Luxury, Leadership & Longevity: How Jeff Keeley Keeps InterContinental Kansas City on Top
From fry cook to Four-Star GM—Jeff Keeley’s hospitality journey is as inspiring as it is insightful. In this episode of The Room Key, Jeff takes us behind the scenes of luxury hotel management at the InterContinental Kansas City at the Plaza, where he’s led the team for nearly five years.
What You’ll Learn:
✔ The career path from entry-level hotel jobs to luxury leadership
✔ How to foster guest loyalty in an increasingly competitive market
✔ The importance of empathy and empowerment in hotel teams
✔ How to manage ownership expectations and maintain Four-Star status
✔ Practical tips for balancing CapEx, PIPs, and brand standards
Jeff also opens up about:
➡ His biggest lessons from decades in hospitality
➡ Why Kansas City is a unique and growing market for hotels
➡ The surprising amenity his property offers that delights guests (hint: it’s sweet and local!)
Whether you’re an aspiring hotel GM, an owner, or an industry veteran, Jeff’s insights will give you actionable strategies for elevating guest experience and team culture.
Connect with Jeff Keeley:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffkeeley/
Connect with Chase Keller:
Website: https://franchiseclearly.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chasekeller/
Subscribe for More:
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Reach out to Chase - chase@roomkey.show
Transcript
(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) I tell everybody, you know, everybody's trying to steal our
Speaker:business, we can't give them reasons to go, we've got
Speaker:to give them reasons to stay.
Speaker:So that's our challenge, is giving them reasons to stay
Speaker:at the hotel, that everybody else is trying to pick
Speaker:them off, but when they come into the town they're
Speaker:not thinking about, oh I want to try this, oh
Speaker:I want to try this, I want to stay at
Speaker:the Intercontinental because they take care of me.
Speaker:That's my home, that's where I go, and that's where
Speaker:I feel taken care of.
Speaker:Thanks for joining, this is The Room Key, I really
Speaker:appreciate it, we have Jeff Keeley here joining us, the
Speaker:General Manager of the Intercontinental here in Kansas City.
Speaker:Yes sir.
Speaker:Thanks for coming.
Speaker:Thank you for having me.
Speaker:I'm excited to hear your story.
Speaker:I appreciate it, thank you for allowing me to share.
Speaker:Absolutely.
Speaker:So first off, I like origin stories, where did you
Speaker:grow up?
Speaker:I grew up in Northeast Ohio, so Canton, Ohio, home
Speaker:of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Speaker:I was born in Dallas, Texas actually, and I only
Speaker:lived there for about 6-8 months, but I'm a
Speaker:huge Cowboys fan still.
Speaker:We lived in Hickory, North Carolina for maybe a year,
Speaker:and then kind of grew up in Canton, Ohio.
Speaker:Awesome.
Speaker:Fantastic.
Speaker:Tell me, who was Jeff as a kid?
Speaker:Man, I was into sports, I was always, we were
Speaker:always playing outside, playing all the sports, I played baseball,
Speaker:basketball, soccer, football growing up, kind of settled on soccer
Speaker:and played soccer all through high school and into college.
Speaker:Where'd you go to college?
Speaker:I went to James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:What were some of your early jobs, early jobs, first
Speaker:jobs?
Speaker:My first job was the fry guy at McDonald's, I
Speaker:started at McDonald's and was working the fries, and I
Speaker:got promoted to the grill, and eventually up to the
Speaker:cashier, so yeah.
Speaker:Very nice.
Speaker:How did that experience then lead to, obviously years later,
Speaker:when was your first job in the hospitality world?
Speaker:I never graduated from James Madison, where I went, I
Speaker:went to school there, I never graduated.
Speaker:I went there to play soccer, kind of got burned
Speaker:out, and then needed to do something.
Speaker:My brother lived in New York City, so I moved
Speaker:in with him in New York City, and I got
Speaker:a job at the Stanhope Hotel on 81st and 5th
Speaker:Avenue.
Speaker:So it's not there any longer, it's currently, actually we
Speaker:were just in New York City last week and we
Speaker:went and visited it, and it's now some condos, but
Speaker:yeah, that was my first job, I cut my teeth
Speaker:at the Stanhope in New York City, so 142 room
Speaker:boutique hotel in the Upper East Side of New York.
Speaker:Very nice.
Speaker:Very nice, love it.
Speaker:I was actually just in New York last week as
Speaker:well.
Speaker:We probably crossed paths.
Speaker:Probably.
