Why Westin Changed Its Name Tags

If I worked for the hotel chain, my tag might read: "Carmine Gallo: My passion is golf."

By Carmine Gallo

Inspiration that keeps employees energized on a daily basis often has more to do with communication than compensation. The question is, how do you do communicate with your staff in a genuine way and encourage them to impress your customers? Westin Hotels & Resorts seems to have a found an effective strategy that you might be able to use in your own business.

During a recent visit to the Westin Stonebriar Resort in North Dallas, my wife and I enjoyed the many conversations we had with the hotel's staff and were impressed with the level of service we received. Chatting about movies with one employee, skiing with another, and travel destinations with another made us feel as if we were among family. It didn't take me long to wonder what was happening. I soon learned that earlier this year Westin had launched an initiative designed to encourage camaraderie. It was simple enough: new name tags for employees. The twist was that under the employee's name, the tag now included a phrase indicating one of the employee's passions outside of work. If I worked at Westin, my tag might read: "Carmine Gallo: My passion is golf."

Upon returning from my trip, I called Westin Senior Vice-President Sue Brush, who explained the strategy behind the initiative. She told me the "passion tags" serve two purposes: First, they open up a dialogue between Westin's 50,000-some employees and their guests, which leads to increased customer loyalty. "If you have a personal relationship with a guest, they will be much more open about bringing up any issue they might have during their stay," said Brush. "If we meet a guest's needs, our loyalty scores go up [loyalty scores include the likelihood of a guest returning or recommending the hotel]. But if a guest has a problem and it is resolved to their satisfaction, their intent to return is even higher than the guest who had no problem."

Better Questions, Better Answers

Second, Brush told me the tags encourage dialogue between managers and staff. "The passion tags show our associates that we appreciate and acknowledge them personally," she said. "It shows that we want to know more about them than their title and educational background."

At the Westin Stonebriar, general manager Craig Sundell used the tags to do just that. For example, he discovered an employee who loved going on weekend drives with his father when he was growing up. Now that this employee has a family of his own, he likes to take driving trips with them. Armed with this information, Sundell gave the employee a gas card as a gesture of appreciation for his work.

How much do you know about the people who work for you? Improving the quality of questions you ask will elicit a higher quality of responses. To create its name tags, Westin asked questions such as what is the thing you most enjoy during your free time? What is your favorite way to feel alive and energized? If money were not an issue and you had endless amounts of free time, what would you spend your time doing?

Your employees will go the extra mile—for you and for your customers—when they know how much you care about them. Start asking.

Carmine Gallo is a communications coach for the world's leading brands. He is a speaker and author of the new book "Fire Them Up"