NASHVILLE, Tennessee—It wasn’t all that long ago that Barry Volkers proudly answered to names such as “Crash the River Rascal,” “Hush Puppy” and yes, even “Frankie, The Swimming Pig.”
Now that the 30-year-old Volkers answers to “general manager” as he leads Vision Hospitality Group’s newly christened Fairfield Inn & Suites Nashville Downtown/The Gulch, he looks at his days as a card-carrying team mascot as instrumental to establishing his hospitality fundamentals.
“I learned to communicate without voice,” said Volkers, who started his new job in early September—about a month before the property opened. “It’s all about body language, learning to read guests and give them what they need before they ask for it.”
His days as “Crash”—the mascot for the minor league baseball team West Michigan Whitecaps—provided the Sparta, Michigan, native with the opportunity to be in front of thousands of people each game for six years.
“It was just a great opportunity to learn how to respond to people without having to say a word,” he said.
Volkers moved on and began his hotel career in 2007 as a front-desk agent for a Courtyard by Marriott hotel owned by Amway Hotels. After stints with Trans Inns Management and Remington Hospitality Services, Volkers arrived in Nashville from Bloomington, Indiana, where he managed a Remington-operated Courtyard by Marriott property in the city’s downtown.
It’s not lost on him that he is overseeing a billboard property for the Fairfield brand. Built for a reported $17.5 million, the property features 126 guestrooms and a rooftop venue called Up, a Rooftop Lounge.
“I don’t know if there’s any other Fairfield in the country that has valet parking and a rooftop bar,” Volkers said. “There’s pressure, but it’s a good pressure.”
Volkers credits his parents, Rob and Gerri, with a work ethic that helped put his career path on the fast track. He deflects accolades by talking about the team in place at the property.
“I have had some tremendous strides in my career, but it’s all about the staffs I’ve had and the drive they’ve had,” he said. “I’ve worked with some great people and for some great companies. The vision is all about teamwork and seeking excellence. Being a general manager, there’s always feelings about being overwhelmed, but you don’t get to that point if you have the team that backs you up.”
Volkers said he’s always enjoyed being able to bring the people together to share a common goal, and was floored by the effort Vision made to open the property—particularly when the hotel’s executive team was in place when he arrived.
“The effort by everyone in the company to get this property open was phenomenal,” Volkers said. “There were GMs from many other properties here helping. Vision is a company that has such dedication from its employees. It’s all because they believe in what the company is doing.
“Vision’s goal is to be the best and most respected hotel company in America, and the employees have truly embraced that,” he added. “For them to get there we need to hold up our end of the deal.”
The importance of a good team
Volkers said the executive team of Jami Goodman (executive housekeeper), Geno Bell (assistant GM), Donald Pritchett (executive chef), Tiffany Lewis (director of sales) and Ted Jones (chief engineer) can’t be credited enough with getting the new property opened.
The GM insists happy employees will always hold up their end of the bargain.
“Take care of your employees and they’ll take care of your guests,” Volkers said. “Couple that with Vision’s statement of treating others how you want to be treated and you understand what hospitality’s all about.”
The Fairfield’s location and approach embraces the sense of place that overall the industry continues to move toward, Volkers said.
“The hotel continues the feeling of the neighborhood; it really embodies the area,” Volkers said. “It’s such a trendy area that’s incredibly welcoming.”
That means the job is never done for him and the hotel’s other 31 employees.
“Every day we’re working on how we’re greeting guests, when we’re greeting them, being proactive in serving them,” Volkers said.
That tends to be easier thanks to Vision’s use of a tool called Devine Talent Assessment to help determine the right fits to bring in for interviews. That helped Volkers’ goal of finding the best available employees when he arrived in Music City.
Volkers lives by one adage when it comes to getting things done that he attributes to Sonny Sra, senior VP at his previous employer Remington: “If you have to climb a tree, are you going to train a horse or hire a squirrel?” he said. “It’s all about finding the squirrel … finding people who are hired to serve and want to be part of something special.”
In other words, it means if you can’t solve an issue, find someone who can solve it, he said.
Volkers’ mascot career culminated with his role as Crash the River Rascal, but he gets nostalgic when considering that gig as well as his stints as “Hush Puppy” for Wolverine Worldwide and then “Frankie, The Swimming Pig” to promote a pork sandwich that “swam” in barbecue sauce.
“It was a lot of fun and helped me prepare for being in front of people day in and day out,” he said. “There’s not much I would trade it for.”
Volkers wants his career path to eventually lead to a resort in the Caribbean.
“I want that breeze,” he said. “Everyone’s got to live somewhere, why not do it with palm trees and the ocean?”