Speaker:I used to live in New York a while back,
Speaker:right after college, and I was just right on the
Speaker:other side of the park though.
Speaker:Same, where were you?
Speaker:I was right on, I was on 65th and between
Speaker:Broadway and Central Park West.
Speaker:I lived at 121st and Morningside Drive, so up in
Speaker:Columbia area up there, so it's an interesting area.
Speaker:Yes, it is.
Speaker:Awesome.
Speaker:Alright, so you had that job, where did you go
Speaker:after New York then?
Speaker:So I was at the Plaza, or excuse me, I
Speaker:was at the Stanhope for about a year and a
Speaker:half and then went to the Plaza Hotel for a
Speaker:year and a half, so I was at those two
Speaker:during my tenure in New York, and then I moved
Speaker:back home to Cleveland, Ohio, and I was at the
Speaker:Holiday Inn at the airport for about a year, I
Speaker:was a front office manager there, and then I got
Speaker:promoted within the company, it was Buffalo Lodging Associates up
Speaker:to Comfort Suites in Buffalo, New York.
Speaker:So that was my first GM position, I think I
Speaker:was 27 years old, a little 100 room hotel in
Speaker:Buffalo, New York.
Speaker:Yeah, very nice.
Speaker:Yeah, it was fun, it was a big learning challenge,
Speaker:I had a great boss, kind of showed me some
Speaker:of the ropes and kind of taught me how to
Speaker:be a general manager, and met my wife there, so
Speaker:it was nice, it turned out to be a really
Speaker:good experience.
Speaker:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker:So did you know when you ditched college, moved to
Speaker:New York, that hospitality was going to be it?
Speaker:I had no idea, I didn't know what I wanted
Speaker:to do, I just opened up the New York Times
Speaker:and applied to some different jobs and had a really
Speaker:good interview at the Stanhope, it's worked out, I've been
Speaker:in it ever since, but yeah, when I left school
Speaker:I truly had no idea what I wanted to do.
Speaker:I was a history major in college, but again, I
Speaker:went to play soccer and I just had to choose
Speaker:a major, so I was interested in history, so that's
Speaker:how it panned out.
Speaker:What about that job or the industry that really drew
Speaker:you in?
Speaker:So I had a great manager, when I started at
Speaker:the Stanhope, his name was Matias Sander, he kind of
Speaker:took me under his wing, kind of showed me the
Speaker:ropes and I had a knack for it, so it's
Speaker:something that when you feel comfortable and you feel like
Speaker:you're achieving, you kind of want to continue to do
Speaker:it, so I got promoted up a couple of times
Speaker:as he got promoted up, so he kind of really
Speaker:got me interested and started in it, and then, like
Speaker:I said, I found that I had a knack for
Speaker:it and enjoyed it, I enjoyed talking to people, so
Speaker:I worked the front desk and that was pretty easy
Speaker:for me, to work and to talk to people and
Speaker:kind of make that small talk and make them feel
Speaker:comfortable, and from there you could kind of learn everything
Speaker:else, so it worked out really well.
Speaker:That's awesome.
Speaker:Obviously, have you seen the Plaza since they finished that?
Speaker:I went back there, just last week in New York,
Speaker:we walked through the Plaza, now it's split kind of
Speaker:between hotel and condos now as well, so it wasn't
Speaker:what I remembered, you know, there used to be the
Speaker:Grand Lobby and all that, and we still walk, it's
Speaker:all Palm Court and all that, but the front desk
Speaker:is different, so they're two totally different hotels than what
Speaker:they were when I worked there.
Speaker:Right, yeah, they're definitely very different.
Speaker:Was the Stanhope a luxury property at all?
Speaker:Oh, it was a very luxury property, we had a
Speaker:lot of celebrities stay there, it was very cool, you
Speaker:know, being a young impressionable young kid to see all
Speaker:these celebrities come in, so it was a great hotel
Speaker:to start at and kind of, it was fun to
Speaker:see some of the people that stayed with us.
Speaker:Yeah, yeah, so obviously your first two, very luxury, went
Speaker:to the Holiday Inn, and then did you know at
Speaker:that point that you were a luxury guy?
Speaker:Obviously, we're sitting here in the Intercontinental.
