H&MM November 1, 2004

HotelMotel.com

Creative recruiting helps hotels attract the best employees

n toda/s competitive hotel

and resort industry, the delivery of consistent quality
service is imperative to success.
As we all know, service starts with
employees. They represent the
human side of the brand; they
are the iace and personality of a
hotel. It is often these employees
who create the most compelling
points of differentiation between
one hotel and another.

Efforts to recruit employees

have evolved to meet the growing demands of the industry
and expectations of guests.

From

Many hotel companies have

begun treating employee recruitment with the same level of
importance they would a consumer branding campaign, portraying emotion-based messages
to potential employees the way
an image marketing campaign
might be used to generate interest among potential guests.
Instead of the traditional recruitment effort (the standard

black and white, all-text ad in

Sundays classified section), hotels and resorts are using colorful
fiill-page ads in lifestyle magazines, winy dialogue in radio advertising and dramatic visuals on
outdoor billboards to attract the
"best of the best."
This is no doubt a large investment. But when a company
is looking to find the highest
quality people to bring their

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brand to life and deliver its

promise on a daily basis, the investment is nothing short of
critical.
Historically, hotel properties
haven't put a significant amount
of emphasis on this type of recruitment campaign assuming
that potential employees wotild
be motivated by classified ads
and other straightforward tactics. But, if your hotel/resort
needs tofillthousands of jobs
and is looking for "the best" in
those positions in a competitive
market, you'll need to reach out
to a large ntxmber of applicants
and convince potential employees that the brand is commensurate with their aspirations.
Plenty of challenges present
themselves when trying to motivate a highly skilled and desirable prospect to leave a stable job
for your company. How do you
attraa qualified employees to
leave their existing positions at
an established property, who
have tenure and retirement plans
vested, to come to yotL-" How do
you attraa coUe^ students to
Stan as part-time employees and
begin their careers at your establishment? What type of messages
will convince these potential applicants to join a new venttire
with no established credibility in
the community?
The answer to these questions is to treat prospective employee as you would a potential
guest. In essence, the potential
employee becomes your customer. The initial messages you
deliver should come fi-om an
emotional place, not just a tactical one. Your communications
program should creatively advocate what your hotel/resort
brand stands for and provide a
sense for how your company
represents a better opportunity,
a better work environment or an
overall etihancement of life for
the prospeaive employee.
An example of a megaresort
that faced many of these issues is
the Borgata Hotel Casino and
Spa in Atlantic City. In a sense,
Borgata redefined the market, as
thefirstnew hotel/resort to
open in Atlantic City in 13 years
... a destination where many of
the existing properties were
strtiggling.
About 5,000 employees were
needed before the opening of
this 2,002-room casino resort in
July 2003. In order to bring the
Borgata brand to life, they
sought the "best of class" across
all job types. An aggressive local
Please turn to page 22

H&MM November 1, 2004

HotelMotel.com

Condominium hotels
ContinuedJrom page 18
the developer would have to register the offering with the Securities and Exchange Commission
and state securities law administrators. The sale of a condo hotel
unit coupled with certain other
arrangements will cause the offer
of the condo hotel unit to be
considered the offering of a security. For instance, the SEC s view
is that selling condo hotel units

combined with a rental arrangement or similar service constitutes the offering of a security
becatise of the commonality of
the project, the divestiture of
control over the condo hotel
unit and reliance upon the rental
prc^ram operator to generate
profits.

migjit derive from ownership of

the condo hotel unit or its occupancy by hotel guests would
oblige the developer to register
securities with the SEC and state
administrators. So, too, any
arrangement that provides for an
exclusive rental ^ e n t or otherwise matetially restricts the purchaser in the occupancy or rental
of his tmit may require registration with the SEC.

Likewise, any sales program

suggesting potential economic
benefits that the purchaser

As a result, it is especially important that the condo hotel developer educate its sales and

marketing personnel about

what they can and cannot say to
prospective purchasers. The sale
cannot be made with any emphasis on economic benefits to
be derived from the purchase.
There can be no participation in
rental pools. The purchasers
cannot be materially restricted
in occupying their units. Any
rental arrangements must be terminable by the purchasers on
reasonable notice (subjea to the
rights of persons who have
booked the tmit for a futtire

Stay). Finally, any written descriptions of rental programs

may only be given to prospective purchasers who specifically
request such materials, and such
materials should not include any
projections or emphasize economic benefits.
hmm @advanstar. com
DavidM. Neff is a partner and
co-chair of the Lodging and
Timeshare Practice Group at
Piper Rudnick LLE He can be
reached at david. nef@piperrud'
nick.com.

Recruitment

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Continued from page 20

and regional advertising camp a i ^ w^is launched through
magizines, newspapers, radio
and billboards, encouraging applicants to apply online. Supplementing the advertising campaign was a program called
"Laptops and Lemonade." A
mobile unit took teams of
staffers to the streets of Adantic
City with laptops, bringing applications direcdy to the public.
As Borgata was introducing a
new level of quality, amenities
and service in the Adantic City
market, the advertising tone and
message for the employee recruitment campaign needed to
communicate the samethat
this wasn't going to be your typical hotel casino. The campaign
was the result of solid research
combined with strategy developed by Borgata's human resources and marketing departments as well as outside agencies.
The result was nearly 30,000
qualified job candidates applying online and a selection of employees that has been described
as delivering the highest level of
service in the marketplace and
industry.
Success in the hospitality industry starts with attraaing the
best employees and team members. By being innovative and
creative in attraaing those hardto-find individuals, you can fiilfill your hotel's brand promises
on a much more consistent
basis. The days of relying solely
on Sunday classifieds or industry trade journals are long gone.
Prospective employees expect
(and deserve) more.
hmm @advarutar. com
John Schadkr is mana^ng partner ofSchadler Kramer Croup, a
marketing agency in Las Vegas
that specializes in leisure and
lifestyle brands. The company's
Web site is wiow.skgtasvegas.com.