Innovating at the Speed of the Customer
Recently, Stonehill spoke with John Staten, President and COO of Holiday Inn Club Vacations, as part of our Voyagers and Visionaries interview series. We interview leaders from various industries to get both professional and personal insights during this challenging time of the COVID-19 pandemic.
John Staten is the President and Chief Operations Officer of Holiday Inn Club Vacations. He directs the company’s resort and business operations teams, including Club and Owner Support, Rental and Inventory, Sales and Marketing, Resort Management, Mortgage Portfolio and Servicing, and Technology. Having nearly 30 years of executive management and c-suite experience, his background includes having led high-tech businesses that ranged from startups and high-growth companies to global enterprises, which gives him a broad perspective on business practices across multiple industries.
Q: How has the lodging and resort industry fared overall during the pandemic?
A: The hospitality industry was affected by a variety of factors: Air travel declined significantly, some states imposed traveling restrictions or quarantine requirements upon entering a state or when returning to your home state, and of course, there was just concern about travel, in general. Fortunately, we were able to navigate all of that pretty well. We, like most, closed our resorts for about two months but had them all reopened by the beginning of July. Our resorts that are located near beaches, mountains, and countryside have done very well with a level of demand that is close to that of 2019. The resorts that are in the “fly to” markets like Vegas and Orlando have been slower to recover - people are more likely to fly to those locations than drive there, and they are also the two largest markets in this country for holding large scale conventions and conferences. Since large conferences can take a year or two to plan, a lot of companies have been holding back on planning conferences until there's more clarity about the future of the pandemic.
In reopening our properties, the number one goal has been to provide a high level of health and safety for our guests and our team members, and I think we’ve done well in this area because we have been extremely mindful of it. In the short time, our resort network was closed, we developed and rolled out an entirely new brand program, Safe Travels, clearly communicating to guests all the new and enhanced cleaning and safety processes now standard in all our resorts. This helped provide a high level of brand trust, which in turn motivated a return to travel. I'm very proud to be leading the team that’s been executing consistently on that brand promise—nothing has been more important in our recovery.
Q: Since Holiday Inn Club Vacations is resort-driven and focused on vacation ownership, in what way are you affected by a lack of conventions and conferences?
A: We are not as impacted by the decline of in-person meetings and conferences as other resorts that focus on the business traveler, but those travelers sometimes tack on some leisure time to their trips before or after a conference. Since we focus more on the vacation ownership side, we have much more of a leisure crowd who habitually travels and, fortunately, have been more comfortable returning to their vacation traditions in a resort they know and trust.
Q: You touched on a few significant challenges that you have faced. Is there a single most significant challenge that stands out in your mind?
A: The lack of needed level of insight and forecasting to plan accordingly. It’s very difficult to plan right now because travel is not following historical trends. How do you plan without knowing when travel will return to, pick your destination, 100%, 90%, 80% levels of prior years? Historically, we had the dynamics of peak periods. For example, there are usually a lot more travelers during the holidays, but how do we staff our properties in this unknown time without trends to give guidance? It's like the old adage, you can't build the church for just Easter Sunday and Christmas. Recently, I was speaking with some of the larger hospitality brands about their perspectives on demand returning to some of their larger markets in 2021, and the general answer was, “We don't know”. In summer, it looked like the COVID numbers were coming down and North American travelers were getting more comfortable, but now the numbers are back on the rise.
Because of this, you need to be nimble and very flexible in how you're thinking about your organization. I recently said to my team that I realize we generally operate in a performance-driven culture, but we need to accept that 2021 is going to be a year of fluidity and we’re going to need to be flexible. We will need to help change the mindset of our teams to focus on flexibility and teamwork, to ultimately drive the best possible performance and customer experience versus focusing on a rigid number. It will be interesting to see how some companies adapt, and how others struggle when they continue to rely on their historical playbooks.
Q: How do you envision the future of work for both your guest-facing associates, as well as your back office teams?
A: Let me tell you how it has changed already. We had to adjust all our protocols: how to check in a guest and make it contactless, how to create social space in the queues while waiting to check-in, how to change the nature of our sales centers, etc. We have continued to evolve, but recognizing that rules and requirements can change from state to state, has made it difficult to have a level of uniformity across jurisdictions.
I also think the nature of work is forever changed. There are many organizations that resisted embracing work from home or remote workforces for a long period of time, but they were forced to confront it. Now, they are confronted with a new question: What are we going to do when we're on the other side of the pandemic? Do we go back to having everybody required in the office? Or can they continue to embrace a hybrid? I think there are a lot of companies out there that have quickly made the leap to “work from home is easy”, but it’s not. Though we should continue to embrace remote work, I think it is important for companies to truly understand the entire process of implementing a remote workforce.