Speaker:It took me a while to get back here, but
Speaker:yeah, I mean, I didn't want to be, I knew
Speaker:I had to learn and grow, so I was willing
Speaker:to pay my dues and figure it out and learn,
Speaker:you know, make mistakes and grow from it, and so
Speaker:I kind of kept moving up from, you know, the
Speaker:comfort suites to a courtyard, to a Hilton Garden Inn,
Speaker:to an Embassy Suites, and then to a Hyatt, and
Speaker:then a Sheraton, and now I'm at the Intercontinental here,
Speaker:so yeah, I just kind of grew and learned as
Speaker:I grew and took those steps and figured it out
Speaker:and listened and learned and made it here.
Speaker:That's important.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Listening.
Speaker:Yes, it is very important.
Speaker:What, you've been all over the place.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Where were some of the areas geographically that you've been
Speaker:to?
Speaker:So, like I said, from New York to Buffalo, and
Speaker:then Buffalo we went to Abilene, Texas, which was a
Speaker:culture shock, and then we went to Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Speaker:We lived most of our married life in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Speaker:We were there about 17 years, I think it was
Speaker:three different hotels in Tulsa.
Speaker:We went from Tulsa to St. Louis, we were there
Speaker:for about four and a half years, down to Austin,
Speaker:Texas for about two years, and we've been here almost
Speaker:five years here in Kansas City, so yeah.
Speaker:Man, that's, went on sticking around in the Midwest.
Speaker:I do, yeah, so I like it here, I love
Speaker:this hotel, it's a great hotel, it's an iconic hotel
Speaker:here in Kansas City.
Speaker:It's great to talk to the guests and hear their
Speaker:stories, and you know, we're about 53 years old, and
Speaker:some guests have been coming here for 50 of the
Speaker:53 years.
Speaker:They came when they were kids, they brought their kids,
Speaker:now they're bringing their grandkids, and to hear their stories,
Speaker:it's a great hotel, and it means a lot to
Speaker:the people here in Kansas City.
Speaker:Yeah, that's important.
Speaker:That's gotta be, it's gotta have a little bit of
Speaker:a reward, personally, to see a lot of those stories.
Speaker:100 percent, it's great.
Speaker:And then we have a lot of, we have some
Speaker:associates that have been here for 40 years or longer,
Speaker:so it's to hear those stories as well, so.
Speaker:You know, we have a bellman named John who, you
Speaker:know, he knows some of these long-term guests, and
Speaker:they come in, and it's like, you know, old friends,
Speaker:and it's great to see that he has that connection
Speaker:with them, but that we have those people that are
Speaker:still coming after all of this time.
Speaker:Very nice.
Speaker:Why, for you, why luxury?
Speaker:It's just, I want to be the best of the
Speaker:best.
Speaker:I'm a, you know, we talked about, I was into
Speaker:sports, so I'm very competitive, and I want to be
Speaker:at the best of the best, so, you know, this
Speaker:luxury is the best, and I wanna, I haven't mastered
Speaker:it yet.
Speaker:I still have some learning to do.
Speaker:We still have some things to do here at the
Speaker:hotel, so it's a challenge for me to do that,
Speaker:but again, being competitive, I wanna be at the best,
Speaker:and the luxury is the best you can do.
Speaker:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker:And, obviously, the Intercon Metal, as far as the Midwest
Speaker:and Kansas City market, I would say it's probably the
Speaker:highest property that we have here.
Speaker:We're the longest four-star hotel in Missouri, so we've
Speaker:been a four-star hotel here for 35 years.
Speaker:So it's the longest in Missouri, so yeah, so it's,
Speaker:I don't wanna be the GM that loses that, so
Speaker:we, again, competitive, so we wanna keep it going every
Speaker:year, and we've managed to do that all the five
Speaker:years I've been here, so that's my goal, is to
Speaker:get it to four stars and beyond if we can,
Speaker:so yeah.
Speaker:Every year we talk about it, you know, we set
Speaker:our goals at the beginning of the year, and one
Speaker:of those goals is to maintain that four-star status,
Speaker:so we've achieved it every year so far.
Speaker:Yeah, awesome.
Speaker:What is a day in the life of J.F.
Speaker:Keeling?
Speaker:Man, it is never the same day twice, which, again,
Speaker:makes this industry fun, because you're never bored, you never
Speaker:get into these ruts of doing the same thing.
