January 27, 2025 • 24 mins
What if embracing digital transformation could unlock new revenue streams for your hotel? In this episode, Jason Jackson, Vice President of Operational Strategy and Integration at Schulte Hospitality, reveals how innovative technology is reshaping the hospitality landscape.
Key Takeaways:
- Discover the impact of digital tipping software on employee satisfaction and guest experience, with over $120,000 in tips distributed in just seven months.
- Learn about the critical role of business intelligence tools like ProfitSword and Hotel Effectiveness in optimizing labor management and financial performance across a diverse portfolio of nearly 200 hotels.
- Understand the importance of adaptability and engagement in the hospitality industry, and how these traits can drive success in an ever-evolving market.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Times change, and if we're stuck in our ways, the
quote that we have thrown arounda lot lately, if you always do,
you always did, you always get,you always got. That's what we
usually say. So adapt to change,adapt to new ideas, new
thoughts, new initiatives, andembrace it.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
From Hotel Tech Report, it's Hotel Tech Insider,
a show about the future ofhotels and the technology that
powers them.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
On this episode, we sit down with Jason Jackson, the
vice president of operationalstrategy and integration at
Schulte Hospitality. Theportfolio includes around 200
hotels across the United States.Jason shares his experience and
best practices from his recentrollout of digital tipping
software across the portfolio.In addition, we learned which
(00:48):
two characteristics he believesare crucial to being a
successful hotelier.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Jennifer Rosato
Speaker 3 (00:54):
Well, welcome to Hotel Tech Insider. Great to be
here with you, Jason. Lookingforward to speaking with you and
learning more about what you'redoing at your organization. To
get started, I would love foryou to give a little intro, tell
us who you are, what you do, anda bit about the company that you
work with.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Hi. My name is Jason Jackson. I am, VP of operational
strategy and integrations. Ihave been with Schulte
Hospitality for going on 13years, started as a general
manager with the company in 2012and climbed the ranks from GM to
ops manager to regional VP ofops to hotel performance. All
(01:32):
throughout that time, I've beendoing hotel transitions into the
company.
We've grown from 17 hotels in2012 to right around 200 hotels
today. So my main focuscurrently is transitions in and
out of the organization and alsospecial projects. So I focus on
implementing new initiatives andnew platforms and things across
(01:56):
the organization over the lastyear and a half or 2 years.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Can you tell me a bit more about your hotels? Branded,
independent, who are your targetguests?
Speaker 1 (02:06):
Everyone. So in full honesty, we have branded hotels
from all the major flags. So wehave semi H G and then a large
chunk of Marriott properties orHilton properties. And then we
also have graduate hotels, whichis now part of the Hilton larger
(02:26):
family. And then we have anumber of boutique and lifestyle
properties as well.
And another division of thecompany, we have some
restaurants as well, butfocusing more so on the hotels,
we're about 200 at this point.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
And your company manages the hotels, right, not
owning them?
Speaker 1 (02:44):
There's a few that are some ownership stake in
them, but for the most part, weare a management company. Yes.
And we have hotels from 30 somerooms to 500 rooms and
everything in between fromselect brands to focus service
to full service and everythingin the middle.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
What would you say differentiates the Schulte group
from some competitors?
Speaker 1 (03:10):
The first thing that comes to mind is we always try
and stay true to Daryl's visionof being a family run
hospitality answering company.So we always, of course, are
focusing on quality anddelivering results of financial
brand performance and all ofthat. But we also really wanna
(03:32):
be key partners with our ownerinvestors and our capital
partners. And I think everybodywould probably say the same
thing, but I would say, youknow, in my 13 years here, we
have done a really excellent jobof staying true to who Schulte
was designed to be back in 2000when they formed the company.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
Well, let's jump right into the tech stack. I'm
curious to learn, what would yousay is the most critical piece
of technology that you and yourproperties use on a daily basis?
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Probably 2 different areas that I think are critical.
The first would be our suite ofactable products that we use,
which is our businessintelligence and our labor
management tool. So we useProfit Sword. So all of our
general managers are regionalVPs of ops and some corporate
accounting. We're in ProfitSword every day.
(04:27):
So it's forecasting, budgeting,daily performance, inputting
from our property managementsystems, all the numbers, you
know, star goes in there, kindof a little of everything goes
into our profit storage system.And then that interfaces and
ties and integrates with ourHRIS and with other systems as
well. Separate from that ishotel effectiveness, which is
(04:49):
part of Actable as well, andthat is our labor cost
management. So we're in thereevery day doing our 5 minute
daily check-in and making surethat we're reviewing what are we
currently scheduled, what areour, you know, current actuals
and our forecast for the rest ofthe week or the month, and how
do we need to pivot on ourscheduling to make sure we're
(05:10):
hitting our numbersappropriately. Or how else do we
pivot, whether it's our sellingtactics or our labor, you know,
whatnot to bring the NOI to thebest bottom line we can.
And then, the other side of thatwould be our ADP, which is our
HRIS system. So we currently useADP for all of our HR related
(05:34):
tech. So it's our general HR,our payroll, 401 k, benefits,
and recruitment manager is allbuilt into that ADP suite. So
we're in there daily as welljust making, you know, for our
time and attendance andeverything. And then that
obviously interfaces andintegrates with Promoter as well
because we get our actuals fromthere.
