Schulte's VP of Ops Strategy on The Future of Digital Tipping in Hotels
Times change, and if we're stuck in our ways, the quote that we have thrown around a lot lately, if you always do, you always did, you always get, you always got. That's what we usually say. So adapt to change, adapt to new ideas, new thoughts, new initiatives, and embrace it.
Speaker 2:From Hotel Tech Report, it's Hotel Tech Insider, a show about the future of hotels and the technology that powers them.
Speaker 3:On this episode, we sit down with Jason Jackson, the vice president of operational strategy and integration at Schulte Hospitality. The portfolio includes around 200 hotels across the United States. Jason shares his experience and best practices from his recent rollout of digital tipping software across the portfolio. In addition, we learned which two characteristics he believes are crucial to being a successful hotelier.
Speaker 1:Jennifer Rosato
Speaker 3:Well, welcome to Hotel Tech Insider. Great to be here with you, Jason. Looking forward to speaking with you and learning more about what you're doing at your organization. To get started, I would love for you to give a little intro, tell us who you are, what you do, and a bit about the company that you work with.
Speaker 1:Hi. My name is Jason Jackson. I am, VP of operational strategy and integrations. I have been with Schulte Hospitality for going on 13 years, started as a general manager with the company in 2012 and climbed the ranks from GM to ops manager to regional VP of ops to hotel performance. All throughout that time, I've been doing hotel transitions into the company.
Speaker 1:We've grown from 17 hotels in 2012 to right around 200 hotels today. So my main focus currently is transitions in and out of the organization and also special projects. So I focus on implementing new initiatives and new platforms and things across the organization over the last year and a half or 2 years.
Speaker 3:Can you tell me a bit more about your hotels? Branded, independent, who are your target guests?
Speaker 1:Everyone. So in full honesty, we have branded hotels from all the major flags. So we have semi H G and then a large chunk of Marriott properties or Hilton properties. And then we also have graduate hotels, which is now part of the Hilton larger family. And then we have a number of boutique and lifestyle properties as well.
Speaker 1:And another division of the company, we have some restaurants as well, but focusing more so on the hotels, we're about 200 at this point.
Speaker 3:And your company manages the hotels, right, not owning them?
Speaker 1:There's a few that are some ownership stake in them, but for the most part, we are a management company. Yes. And we have hotels from 30 some rooms to 500 rooms and everything in between from select brands to focus service to full service and everything in the middle.
Speaker 3:What would you say differentiates the Schulte group from some competitors?
Speaker 1:The first thing that comes to mind is we always try and stay true to Daryl's vision of being a family run hospitality answering company. So we always, of course, are focusing on quality and delivering results of financial brand performance and all of that. But we also really wanna be key partners with our owner investors and our capital partners. And I think everybody would probably say the same thing, but I would say, you know, in my 13 years here, we have done a really excellent job of staying true to who Schulte was designed to be back in 2000 when they formed the company.
Speaker 3:Well, let's jump right into the tech stack. I'm curious to learn, what would you say is the most critical piece of technology that you and your properties use on a daily basis?
Speaker 1:Probably 2 different areas that I think are critical. The first would be our suite of actable products that we use, which is our business intelligence and our labor management tool. So we use Profit Sword. So all of our general managers are regional VPs of ops and some corporate accounting. We're in Profit Sword every day.
Speaker 1:So it's forecasting, budgeting, daily performance, inputting from our property management systems, all the numbers, you know, star goes in there, kind of a little of everything goes into our profit storage system. And then that interfaces and ties and integrates with our HRIS and with other systems as well. Separate from that is hotel effectiveness, which is part of Actable as well, and that is our labor cost management. So we're in there every day doing our 5 minute daily check-in and making sure that we're reviewing what are we currently scheduled, what are our, you know, current actuals and our forecast for the rest of the week or the month, and how do we need to pivot on our scheduling to make sure we're hitting our numbers appropriately. Or how else do we pivot, whether it's our selling tactics or our labor, you know, whatnot to bring the NOI to the best bottom line we can.
Speaker 1:And then, the other side of that would be our ADP, which is our HRIS system. So we currently use ADP for all of our HR related tech. So it's our general HR, our payroll, 401 k, benefits, and recruitment manager is all built into that ADP suite. So we're in there daily as well just making, you know, for our time and attendance and everything. And then that obviously interfaces and integrates with Promoter as well because we get our actuals from there.
Speaker 1:So those 2 are probably our most critical just in the day to day and consistent maintenance of our operation.