Speaker:You could come in and you want your day to
Speaker:go this way, it takes a left turn and then
Speaker:a right turn and all that, but we have a
Speaker:stand-up meeting every day at 8.30. All the
Speaker:department heads come in and we talk about, you know,
Speaker:what occurred, we read the manager on duty reports from
Speaker:the previous day and we go through all the guest
Speaker:comments and guest scores and then we talk about what's
Speaker:going to happen for the rest of the day and
Speaker:sometimes that happens, sometimes that doesn't, but we talk about
Speaker:groups coming in and events going on and any VIPs
Speaker:coming in and making sure that they're taken care of
Speaker:and everybody's on the same page and then the day
Speaker:starts and it could be anything from, you know, we
Speaker:have an associate event or we're doing an orientation or
Speaker:we're doing a site inspection that I go out and
Speaker:talk to the people who come with a site inspection,
Speaker:it could be we're working on a forecast, we're working
Speaker:on a budget, we're doing, you know, the P&L
Speaker:review, so it could be anything, so it's, like I
Speaker:said, it's never the same day twice.
Speaker:Usually get out of here, you know, 5.30, 6
Speaker:o'clock and it's a full day, so we've got
Speaker:a great staff, great set of managers that allows me
Speaker:to kind of keep semi-normal hours so it makes
Speaker:it easier when your staff is there to support you
Speaker:and you can trust them and make sure that, you
Speaker:know, they're taken at home and making sure the guests
Speaker:are taken care of.
Speaker:Absolutely.
Speaker:On that note, what does your process look like to
Speaker:attract, hire, and train good, quality, luxury employees?
Speaker:You know, word of mouth is a bestseller, so we
Speaker:want to take care of our current associates, make sure
Speaker:that everything that they have, you know, they have all
Speaker:the tools they need to do their job, that we
Speaker:make it a challenging and exciting place to work, so
Speaker:we want to keep them and we'd love to have
Speaker:no turnover, but that's not realistic, but we try to
Speaker:make it a challenging and rewarding place.
Speaker:We interview and we make sure that, you know, we're
Speaker:hiring the best people that we think are going to
Speaker:fit into those positions and then we train them to
Speaker:do those positions, so you know, it's a good interview
Speaker:process, it's taking care of them and then training them
Speaker:and giving them the tools to do their job.
Speaker:So we try to do that every day and challenge
Speaker:our associates to push each other, but also take care
Speaker:of our guests.
Speaker:You know, they don't have to come to me, they
Speaker:can take care of the guests right there, so we
Speaker:try to empower them to take care of the guests
Speaker:and to make those decisions so that our guests don't
Speaker:have to wait if there's an issue that they can
Speaker:get it taken care of right away.
Speaker:Right, right.
Speaker:Empowering them to own their position.
Speaker:100%.
Speaker:I love it.
Speaker:What does the potential pressure look like as far as
Speaker:being a luxury property and having the 35-year four
Speaker:-star on you as the buck stops with you on
Speaker:everything?
Speaker:Again, I have staff that makes me look good.
Speaker:I truly understand that, that it's not me.
Speaker:I talk to maybe a dozen, 20 guests a day,
Speaker:whereas we have front desk associates and managers that talk
Speaker:to 50 to 100 or more.
Speaker:I don't, I clean, if I'm cleaning rooms we're in
Speaker:trouble.
Speaker:But we have people that clean 16, 18 rooms a
Speaker:day, so I truly understand where my bread is buttered.
Speaker:So I make sure that our staff gets recognized, that
Speaker:we give them, we challenge them on a daily basis
Speaker:that our managers are recognized and they're given the power
Speaker:to do their job.
Speaker:So we have a great staff.
Speaker:We pay, I think we're in the higher third of
Speaker:the city.
Speaker:We challenge them, we train them, we give them the
Speaker:tools to do their job because it is a challenge.
Speaker:We're kind of up here and everybody's trying to get
Speaker:here and they're trying to steal our business and I
Speaker:tell everybody, everybody's trying to steal our business.
Speaker:We can't give them reasons to go, we've got to
Speaker:give them reasons to stay.
Speaker:So that's our challenge, is giving them reasons to stay
Speaker:at the hotel.
Speaker:Everybody else is trying to pick them off, but when
Speaker:they come into the town they're not thinking about, oh,
Speaker:I want to try this, oh, I want to try
Speaker:this.
Speaker:I want to stay at the Intercontinental because they take
Speaker:care of me.
Speaker:That's my home, that's where I go and that's where
Speaker:I feel taken care of.
Speaker:So we push our staff every day to find new
Speaker:and unique ways to make our guests happy and we
Speaker:make sure that we're taking care of them.
Speaker:And our internal guests too, all of our staff, we
Speaker:want to make sure that they feel taken care of
Speaker:because they're the ones that, you know, happy associates equal
Speaker:happy guests.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Absolutely.
