It Takes a Village: Ensuring Quality Control and Client Experience Kelly Regan, CCHP, GO Furnished Housing Providers Debbie Woodley, Oakwood Worldwide

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1 It Takes a Village: Ensuring Quality Control and Client Experience Kelly Regan, CCHP, GO Furnished Housing Providers Debbie Woodley, Oakwood Worldwide A results oriented culture begins with strong and committed teams: What Gets Talked About Gets Done What Gets Measured Gets Done What Gets Trained For Gets Done What Gets Rewarded Gets Done What Gets Confronted Gets Done The Corporate Housing industry has no set standards. Without a true-north compass, companies deliver their services on a continuum. This ranges from companies relying upon their own internal standards driven by customer feedback, internal expertise and experience to simply operating in a day-by-day fashion without focus. The ability to develop standards and continuously enhance quality requires looking through the lens of the customer, understating their experience and creating processes that drive improvement. Customer Experience is how your customers perceive interactions with your company, from the booking process to the departure process. Customer Satisfaction is the measurement tool. Repeat the right things until ROUTINE is the REWARD most of us want the reward without the process. Routines should start at our foundation and this requires going back to basics. Back to Basics: Comfort zone step away from complacency get beyond OUR preferences. Are there special needs for the client/guest? International traveler? Client SLAs? Do you experience issues when working with other providers? 3rd Party? Remember, the guest doesn t care that your issue is with a vendor, it s your company that is responsible for their experience. Certainty modern minds can t stand uncertainty, routine helps minimize potential failures. Be flexible, remember THEY are the customer and 80% of your business comes from 20% of your clients. Keep them happy! Calculation things you can t calculate, trying to do something that doesn t add up, set expectations and re-set. Inspect what you expect consistency in standards/quality, inspections, not cutting corners will create loyalty your customers depend on you, ever time. Communicate - throughout the process; positive or negative keep talking. Do you understand the client/guest needs throughout their entire stay, not just at arrival? Do you have a standard process for service recovery? Be consistent to minimize making the same mistakes over and over. Improvement is a process.

2 Managing Successful Community Relations Jill Pollard, Gables Corporate Accommodations Angela Vander Meyden, Housing Helpers of Colorado As apartment rental markets have changed, many markets are experiencing higher occupancy, and in turn higher rents and less flexible fees and policies. This becomes a challenge, as we are no longer in the days of properties needing corporate housing providers to increase their occupancy. It is important to establish the value of a strong relationship between communities and a corporate housing provider. How do you communicate the value of partnering with a Corporate Housing Provider? Tangible value- rent, occupancy Intangible value- referrals from employers, marketing efforts How do you communicate the urgency of a service request to properties? Do you have any best practices for working with properties that are on a rent optimization program? Sign an agreement to lay out how it will operate for your company. How do you compete with the do it yourself providers, like furniture rental companies that go direct to properties, and leave out Corporate Housing Providers? Tips to involve upper management (such as regional managers and VP s) without jeopardizing the relationship with the onsite team. Best Practices and Tips: Establish a rent ready program- The property can show the unit while vacant and the corporate housing company only pays rent when it s occupied, by a guest. This can also be used as the properties guest suite or model when vacant. Also, partner with your furniture provider to set up as a model and turn on the rent when occupied. Invite key Regional Managers or Property Managers to local ERC or CHPA meetings. Ask them to speak at network connections. Establish a one point of contact both at the properties and within your company. Be a strong Partner Return apartments in good condition/rent ready Visit regularly, go over marketing efforts, run leasing contest, take goodies Pay rent and fees timely-make sure you know your value (like how much rent you have paid in the last year) Always screen your residents, and share when requested Establish a one point of contact both at the properties and within your company. Sign an agreement that will outline how you will operate at their communities

3 Challenges with Training - Reducing the Learning Curve Ryn Jarrett, Corporate Housing Systems Explain in detail what Corporate Housing entails. Have them explain to you what they heard you say. Repeat this at the end of their first week / 30 days / 90 days. Make responsibilities clear and concise. (During first 30 days, I would not do cross training) Provide all tools on day one for them to properly do their job. (Laptop, Sign On, Training Guides) Have Training Plan outlined and delegated out. (There can be several versions of this for different positions) Training Guides and Employees Guides should be printed Assign a Mentor (seasoned, positive current employee) Make sure that current employees are briefed on their training responsibilities (if they have them) and that everyone is briefed on the new employee s job responsibilities and that everyone should be assisting the new employee. Pay attention to the new employee learning curve. You need to be sure to train at their pace. Take 20 minutes at the end of every day during 1st week to review how the training is going. Be positive

4 Smaller Companies Facing International Issues Mac Lawless, Corporate Housing Systems Anne Scheller, CCHP, Capri Temporary Housing Challenges Language barriers Delays caused by immigration issues Cultural differences Difficulty with background checks Communication issues Time changes make instant communication difficult Communication dead zone during long travel prior to arrival Consequences Increased vacancy caused by immigration delays & earlier address confirmations Decreased customer satisfaction due to communication delays & language barriers Cultural differences can lead to conflicts due to differing expectations between the guest and community Cultural/language differences can make simple things like operating appliances & electronics much more difficult Solutions Bilingual maintenance request forms for clients that don t speak English (see attached) Agreements that address last minute delays Open and upfront communication with apartment complexes Apartment orientation services Prompt follow up after move-in to address concerns Customizable housewares package Example Fax Sheet for Maintenance/Repair Request To: Corporate Housing System Date ( 月 / 日 / 年 ) Fax (614) Name( 名前 ) Tel (614) Address( 住所 ) 入居中のアパートに不具合があり修理が必要な場合は 以下あてはまる項目に X 印をし アパートの住所 名前をご記入の上 Corporate Housing 宛に FAX またはメールにて送信して下さい 午前 9 時までに連絡をしますと同日に終了します ( 修理内容によっては時間がかかることがあります ) 各アパートの管理事務所にある FAX を利用できます columbus@corporatehousingsystems.com Continued on back

5 Problem Items/ 不具合箇所 Clogged Sink / 配管の詰まり Clogged Toilet / トイレの詰まり Kitchen / 台所 Disposal / ディスポーザル Washer / 洗濯機 Dryer / 乾燥機 Dishwasher / 器洗器 Hot Water / 湯沸かし器 Leaking / 水漏れ CheckBox Leaking / 水漏れ Not working / 故障 Broken / 故障 Broken / 故障 No hot water Lights Out / 電気がつかない Amenities Not Working / 器具の故障 Entrance / 玄関 Kitchen / 台所 Toaster / トースター Living Room / リビングリーム Microwave / 電子レンジ Master Bedroom / マスターベッドルーム Rice Cooker / 炊飯器 Coffee Maker / コーヒーメーカー Guest Bedroom / ゲストベッドルーム Kitchen Stove / コンロ Air Conditioning or Heating / 冷蔵または暖房 Telephone or internet / 電話またはインターネット Not Cooling / 冷房がきかない Does not have dial tone / ダイアル音がしない Not Heating / 暖房がきかない マスターベッド ( バス ) ルームは バスルームが寝室の中にある部屋をさします ゲストベッド ( バス ) ルームは バスルームが別になっている部屋をさします Can not make a long distance call / 長距離電話がかけられない Does not have connection / インターネットに接続できない Other items / その他の故障 The bulb has gone on the fan in the Living Room and on bed side. Contact Person: