Beyond The Lobby – Edition 16

^{BIG IDEA FOR THE WEEK}
Excellence Is An Illusion

—
The moment you believe you’re excellent is the moment you stop becoming better.

In hospitality, excellence isn’t a destination. It’s a moving target. One that shifts with every new guest, every review, every change in expectation.

Yet many hotels operate under the assumption that “we’re already great.” The feedback’s been good. Occupancy is strong. The complaints are few. Why change?

This is how mediocrity hides in plain sight.

A GM once told me his team was doing “everything right” because guest complaints were down. When we dug deeper, we found guests had simply stopped complaining. They’d lowered their expectations.

A perfectly quiet guest is not always a happy one.

The hotels that stay relevant over decades don’t chase praise. They chase blind spots. They look at five-star reviews and still ask, “What did we miss?”

They don’t benchmark against competitors. They benchmark against their own last best effort.

This mindset mirrors what Jim Collins called the Stockdale Paradox: you must retain unwavering faith that you can always improve, while confronting the brutal facts of where you stand today.

That’s how the best hoteliers think.

They know every “seamless” service hides friction that hasn’t surfaced yet. Every smooth check-in could still be made smoother. Every team that looks fine might have tensions under the surface.

They solve small problems before they become big ones. And they question positive feedback just as rigorously as they do complaints.

The illusion of excellence is dangerous. It’s the belief that you’ve arrived. That there’s no more work to do.

But in hospitality, the work is never done. Because people change. Contexts change. And service is only as good as the next experience.

The most dependable hotels I’ve seen don’t obsess over being excellent.

They obsess over not getting complacent.

And that’s what makes them excellent.

^{OPERATIONAL INSIGHT}
Put An Alert Sticker On Every Floor

—
A GM once told me about a hallway painting that hung crooked for six months.

Dozens of staff walked past it daily. So did hundreds of guests. Everyone noticed. No one did anything.

The hotel wasn’t short on inspections. Managers walked the floors, checklists in hand. But small flaws always found a way to stay small – until a guest complained or left a review with the phrase “a bit run down.”

The problem wasn’t oversight. It was permission.

So the GM tried something simple.

He put alert stickies in a box on each floor. Told the housekeeping and maintenance teams: “If you see something off: scuffed walls, frayed carpet, bad lighting – put the alert sticky on it.. Don’t wait for someone else.”

At first, it felt strange. Like breaking a rule. Then it became a habit.

Now, staff don’t just clean rooms or fix things. They spot what most of us stop seeing – a crooked sign, an outdated menu or a chipped tile in the elevator.

They notice, mark, and move on.

And the engineering head gets a steady feed of issues worth fixing, before they become problems worth complaining about.

It’s about ownership.

When people feel responsible for the little things, they stop walking past them.

And when guests stop noticing imperfections, they start feeling like everything just works.

The lesson: Even though it can be done without one, if it takes a red pen to spot what’s been hiding in plain sight, hand one out.

People care more when they’re trusted to notice.

^{NOTEWORTHY NUMBER}
71%

— That’s how many hotel operators believe guests perceive guest-facing technology as empowering.

Source: Hospitality Technology’s 2024 Lodging Tech Study

This isn’t just about kiosks or apps. It’s about control.

Guests feel more confident when they can order, track, and manage things without waiting on someone else. Not because they don’t value service – but because they don’t want to feel helpless.

The irony? Many hotels still think digital tools “replace the human touch.”

Guest empowerment is quickly becoming the new norm in hospitality. And guest facing tech is the fastest way to empower guests.

^{WHAT I FOUND INTERESTING}
Budget Up Front, Luxury in the Back

—
There’s an unusual travel trend picking up steam: start cheap, end rich.

It’s called a “flexiscape.” People backpack through a city, eat street food, live light, and then check into a luxury property for the last two nights.

Why?

Because they want contrast. The rough makes the smooth feel smoother. The luxury feels earned, not expected.

It’s not about the entire stay being perfect. It’s about ending on a high note.

The Guardian covered this trend across Southeast Asia. Travellers are skipping full-blown luxury itineraries and stitching together low-cost exploration with high-end wind-downs at places like the Millennium Hilton Bangkok — spa, rooftop, river view and all. (Source)

^{SHOWER THOUGHT}
💡 You've never seen your own face before.. only in pictures and reflections..

^{SPONSORED BY HAVEN}
How I Contribute To The Hospitality Industry.

↓↓↓

If you don’t know about me –

I come from a strong tech background – built resilient software for banking, automotive and QSR sectors.

But I finally found true love in hospitality. It’s so full of life and it’s where caring for others is the breadwinner.

However, as a traveller, I have gone through a fair share of displeasures and what’s unfortunate is that even the worst experiences had sincere people putting in their best.

But with a lack of data and systems, the staff is usually just overwhelmed.

That’s why my team and I are building Haven. To help hoteliers and hospitality professionals get ahead of guest frustrations and avoid the most basic pitfalls that destroy guest experience.

Hotels that use Haven –

1. Catch service delays before guests complain.
2. Upsell without being pushy.
3. Fix guest issues before they check out.

If you are curious to learn how Haven can help, simply respond to this email and I’d be happy to tell you more over a call.