Inspiration, Thoughts & Motivation

Every turnaround starts with something that looks insurmountable.
Scores that feel stuck. Staffing challenges that seem endless. Guest issues that keep repeating. It’s easy to look at the mountain ahead and wonder if it can even be climbed.

But difficult does not equal impossible.
It often feels that way because we’re approaching it with the same mindset and strategy that landed us there in the first place.  We don't adapt.

The truth is, everything that truly matters in hospitality takes effort — consistency when the energy fades, belief when the results are slow, and courage to face the hard truths about what’s not working and taking action to fix it.

When something feels impossible, it’s time to look at it from a different angle.
It’s rarely unfixable — it’s just not yet figured out, focused on, or owned deeply enough.

Progress begins when someone stops saying “we can’t” and starts asking “how can we?”

That’s the Rise Zone mindset — we don’t avoid hard things; we attack them with focus and purpose.

Because the moment you start pushing through what’s difficult and at one point seemed impossible, your team learns something powerful:

“We can do this.”

And once that belief takes hold, momentum builds.

What once felt impossible to achieve begins to feel like the new normal.

True service doesn’t start with the guest — it starts with the people who serve them.

When we talk about “Service from the Heart,” it’s not just a guest interaction philosophy — it’s a leadership standard. If we want our teams to care deeply about our guests, we must first care deeply about our teams.

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Service to Our Employees

Heart-led service begins behind the scenes. It’s the respect, gratitude, accountability and consistency we show our people that fuels the guest experience.

• When we listen, they feel valued.

• When we teach, they feel equipped.

• When we support, they feel confident.

• When we recognize, they feel proud.

• When we hold everyone accountable, they feel the structure, fairness, and consistency that create real trust between departments, leaders and associates.   

A team that feels appreciated serves differently. They go beyond the transaction and deliver genuine care because they’ve experienced it themselves.

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Service to Our Guests

Service from the heart means more than solving problems. It’s about seeing the person behind the reservation — their story, their reason for being here, their small moments that matter.

• It’s greeting them with warmth, not words.

• It’s fixing things before they have to ask.

• It’s ending every stay the way we wish every guest would remember it — with connection.

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Lead with Heart

As leaders, we set the tone. When we speak with empathy, act with integrity, and follow through with consistency, our teams mirror that same energy with guests.

When service from the heart becomes the norm — not the exception — it transforms culture. Guests feel it. Employees live it. Results reflect it.

Because in the end, service from the heart isn’t about perfection — it’s about people. And when people feel cared for, they reciprocate.  

Anyone can talk. Real leaders move people.

Every meeting, every huddle, every conversation is a chance to build belief — or to drain it. Your words should do more than fill time; they should fill your team with purpose.

Don’t just tell people what to do. Help them see why it matters.
When your team understands the why, their energy shifts from compliance to commitment.

You don't have to be a master orator.  

Inspiration isn’t about speeches or slogans. It’s about authentic leadership in motion.

• When you follow up on what you said you’d do, that inspires.

• When you recognize effort before results, that inspires.

• When you stay calm in chaos and consistent under pressure, that inspires.

People don’t need perfection — they need conviction.
Your tone, your presence, your belief in the mission, your belief in the team all communicate louder than any words you’ll say.

So speak about what you expect — and even more about what’s possible.
Because when your words connect to purpose, your team won’t just listen… they’ll rise.

Service can’t be one of the things — it has to be THE thing.
When everything feels urgent — budgets, staffing, owners, renovations — it’s easy for service to slip down the list. But if service isn’t the focus, nothing else works.

Service is what the guest feels.
It’s what they remember when they leave.
It’s the heartbeat of the business, and it’s the reason every other metric even matters.

When service becomes THE thing:

• Your team makes decisions through the guest’s eyes.

• Training feels purposeful, not mandatory.

• Departments stop working in silos and start working in sync.

Every department has a role:

• Housekeeping creates the comfort.