(05:56):
So those 2 are probably our mostcritical just in the day to day
and consistent maintenance ofour operation.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
And are those systems used by employees at the
corporate level or propertylevel or both? And do all the
properties use those systemsregardless of brand?
Speaker 1 (06:13):
Yes. All properties use those systems regardless of
their brand. It's also used byour corporate team. We also use
Microsoft Dynamics on the backend at the corporate and
accounting and finance teams usethat, but all of the regional
teams and through GM and DOS andNet Auditors even use our profit
or and Hotel Factos.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
Have you been using those systems for quite a while
or are they relatively newadditions?
Speaker 1 (06:40):
Profit Sword, we migrated to Profit Sword
probably 11 or 12 years ago. Soshortly after I joined the
company, we migrated over toProfit. Hotel effectiveness was
a newer tool about two and ahalf, three years ago for us.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
Can you tell me a bit about the decision process that
went into deciding to use thatsystem a couple years ago?
Speaker 1 (07:04):
Well, I wasn't directly involved at that time
in that process. I can speak alittle bit to it. We were
definitely looking for the rightsystem to be able to have better
eyes, not only for the GMs onproperty, but also for the
regional teams to have bettereyes on performance, on labor
management, and to be able toquickly and efficiently find
(07:25):
ways to, I like to use the wordpivot, but to find ways to pivot
or get creative when needed toget to where we need to get to
with our financial results. Andone of the important things to
consider when we were looking atthose is what integrates well
with the systems that we alreadyhave in place that we've had in
place like Promontory for years.We don't wanna change that
(07:48):
system to a comic.
We wanted to find another systemthat could blend well, and then
they wound up becoming the samecompany as well. So that helped
too.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
For Profit Sword, I'm curious to learn more about how
BI is treated at yourorganization. I think sometimes
it's challenging to encouragethe broader team to look at the
dashboards and go to data whenmaking decisions. So how has
your team built a structure thatensures whoever needs access to
(08:20):
the data can get it and there'ssort of that expectation that
folks are using the software?
Speaker 1 (08:26):
I think whenever there's anything new introduced,
there's always that ramp period.And creating the tools and
resources and training that willallow that to become a more
smooth and efficient process forthe GMs or anybody, to be
honest. Our process is when wehave a new individual joining
(08:46):
the organization, depending ontheir role, they get various
levels of access and, you know,how much can they see. So it's a
regional, they'll get theirwhole region. If it's a GM,
they'll just get their property.
If it's a night auditor, they'lljust get little parts of, you
know, their access is limited towhat their role would entail.
But I think one of the biggestthings is making sure that they
(09:09):
have the tools and resourcesavailable, that they're
comprehensive, but also easy tofollow and easy to navigate,
really. How do we make sure thatthings are being utilized? Our
regional teams have regularcalls with their GMs, and they
are pulling up those systems onthose calls and going through.
And because everything is reallydriven through profit in terms
(09:33):
of anything financial related,it's very clear those that are
more engaged or less engaged.
And then there's more focus onthose that need to be more
engaged. So
Speaker 3 (09:44):
Going back to tech stack, we talked through your BI
tool, talked through humanresources, labor management
tool. Any other tools that havereally been game changers for
you and your team that you useon a regular basis?
Speaker 1 (09:59):
There's 1 or 2 that I definitely wanna hit on. I'm
trying to think if there'sanything else that I should
bring up. We've tried a fewdifferent tech things over the
last couple of years that I'vebeen in this role of, you know,
special projects andinitiatives. We've looked into
robot servers or robot vacuumsand things like that. And while
I do see that there could be alot of potential there, our
(10:21):
priorities had shifted intoother things, so we didn't
explore those too far.
But one of the things that I'mvery passionate about that is
kind of my I call it my passionproject, but it's the thing I
spend the most time on just inenhancing and working together
is digital tipping. So for ourorganization, when I joined this
(10:44):
role about 2 years ago thismonth, one of the areas that I
was asked to kinda look into andexplore for Schulte is digital
tipping. So we had 1organization or 1 platform
already kind of piloting thatwas just triggered by some GM
interest. So I kinda took overthat and I was asked to find a
(11:05):
few other platforms to pilot andfind the best fit for the
organization. So over the next 6months, I was looking into
various platforms and then woundup speaking to a total of 5 or 6
different platforms of varioussize and engagement and whatnot.
We wound up eliminating 2 ofthose before even going to pilot
(11:26):
just for no bad necessarilyreasons, just others stood out.
So we wound up piloting 3different platforms over the
course of the next 7 to 9months, and then we had 2 of
them that really kinda stood upover the 3rd. Mainly just for we
were looking at what would bethe best fit and what would be
(11:49):
the most efficient for Schulteto implement and what was more
sustainable. So we eliminatedthe one, and then we had then
almost a year ago, we eliminatedthe second one just to have
efficiencies of having oneplatform across the entire
organization. You know,reporting, driving a consistency
(12:10):
is just naturally efficient.