Speaker:How does your relationship with ownership shape your day to
Speaker:day?
Speaker:You know, I think it's, I have a good relationship
Speaker:with our owners.
Speaker:I talk to my boss probably once a week.
Speaker:I think if you're not talking to them a lot,
Speaker:that means that you're doing your job.
Speaker:But I think as long as we're, you know, hitting
Speaker:our budgets, we're exceeding our GOP and our scores are
Speaker:there, that we're doing our job.
Speaker:And if my owner's having to call me every day
Speaker:to ask questions about why did this happen or what's
Speaker:going on here, then we're not doing our job.
Speaker:So I think it's a good sign when you don't
Speaker:have to get those phone calls on a daily basis.
Speaker:You know, it's just a touch base once a week
Speaker:and everything going well, yes.
Speaker:You need help from me.
Speaker:What do you need from me?
Speaker:What do you, you know, what's going on?
Speaker:So I think that's the way it should be if
Speaker:they have to keep their thumb on you all the
Speaker:time and ask you all these questions and you're not
Speaker:doing your job.
Speaker:And then when they ask questions, you've got to have
Speaker:those answers right away because if you have to, you
Speaker:know, you should know what's going on in your hotel.
Speaker:You should know what's going on with your associates, your
Speaker:guests, your scores, your revenue, and you've got to be
Speaker:able to answer those questions right away.
Speaker:You shouldn't have to say, oh, let me check on
Speaker:that and I'll get back to you.
Speaker:You should know, think like an owner.
Speaker:What are the questions they're going to ask me?
Speaker:Or you know, if our forecast is down or if
Speaker:we're not hitting our budget, our GOP is down, what
Speaker:are they going to ask?
Speaker:And I need to have those questions ahead of time
Speaker:so that I can give them the answers that they're
Speaker:looking for.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:Absolutely.
Speaker:And there seems like there's a very good similarity.
Speaker:I would imagine the way that you want to have
Speaker:the relationship with ownership is how you would like the
Speaker:relationship with the heads of the departments.
Speaker:100%.
Speaker:I, again, we do these stand-ups every day and
Speaker:I don't want to regurgitate information to them.
Speaker:I want them to give it up to me.
Speaker:So we have someone different lead it every day.
Speaker:So that makes them look into, you know, what are
Speaker:our guest scores?
Speaker:What was the MOD report?
Speaker:What can we do here?
Speaker:So someone different leads it every day so that they
Speaker:understand where the numbers are coming from, where these comments
Speaker:are coming from, and they can share with everybody else.
Speaker:So we try to make it not just me giving
Speaker:them information, but them giving it to each other and
Speaker:understanding it and where it comes from and all of
Speaker:that.
Speaker:So we have someone else lead it every day.
Speaker:Very nice.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:You mentioned the sports, but is there anything that you
Speaker:can tie that your previous history, you're like, there's a
Speaker:reason that I went through this or I had this
Speaker:job or my parents did this?
Speaker:Again, I think it's a lot of the competitiveness, a
Speaker:lot of being on a team and understanding what a
Speaker:team is and working together to get to that goal.
Speaker:So I think sports is an everyday for me.
Speaker:I mean, I enjoy it, but it's also, you know,
Speaker:I want it to be the best.
Speaker:I want my hotel to be the best, but I
Speaker:understand I can't do it alone.
Speaker:You know, just as in soccer, there's 11 guys on
Speaker:the field and if all 11 are working together, it's
Speaker:great.
Speaker:But if one falters, then we're struggling.
Speaker:So it's the same thing in the hotel.
Speaker:If the front desk isn't doing their job or housekeeping
Speaker:is not doing their job or the culinary team isn't
Speaker:doing their job, you know, we succeed as a team
Speaker:and we fail as a team.
Speaker:How does the Kansas City market compare?
Speaker:Because you've been in a lot of different markets, spent
Speaker:a lot of time.
Speaker:How is our market itself different?
Speaker:I mean, it's competitive.
Speaker:It's a great market.
Speaker:It's getting better.
Speaker:You know, Austin obviously is a different animal.
Speaker:It was crazy and it's blowing up.
Speaker:So that was a different, but while I was there,
Speaker:I was there during COVID.
Speaker:So, you know, when I first got there in 2019,
Speaker:it was crazy.
Speaker:But then during COVID, it was like everywhere else.
Speaker:It was dead.
Speaker:But, you know, Kansas City is similar to Tulsa and
Speaker:St. Louis.
