Change is Good: Culture Hacker Shane Green’s Advice on Adapting to the New World of Customer-Centred Service

It’s never been more exciting to be in the hotel industry, according to Shane Green. With the rapid advancement of social media and mobile technology and the rise of disruptors such as Airbnb, the hotel industry is being shaken up in unprecedented ways. In the midst of all this change, Shane has lots of advice about how to stay afloat and get ahead in the hotel business.

Shane Green is the former general manager of Hayman Island and host of the TV series Resort Rescue. Working as a consultant for struggling hoteliers, Shane has a lot to say about what people are doing wrong in the industry – and who’s doing it right. We spoke at length about the rapid changes occurring in the hotel industry, what’s doing well, and what people can do to improve their chances of success in an evolving industry. As the founder of SGE International, a business consulting and training company, Shane has given a lot of business talks, and he has plenty of wisdom to impart for aspiring hoteliers.

When it comes to industry game-changers, Shane points to the likes of Airbnb. Disrupting the hotel industry with a home-sharing model, Airbnb is strongly customer-focused. And what the customer wants today is an immersive travel experience, getting more of a feel for the local people, food, and culture. The rise of Airbnb, Shane says, is due in part to hotels taking the customer for granted, and failing to deliver what the customer wants. Disruptive models thrive when the existing model isn’t working, so the success of Airbnb is a lesson hoteliers can learn from. It’s incredibly important for hotels to deliver an experience to the guests, one that encapsulates the local flavour and culture.

Social media and mobile technology have changed the business game for a lot of industries, including hotels. This is an area in which Shane admits he lacked foresight, dismissing the likes of Trip Advisor ten years ago, before the proliferation of social media platforms. But now that the social media phenomenon has exploded into ubiquity, hoteliers need to get online. More than anything, it’s important for hotels to be active and responsive on social media, or else it appears to customers that you don’t care about what they have to say.

In the age of the internet and social media, some of the most important employees are the ones who will be answering the phones and emails, Shane says. The people who handle the online presence of your hotel can make or break your reputation. It’s essential to train them well, empower and enable them to be active online as a voice for the company.

Shane is a self-described “culture hacker,” and he believes that one of the cornerstones of a hotel’s success is the culture. And values, he says, are what create that culture. When getting into the hospitality business, you must figure out what your values are. In Shane’s case, values drive his decision-making. The next step is hiring employees that fit the culture – which can be more challenging than you might think.

All employees, Shane says, are important to ensuring business success, and employees that don’t fit the culture will likely hold the business back. Shane advises that when hiring, have a job candidate speak with as many people as possible when interviewing, sort of speed-dating style. If they’re still smiling at the end, you may have yourself a new hire.

But it’s not just about hiring the right employees. It’s also about keeping them happy and productive. While 20 per cent of employees will be superstars and perform no matter what, Shane says, five per cent won’t give a damn and do as little work as they can get away with. The rest will over- or underperform depending on whether the superstars are adequately recognized for their work or if the slackers are insufficiently held accountable for their behaviour. Shane believes that many employers spend too much time running after the poorest performing workers. He advises to give your best people all the time they need, and the worst “enough rope to hang themselves with” before letting them go.

Shane Green Slammed Hospitality

Though he’s turned a successful career in the hotel industry into a lucrative speaking one, Shane admits he’s made mistakes in his past. At Hayman Island, they were sometimes unprepared for the big crowds on the big holidays, and he discounted the role technology would eventually play in everyday life. But, he says, “without mistakes you can’t actually get innovative, creative; and quite honestly, it’s that creative innovation that’s going to keep our industry exciting.”

Big changes are happening in the hotel industry, and Shane couldn’t be more thrilled. He predicts that in the next ten years, a single platform may connect everything to the hotel, through an app downloadable on any mobile device. All a future guest may need is an app to have a great hotel experience. In the near future, he’ll keep giving talks, running SGEi, and start a podcast and possibly a TV show this year. But whatever the future holds, you can be sure that Shane will be ready for it.

Shane Green’s Key Takeaways

1. Focus on what makes you unique, and celebrate it – that’s what will bring customers to you.
2. Figure out your values and the culture of your business, and stay true to that culture.
3. Develop a customer experience strategy: deliver the best products, enliven the senses around the environment, allow your guests to have as much time as possible. And of course, make sure you have the right people to bring all these elements together.
4. Maintain an active presence on social media, and if you can, develop your own app, to keep a conversation going with customers.
5. When responding to comments on social media, keep it short, sweet, and polite. Having a second pair of eyes to check comments for grammar is also a good idea.
6. Transparency and honesty is also important when interacting with customers online and off.
7. The cleaning up and preservation of the environment remains an important but too often ignored issue – and hoteliers can do their part to reduce waste, source food and materials locally and organically, and support conservation and other environmental initiatives.
8. Hire folks who fit into your company culture. The speed-dating interview model may be worth a try.
9. When you take on new employees, give them an amazing first day, then teach them how to deliver a similarly amazing experience to guests.
10. Make sure to recognize and reward your best employees, and hold your worst performers accountable. This will help the employees in the middle be more productive.
11. Look at what the company Zappos does. Zappos is considered to have the best customer service and call centre out there today.
12. As Steve Cannon of Mercedes-Benz says, “customer experience is the new marketing.”
13. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes – view them as a chance to step back and try something new. But if you keep making the same mistake, it may be a sign to leave the business, and try something else.
14. If you travel to New York City, try the new app Killer Rezzy – an app he recommends by Shane Green that enables you to reserve a good table at any restaurant, guaranteed, for only $30. http://www.killerrezzy.com/killerrezzy/index.php
15. Luxury lodges have the customer-centred local atmosphere down. Look to lodges such as southern Ocean Lodge and Wolgan Valley Lodge for resorts doing it right.
16. Smart, savvy general managers become the centre of their communities.
17. A nugget of wisdom from Shane Green: “Your customer experience will tell you everything you need to know about what’s under the hood.”
18. Keep learning, maintain an open mind, and look out for what’s next.
19. Finally, don’t be afraid of change – be able and ready to adapt to new trends and technologies that may affect the way people do business.

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