So we wound up selecting theplatform Etip, which has become
a phenomenal partner for theorganization.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
I wanna take a step back and dig into the, I guess,
process that you took to settleon ETIP. You mentioned you
started with a larger pool ofvendors, and 3 stood out to you.
What were some of the thingsthat made those vendors stand
out? Like, was it just features?Was it customer support?
Was it price? Like, what werethose initial things that helped
(12:43):
you narrow the pool?
Speaker 1 (12:44):
Well, I would say just the initial first
impression of demo and, if youwill, sales pitch. I gravitate
more towards sales pitches thatfeel anything but a sales pitch
and more just a conversation ofproduct and service. If it is a
sales pitch where you're just,here are all the wows and here's
(13:06):
what we can do for you, and itcomes across more or less
genuine, I will say. It turns meoff from continuing much further
down that path. And then I willalso say the aggressiveness of
the sales team.
There's a process that we haveto go under in review and in
going to legal to have the MSAcompleted and whatnot, and some
(13:30):
vendors of any topic are muchmore so willing to work through
that process effortlessly andjust allow it to be what it
needs to be and take the timethat it needs to take. Others
are much more aggressive of weneed answers now, we need
answers now, and if you wantthis, it has to happen, you
know, by this date of, you know,tomorrow sometimes. And that is
(13:54):
also, you know, not gonna playout well in decision process
making or my input on decisionto the others that might be part
of that conversation. So,ultimately, we wind up with 3
that felt much better thanothers.
Speaker 3 (14:09):
I meant to ask this at the beginning, but digital
tipping, where are guests seeingthis? Is this tipping for
housekeepers? Is it tipping in Fand B outlets? Or all of the
above?
Speaker 1 (14:22):
We're already on phase 2, and I'm getting ready
to put together phase 2 0.5right now. But between December
of last year March, I worked Idon't wanna say tirelessly. I
worked quite a bit with the ETIPteam on creating what the best
platform for Schulte was, atleast for phase 1. And what we
(14:43):
wanted to do is room attendants,guest you know, housekeeping, of
course, is by far the largestrecipient of tips from the
guests. So that was a requiredpart of the program for us.
We also wanted to include otherdisciplines that we have seen
guests want to tip but didn'thave the ability to do so if
(15:05):
they didn't have cash or wantedto charge a tip to the room to
give it to somebody and there'ssome nuances with doing it that
way based on the system orwhatnot. So we did include any
of our f and b areas that arecomplimentary to the guests. We
didn't allow and we still don'tallow our f and b outlets that
(15:25):
are, you know, pay breakfast orpay lunch or dinner because they
already have the ability to tipwith credit card or by charging
to the room through the point ofsale system at the at the
restaurant or bar. But our compbreakfast or our evening social
or things like that, there is nopoint of sale. There is no
ability to tip without cash.
So we wanted to include thoseassociates as well. We also
(15:50):
included our shovel drivers, andwe did go back and forth on if
we wanted to include our frontdesk or not because front desk
is typically not a tippedposition. However, for two
reasons we did, there have beentimes where a guest has wanted
to tip a front desk or hastipped someone at the front desk
because they wowed them or theyfollowed the service recovery
(16:10):
model and they were maybesomeone's hero or they fix
something or they roll out thered carpet or whatever it might
be. And then the other side ofit is by having something at the
front desk that's maybe more sofront desk driven and the
messaging is more prominent atthe end for front desk. It's
also a conversation piece to letthe guest know that, hey, we
(16:32):
have this option here and we'reproud to offer this option.
So we've crafted the wording orthe verbiage on the front desk
collateral to be verynonsolicitous because we don't
want any perception ofsolicitation of tips throughout
the property. But at the frontdesk, especially, we want it to
be more welcoming and, you know,so our verbiage of something
more along the lines of, well,never expected. If you wanted to
(16:55):
show gratitude in a form of atip, you can do so digitally.
And it has gone over fairlywell. Front desk is not a
position that gets tipped ofteneven in this platform or
program, but it has happened.
Now some of the brands havestandards against doing so. So
we're honoring and respectingthose standards because we wanna
(17:15):
be good brand partners as well.But if we're allowed to do so,
then we have it at the frontdesk. And then some of our
properties have valet or bellperson, and they can be included
as well. But we've given optionsto the GM.
So here's the expectedparticipation. Here are the
options that you can choosefrom.
Speaker 3 (17:34):
And from the guest perspective, what does that look
like? Is it like a QR code thatthey scan, or do they receive a
text message? And if I wanted totip the shuttle driver, how
would they do it?
Speaker 1 (17:45):
Sure. It depends on the brand because they have some
different rules or standards onwhat the collateral looks like,
but it's all some formativecollateral. We haven't ventured
into sending text messages withthe link. We've talked about it,
but there's enough there'salready enough things happening
in those follow ups to the guestday that we don't wanna add more
to it and don't wanna overwhelmthe guest. So in the shuttle,
(18:08):
there's either a sign in theshuttle where the driver writes
their name and then the QR code,the guest can pick the name from
the prep time list, or there'sbusiness cards, you know, with
the same QR.
