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MARVELLOUS millennials are helping a leading five star destination in Bahrain become even more attractive and desirable to a growing number of younger clientele … as well as making their working life more rewarding and enjoyable.
For the generation game is being played to perfection by an inspirational hospitality veteran who is tapping into the luxury resort team’s boundless enthusiasm and talent.
Bernard de Villèle, general manager of the Ritz-Carlton, Bahrain said: “You see the energy, you see the heart and then you see the need to start embracing the millennials.”
Within days of joining the company, one of his first tasks was to instigate the setting up of a pioneering Millennials Board with the promise that all agreed suggestions will be activated upon and implemented within three weeks.
The whole hotel operation will also undergo an audit carried out by the young guns to highlight what is working, and more importantly, what they believe could be improved upon.
They will also be publishing regular in-house ‘millennial news’ publications highlighting the work of the board, its findings and future aspirations.
When he was recently introduced to the Bahrain media just days after his appointment he had chief millennial officer, Gokul MP, and chief Z officer and board member, Blanca Segura, by his side.
The 10-stong millennial board has been tasked with coming up with improvements for staff members, referred to as the hotel’s ‘ladies and gentlemen’, as well as an ever-growing number of guests of the same generation.
Bernard first introduced the concept at his last port of call – The St Regis Mexico City – to national acclaim and he has developed and expanded it further after moving to Bahrain.
“I always believe in best practice,’ he explained. “Maturity has nothing to do with age, it’s just pure mind set - it is about the fire you have within yourself.”
Evidence is clear for all to see, he says, citing examples such as American entrepreneur Steve Jobs, Apple’s co-founder, who started out in business at 21, and Pakinstani female education advocate Malala Yousafzai who, at the age of 17, became the youngest person to win the Nobel Peace Prize after surviving an assassination attempt.
He even stepped further back into history highlighting Alexander the Great who created one of the largest empires of the ancient world by the age of 30, stretching from Greece to north western India.
When he introduced the Millennial Board idea in Mexico City a couple of years ago he said it was ‘extremely well received’. He was not kidding, when word got out he found himself being interviewed live by host Carlos Motta during prime time in the TV Azteca studio in front of a viewing audience of more than 750,000.
For the initiated, there are various demographic cohorts. On the current payroll at companies are ‘Baby Boomers’, those born between 1946 and 1964, who are widely associated with privilege, as many grew up in a time of increasing affluence.
They were followed by Generation X, typically those born from the mid-1960s to the early 1980s. As children they were sometimes labelled the ‘latchkey generation’, due to reduced adult supervision as children compared to previous generations, a result of increasing divorce rates.
Demographers typically use those born between the 1980s to early 2000s for the Millennials, also known as Generation Y. They are generally known for an increased use and familiarity with communications, media and digital technologies and have been followed by Generation Z into the workplace, who have used the Internet since a young age and are interacting on social media.
Of the approximately 650 members of staff at the Ritz-Carlton, Bahrain more than half fit into the latter two categories.
“So when you have 55 per cent of millennials in your hotel we have to understand them and the millennial customers who it has been suggested will become the highest spending generation by 2020,” said French Baby Boomer and well-travelled son of a diplomat, Bernard. “When you have these ladies and gentlemen, that’s what we call them in our great company, who will soon take care of 50 per cent of our clients, we need to build a bridge, we need to understand each other.
“We need to know what their aspirations are, what they want and need. That is extremely important. The Millennial Board has a very important role in collecting information.
“I think we’re here to make a difference in people’s lives. That’s the key, and, if you look after your ladies and gentlemen it is very clear that your business will be ‘a la grande’ as we say.”
That’s French for big and successful.
“If everybody is happy they will spread that happiness to our beautiful clients and my bottom line will be healthy,” he added. “It’s a win-win situation.
“They have already started preparing and they are eager because they are empowered and we trust them.
“It’s important that they feel empowered because that’s the name of the game, if they are not empowered to carry out auditing on a specific set of standards, generate ideas, report back, ensure implementation and issue their own millennial news, then what’s the point of doing it? It would just be another cosmetic thing … and we don’t want that.