Speaker:It's a very competitive market.
Speaker:We have a lot of great hotels here.
Speaker:We have a great convention center.
Speaker:We have a lot of things to offer visitors that
Speaker:come to town, some great museums, some tourist attractions.
Speaker:There's a lot to do in Kansas City.
Speaker:So it's a very vibrant market.
Speaker:I think it's doing well.
Speaker:It's just going to get better.
Speaker:I mean, I'm excited about the World Cup next year.
Speaker:Obviously, the Chiefs have done an amazing job of shining
Speaker:the light on Kansas City.
Speaker:And it's been great.
Speaker:It's helped us out a lot.
Speaker:Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker:Have you converted to a Chiefs fan yet?
Speaker:Unfortunately, no.
Speaker:I take a lot of crap.
Speaker:We play the Chiefs this year on Thanksgiving.
Speaker:It's in Dallas.
Speaker:So we'll see how that works out on the day
Speaker:after Thanksgiving.
Speaker:So I might be, yeah, we'll see how it works
Speaker:out.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:How do you handle the CapEx, PIP conversations with ownership,
Speaker:with your department heads?
Speaker:Yeah, I mean, I think it's our job to talk
Speaker:to the owners and let them know they're not here.
Speaker:You know, they're in Providence, Rhode Island, and they don't
Speaker:know the day-to-day operations.
Speaker:So it's our job is to be realistic and let
Speaker:them know the good, the bad, and the ugly, and
Speaker:then share with them how we're going to improve upon
Speaker:it.
Speaker:I don't just want to tell them.
Speaker:We've got to tell them how we're going to get
Speaker:there.
Speaker:So I think it's, again, thinking like an owner, and
Speaker:it's not just, this is what's wrong, but here's the
Speaker:four solutions we can do.
Speaker:This one is more long-term.
Speaker:This one's short-term.
Speaker:This one's more expensive.
Speaker:This is less expensive.
Speaker:And go through all those options with them.
Speaker:So when we do our CapEx, we kind of think
Speaker:through that whole process and talk about what is the
Speaker:best for us in the short-term, but then, again,
Speaker:what's better in the long-term.
Speaker:So we talk through all that, and then we let
Speaker:them make the final decision, but we want to give
Speaker:them all the options so that they can make an
Speaker:informed decision.
Speaker:And, again, I think that's our job as a hotelier
Speaker:is to, you know, you're the guy that's got the
Speaker:boots on the ground, so you understand how it's going
Speaker:to affect you, how it's going to affect your guests,
Speaker:how it's going to affect your team, and maybe prioritize
Speaker:it as, this is the 1A that we've got to
Speaker:do, and this is maybe 1B, and this may be
Speaker:2, 3, 4, 5.
Speaker:But we have to do this.
Speaker:These things would be nice, but these are the things
Speaker:that we have to do.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And I bet they're very reliant on your opinion.
Speaker:100%.
Speaker:I mean, and, again, I rely on, you know, my
Speaker:chief engineer to get bids or my chef to get
Speaker:bids.
Speaker:So, I mean, again, we talk through the whole process,
Speaker:and it's a team deal because, again, I'm not the
Speaker:expert in the kitchen equipment.
Speaker:I'm not the expert in the HVAC equipment, but they
Speaker:are.
Speaker:So I try to get their feedback as well and
Speaker:understand the best of my ability of what it's going
Speaker:to take and what we need, and then present that
Speaker:on to the owners.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:How do you balance brand standards?
Speaker:Obviously, Intercontinental, they have their standards of what they want,
Speaker:what they want to see, versus what the Kansas City
Speaker:market needs, what the ownership wants.
Speaker:It's a fine line.
Speaker:I mean, we do have QA inspections.
Speaker:You know, obviously, we get surveys from our guests who,
Speaker:you know, if the brand sees that we're not adhering
Speaker:to these standards, then...
Speaker:But it's something we have to do, and we understand
Speaker:that.
Speaker:Our ownership understands that, that there are certain things that
Speaker:we have to do, and we do that.
Speaker:And most of the brand standards are there to take
Speaker:care of our guests, to take care of our associates.
Speaker:So, yeah, we try to balance that the best we
Speaker:can.
Speaker:You know, it's not...
Speaker:Some of them are negotiable, but some of them are
Speaker:non-negotiable.
Speaker:So there's some things that we have to do, and
Speaker:they make sense to do, but there's other things we
Speaker:can talk to the brand and maybe get some waivers
Speaker:and all that because it doesn't fit for us.
