Meet the Editor, Jay Gordon
Feeling special
Imagine that your plane has landed in Las Vegas and you're in a cab on the way to your
hotel on the Strip. Maybe you're here on business, or perhaps a quick vacation. The
cab rolls into the hotel's check-in area.
Now turn to pages 43-47. Imagine that these employees are among the fi rst you see as you arrive at the hotel. Maybe it's Percy Wilson welcoming you and holding the door at The Signature at the MGM Grand, or Tracy Skinner taking care of your bags. Maybe it's Phuong Vu greeting you at the registration desk at the Monte Carlo, or Leroy Simmons tending to your every need at Skylofts.
Contributing writer Ron Donoho has been fi elding a lot of terrifi c Street Seen features for us, but I believe he outdid himself this month in capturing the unique ability of these Las Vegas hotels to immediately create an environment that conveys excitement, class and a high level of service - an environment that communicates to guests that they are special.
These employees are probably the fi rst personal, on-site contact guests of these hotels will have, and their uniforms help send the right message. Our Street Seen features always include a "Uniforms suggests" box where we try to identify some ways that the uniforms might be improved, either in terms of comfort, style, fi t or functionality. We even ran these uniforms by some experts in the uniform business, and to be perfectly honest, they were hard-pressed to suggest substantial improvements.
Among the segments of the uniform market I have observed, hotels seem to be a step ahead of the pack in using uniforms to make an immediate impression and create an environment, an experience, that stands out in the guest's mind and differentiates them from the competitor down the street. That's what building a brand is all about, and while the hospitality industry needs to be a leader in this area, the lesson applies to virtually every market segment that wears uniforms - and probably even to some that do not.
It doesn't matter whether you're a department store or a transmission repair shop. Your uniforms (or lack thereof) create an environment - one that either makes your guests and customers feel special, or one that indicates you haven't taken the time to think about it, or worse, that you don't care.
Are you making customers and guests feel special?
Dress Jay
Putting on this suit made me feel pretty special, and I'm sure it would
have the same effect on any hospitality industry employee. When you
look good, you feel special - and when you feel special, you're more apt
to make others feel special, too. Turn to page 22 to learn more about
what I'm wearing, and if you have a uniform you'd like me to feature
here, send me a note at the address beow.
Jay Gordon
cmittica@asicentral.com
Click here to learn more about the uniforms Jay is wearing
