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Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

Top-Notch Service Brings Hotel High-Level Reputation

Top-Notch Service Brings Hotel High-Level Reputation Small Business Customer Service Leader – Westlake Village Inn By JEFF WEISS Contributing Reporter Few local hotels can match the Westlake Village Inn’s lush botanical gardens sprawled out on 17 acres of land. Nor can they top the Inn’s 141 guest rooms and full-service suites complete with fireplaces and Jacuzzis, 12,000 square feet of meeting and banquet space, and 10 tennis courts. But ultimately, to succeed in the ever competitive hotel industry, amenities run a distant second to providing good old fashioned customer service. The Westlake Village Inn prides itself on the doting attention it lavishes upon customers, even more than the unique aesthetic experience it offers. Built in 1968 and originally owned by the American Hawaiian Steamship Company, the Inn had been run by Associated Hosts Inc. under a long-term lease the two companies had signed. In 1989, John L. Notter, who had been a co-owner of the hotel, bought out the remaining years of the lease, assembled a new management team, and began refurbishing a property that had grown neglected in recent years. During the next 15 years under the aegis of Notter, general manager Amy Commans, and vice-president Donald V. Farris (Notter’s son-in-law), 66 suites were added including one 1,600-square-foot, two-story presidential suite, as well as a master suite christened in 1996 as the “Ronald Reagan Presidential Suite.” The original restaurant, formerly Sir Chauncey McDuff’s, became the award winning Le Caf & #233;, and a nightclub and bar “Bogie’s” was constructed. Yet through it all, a philosophy extolling the virtues of having good customer service has been one of the trademarks of the Inn. “Our philosophy is to take every customer very, very seriously. We are personalized. We spend a lot of time and energy focusing on our customers. We’re not really a transient hotel, meaning we do not usually cater to people just stopping in from off the road,” President and Sole Proprietor Notter said. “We tend to have repeat customers. It behooves us to make sure that we get the repeat business. I’d say 60 percent of our business is repeat, a great deal of which comes from the many corporations that have settled in the greater Westlake Village area.” Importance of service Competitors of the Inn agree that having superior customer service is the best way to ensure success in the hospitality business. David Lewin, general manager of the Hyatt Westlake Plaza in Westlake Village, affirms this sentiment. “In our industry it really boils down to service. People respond to service. The keys to success are training and hiring the right people,” Lewin said. “The Westlake Village Inn is successful because it’s a beautiful hotel and they take very good care of the customers. We differ from them in that their customer is less interested in the full service aspects of the hotel and more interested in the individual feeling of the hotel. It’s aesthetically a very beautiful hotel, with all kinds of beautiful and different flowers growing everywhere.” With the hotel business dominated by major chains like Marriott, Hilton, and Hyatt, it can be difficult to gain a foothold for an independent hotel like the Inn. Besides stellar customer service, Notter asserts that having a focus on the individual, having a conscientious management team, and offering a unique product have been essential to the Inn’s longevity. “We have a unique product, with almost 120 acres right on a golf course. That kind of location is very difficult to place. Our management team has been there for many years. Amy (Commans) has been there for 14 years and has been instrumental in our success. We watch our business very carefully, which is very tough for large corporations to do as well,” Notter said. “Our biggest challenge has been a lack of an advertising budget because it’s a single property. We’ve had to build on word of mouth. That’s what we concentrate on and the way to do that is hands-on management. Most customers know the front desk people and the general manager by first name which is a pretty rare thing.”

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