Speaker:But the majority of this stuff, it's good for us,
Speaker:it's good for the hotel, it's good for the Intercontinental
Speaker:brand.
Speaker:But then there's some things, like you said, that maybe
Speaker:aren't specific to our hotels that we can get waivers.
Speaker:And usually, they're pretty lenient on granting those waivers.
Speaker:So it's a nice balance.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And just, again, having that conversation, everybody's on the same
Speaker:page of what is the best.
Speaker:Because if it's the best for this hotel, it's probably
Speaker:the best for the brand itself.
Speaker:And again, if you give them the information, again, we're
Speaker:here, we understand our market, and if we give them
Speaker:the information, if you just say, I need a waiver
Speaker:because I don't want to do it, then obviously, they're
Speaker:not going to grant it.
Speaker:But if you go into the details and let them
Speaker:know why and how it affects you, and maybe it's
Speaker:not cost effective, or maybe it's not utilized, then more
Speaker:apt to not to grant it to us.
Speaker:So, yeah.
Speaker:What are some lessons and advice as you've grown up
Speaker:in this industry?
Speaker:Listen.
Speaker:I mean, we talked about it before, is just listening.
Speaker:A lot of people, it's frustrating sometimes when you have
Speaker:somebody come in and you're trying to talk to them
Speaker:and train them and let them know, and they seem
Speaker:to know everything, and they don't want to listen, and
Speaker:they just want to go out and do it their
Speaker:own way.
Speaker:And again, sometimes you've got to let them do that
Speaker:and kind of fail, and then hopefully they come back
Speaker:and will learn.
Speaker:This is an industry where people come to us because
Speaker:they're celebrating something, they're away from their family, and we've
Speaker:got to make sure that we're taking care of our
Speaker:guests.
Speaker:That's the biggest thing.
Speaker:And also, our associates.
Speaker:They're with us for eight hours a day, or longer
Speaker:sometimes, and we've got to make sure we're taking care
Speaker:of them, because they're going to take care of our
Speaker:guests.
Speaker:So taking care of the associates and taking care of
Speaker:the guests, those are the two things.
Speaker:That's what our industry is built on.
Speaker:So making sure that we're doing that on a daily
Speaker:basis, and all of our decisions should be based upon
Speaker:the financial commitment made to the owner, guest satisfaction, and
Speaker:associate satisfaction.
Speaker:Those are the three big things you've got to think
Speaker:about on a daily basis.
Speaker:And every decision is just going to help one of
Speaker:those three.
Speaker:But then again, you don't understand that enough if you're
Speaker:not listening and learning and growing.
Speaker:So I think the biggest thing is listening and understanding
Speaker:and being able to take those life lessons and apply
Speaker:them on a daily basis.
Speaker:Yeah, that's very wise.
Speaker:And then also, you put yourself in a good situation.
Speaker:Not every situation is in the right situation.
Speaker:So whenever you're interviewing for a job, ask questions and
Speaker:find out if it's a fit for you.
Speaker:Because just because it's more money or because it's a
Speaker:bigger hotel or it's a nicer hotel doesn't mean it's
Speaker:the right hotel for you.
Speaker:So you've got to make sure you're putting yourself in
Speaker:the right position for success, because some people move up,
Speaker:and maybe they're not ready to move up, or it's
Speaker:not the right situation.
Speaker:And you've got to look out for yourself as well
Speaker:and put yourself in the right situation for success.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:Before we check out, we have a section that we
Speaker:call the wake-up call to some rapid-fire questions
Speaker:to get some interesting answers.
Speaker:What is the most overlooked job in a hotel?
Speaker:Housekeeping, by far.
Speaker:Those biggest respect ever for housekeepers.
Speaker:Sometimes the rooms, after you have a volleyball team in
Speaker:and seven young ladies have slept in there, and they've
Speaker:used every towel, everything in the room, it's unbelievable.
Speaker:And they have to do that 16 more times.
Speaker:It's by far the hardest, most underappreciated position in the
Speaker:industry.
Speaker:So it's unbelievable.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Housekeeping, by far.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:We have a large family, and so we'd go through
Speaker:towels like crazy, and love when the housekeeping is on
Speaker:top of it.
Speaker:100%.
Speaker:Housekeeping brings up towels when we need it, cleans it
Speaker:all.
Speaker:It's a job.
Speaker:It is a job.
Speaker:And they're amazing people, and yeah, I'm glad we have
Speaker:a good crew, because it's tough to do without them.