Speaker 3:And are those systems used by employees at the corporate level or property level or both? And do all the properties use those systems regardless of brand?
Speaker 1:Yes. All properties use those systems regardless of their brand. It's also used by our corporate team. We also use Microsoft Dynamics on the back end at the corporate and accounting and finance teams use that, but all of the regional teams and through GM and DOS and Net Auditors even use our profit or and Hotel Factos.
Speaker 3:Have you been using those systems for quite a while or are they relatively new additions?
Speaker 1:Profit Sword, we migrated to Profit Sword probably 11 or 12 years ago. So shortly after I joined the company, we migrated over to Profit. Hotel effectiveness was a newer tool about two and a half, three years ago for us.
Speaker 3:Can you tell me a bit about the decision process that went into deciding to use that system a couple years ago?
Speaker 1:Well, I wasn't directly involved at that time in that process. I can speak a little bit to it. We were definitely looking for the right system to be able to have better eyes, not only for the GMs on property, but also for the regional teams to have better eyes on performance, on labor management, and to be able to quickly and efficiently find ways to, I like to use the word pivot, but to find ways to pivot or get creative when needed to get to where we need to get to with our financial results. And one of the important things to consider when we were looking at those is what integrates well with the systems that we already have in place that we've had in place like Promontory for years. We don't wanna change that system to a comic.
Speaker 1:We wanted to find another system that could blend well, and then they wound up becoming the same company as well. So that helped too.
Speaker 3:For Profit Sword, I'm curious to learn more about how BI is treated at your organization. I think sometimes it's challenging to encourage the broader team to look at the dashboards and go to data when making decisions. So how has your team built a structure that ensures whoever needs access to the data can get it and there's sort of that expectation that folks are using the software?
Speaker 1:I think whenever there's anything new introduced, there's always that ramp period. And creating the tools and resources and training that will allow that to become a more smooth and efficient process for the GMs or anybody, to be honest. Our process is when we have a new individual joining the organization, depending on their role, they get various levels of access and, you know, how much can they see. So it's a regional, they'll get their whole region. If it's a GM, they'll just get their property.
Speaker 1:If it's a night auditor, they'll just get little parts of, you know, their access is limited to what their role would entail. But I think one of the biggest things is making sure that they have the tools and resources available, that they're comprehensive, but also easy to follow and easy to navigate, really. How do we make sure that things are being utilized? Our regional teams have regular calls with their GMs, and they are pulling up those systems on those calls and going through. And because everything is really driven through profit in terms of anything financial related, it's very clear those that are more engaged or less engaged.
Speaker 1:And then there's more focus on those that need to be more engaged. So
Speaker 3:Going back to tech stack, we talked through your BI tool, talked through human resources, labor management tool. Any other tools that have really been game changers for you and your team that you use on a regular basis?
Speaker 1:There's 1 or 2 that I definitely wanna hit on. I'm trying to think if there's anything else that I should bring up. We've tried a few different tech things over the last couple of years that I've been in this role of, you know, special projects and initiatives. We've looked into robot servers or robot vacuums and things like that. And while I do see that there could be a lot of potential there, our priorities had shifted into other things, so we didn't explore those too far.
Speaker 1:But one of the things that I'm very passionate about that is kind of my I call it my passion project, but it's the thing I spend the most time on just in enhancing and working together is digital tipping. So for our organization, when I joined this role about 2 years ago this month, one of the areas that I was asked to kinda look into and explore for Schulte is digital tipping. So we had 1 organization or 1 platform already kind of piloting that was just triggered by some GM interest. So I kinda took over that and I was asked to find a few other platforms to pilot and find the best fit for the organization. So over the next 6 months, I was looking into various platforms and then wound up speaking to a total of 5 or 6 different platforms of various size and engagement and whatnot.
Speaker 1:We wound up eliminating 2 of those before even going to pilot just for no bad necessarily reasons, just others stood out. So we wound up piloting 3 different platforms over the course of the next 7 to 9 months, and then we had 2 of them that really kinda stood up over the 3rd. Mainly just for we were looking at what would be the best fit and what would be the most efficient for Schulte to implement and what was more sustainable. So we eliminated the one, and then we had then almost a year ago, we eliminated the second one just to have efficiencies of having one platform across the entire organization. You know, reporting, driving a consistency is just naturally efficient.
Speaker 1:So we wound up selecting the platform Etip, which has become a phenomenal partner for the organization.
Speaker 3:I wanna take a step back and dig into the, I guess, process that you took to settle on ETIP. You mentioned you started with a larger pool of vendors, and 3 stood out to you. What were some of the things that made those vendors stand out? Like, was it just features? Was it customer support?