So each of has so many differentoptions where you can do
individual or pulled or a selectwhere they select the department
or the name of the associate. Sowe've done more so select the
(18:30):
name so that way the guest knowswho they're tipping, and then
they can select that person fromthe list. And then it's also
more efficient for the propertyteam who would otherwise have to
go in and manually assign thosetips. But on the front desk,
it's a QR code, the same slot bythe name In the guest room,
there's a number of options. Sowe have majority of our hotels
(18:53):
are tipping based on who cleanedthe room after the tip was left.
So the tip kind of resides withthat specific room until someone
on property, I call it thetipping champion, will go in
best practices daily becausethey have those boards at the
end of the day, and they justassign it to who could be in
that room that day. There's alsosome automated processes that
(19:14):
can allow that based on whatother tech is on-site. So if
we're using a tech that assignsrooms through an app like Alice
or housekeeping productivityapps, we don't have that a lot
in most of our properties, butEtip can also take that and
automatically assign those tipsso that saves the champion that
(19:35):
work. But nothing is a hardprocess. It's just more so
getting the team to know whatthe process is and build it into
their habit, their daily habit.
Speaker 3 (19:45):
Switching gears a little bit, I'm curious to learn
a bit more about Schulte'sgrowth trajectory and curious if
you can share 1 or 2 businessobjectives that you're working
toward and how does technologyhelp you get there?
Speaker 1 (20:00):
Lots of growth in the pipeline. I can't share any
specifics, but I will say thereare at least 39 properties on my
radar right now over the nextprobably 4 months. And I know
there's a lot more in thepipeline, but until it gets to a
certain point of possibilitiesor potential, it doesn't come
all the way over to me yet. Butlots of growth. Business
(20:23):
objectives I'll make one morecomment on Etyp because it's
part of my business objective,and that is as we bring on new
properties, we're automaticallyimplementing Etyp at transition
unless they are under contractwith another organization, and
then we ship them when thatcontract's up just to maintain
that consistency.
But in the 7 months since welaunched, we have over a 120,000
(20:48):
in tips that have gone directlyto our associates. So we don't
make the associate pay any ofthe fees, and we don't make the
guest pay any of the fees. Thehotels cover those the fees for
it. So over a $120 in 7 monthsacross our almost 10,000
associates. Yeah.
Those that are participating atleast in the ETIP program is
(21:09):
phenomenal. And we're alwayslooking how can we make the
program even better for ourplatform and for our
organization? So that's one ofmy continued focus areas of
2025. Other business objectives,I would say, is something that
we continue looking into andjust working through when's the
time right to implement is apurchasing platform. So we're
(21:32):
part of the Avendra system, andthere's a number of purchasing
platforms that we can use toreally maximize hotel manager,
one compliance to our purchasingstandards as well as have better
visibility for them as well asabove property team to what's
(21:52):
being purchased, making surethat we're not having off cycle
invoices and whatnot.
So iEfficient is one of theexamples of it's part of the
larger vendor organization thatwe're always looking at, and
some of our hotels do have thatalready. So at some point, we're
hoping to implement that acrossthe portfolio. We're not just
there yet, but one of thesedays. So other business
(22:14):
objectives, I really think it'sjust driving efficiencies and
helping our teams maximize thepotential of the systems that
are already in place. So whilemany do or utilize the majority
of the platform as well, there'salways room to grow.
And then some of our newerindividuals or whatnot
(22:35):
definitely have the opportunityto learn from others and to
really maximize that option.
Speaker 3 (22:41):
One last question before we wrap up. I'm curious,
based on your experience in theindustry and your experience at
Schulte, what are 1 or 2 skillsor characteristics that someone
should embody to be successfulin today's industry in the hotel
space?
Speaker 1 (22:59):
I would say adaptability and engagement.
I'll start with engagementfirst. I think many of us can
get lost in the day to day andjust even outside of taking care
of guests. But there's the Ineed to update my forecast. I
need to complete the budget.
I need to focus on x, y, and z.And then just being engaged in
(23:22):
when there is a new initiativeor a new training to take better
advantage of the systems alreadyin place or whatever it might
be, the more engaged you are,the better all around. And then
adaptability kind of goes handin hand with that. Times change.
And if we're stuck in our ways,the quote that we have thrown
(23:43):
around a lot lately, if youalways do, you always did.
You always get what you alwaysgot. That's what we usually say.
So adapt to change, adapt to newideas, new thoughts, new
initiatives, and embrace it.
Speaker 3 (23:55):
Well, really appreciate you taking the time,
Jason. Thanks so much.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
You too. Thanks so much.
Speaker 2 (24:02):
That's all for today's episode. Thanks for
listening to Hotel Tech Insiderproduced by hoteltechreport.com.
Our goal with this podcast is toshow you how the best in the
business are leveragingtechnology to grow their
properties and outperform theconcept by using innovative
digital tools and strategies. Iencourage all of our listeners
to go try at least one of thesestrategies or tools that you
(24:24):
learned from today's episode.Successful digital
transformation is all aboutconsistent small experiments
over a long period of time.
So don't wait until tomorrow totry something new.