Speaker:What is your favorite guest amenity that you geek over?
Speaker:My favorite guest amenity that I geek over, I'm going
Speaker:to brag.
Speaker:So we just had beehives installed this year.
Speaker:So we have two beehives on our rooftop, over on
Speaker:our wing.
Speaker:And the beekeeper came out, and I went up on
Speaker:the roof with him, and actually some of our managers
Speaker:had gone up, and we just got, I think he
Speaker:said 40 pounds of honey, which came out to about
Speaker:three and a half gallons.
Speaker:So we have rooftop honey that we have made from
Speaker:our hotel.
Speaker:So that's the coolest thing that we've had.
Speaker:So we have amenities that we can include our own
Speaker:signature brand of honey.
Speaker:So that's pretty cool.
Speaker:I've never heard of that before.
Speaker:So I did it in Austin.
Speaker:And we didn't, again, it was during COVID, so it
Speaker:kind of fell flat.
Speaker:But these beehives, he started off with just two stacks,
Speaker:and now we're up to four stacks.
Speaker:And there are, I think he said, between 60 and
Speaker:80,000 bees in each hive.
Speaker:And it's kind of cool to learn about it, but
Speaker:then just to see the finished product, and you taste
Speaker:it, and the honey's amazing, and it's just going to
Speaker:be a really cool amenity to give out to our
Speaker:guests.
Speaker:It was from our local bees right here.
Speaker:So yeah, that's the coolest amenity.
Speaker:Interesting.
Speaker:Do you have a flowers garden up there as well?
Speaker:We don't have a garden.
Speaker:So we're eventually going to do like a chef's, like
Speaker:an herb garden.
Speaker:But I mean, so they fly within a mile radius.
Speaker:So we got loose park up the street.
Speaker:The plaza over here has lots of flowers.
Speaker:We have flowers planted in our pool area and along
Speaker:our drive.
Speaker:So there's, you know, and there's a residential area right
Speaker:behind us.
Speaker:So there's ample opportunity for them to go.
Speaker:And he was, even the beekeeper was amazed at how
Speaker:quickly they built up their honey reserve.
Speaker:So he was thinking it was going to be, you
Speaker:know, 20 pounds, and it was double that.
Speaker:So it was pretty amazing just watching him pull it
Speaker:out.
Speaker:And these whole things were just filled with honey.
Speaker:So it was pretty cool.
Speaker:So yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker:That's our best amenity.
Speaker:I never would have thought that was going to be
Speaker:your answer.
Speaker:What is one trait that every hotel employee should have?
Speaker:Empathy.
Speaker:You know, that, I think we need to empathize with
Speaker:our guests and kind of put ourselves in a situation
Speaker:that, you know, that maybe it's, you know, if a
Speaker:guest has a problem, that maybe it's not a problem
Speaker:to you, but you need to understand that it's a
Speaker:problem to them.
Speaker:So I think empathy is huge.
Speaker:Being able to put yourself in their shoes, understand how
Speaker:they're feeling and why it's an issue to them.
Speaker:Again, it might not be a big issue to them,
Speaker:or excuse me, to you, but it's a big issue
Speaker:to them and we got to treat it like it's
Speaker:a big issue to them.
Speaker:So I think empathy is the biggest thing that an
Speaker:associate needs to have.
Speaker:Spoken from a true leader.
Speaker:What is the most unexpected request that you've ever received
Speaker:from a guest?
Speaker:Unexpected request that I, man, let me think.
Speaker:Unusual, often.
Speaker:I don't think anything's unusual.
Speaker:Again, our job is to make their stay great.
Speaker:So, I mean, people ask for things, we've had some
Speaker:celebrities here and they've asked for some unique things, but
Speaker:nothing, you know, we had one celebrity that asked us
Speaker:to take all the beds out of the room and
Speaker:just put the mattresses on the floor and then she
Speaker:needed 17 pillows.
Speaker:So that was kind of strange, but, I mean, nothing
Speaker:has been, you know, crazy that, you know, we've never
Speaker:had, you know, somebody want to, you know, I don't
Speaker:know.
Speaker:But we've never had anything crazy and that's kind of
Speaker:unique.
Speaker:But we've had celebrities that have ordered, you know, exercise
Speaker:equipment to be put in their room and then when
Speaker:they leave, they leave it here.
Speaker:So then we have extra exercise equipment.
Speaker:So that's kind of been a couple of times that
Speaker:they've shipped stuff to the hotel, we put it in
Speaker:the room.
