Below is an Autogenerated Transcript

Ron: Tell us a story. A real story of something that you’ve seen happen at any of the properties. It could be with a team member, it could be with guests. 

Dominik: Well, there’s been many, but one that just pops into mind is a guest that stayed with us for many, many years. I’ve seen the kids when they were small. Now the kids are married, they have their own kids. They’ve been coming to us more than 20 times now, had good experiences, but they also had not so good experiences. 

They’ve come back when we were supposed to have finished a renovation in the Maldives. We weren’t quite done. They came nevertheless. Obviously it wasn’t quite the experience that they had hoped for, but we looked after them. That same family came to Mauritius when we opened. LUX* Grand Gaube, where we are today. Same thing. The hotel was renovated. It wasn’t quite the experience that they had hoped for, they were just again in the Maldives two weeks ago. 

Obviously there were breakdowns. But the connections they had with the people, mostly in the Maldives, but then also in Mauritius, the way they were looked after, obviously we knew what they wanted and who they were. We shared information. We knew about the family, about the history. We did these little surprises. If that would have been just a run of the mill hotel experience, these guests would have been gone. Long ago. But because they know that we care and mistakes do happen everywhere. But you know, I’m close with them. I speak to them. I think that that’s what we have with a lot of general managers. They create personal relationships and I see it. 

Sometimes I join them, join with them on Facebook, or they join what’s meant to be an internal group, but a guest is so close that they feel part of the team, they want to join, they want to be part of what happens in the lives of the team members. I think a family like that, those are guests. 

Ron: You know, that’s interesting. When you say a family like that, you were thinking of it just as that family.  yet they see themselves as part of this family. That may actually be more the future of this particular segment of the hospitality industry. 

People cherish that kind of intimacy and connection, whereas as we age and we grow, so does the team, they’re human beings, and that we have a connection with each other. 

Dominik: It’s the inclusion that you’re not seen as a customer. They don’t see themselves as customers. They see themselves as guests and at the same time, team members, they don’t see that as what they do as a job. I don’t know what it is in English, but in German, The word it’s called “Berufung”. If you would translate, it’s like a calling.

I either have a job or I have a calling. The way I’m going to treat this is very different. I think a lot of our team members feel that they have that calling to add value, care, create experiences that last long after they check out and we see that’s why they come back.

Ron: It enriches people’s lives. It gives them the feeling they were hoping for or even feelings they didn’t know that they might have and that they absolutely cherish. 

Dominik: General managers started calling people at home, saying “Today you were meant to check in with us. But you’re not here because you can’t because the borders are closed.” But the fact that the general manager took the time to call the guests, “We’re thinking of you and hope at one point you can come back.” Who would expect that from a service provider? 

Nobody. 

But it showed that the general manager is caring for them much more than you would for a customer. 

Ron: You interestingly see on Facebook and TripAdvisor all the time that it isn’t just the general manager that’s doing that, creating those kinds of connections with the guests.

Dominik: No, it’s waiters, it’s room attendants, it’s receptionists that picked up…A lot of times it’s a receptionist that becomes friends with a son or the daughter. They’re the same age. So they grow old with each other. We’ve had that now for 10 or 20 years. 

We see it in that they follow, that room attendant, or the receptionist, they follow them around when they move on because obviously not everybody stays, again, in the Maldives for the entire time. They might come here, they might move to another property, but they created that bond that stays for years.

Ron: Then the weddings happen and then the babies come and it’s lives lived together. 

Well, I’ve certainly enjoyed living this part of my life with you. 

Dominik: Yes. It’s been rich. It’s been exciting. It’s been full of surprises. Long may it continue.