Speaker 3 (24:34):
Do you
Speaker 2 (24:35):
know a hotelier who would be great to feature on
this show, or do you think thatyour story would bring a lot of
value to our audience? Reach outto me directly on LinkedIn by
searching for Jordan Hollander.For more episodes like this,
follow Hotel Tech Insider on allmajor streaming platforms like
Spotify and Apple Music.
Times change, and if we're stuck in our ways, the
quote that we have thrown arounda lot lately, if you always do,
you always did, you always get,you always got. That's what we
usually say. So adapt to change,adapt to new ideas, new
thoughts, new initiatives, andembrace it.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
From Hotel Tech Report, it's Hotel Tech Insider,
a show about the future ofhotels and the technology that
powers them.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
On this episode, we sit down with Jason Jackson, the
vice president of operationalstrategy and integration at
Schulte Hospitality. Theportfolio includes around 200
hotels across the United States.Jason shares his experience and
best practices from his recentrollout of digital tipping
software across the portfolio.In addition, we learned which
(00:48):
two characteristics he believesare crucial to being a
successful hotelier.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Jennifer Rosato
Speaker 3 (00:54):
Well, welcome to Hotel Tech Insider. Great to be
here with you, Jason. Lookingforward to speaking with you and
learning more about what you'redoing at your organization. To
get started, I would love foryou to give a little intro, tell
us who you are, what you do, anda bit about the company that you
work with.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Hi. My name is Jason Jackson. I am, VP of operational
strategy and integrations. Ihave been with Schulte
Hospitality for going on 13years, started as a general
manager with the company in 2012and climbed the ranks from GM to
ops manager to regional VP ofops to hotel performance. All
(01:32):
throughout that time, I've beendoing hotel transitions into the
company.
We've grown from 17 hotels in2012 to right around 200 hotels
today. So my main focuscurrently is transitions in and
out of the organization and alsospecial projects. So I focus on
implementing new initiatives andnew platforms and things across
(01:56):
the organization over the lastyear and a half or 2 years.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Can you tell me a bit more about your hotels? Branded,
independent, who are your targetguests?
Speaker 1 (02:06):
Everyone. So in full honesty, we have branded hotels
from all the major flags. So wehave semi H G and then a large
chunk of Marriott properties orHilton properties. And then we
also have graduate hotels, whichis now part of the Hilton larger
(02:26):
family. And then we have anumber of boutique and lifestyle
properties as well.
And another division of thecompany, we have some
restaurants as well, butfocusing more so on the hotels,
we're about 200 at this point.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
And your company manages the hotels, right, not
owning them?
Speaker 1 (02:44):
There's a few that are some ownership stake in
them, but for the most part, weare a management company. Yes.
And we have hotels from 30 somerooms to 500 rooms and
everything in between fromselect brands to focus service
to full service and everythingin the middle.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
What would you say differentiates the Schulte group
from some competitors?
Speaker 1 (03:10):
The first thing that comes to mind is we always try
and stay true to Daryl's visionof being a family run
hospitality answering company.So we always, of course, are
focusing on quality anddelivering results of financial
brand performance and all ofthat. But we also really wanna
(03:32):
be key partners with our ownerinvestors and our capital
partners. And I think everybodywould probably say the same
thing, but I would say, youknow, in my 13 years here, we
have done a really excellent jobof staying true to who Schulte
was designed to be back in 2000when they formed the company.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
Well, let's jump right into the tech stack. I'm
curious to learn, what would yousay is the most critical piece
of technology that you and yourproperties use on a daily basis?
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Probably 2 different areas that I think are critical.
The first would be our suite ofactable products that we use,
which is our businessintelligence and our labor
management tool. So we useProfit Sword. So all of our
general managers are regionalVPs of ops and some corporate
accounting. We're in ProfitSword every day.
(04:27):
So it's forecasting, budgeting,daily performance, inputting
from our property managementsystems, all the numbers, you
know, star goes in there, kindof a little of everything goes
into our profit storage system.And then that interfaces and
ties and integrates with ourHRIS and with other systems as
well. Separate from that ishotel effectiveness, which is
(04:49):
part of Actable as well, andthat is our labor cost
management. So we're in thereevery day doing our 5 minute
daily check-in and making surethat we're reviewing what are we
currently scheduled, what areour, you know, current actuals
and our forecast for the rest ofthe week or the month, and how
do we need to pivot on ourscheduling to make sure we're
(05:10):
hitting our numbersappropriately. Or how else do we
pivot, whether it's our sellingtactics or our labor, you know,
whatnot to bring the NOI to thebest bottom line we can.
And then, the other side of thatwould be our ADP, which is our
HRIS system. So we currently useADP for all of our HR related
(05:34):
tech. So it's our general HR,our payroll, 401 k, benefits,
and recruitment manager is allbuilt into that ADP suite. So
we're in there daily as welljust making, you know, for our
time and attendance andeverything. And then that
obviously interfaces andintegrates with Promoter as well
because we get our actuals fromthere.
(05:56):
So those 2 are probably our mostcritical just in the day to day
and consistent maintenance ofour operation.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
And are those systems used by employees at the
corporate level or propertylevel or both? And do all the
properties use those systemsregardless of brand?
