Lyle - July, 2014
Trip Report
Hedonism II
01 – 11 July 2014
I visited Hedo 01 – 11 July 2014 and here’s a summary of my trip and
associated observations:
Food –
Overall, I thought the food was better than I remember it being in a
long time. I realize some
people seem to think that Hedo provides better food when groups are in
the hotel, but I don’t think that was the case, despite there being
several groups being there during my visit.
My impression is that food quality and variety had nothing to do
with the groups and appeared to me to be a current positive trend in the
food quality and variety.
Room –
I had one of the “Classic” rooms near Delroy’s.
It has been painted, it has a flat screen TV, new phone and the
room looked and smelled cleaner than I ever remember it being, even
though the same housekeeper who’s been cleaning it for a LONG time was
doing the cleaning. She’s a
sweet, dedicated person and I genuinely appreciated her taking very good
care of everything during my visit.
General Conditions –
The resort looked very good to me overall and it appeared to me like
they are concentrating a lot on the little things every day to make it
that way. Overall, I thought it appeared to be in good condition and I
consider that an improvement since my last visit in Dec 2013.
Staff –
I talked to a lot of the staff privately about stuff. Overall, they seem
to be working hard, sound like they’re happy with their jobs, and
genuinely interested in doing a good job and keeping the guests happy.
If the guests aren’t happy with something (and it’s a legitimate
complaint) or someone on the staff is doing dumb stuff and irritating
the guests, the rest of the staff really seem to notice and be inclined
to address it internally. I
had the impression that all the staff I talked to are now taking more
personal ownership and responsibility for things than I’ve observed in
the past.
Phones –
Still a bug in the new phone system. The
new phones appear to be a VOIP system and the phone (at least in my
room) is installed on a bedside table where a cable comes out of the
wall that appears to be a computer cable. Because of the phone type, it
needs to be plugged into an electrical outlet to work. That outlet is
controlled by the wall switch next to the door that turns the lights
beside the bed on and off. SO,
unless you make sure to leave that wall switch turned on and use the
switches on the lamps to turn them on and off, the phone won’t work.
Short of modifying the electrical or computer wiring in the room,
I’m not sure there’s an easy or inexpensive corrective action for this
problem.
Sales / Reservations –
There are internal coordination and communication problems that need
work. Despite lots of prior
coordination in writing and with the front desk staff upon registration,
there was still a problem with my overall reservation for this trip with
the sales office mid-way through my trip.
The problem has been addressed with senior management and my
discussion with them left me feeling fairly sure they’ll work to correct
this.
Water Sports –
The watersports guys looked like they were being very diligent in taking
good care of the beach, pool area, etc. and everyone looked like they
were pretty busy all the time doing constructive work.
I only talked with a few of the divers, but the ones I talked
with all seemed satisfied with the service and happy with the dives.
I heard from a guest that they had to leave the property if they
wanted to water ski and that surprised me.
I talked with a guy that said he used to drive the ski boat, but
they discontinued offering water skiing around the end of last year.
No clear reason was given for this, however I’m guessing since
they supposedly can’t use Bloody Bay anymore for skiing, that they felt
it was a safety consideration to offer it in Long Bay.
Having been in the ski boat out in the general area in front of
the resort, I’d certainly agree with that assessment, especially after
the jet-ski mishap that killed a snorkeler several months ago in the
same general area. Anyway,
the bottom line is that Hedo isn’t offering water skiing anymore.
Groups –
There were several groups in the resort during my visit and a new large
group was arriving just as I was leaving and I overlapped a day or two
with some of their early arrivals.
I realize some guests have some strong opinions about the effect
of groups on the resort, so I paid particular attention to what was
happening in effort to understand the dynamics of the situation.
While groups do bring some very good and legitimate things to the
resort (and help pay to keep the place open), I think I observed a
couple things happening that may irritate long-time repeaters or guests
that have been in the resort for several days when the group arrives.
In one case, a group may be comprised of people who haven’t previously
been to Hedo, or maybe not very many times.
They arrive at a VERY high energy level and don’t really know or
understand the environment, how things work, and what is or is not OK.
