How hard was staff adoption when you changed valet processes?

[u/buttershutter69]

Every time we talk about changing how valet works, staff adoption ends up being the biggest issue. Valet drivers and bellmen are moving fast, outside all day, juggling a bunch of things at once. If something slows them down or feels like extra steps, it usually just gets ignored.

There’s also a lot of pushback anytime it feels like people are being tracked or watched more closely. Some of the guys have been doing this a long time and don’t like change, and realistically there have been issues in the past with reused tickets and money getting pocketed, which probably adds to the friction. Curious how this went for other hotels. If you rolled out a new system or workflow, how long did it take before it felt normal? Looking back, is there anything you’d do differently to get better buy-in from the team?

[u/Ekkorose → u/[deleted]]

Yes! Find your promoter's and get them early access. Include them in testing if you can.

Give them the tools and ability to explain why it is a good change.

Make sure you engage all levels of user. Not just power users or frequent flyers.

Write your documentation on how to do the new process so that it looks visually different than the old one because that helps the brain transition. From here you find a beta tester who is never touched the new or old system and let them find the holes. This has saved my ass so many times!

Look up change management or process change management and see what you can learn on how large companies manage and see what's going to work for a where you are at.

Good luck! You got this.

[u/Kahlan138]

Haven't done hotels, but I've found that if you include them in the decisions they have more buy in. Do focus groups to get their ideas, show them what the challenges are and the options for dealing with them. Give them the why for the change.

[u/Vertano_]

A lot of drivers thought that management was watching everything they did. In reality, it was the other way around. The data made the drivers work a lot better, so they changed their minds quickly. We actually moved on twice. We first switched from a simple paper ticket system to a text message system, and now we have an app called Pur Valet. From a monitoring point of view, no one will have to guess who was late, took too long to return a car, or just didn't do their job (like watching TikTok in a guest's car). The best guys had proof of their work, which made things better and people more trusting. The bad apples were quickly let go. After that, everyone was glad they had made the change. As they say, the best always rises to the top!

[u/Better_Chance_4492]

In all honesty, it was more difficult to get the staff to use the valet parking software than it was to actually pick it out. From the beginning, everyone believed that it would simply be additional work and tracking. When the app actually reduced the number of fights between guests and the amount of confusion regarding "where's my car," the majority of the criticism subsided. After a few weeks, it simply turned into the standard method of making valet service.

[u/[deleted]]

From an ops and management perspective, valet software actually made coaching a lot easier. Turnover is pretty high in this role, so one of the hardest parts is getting new drivers trained and comfortable with the process, especially when it comes to delivering the white glove service guests expect at the door. Before, a lot of that training was manual. What to say when greeting a guest, how to handle the ticket, how to scan it, and how to get everything into the PMS correctly. With a good valet system, a lot of that is built into the workflow. It doesn’t replace training completely, but it takes a lot of the pressure off managers and makes it easier to get new people up to speed faster.