Speaker 1 (06:13):
Yes. All properties use those systems regardless of
their brand. It's also used byour corporate team. We also use
Microsoft Dynamics on the backend at the corporate and
accounting and finance teams usethat, but all of the regional
teams and through GM and DOS andNet Auditors even use our profit
or and Hotel Factos.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
Have you been using those systems for quite a while
or are they relatively newadditions?
Speaker 1 (06:40):
Profit Sword, we migrated to Profit Sword
probably 11 or 12 years ago. Soshortly after I joined the
company, we migrated over toProfit. Hotel effectiveness was
a newer tool about two and ahalf, three years ago for us.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
Can you tell me a bit about the decision process that
went into deciding to use thatsystem a couple years ago?
Speaker 1 (07:04):
Well, I wasn't directly involved at that time
in that process. I can speak alittle bit to it. We were
definitely looking for the rightsystem to be able to have better
eyes, not only for the GMs onproperty, but also for the
regional teams to have bettereyes on performance, on labor
management, and to be able toquickly and efficiently find
(07:25):
ways to, I like to use the wordpivot, but to find ways to pivot
or get creative when needed toget to where we need to get to
with our financial results. Andone of the important things to
consider when we were looking atthose is what integrates well
with the systems that we alreadyhave in place that we've had in
place like Promontory for years.We don't wanna change that
(07:48):
system to a comic.
We wanted to find another systemthat could blend well, and then
they wound up becoming the samecompany as well. So that helped
too.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
For Profit Sword, I'm curious to learn more about how
BI is treated at yourorganization. I think sometimes
it's challenging to encouragethe broader team to look at the
dashboards and go to data whenmaking decisions. So how has
your team built a structure thatensures whoever needs access to
(08:20):
the data can get it and there'ssort of that expectation that
folks are using the software?
Speaker 1 (08:26):
I think whenever there's anything new introduced,
there's always that ramp period.And creating the tools and
resources and training that willallow that to become a more
smooth and efficient process forthe GMs or anybody, to be
honest. Our process is when wehave a new individual joining
(08:46):
the organization, depending ontheir role, they get various
levels of access and, you know,how much can they see. So it's a
regional, they'll get theirwhole region. If it's a GM,
they'll just get their property.
If it's a night auditor, they'lljust get little parts of, you
know, their access is limited towhat their role would entail.
But I think one of the biggestthings is making sure that they
(09:09):
have the tools and resourcesavailable, that they're
comprehensive, but also easy tofollow and easy to navigate,
really. How do we make sure thatthings are being utilized? Our
regional teams have regularcalls with their GMs, and they
are pulling up those systems onthose calls and going through.
And because everything is reallydriven through profit in terms
(09:33):
of anything financial related,it's very clear those that are
more engaged or less engaged.
And then there's more focus onthose that need to be more
engaged. So
Speaker 3 (09:44):
Going back to tech stack, we talked through your BI
tool, talked through humanresources, labor management
tool. Any other tools that havereally been game changers for
you and your team that you useon a regular basis?
Speaker 1 (09:59):
There's 1 or 2 that I definitely wanna hit on. I'm
trying to think if there'sanything else that I should
bring up. We've tried a fewdifferent tech things over the
last couple of years that I'vebeen in this role of, you know,
special projects andinitiatives. We've looked into
robot servers or robot vacuumsand things like that. And while
I do see that there could be alot of potential there, our
(10:21):
priorities had shifted intoother things, so we didn't
explore those too far.
But one of the things that I'mvery passionate about that is
kind of my I call it my passionproject, but it's the thing I
spend the most time on just inenhancing and working together
is digital tipping. So for ourorganization, when I joined this
(10:44):
role about 2 years ago thismonth, one of the areas that I
was asked to kinda look into andexplore for Schulte is digital
tipping. So we had 1organization or 1 platform
already kind of piloting thatwas just triggered by some GM
interest. So I kinda took overthat and I was asked to find a
(11:05):
few other platforms to pilot andfind the best fit for the
organization. So over the next 6months, I was looking into
various platforms and then woundup speaking to a total of 5 or 6
different platforms of varioussize and engagement and whatnot.
We wound up eliminating 2 ofthose before even going to pilot
(11:26):
just for no bad necessarilyreasons, just others stood out.
So we wound up piloting 3different platforms over the
course of the next 7 to 9months, and then we had 2 of
them that really kinda stood upover the 3rd. Mainly just for we
were looking at what would bethe best fit and what would be
(11:49):
the most efficient for Schulteto implement and what was more
sustainable. So we eliminatedthe one, and then we had then
almost a year ago, we eliminatedthe second one just to have
efficiencies of having oneplatform across the entire
organization. You know,reporting, driving a consistency
(12:10):
is just naturally efficient.
So we wound up selecting theplatform Etip, which has become
a phenomenal partner for theorganization.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
I wanna take a step back and dig into the, I guess,
process that you took to settleon ETIP. You mentioned you
started with a larger pool ofvendors, and 3 stood out to you.
What were some of the thingsthat made those vendors stand
out? Like, was it just features?Was it customer support?