Since they’re relatively new, they tend to stick together and
don’t really mingle with everyone else, so they appear to be exclusive,
when in reality they’re just trying to have fun and figure things out.
To long-timers or people who have been there several days,
there’s a big disparity in energy level and their loud and boisterous
behavior can be irritating until the folks in the group settle down a
bit.
In another case, a group of long-time repeaters was coming into the
resort after I’d already been there over a week.
Frankly, I found them just as irritating.
My energy level was hovering somewhere around maximum mellow and
they’re coming in ready for a huge party.
Again, it appears to me to be a big disparity in energy level
between the people already there and the people coming in.
Additionally, since these were primarily people who felt they
were high-time repeaters, they seemed to just assume they had more
visits than everyone else and entitled to immediate service everywhere.
I had several instances when I was engaged in a conversation with
someone on the staff and had a new arrival blatantly interrupt the
conversation to talk about whatever was on THEIR mind, ask for what they
wanted, etc. with total disregard for anyone else.
My conclusion is that groups aren’t bad and it really doesn’t matter
what the composition of the group is, there appears to be an inherent
effect when you have a bunch of new arrivals all coming in together at
the same time and they’re in contact with folks that have been there
awhile. Frankly, I think I
remember people reacting to ‘new’ people the same way after the observer
had been at the resort of a week or more; the effect of getting a bunch
of ‘new arrivals’ all at once simply increases the magnitude and scale
of the effect. I don’t think
there’s an organizational or operational solution to the phenomenon, and
everyone would probably be well served to just relax and not overreact
to it the first day or two after a group arrives.
ECs –
I thought the ECs were active, fun, and great to have around on this
trip. My impression is that
they were much more engaged and generally fun to play with than in the
past, and I regard that as a very good thing.
Management –
My observation is that the hotel management is working very hard to make
everything as good as possible be and is taking any problems or
complaints very seriously.
Their efforts were clearly visible and I felt they are fully engaged in
making everything run smoothly.
Specifically, I think Kevin Levee, Donna Grant, and Lorna Brammer
are doing everything possible to make the place run effectively and
smoothly.
Water –
There was a problem with a lack of hot water in my room one morning.
When I reported it, the hotel was already aware of it and working
on the problem. By later in
the morning, the hot water problem had been corrected.
A couple of hours later, we lost our cold water supply.
Rather than the response I’ve observed in the past.
A crew showed up to work on the problem that looked like perhaps
they were outside contractors or something.
They were guys I didn’t recognize and I think they were wearing
some sort of work uniforms.
They were wearing hardhats, had large tool boxes, and looked like they
were replacing some significant sections of pipe on top of the affected
buildings. When the resort
promised the problem would be fixed by 6 PM, the water was running again
at 6 PM. I don’t know who
those guys were, but I sure hope they come back whenever there’s a
problem, because they really looked like they knew what they were doing.
Windows –
It appears they are replacing the large sliding windows in some or all
of the rooms. The day I saw
them working on this, there was a large truck from a window and door
company parked on the path in front of the building they were working
on. A team of workers from
the window and door company were doing the work and it looked as
professional and efficient as any company I’ve ever seen doing similar
work in the USA. I don’t
know how many of the windows they’re going to replace, but I suspect
it’s probably all of them.
Maintenance & Modifications –
Between what I observed when people were working on the water problem
and what I observed with the window installation, I read that as a
potential indication Hedo is changing how it does things.
In both cases, it appeared to me they hired outside professionals
to come do the work when there was a significant repair or modification
needed. If that is indeed
the case, then I think that’s a very smart decision by whoever decided
to implement that plan.
Contracting with outside professionals may go a long way to helping
control cost and improve quality and availability of services.
Security –
There is a new security company on the job at Hedo now and I think this
also is an improvement. They
appear very professional, alert, engaged, and interested in doing a good
job. I thought they were
friendly and very easy to have around.
Summary –
I was happy overall with the resort and pleased with the improvements I
observed since my last visit in Dec 2013.
I thought the food was significantly better, condition of the
resort in general is improving and I thought the staff performance and
attitude was better. All in
all, it looked like an uptrend in the overall condition and ‘health’ of
the resort and I hope the trend continues.