For example, a lot of people were forced to work from home at the beginning of the pandemic. With colleagues also working from home, everyone was basically forced to adapt to a new way of doing things and sharing pain points - we were navigating together. However, what happens when you start to hire new employees into an organization? You think about the missed opportunities of building culture and getting alignment when hiring someone. Do you say, “I'll see you online on Monday,” instead of saying, “I’ll see you at the office on Monday?” I think many employers have not fully thought about the complexity of the entire recruiting and onboarding process, plus how to strengthen their employee-engagement culture while keeping everyone focused on the vision. For companies that are unable to navigate this, they will face significant turnover with their workforce, because they will have lost the connection with their team members.
Additionally, there's a difference between “work from home” and “a remote workforce”. Some people think they are the same, but they are absolutely not the same. Work from home is a flexible option, a benefit where someone can work from home a day or two of the week. However, a remote workforce requires a business to change everything they do and how they operate. If you have a remote workforce and need to hire a new position, regardless of the type of role, some of the basic questions that need to be considered beyond skill set would be what time zone, or even what continent they are in. By adjusting the talent acquisition model there is a great opportunity to acquire the best talent without the individual needing to be local.
The next question is how to maintain connectivity with employees when they’re remote. How do we create nuances where we have regular interactions? What happens to the engagement model between employees and their employer when they're connected via video conference versus building deep in-person relationships over time? And how do you grow and develop your future leaders? If businesses are not thinking through those levels of nurturing and relationship-building opportunities that are key in any organization, they’re making a critical mistake.
Q: What are the most impactful innovations Holiday Inn Club Vacations developed during the pandemic?
A: I'm a believer that companies must evolve, and that the expectations of consumers are changing at a speed we've never experienced in our lifetimes. Companies must innovate to continue to provide the services or the products that the consumer is looking for. The way I look at it, it's either innovate or die because there are too many alternatives available to consumers today. Also, their expectations go beyond the product or the services themselves, like does the company support the social or environmental causes of the customer? When developing an expectation map of the modern consumer, these days there are many more items that need to be considered in building a strong customer-centric model.
At Holiday Inn Club Vacations, we have a significant effort underway in our digital transformation and innovation as it relates to technology and processes, and it only got stronger through the Pandemic. For example, we are offering sophisticated self-service and mobile apps that are providing our guests and owners with more control of their vacation experience. To me, innovation looks to develop operational efficiency in an organization. There are countless things I can point to and a lot of these are not a “Big Bang”, but rather a series of improvements that elevate the entire operational excellence of the organization. In my mind, innovation starts with one simple focus - customer obsession. I strongly believe in the impact of putting the interests of the customer and your team members first. If you're focusing on them, and how to make the experience the absolute best experience it can be for a customer or an employee, everything tends to work out very well. Certainly, technology can help, but I believe new technology is just a byproduct of going after the creation of a different type of engagement model. Innovation is about changing the mindset that says it's only about a transaction – today, it's about the lifetime journey between a company and a customer and how they want to be served. “I only have one product and that's all I sell” is old school. Businesses need to evolve, because what I wanted as a consumer when I graduated from college is different than what I want as a consumer today, and it will be different from what I will want 10 years from now. So, which companies have the mindset to think through that and evolve accordingly? To me, it's the culture shift that drives innovation as a part of who the organization is.
Q: What activity have you missed doing most during this time of social distancing?
A: My wife, Robin, and I are both foodies and wine connoisseurs, so we enjoy going out to have a nice dinner. But even though I'm a foodie, dinners are about the opportunity to disconnect from all the noise and engage in conversations with family and friends. Even though we have done a few video happy hours with friends, it's not the same as sitting across the table and just relaxing. So, spending time socially with friends is probably the thing I have missed most.
Q: What is your favorite book?
A: It's funny how your favorite book changes over time. If I had to pick a favorite book today, it is “The Snowball - Warren Buffett and the Business of Life”. However, a book I just finished that I think is an absolute must-read for any entrepreneur is “Shoe Dog” by Phil Knight, founder of Nike. It talks a lot about the struggles of building the company early on long before Nike had worldwide recognition. I have tremendous appreciation for the trials and tribulations of what it took for them to build the company, and it gave me a completely different perspective on their brand and culture. And the funny thing is, I don't buy or wear a lot of Nike apparel, but it was a spectacular book.
Q: What is one fun fact that people don't know about you?
A: I owned and operated a jewelry store while attending the University of Florida. I had started off working for Zales Jewelers, and I thought I could open a small jewelry repair store as a way of putting myself through college. However, the more I researched it the more I realized I could get attractive inventory financing from vendors, so I opened a full line-line jewelry store instead. Since I opened it in my hometown of Lake City, I had to run back and forth from Gainesville a lot. In the end, I had 12 employees and even competed with national stores like Zales and Friedman Jewelers. Fortunately, I had a great team who helped manage the store, but I was still actively involved, handling the money, buying jewelry, pricing it, etc. – clearly, I had a different type of college experience than a lot of people had, especially on Friday and Saturday nights.
This interview was conducted by the team at Stonehill. Stonehill is a strategy and innovation firm that helps businesses to identify opportunity, implement change, and accelerate growth. Our team consists of an innovative blend of creative, strategy, technology, and change management experts that allows us to unite the functional silos of business in the common objective of creating differentiated customer experiences.