Shell Hospitality, Inc. is in the enviable position of having very happy employees and extremely satisfied guests. This is not just a wishful claim. It has been documented via mountains of survey results completed over the past seven years in its company-wide employee and guest satisfaction monitoring programs.

According to Shell Hospitality President Steven Hicks, “We believe we have developed a culture that is conducive to maintaining happy, productive employees who feel they are part of the Shell family. By continuously monitoring employee satisfaction levels and striving to make improvements in every area, we have been able to keep our pulse on the heartbeat of our organization … our people. This program has also resulted in our company enjoying higher-than-average industry satisfaction levels from everyone who visits our Shell Vacations Club properties.”

“With guest comment surveys indicating an average of 90% or higher in overall satisfaction,” he adds, “exchange company surveys also in the 90% range, as well as company employee surveys resulting in a high overall satisfaction with Shell Hospitality, we are confident that our approach is working.” (The employee survey overall average for 2004 is over 90% positive. When referring to the question “I like working here” the number is 93%.)

Not only is their approach “working,” it has also contributed significantly to sales with about one third of Shell Vacation Club’s (SVC) timeshare sales directly attributable to its existing owner base. This clearly indicates that the SVC owners/members are so satisfied with their vacation experiences that they have purchased additional vacation time. An important economic side benefit and direct correlation is a major reduction in marketing costs, since the existing owners have in essence, been “resold” by the exemplary service they have received from the happy employees of Shell Hospitality.

Shell Hospitality has used the UniFocus programs for about seven years. Based in Dallas, UniFocus is one of the most comprehensive performance management companies in the hospitality, gaming and service industries. The company provides full-service operational analysis, financial and labor management applications, as well as staff, meeting planner and guest satisfaction measurement programs executable across a wide variety of technology platforms.

Adds Steven Hicks of Shell Hospitality, “The data obtained on our personnel and properties enables UniFocus to correlate and benchmark our performances, giving us a ‘total picture’ overview of our operations.”

Since its formation in 1998, UniFocus has completed over 3.5 million guest surveys, 250,000 employee surveys and hundreds of annual property assessments and implementations, giving them the ability to offer unparalleled property and company performance comparative analysis. The UniFocus technology-based systems are designed for service industries by experts within those specific industries.

The company is a Microsoft® Certified Partner, in affinity partner of the International Association of Conference Centers, a business partner of the International Association of Convention & Visitors Bureaus, and an allied member of the American Hotel & Lodging Association.

Employee Surveys

Utilizing customized surveys created by UniFocus, every six months Shell Hospitality conducts an employee opinion survey with all of the 1,500-team members in the field, including managers. This is done to measure the level of employee satisfaction. The 27-question Associate Opinion Survey documents the statements that receive both the highest and lowest scores from employees. Called “critical strength attributes and critical risk attributes”, statements scored include:

• My health benefits package is good

• I am paid fairly for what I do

• I like working here

• I have the training I need to do my job

• I feel that the company will address the results of this survey

Other questions relate to confidence in leadership, recognition of performance, interest level in job, and internal communications.

Explains Sue Kelley, Vice President of Shell Hospitality, “Employee feedback is just as critical to our success as customer feedback. We’re proud to report that on the most recently survey conducted, over 93% of our employees answered a resounding “yes” to the statement “I like working here”.

All surveys are tabulated by UniFocus to ensure complete confidentiality. After completing the tabulation process, they report to Shell Hospitality with detailed information, broken down by departments. Employee surveys provide data on the company as well as individual properties. Shell then reviews the results of the reported data and the resort General Managers put together a department-by-department follow-up plan on how to address areas of concern or items that did not rank as high as others.

According to Hicks, “If ratings in a resort’s specific department are lower in some areas than our benchmarked levels or expectations, this provides management with an opportunity to respond in a positive manner. If answers to statements like: My supervisor addresses my concerns … I receive my reviews on time … I am confident in my supervisor … are not at the level we expect , we know that we may need to do additional training or coaching and counseling with our management staff in that department. Once a plan is implemented to correct that area of concern, we follow up with department members to ensure that the issues have been addressed. We will also be able to track the results of the next employee survey in that specific area in a few months when the next employee survey is completed.”

Our HR departments are a very intricate part of our employee survey program. Consequently, more serious issues that are learned as a result of our surveys may need to be reviewed with our HR department and may require more immediate action.

Guest Surveys

The UniFocus program provides Shell Hospitality with a comment survey vehicle that is given to each guest during the checkout process. The survey is easy and can be completed quickly. Questions relate to cleanliness, friendliness of staff, front desk activities, value of room and amenities and overall positive experience.

Shell Hospitality receives detailed reports each month after the cards have been tabulated by UniFocus then posted monthly. The reports provide the information that enables the Hospitality management to continually monitor the service levels being provided. It also gives feedback about features and benefits of the properties, supplying additional information for potential changes and upgrades.

Adds Hicks, “If a guest responds that they have experienced difficulties during their stay, we consider this an ideal service recovery opportunity and immediately implement procedures and/or training programs to reverse that situation. Since the reports are provided on a monthly basis, this enables us to correct a negative situation before it becomes a serious problem.”

After tracking more than 17,000 comment cards in the past year, Shell Vacations Club guests have scored Shell Hospitality and its resorts with the equivalent of a 90 per cent satisfaction rating. (Because RCI rates satisfaction on a 1-5 scale, this equates to a 4.5 rating with all Shell Hospitality guests.)

Kauai Resort Rates Highest Guest Satisfaction

While all Shell Hospitality resorts ranked extremely high in guest satisfaction, intent to return and value levels, the Kauai Coast at the Beachboy resort received a 93.9% overall satisfaction and overall value rating for the first six months of this year. This gives it one of the highest ratings of all Shell resorts. Items measured include Front Desk check-in and checkout, friendly, helpful and prompt staff, food and beverage accuracy and cleanliness of guestroom.

Managed by Malana de Silva and backed by a staff of 60 resort professionals the 108-unit beachfront resort features an on-site spa, restaurant, fitness center and tennis courts. Shell Vacations purchased the resort in 1999 and spent $13 million to completely refurbish the property.

Both Steve Hicks and Sue Kelley say they believe their employees are much happier just knowing that they care enough to administer these programs and follow up on their concerns. This has resulted in a tremendous reduction in employee turnover.

Adds Hicks, “Employee turnover is costly; we feel we owe it to our employees to give them this forum to express themselves. Developing this level of loyalty and trust with our employees encourages them to communicate more openly with management on an on-going basis between the dates of the surveys. While the cost of these surveys is not small, they are proof that Shell Hospitality holds its employees in high esteem. Simply the fact that we conduct the surveys shows we care about what they think. This obvious ‘caring’ is returned to us again and again, ultimately going straight to the top and back to our customers.”