For two years, we’ve been designing, building and marketing The Godfrey Hotel, a new independent boutique hotel in Chicago. Last winter, with opening day fast approaching, we needed to recruit, hire and train 150-plus full-time employees for all positions throughout the hotel. As a completely independent hotel, we had no massive Rolodex of applicants or potential transfers.
Without a recognized brand name, going the traditional route of running ads in newspapers, placing listings on hotel recruiting sites and on Craigslist might not gain the attention of the team we were seeking. Additionally, it was so cold this past year we all learned new terms—polar vortex and “Chiberia” come to mind—so getting applicants was really going to be a struggle. It would be tedious, ongoing and, of course, there would be no assurance we would be getting the best applicants.
One of the benefits of being an independent hotel is that we are masters of our own destiny and we really don’t have to follow the rules. With this in mind, one of our young executives from sales and marketing suggested we try social media channels.
At all of our hotels, we have wholeheartedly embraced Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and blogs as a way to maintain dialog with our guests and other stakeholders. We’ve routinely used these outlets to announce special promotions, offer blizzard rates, tout Earth Day, and generally respond to all guest comments, suggestions and complaints.
We monitor multiple sites, including TripAdvisor, Yelp and others. It’s great to talk about social media, but talk is cheap. You have to be active on a daily basis. And you need to be strategic.
As part of our pre-opening marketing, we had built not only a website, but also a Facebook site, a blog, a YouTube channel, and while this marketing was meant to draw attention to our hotel and ultimately makes us visible to potential guests, we had quietly build a fan base and a ton of “likes” that could be targeted to potential new hires.
So we debated and decided, why not? This is the age of the smartphone and viral marketing. There are thousands of hardworking unemployed people seeking jobs. Those plugged into the electronic world would get the word and spread the word. We decided to have a full day of recruiting and to spread the word purely through social media channels. No paid advertising. No hotel recruiting sites to be used.
The process
We set the date; we set the hour. We created a beautiful flyer, which was essentially a display advertisement targeting those with two years or more hotel experience and listed every position open for hiring.
We began blasting the recruitment solicitation two weeks before the event, and we also set up an employment email address. Within minutes of sending the first blast out, the phone started to ring—and ring and ring and ring. But our instructions had been clear: You must apply in person on the specified Monday morning between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.
A week later, I was asked to be on a call-in radio show, and clearly the host knew about the job fair we were hosting. It was his second question; he had learned about it from his son on Facebook. So we made a plug on air about the job fair.
The Sunday night before the job fair, our team was ready. We staged the lobby and created a triage system so that all applicants, regardless of their level of qualification, would meet a manager face to face. We had hot chocolate, coffee and water for them. We printed a couple of hundred applications. Every manager was given specific responsibilities from greeting, to clipboard and pens, to assisting applicants, to first screen, to interviews, and to thanking and escorting everyone out of the building.
And of course, the best laid plans are “of mice and men.” Whether it’s Chiberia in winter or hurricane season in Florida, expect the best but plan for the worst. Sure enough, the weatherman was predicting a return of the polar vortex beginning 2 a.m. Monday morning, with high temps of 8 degrees Fahrenheit.
We were confident things would work out, but also scared. Because if the turnout was bad, we would be scrambling to recruit, hire and train all these positions with just three weeks to go before opening.
The outcome
When I awoke Monday morning, I was feeling more than a bit anxious. Who would come out in these conditions? I thought, “Perhaps the very determined and hardworking?” As I drove up to the front door at 8 a.m., a small line of 10 people had already formed. This was encouraging because we had said 10 a.m. was the start time.
By 9 a.m., 100 people were in line. By 9:30 a.m., 200 were in line, and a traffic jam had begun. We decided to open the doors early and get the process started. At 11 a.m., the local media showed up and interviewed applicants, managers and executives. At 12 p.m., we ran to Kinko’s and printed another 400 applications. By 5 p.m., exhausted and exhilarated, we said farewell to the last applicant, No. 872. We were featured on the 6 p.m. news on two different major market channels.
It was a long day—grueling, in fact. The most difficult part was seeing the need and desire on all 872 faces but knowing only 150 could be hired. We found our recruits; we made our hires; and we have that Rolodex of future applicants.
We garnered favorable press and made lots of new friends. Even those not selected continue to “like us” on Facebook.
Social media is not just about sales, not just about marketing. It’s about people who need to connect with other people. Think strategically. Act in unison. And strive to set your hotel apart. It’s no secret; great planning leads to great execution.
George Jordan is the senior vice president of operations for Oxford Hotels & Resorts, and Chicago area hotel cluster general manager for Hotel Cass, Hotel Felix and Godfrey Hotel. Over the past 30 years, he has held key management roles with The Arizona Biltmore, The St. Paul, The Marquette, The Drake and The Raffaello Hotel. Jordan rose through the ranks while attending college at University of Southern California and Arizona State University, where he obtained a B.S. in Finance. He served as area food and beverage director for Hilton International, based out of The Drake Hotel Chicago, and also as hotel manager at The Drake. Today, he contributes his extensive operational, revenue management and marketing expertise to Oxford's national acquisition activities. Reach him at george.jordan@ohrllc.com
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