“So, we are listening to them, we give them ways to communicate, they come up with suggestions to enhance how we operate by having ideas which must be implemented within three weeks and really make a difference … and we are waiting for those ideas.”
Bernard is married to Brit, Yvonne, is the father of three children, Valerie, 38, Olivia, 37, and Nathalia, 32, and has six grandchildren. He says the idea first floated in his mind after being inspired by his millennial daughter’s energy.
The experience in Brazil proved beneficial in numerous ways, from simple things like changing the scratchy material used for staff uniforms to a more comfortable option, to providing a garden retreat for guests which is now one of the most popular places in the property, to producing individual laser-printed gift sets for special guests within a couple of hours of them booking in.
All great ideas for staff and guests generated by the young minds.
Already the Ritz-Carlton, Bahrain’s millennial board has started bouncing ideas around which they will shortly present to Bernard and his senior management team.
CMO Gokul, 31, from Kerala, is the restaurant manager of the hotel’s Nirvana Indian outlet. He’s been in Bahrain for a year after a two-year-spell at a sister property in Doha, and is overlooking sales & marketing and the hotel’s security operation from a ‘fresh perspective’.
“Initially, I was a little sceptical but I took it as an opportunity to connect with my team members - fellow millennials - and do something different with them,” he said. “It’s proving to be very exciting and new ideas have been constantly popping up.”
The techie vibe is clear, with one suggestion to develop a smart phone QR code to allow guests to enter their rooms instead of key cards. A cycle booking service has also been muted alongside an app for locating cinemas, malls and places of interest.
“Our associates have so much potential which up until now has gone untapped, they can give the hotel so much more,” he added.
Buzzing Blanca, chief Z officer (CZO), 23, certainly falls into that category. The Spaniard from holiday hotspot Majorca, who was educated at a British boarding school, signed up with the Marriott Voyage Programme, an elite leadership apprenticeship scheme, after graduating from university.
She joined the Ritz-Carton last October and is receiving hands-on and virtual training in many disciplines including accounting & finance, culinary, engineering, event management, food & beverage, human resources, revenue management, rooms operations and sales and is currently based in guest relations.
“I’m like a sponge,” she said. “I observe everything, not only the good things but the bad things - everything. My future goal is to become a GM.”
To prove the point, no sooner had Bernard stepped across the threshold she was banging on his door saying she wanted to learn from him and swiftly found herself on the newly-formed board … with the big boss wanting to learn from her!
“Not all the staff were fully aware of what the millennial term meant so we decided to carry out a survey with all of them, highlighting their issues of concern and suggestions,” she said.
And, of course, in true millennial style, there has to be a serious party planned to ‘kick-off’ the board’s creation.
“It will be for all our employees,” she explained. “That was the first idea I shared because our GM keeps talking about ‘bridging the gap’ between the generations working here. So it makes sense to stage it on the resort’s private island because to reach it you have to cross a bridge!”
In Mexico they introduced a hair salon for staff members and Blanca would like to go one better in Bahrain with a visiting physiotherapist. With hours of standing, some members of staff occasionally suffer from leg or back pain. They would surely bounce quickly back to greet guests with a welcoming smile after a backache-curing rubdown?
During Blanca’s spell on the front desk she’s met many regular guests who use the hotel as a base for travelling across the Causeway for business sessions in Saudi Arabia and they might welcome lunch packs for their journeys. It’s food for thought.
Also on the board are Turkish Sadri Gorgun, 27, captain at Plums restaurant, Filipino internal auditor Marie Emphasis, 31, German guest relations supervisor Pia Rohde, 25, Mexican Cantina Kahlo restaurant supervisor Maria Guadalupe de Jesus Cazares, 28, Saudi Arabian sales manager Mohammed Rehan, 30, German sales executive Natalie Bormann, 26, Indonesian spa manager Putri Ekasari, 29, and Pakistani day auditor Ashiq Abdulla, 27.
The ideas are bubbling thick and fast and Bernard looks set to be beaming from ear to ear after letting the millennial genie out of the proverbial lamp. The millennials board will present its first findings on August 15.
