts negative and becomes even more negative.
Having been in the hospitality industry for more than 12 years now, I have always believed in improvement through positive reinforcement. It always worked for me and my teams. However, in the last four years in Russia I have not seen much of it. We always talk about what is bad; how unprofessional we are or how low the service level is. We don’t tend to think about the law of attraction and the fact that negative attracts negative and becomes even more negative.
A major part of my professional life is dedicated to improving the service standards; educating students; sharing knowledge via seminars, forums and conferences, as well as constantly supporting hotels in their process of reaching the benchmarks of service quality. I am truly delighted to see something positive happening in the hospitality industry in Russia. For the first time we have the Russian Hospitality Awards.
Why do we need awards?
This is a similar question as to why do we need recognition? I believe professional, transparent and high-level recognition is the true motivation for the hotels to take step back and ask themselves a question: What can we do better? How can we be part of the industry’s best? It is an opportunity to understand what the best in the industry do and strive for improvement. As Albert Einstein had said, “Once you stop learning, you start dying” and I totally agree with him, since perfection is never to be achieved. This motivates us to learn, to be creative, to develop, to imagine and to make reality out of our dreams.
Hotel achievements are a vital part of performance management. Such recognition as the Russian Hospitality Awards is proof that the effort of all employees is appreciated. Employees are encouraged and reinforced to perform even better. I remember speaking to a GM of one of Moscow’s hotels and told him “You have a beauty of a hotel” and he responded, “Now, we really need to work to keep up the beauty we got.” Everything you want to keep at the certain level needs attention, and the best in providing that attention; need to be recognized for what they are doing.
The hospitality awards in Russia will help:
• Encourage hoteliers to strive for the best
• Raise the quality standards
• Appreciate employees for their contributions
• Reinforce positive behavior in the industry
• Improve commitment to quality
• Recognize the best in the field
So, honestly I am looking forward to this beautiful event. Let’s recognize the best and motivate all the rest to strive for the best. Let’s be proud of our Russian hospitality and let’s prove we can be competitive in terms of world hospitality.