Was it price? Like, what werethose initial things that helped
(12:43):
you narrow the pool?
Speaker 1 (12:44):
Well, I would say just the initial first
impression of demo and, if youwill, sales pitch. I gravitate
more towards sales pitches thatfeel anything but a sales pitch
and more just a conversation ofproduct and service. If it is a
sales pitch where you're just,here are all the wows and here's
(13:06):
what we can do for you, and itcomes across more or less
genuine, I will say. It turns meoff from continuing much further
down that path. And then I willalso say the aggressiveness of
the sales team.
There's a process that we haveto go under in review and in
going to legal to have the MSAcompleted and whatnot, and some
(13:30):
vendors of any topic are muchmore so willing to work through
that process effortlessly andjust allow it to be what it
needs to be and take the timethat it needs to take. Others
are much more aggressive of weneed answers now, we need
answers now, and if you wantthis, it has to happen, you
know, by this date of, you know,tomorrow sometimes. And that is
(13:54):
also, you know, not gonna playout well in decision process
making or my input on decisionto the others that might be part
of that conversation. So,ultimately, we wind up with 3
that felt much better thanothers.
Speaker 3 (14:09):
I meant to ask this at the beginning, but digital
tipping, where are guests seeingthis? Is this tipping for
housekeepers? Is it tipping in Fand B outlets? Or all of the
above?
Speaker 1 (14:22):
We're already on phase 2, and I'm getting ready
to put together phase 2 0.5right now. But between December
of last year March, I worked Idon't wanna say tirelessly. I
worked quite a bit with the ETIPteam on creating what the best
platform for Schulte was, atleast for phase 1. And what we
(14:43):
wanted to do is room attendants,guest you know, housekeeping, of
course, is by far the largestrecipient of tips from the
guests. So that was a requiredpart of the program for us.
We also wanted to include otherdisciplines that we have seen
guests want to tip but didn'thave the ability to do so if
(15:05):
they didn't have cash or wantedto charge a tip to the room to
give it to somebody and there'ssome nuances with doing it that
way based on the system orwhatnot. So we did include any
of our f and b areas that arecomplimentary to the guests. We
didn't allow and we still don'tallow our f and b outlets that
(15:25):
are, you know, pay breakfast orpay lunch or dinner because they
already have the ability to tipwith credit card or by charging
to the room through the point ofsale system at the at the
restaurant or bar. But our compbreakfast or our evening social
or things like that, there is nopoint of sale. There is no
ability to tip without cash.
So we wanted to include thoseassociates as well. We also
(15:50):
included our shovel drivers, andwe did go back and forth on if
we wanted to include our frontdesk or not because front desk
is typically not a tippedposition. However, for two
reasons we did, there have beentimes where a guest has wanted
to tip a front desk or hastipped someone at the front desk
because they wowed them or theyfollowed the service recovery
(16:10):
model and they were maybesomeone's hero or they fix
something or they roll out thered carpet or whatever it might
be. And then the other side ofit is by having something at the
front desk that's maybe more sofront desk driven and the
messaging is more prominent atthe end for front desk. It's
also a conversation piece to letthe guest know that, hey, we
(16:32):
have this option here and we'reproud to offer this option.
So we've crafted the wording orthe verbiage on the front desk
collateral to be verynonsolicitous because we don't
want any perception ofsolicitation of tips throughout
the property. But at the frontdesk, especially, we want it to
be more welcoming and, you know,so our verbiage of something
more along the lines of, well,never expected. If you wanted to
(16:55):
show gratitude in a form of atip, you can do so digitally.
And it has gone over fairlywell. Front desk is not a
position that gets tipped ofteneven in this platform or
program, but it has happened.
Now some of the brands havestandards against doing so. So
we're honoring and respectingthose standards because we wanna
(17:15):
be good brand partners as well.But if we're allowed to do so,
then we have it at the frontdesk. And then some of our
properties have valet or bellperson, and they can be included
as well. But we've given optionsto the GM.
So here's the expectedparticipation. Here are the
options that you can choosefrom.
Speaker 3 (17:34):
And from the guest perspective, what does that look
like? Is it like a QR code thatthey scan, or do they receive a
text message? And if I wanted totip the shuttle driver, how
would they do it?
Speaker 1 (17:45):
Sure. It depends on the brand because they have some
different rules or standards onwhat the collateral looks like,
but it's all some formativecollateral. We haven't ventured
into sending text messages withthe link. We've talked about it,
but there's enough there'salready enough things happening
in those follow ups to the guestday that we don't wanna add more
to it and don't wanna overwhelmthe guest. So in the shuttle,
(18:08):
there's either a sign in theshuttle where the driver writes
their name and then the QR code,the guest can pick the name from
the prep time list, or there'sbusiness cards, you know, with
the same QR.
So each of has so many differentoptions where you can do
individual or pulled or a selectwhere they select the department
or the name of the associate. Sowe've done more so select the
(18:30):
name so that way the guest knowswho they're tipping, and then
they can select that person fromthe list. And then it's also
more efficient for the propertyteam who would otherwise have to
go in and manually assign thosetips. But on the front desk,
it's a QR code, the same slot bythe name In the guest room,
there's a number of options. Sowe have majority of our hotels
(18:53):
are tipping based on who cleanedthe room after the tip was left.
