Waldorf Astoria

How this luxury brand delivers on guest’s expectations

Kelly Vohs, General Manager at Waldorf Astoria Boca Raton, believes luxury brands come with a level of expectation which requires a consistent effort to reach and maintain. He says, “A brand is nothing more than a promise. If you come to a Waldorf it’s anticipatory service, it’s true Waldorf service, it’s those things that the brand promises that we have to follow through on. We want to deliver world class service, we want to be the absolute best there is in the business, period.”

Andy Roenbeck, Executive Chef at Waldorf Astoria Boca Raton says, “You have different challenges working in an old property like this, trying to stay to code with the board of health and sanitation in general. But it is a very important piece of every single chef’s responsibility being able to deliver more than what the board of health’s expectations are on a day to day basis.”

With all these extremely high expectations the staff have upon themselves to be the best every day, Kelly found it used to be hard to maintain that level of excellence, particularly in food and beverage. Kelly strives to keep the team committed and provide the tools they need to perform their jobs successfully. With such a large food operation, with 13 different restaurants, Kelly says your chances of hurting someone are pretty high if you don’t follow the correct procedures. Kelly remembers, “We had an inspection, wasn’t happy with the results, no one was, and I said we’ve got to fix this.”

Integrating technology into inspections

Kelly had specific needs in an inspection tool. He needed something that he could implement quickly, with minimal training for staff, and something that was mobile. The staff had previously used paper checklists, which were difficult to keep track of and keep in legible condition.

Once Waldorf Astoria implemented SafetyCulture, the staff across the resort in every department could conduct digital audits to ensure they meet all of the standards, take photos, record audio, then submit a report. It would then go on a custom dashboard which displayed the areas where teams were excelling and where they needed to improve.

The astonishing results

Staci Frachtman, Assistant Front Office Manager loved the change, and believes the ability to have stored evidence and accountability improves everyone’s performance. “ I want to know the feedback, I want to know what I’m doing right, what I’m doing wrong, where I can improve,” Staci says. From Staci’s perspective, it makes coaching easier, “I’ve definitely seen a drastic change in my team and what they understand to be our expectation of them.”

Andy says using SafetyCulture has introduced a level of clarity that they have never had before. By visualizing the data, the staff can easily analyze what’s working, what needs improvement, and even where staff may need retraining. Moving forward and constantly improving wouldn’t be possible without the relationship forged with the teams at SafetyCulture and Waldorf Astoria, according to Kelly.