Speaker 3:Was it price? Like, what were those initial things that helped you narrow the pool?
Speaker 1:Well, I would say just the initial first impression of demo and, if you will, sales pitch. I gravitate more towards sales pitches that feel anything but a sales pitch and more just a conversation of product and service. If it is a sales pitch where you're just, here are all the wows and here's what we can do for you, and it comes across more or less genuine, I will say. It turns me off from continuing much further down that path. And then I will also say the aggressiveness of the sales team.
Speaker 1:There's a process that we have to go under in review and in going to legal to have the MSA completed and whatnot, and some vendors of any topic are much more so willing to work through that process effortlessly and just allow it to be what it needs to be and take the time that it needs to take. Others are much more aggressive of we need answers now, we need answers now, and if you want this, it has to happen, you know, by this date of, you know, tomorrow sometimes. And that is also, you know, not gonna play out well in decision process making or my input on decision to the others that might be part of that conversation. So, ultimately, we wind up with 3 that felt much better than others.
Speaker 3:I meant to ask this at the beginning, but digital tipping, where are guests seeing this? Is this tipping for housekeepers? Is it tipping in F and B outlets? Or all of the above?
Speaker 1:We're already on phase 2, and I'm getting ready to put together phase 2 0.5 right now. But between December of last year March, I worked I don't wanna say tirelessly. I worked quite a bit with the ETIP team on creating what the best platform for Schulte was, at least for phase 1. And what we wanted to do is room attendants, guest you know, housekeeping, of course, is by far the largest recipient of tips from the guests. So that was a required part of the program for us.
Speaker 1:We also wanted to include other disciplines that we have seen guests want to tip but didn't have the ability to do so if they didn't have cash or wanted to charge a tip to the room to give it to somebody and there's some nuances with doing it that way based on the system or whatnot. So we did include any of our f and b areas that are complimentary to the guests. We didn't allow and we still don't allow our f and b outlets that are, you know, pay breakfast or pay lunch or dinner because they already have the ability to tip with credit card or by charging to the room through the point of sale system at the at the restaurant or bar. But our comp breakfast or our evening social or things like that, there is no point of sale. There is no ability to tip without cash.
Speaker 1:So we wanted to include those associates as well. We also included our shovel drivers, and we did go back and forth on if we wanted to include our front desk or not because front desk is typically not a tipped position. However, for two reasons we did, there have been times where a guest has wanted to tip a front desk or has tipped someone at the front desk because they wowed them or they followed the service recovery model and they were maybe someone's hero or they fix something or they roll out the red carpet or whatever it might be. And then the other side of it is by having something at the front desk that's maybe more so front desk driven and the messaging is more prominent at the end for front desk. It's also a conversation piece to let the guest know that, hey, we have this option here and we're proud to offer this option.
Speaker 1:So we've crafted the wording or the verbiage on the front desk collateral to be very nonsolicitous because we don't want any perception of solicitation of tips throughout the property. But at the front desk, especially, we want it to be more welcoming and, you know, so our verbiage of something more along the lines of, well, never expected. If you wanted to show gratitude in a form of a tip, you can do so digitally. And it has gone over fairly well. Front desk is not a position that gets tipped often even in this platform or program, but it has happened.
Speaker 1:Now some of the brands have standards against doing so. So we're honoring and respecting those standards because we wanna be good brand partners as well. But if we're allowed to do so, then we have it at the front desk. And then some of our properties have valet or bell person, and they can be included as well. But we've given options to the GM.
Speaker 1:So here's the expected participation. Here are the options that you can choose from.
Speaker 3:And from the guest perspective, what does that look like? Is it like a QR code that they scan, or do they receive a text message? And if I wanted to tip the shuttle driver, how would they do it?
Speaker 1:Sure. It depends on the brand because they have some different rules or standards on what the collateral looks like, but it's all some formative collateral. We haven't ventured into sending text messages with the link. We've talked about it, but there's enough there's already enough things happening in those follow ups to the guest day that we don't wanna add more to it and don't wanna overwhelm the guest. So in the shuttle, there's either a sign in the shuttle where the driver writes their name and then the QR code, the guest can pick the name from the prep time list, or there's business cards, you know, with the same QR.
Speaker 1:So each of has so many different options where you can do individual or pulled or a select where they select the department or the name of the associate. So we've done more so select the name so that way the guest knows who they're tipping, and then they can select that person from the list. And then it's also more efficient for the property team who would otherwise have to go in and manually assign those tips. But on the front desk, it's a QR code, the same slot by the name In the guest room, there's a number of options. So we have majority of our hotels are tipping based on who cleaned the room after the tip was left.
