August 2010 Issue

View from the bottom

There is a new phrase showing up in discussions among the executive team these days – “closing the loop.” For several years we had been soliciting feedback from our guests and had done our best to respond to them, but in the past few months we have raised the bar: we are asking managers to personally respond to all guest feedback, and to copy the appropriate member of the executive team. We’re closing the loop. Right?

Well, no. That would represent closing the loop only if we intended to cycle through the same loop of customer complaint and apologies over and over. We have begun to understand that truly “closing the loop” involves one more – one crucial – step: solving the problem so that the same criticism doesn’t show up again.

Don’t get me wrong. Many comments we receive are positive, praising our staff and our facilities for the great vacations we provide. We try as often as we can to pass those comments on to the employees responsible for great service.

Not all comments, however, are positive, and we can learn even more from those that aren’t than from the compliments. Especially when we see the same criticisms over and over, we know we have work to do, and thanks to these guest comments, we know exactly what we need to do. The management team is committed to the practice of soliciting guest feedback not just because it is a tried and true business practice, but because we are committed to using that feedback to improve everything we do.

And that improvement all comes down to you. You’ll be hearing more about this in your department meetings, and I ask you to take it seriously and to think hard about how you can be part of fixing parts of our operation that are not working smoothly. It’s too easy to hear a guest comment and chuckle, dismissing it with a “nobody’s perfect” attitude; it’s a lot more challenging – but believe me, a lot more rewarding – to think about that comment, to recognize when you or I might have been guilty of the same oversight, and to admit that our action may have made a negative impact on a guest’s vacation. And then to resolve to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

Every new employee is expressly told at orientation that they are empowered to do whatever is necessary to create great vacations. Please join me in a commitment to take personal responsibility and “closing the loop” to a whole new level, and let’s give each and every guest more than they paid for.

Benefits

We are fortunate to live near a city like Denver that offers great entertainment opportunities – and we are very fortunate to work for a company whose owners share their season tickets to the best of those entertainment offerings. Read more

Health & Wellness

Mom has been telling us forever, and now the media tells us daily, that we really need to eat our vegetables. All that advice, however, is more likely to make us consider those required three to five servings a day as a duty rather than a pleasure. But take another look. Read more

Green Tip

Be patient and don’t give up. It is all too easy to fall into negative thinking, feeling that given the massive change needed in order to conserve resources for an ever-growing population on planet Earth, the little things you do can’t possibly make a difference. What difference does it make if you drive a car with a high mpg, when millions of gallons of oil were spilled into the Gulf of Mexico every day? Read more

Manager Tip

Being a manager entails a lot more than knowing your department’s responsibilities as well as or better than the best of your staff. Responsibilities for budgeting, motivating and disciplining staff, and adjusting systems to changing business environments can put a lot of pressure on even the most experienced manager, and make the slightest criticism feel threatening. Read more

IS Tip

Are you away from the office, without access to a computer, but want to pick up phone messages? Easy enough. Just dial 970-547-4005, press the # sign and follow the instructions to log into your voice mail. Get your phone messages anytime, anywhere!

This month is National Inventors Month

Who do you think of when you think of inventors? The wacky guy down the street who shoots rockets of his own design into the air, or who cobbles together household items into a new tool? Or do you think of more famous names, like Thomas Edison or Benjamin Franklin? Whichever comes to mind first, they are all of the same breed – courageous people who are not afraid to think outside the box, to try things that others are bound to consider impossible at best, just plain silly at worst. Read more

Employee Spotlight

You hear about those people who come to Colorado on vacation and never go home. Dale Holland is one of them. Admittedly, it was going to be a rather long vacation – Dale and his wife Cheryl had intended to spend one whole ski season in the Keystone area, to indulge the passion for powder Dale had developed as the result of a New Year’s resolution, made with six buddies in 1984, to learn to ski. Read more

Service is sales. Great service makes the customer glad – over and over again – that she purchased from you, and makes him more likely to buy from you again. Every time you offer exemplary service to our owners and guests, think of it as a sales pitch. Imagine that the guest will repeat that gracious comment to family and friends as they convince them to take a tour of our resorts. Read more

Spend a day observing yourself at work. Is there something that you encounter regularly in your job that causes you difficulty? Gets in the way of your productivity? Just plain drives you nuts? If so (and who doesn’t have a few of those?), take a few minutes of quiet time and think of one or two steps you could take to smooth out those wrinkles. Read more

A good word is an easy obligation; but not to speak ill requires only our silence, which costs us nothing.
- John Tillotson
Breckenridge Grand Vacations | PO Box 6879 | 100 S. Main St. | Breckenridge, CO 80424 | 888-783-8883