So the tip kind of resides withthat specific room until someone
on property, I call it thetipping champion, will go in
best practices daily becausethey have those boards at the
end of the day, and they justassign it to who could be in
that room that day. There's alsosome automated processes that
(19:14):
can allow that based on whatother tech is on-site. So if
we're using a tech that assignsrooms through an app like Alice
or housekeeping productivityapps, we don't have that a lot
in most of our properties, butEtip can also take that and
automatically assign those tipsso that saves the champion that
(19:35):
work. But nothing is a hardprocess. It's just more so
getting the team to know whatthe process is and build it into
their habit, their daily habit.
Speaker 3 (19:45):
Switching gears a little bit, I'm curious to learn
a bit more about Schulte'sgrowth trajectory and curious if
you can share 1 or 2 businessobjectives that you're working
toward and how does technologyhelp you get there?
Speaker 1 (20:00):
Lots of growth in the pipeline. I can't share any
specifics, but I will say thereare at least 39 properties on my
radar right now over the nextprobably 4 months. And I know
there's a lot more in thepipeline, but until it gets to a
certain point of possibilitiesor potential, it doesn't come
all the way over to me yet. Butlots of growth. Business
(20:23):
objectives I'll make one morecomment on Etyp because it's
part of my business objective,and that is as we bring on new
properties, we're automaticallyimplementing Etyp at transition
unless they are under contractwith another organization, and
then we ship them when thatcontract's up just to maintain
that consistency.
But in the 7 months since welaunched, we have over a 120,000
(20:48):
in tips that have gone directlyto our associates. So we don't
make the associate pay any ofthe fees, and we don't make the
guest pay any of the fees. Thehotels cover those the fees for
it. So over a $120 in 7 monthsacross our almost 10,000
associates. Yeah.
Those that are participating atleast in the ETIP program is
(21:09):
phenomenal. And we're alwayslooking how can we make the
program even better for ourplatform and for our
organization? So that's one ofmy continued focus areas of
2025. Other business objectives,I would say, is something that
we continue looking into andjust working through when's the
time right to implement is apurchasing platform. So we're
(21:32):
part of the Avendra system, andthere's a number of purchasing
platforms that we can use toreally maximize hotel manager,
one compliance to our purchasingstandards as well as have better
visibility for them as well asabove property team to what's
(21:52):
being purchased, making surethat we're not having off cycle
invoices and whatnot.
So iEfficient is one of theexamples of it's part of the
larger vendor organization thatwe're always looking at, and
some of our hotels do have thatalready. So at some point, we're
hoping to implement that acrossthe portfolio. We're not just
there yet, but one of thesedays. So other business
(22:14):
objectives, I really think it'sjust driving efficiencies and
helping our teams maximize thepotential of the systems that
are already in place. So whilemany do or utilize the majority
of the platform as well, there'salways room to grow.
And then some of our newerindividuals or whatnot
(22:35):
definitely have the opportunityto learn from others and to
really maximize that option.
Speaker 3 (22:41):
One last question before we wrap up. I'm curious,
based on your experience in theindustry and your experience at
Schulte, what are 1 or 2 skillsor characteristics that someone
should embody to be successfulin today's industry in the hotel
space?
Speaker 1 (22:59):
I would say adaptability and engagement.
I'll start with engagementfirst. I think many of us can
get lost in the day to day andjust even outside of taking care
of guests. But there's the Ineed to update my forecast. I
need to complete the budget.
I need to focus on x, y, and z.And then just being engaged in
(23:22):
when there is a new initiativeor a new training to take better
advantage of the systems alreadyin place or whatever it might
be, the more engaged you are,the better all around. And then
adaptability kind of goes handin hand with that. Times change.
And if we're stuck in our ways,the quote that we have thrown
(23:43):
around a lot lately, if youalways do, you always did.
You always get what you alwaysgot. That's what we usually say.
So adapt to change, adapt to newideas, new thoughts, new
initiatives, and embrace it.
Speaker 3 (23:55):
Well, really appreciate you taking the time,
Jason. Thanks so much.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
You too. Thanks so much.
Speaker 2 (24:02):
That's all for today's episode. Thanks for
listening to Hotel Tech Insiderproduced by hoteltechreport.com.
Our goal with this podcast is toshow you how the best in the
business are leveragingtechnology to grow their
properties and outperform theconcept by using innovative
digital tools and strategies. Iencourage all of our listeners
to go try at least one of thesestrategies or tools that you
(24:24):
learned from today's episode.Successful digital
transformation is all aboutconsistent small experiments
over a long period of time.
So don't wait until tomorrow totry something new.
Speaker 3 (24:34):
Do you
Speaker 2 (24:35):
know a hotelier who would be great to feature on
this show, or do you think thatyour story would bring a lot of
value to our audience? Reach outto me directly on LinkedIn by
searching for Jordan Hollander.For more episodes like this,
follow Hotel Tech Insider on allmajor streaming platforms like
Spotify and Apple Music.
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