Speaker 1:So the tip kind of resides with that specific room until someone on property, I call it the tipping champion, will go in best practices daily because they have those boards at the end of the day, and they just assign it to who could be in that room that day. There's also some automated processes that can allow that based on what other tech is on-site. So if we're using a tech that assigns rooms through an app like Alice or housekeeping productivity apps, we don't have that a lot in most of our properties, but Etip can also take that and automatically assign those tips so that saves the champion that work. But nothing is a hard process. It's just more so getting the team to know what the process is and build it into their habit, their daily habit.
Speaker 3:Switching gears a little bit, I'm curious to learn a bit more about Schulte's growth trajectory and curious if you can share 1 or 2 business objectives that you're working toward and how does technology help you get there?
Speaker 1:Lots of growth in the pipeline. I can't share any specifics, but I will say there are at least 39 properties on my radar right now over the next probably 4 months. And I know there's a lot more in the pipeline, but until it gets to a certain point of possibilities or potential, it doesn't come all the way over to me yet. But lots of growth. Business objectives I'll make one more comment on Etyp because it's part of my business objective, and that is as we bring on new properties, we're automatically implementing Etyp at transition unless they are under contract with another organization, and then we ship them when that contract's up just to maintain that consistency.
Speaker 1:But in the 7 months since we launched, we have over a 120,000 in tips that have gone directly to our associates. So we don't make the associate pay any of the fees, and we don't make the guest pay any of the fees. The hotels cover those the fees for it. So over a $120 in 7 months across our almost 10,000 associates. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Those that are participating at least in the ETIP program is phenomenal. And we're always looking how can we make the program even better for our platform and for our organization? So that's one of my continued focus areas of 2025. Other business objectives, I would say, is something that we continue looking into and just working through when's the time right to implement is a purchasing platform. So we're part of the Avendra system, and there's a number of purchasing platforms that we can use to really maximize hotel manager, one compliance to our purchasing standards as well as have better visibility for them as well as above property team to what's being purchased, making sure that we're not having off cycle invoices and whatnot.
Speaker 1:So iEfficient is one of the examples of it's part of the larger vendor organization that we're always looking at, and some of our hotels do have that already. So at some point, we're hoping to implement that across the portfolio. We're not just there yet, but one of these days. So other business objectives, I really think it's just driving efficiencies and helping our teams maximize the potential of the systems that are already in place. So while many do or utilize the majority of the platform as well, there's always room to grow.
Speaker 1:And then some of our newer individuals or whatnot definitely have the opportunity to learn from others and to really maximize that option.
Speaker 3:One last question before we wrap up. I'm curious, based on your experience in the industry and your experience at Schulte, what are 1 or 2 skills or characteristics that someone should embody to be successful in today's industry in the hotel space?
Speaker 1:I would say adaptability and engagement. I'll start with engagement first. I think many of us can get lost in the day to day and just even outside of taking care of guests. But there's the I need to update my forecast. I need to complete the budget.
Speaker 1:I need to focus on x, y, and z. And then just being engaged in when there is a new initiative or a new training to take better advantage of the systems already in place or whatever it might be, the more engaged you are, the better all around. And then adaptability kind of goes hand in hand with that. Times change. And if we're stuck in our ways, the quote that we have thrown around a lot lately, if you always do, you always did.
Speaker 1:You always get what you always got. That's what we usually say. So adapt to change, adapt to new ideas, new thoughts, new initiatives, and embrace it.
Speaker 3:Well, really appreciate you taking the time, Jason. Thanks so much.
Speaker 1:You too. Thanks so much.
Speaker 2:That's all for today's episode. Thanks for listening to Hotel Tech Insider produced by hoteltechreport.com. Our goal with this podcast is to show you how the best in the business are leveraging technology to grow their properties and outperform the concept by using innovative digital tools and strategies. I encourage all of our listeners to go try at least one of these strategies or tools that you learned from today's episode. Successful digital transformation is all about consistent small experiments over a long period of time.
Speaker 2:So don't wait until tomorrow to try something new.
Speaker 3:Do you
Speaker 2:know a hotelier who would be great to feature on this show, or do you think that your story would bring a lot of value to our audience? Reach out to me directly on LinkedIn by searching for Jordan Hollander. For more episodes like this, follow Hotel Tech Insider on all major streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music.