• Engineering protects reliability.

• Front Office creates connection.

• Food & Beverage builds experience.

When each of those pieces moves with intention and ownership, the guest feels it — not as parts, but as one story.

So make service visible again. Talk about it in every meeting. Recognize it daily. Measure it, celebrate it, protect it.

Because when service becomes the thing that drives every decision, scores rise naturally — and stay there.

Service isn't a department, it's a thing that unites our departments.  

Momentum changes everything.

You don’t need to fix every problem today — you just need to start moving.
One clear win, one resolved issue, one shift in the right direction can flip the tone of an entire property.

Momentum creates belief.
It reminds the team that progress is possible.
It turns “we can’t” into “we already are.”

The truth is, momentum is underrated because it doesn’t always look dramatic.
It’s the front desk associate greeting a guest with genuine energy after a tough week.
It’s engineering finally closing out that long list of open work orders.
It’s housekeeping turning inspections into opportunities instead of criticisms.

That’s momentum — and once it starts, it spreads fast.

The key is to protect it. Don’t let small wins get buried under new problems. Celebrate them, reinforce them, and build on them.

Because when momentum is moving in the right direction, your culture shifts with it.

Positive momentum is the spark that ignites the shift to a more positive culture.  
And when that happens, service scores don’t just rise — they stay up.

The best things in hospitality — strong teams, happy guests, remarkable turnarounds — are earned, not handed out. The climb isn’t a burden; it’s a badge of honor that says, we’re building something real.

Every challenge you face is proof that progress is possible.
Every obstacle is an invitation to lead, to grow, to rise.

Going uphill means:

• You’re moving with purpose.

• You’re building strength.

• You’re creating momentum that lasts.

Anyone can coast downhill, but that’s not where success lives. The climb is where you find focus, courage, and unity. It’s where you start seeing your team pull together, fix problems faster, and celebrate wins that once felt impossible.

So lean into the climb.
Encourage your team to keep stepping — even when it’s steep.
Because each step forward, no matter how small, gets you closer to the view from the top.

And when you get there — when your scores rise, your team believes, and your guests notice — you’ll know it wasn’t luck.
It was leadership. It was effort. It was worth it.

Every leader has a why — but too often, it gets buried under reports, conference calls, RVP requests, and brand deadlines.
Before you can lift your team, you must reconnect to what drives you.

Your why is the reason you show up when things get hard.
It’s what fuels your passion for excellence, your pride in the guest experience, and your belief that this team, this hotel, can rise.

Ask yourself:

• Why do I do this crazy job?  

• Why do I care about guest satisfaction?

• Why do I push for better when it would be easier to accept average?

• Why do I believe this property can change its story?

When your why is strong, your leadership becomes contagious.
It shows in your tone, your presence, and your consistency.
Your team won’t follow a job description — they’ll follow your why.

So define it. Say it out loud. Write it down.  Have a personal mission statement, have a team mission statement.  
Because when the noise hits and the pressure builds, your why will be the compass that keeps you leading with purpose, your why will push you up when things seem are to keep you down.  

A bad system will break a good person every time.
You can hire the best people, train them well, and set high expectations—but if the system they’re operating in is broken, frustration and failure are guaranteed.

It’s easy to mistake a performance issue for a people issue. But before you start coaching or disciplining, ask yourself whether the system sets them up to succeed or to struggle.

Think about it:

• Are your tools and processes efficient, or do they make simple tasks complicated?

• Are the right resources available at the right time?

• Does your team have clarity on expectations—or are they filling gaps that shouldn’t exist?

When you find bad systems, fix them or escalate them quickly.
If something is broken, fix the workflow—not just the worker.
If something can’t be fixed immediately, communicate clearly, create a workaround, and keep your team in the loop.

Here’s the truth: great teams are built in great systems.
When you repair the process, fix the system, you unlock potential.
And when your systems run smoothly, your people can finally shine—because success stops being accidental and starts being repeatable.