As I outlined in my George Bailey Effect post, sometimes we have to ask “what if” to understand our impact in the world. What if the Ritz Carlton chain didn’t exist? Well, Apple’s retail stores wouldn’t operate the way they do. Ron Johnson, who launched Apple’s stores, used the luxury hotel chain as a model for a new kind of hospitality-inspired tech store. Apple’s first store opened 19 years ago last week.
Famed restaurateur Danny Meyer believes you can train for HQ (Hospitality Quotient, just like IQ and EQ) and has spent a decade teaching companies outside the hotel and restaurant biz on how to infuse a little more HQ in their HQ (headquarters). Or, my friend Ari Weinzweig, whose legendary Zingerman’s chain is well-known in Michigan, created ZingTrain to share their unique approach to service to all kinds of companies. With this recent post, Ari laments the decimation of his industry in World War II terms.
How bad is it? Our hospitality industry is experiencing a Great Depression. The height of the U.S. unemployment rate in the 1930’s was 25%. Today’s unemployment rate in the U.S. travel industry is 51%! And, it’s even higher in restaurants. Travel industry job losses represent almost 40% of all American job losses in April. Forecasts suggest that the pandemic will have a 9 times greater negative effect on the travel industry than did the aftermath of 9/11.
So, when you are so inclined with easing social distancing rules, please go hug a hotelier, patronize a restaurateur (my past blog on this), hire a caterer for a small party in your backyard, or just empathize with a friend who bleeds hospitality blood.
And here’s a little love back to you from the hospitality industry. Danny Meyer taught me you know you’re receiving hospitality when something is done “for you”, not “to you”. How can you shift your mindset with this pandemic to see what it’s doing for you, instead of to you?