No more gatekeeping gratitude

Aloft Element Dallas Love Field

The Grazzy platform unlocked opportunities for guests to show their gratitude throughout the Aloft-Element property. The Grazzy team created custom-branded materials for both the Element and Aloft side of the property and worked with Torres to quickly customize and rollout the new program in a day. Today, the Aloft-Element Dallas Love is utilizing Grazzy to support a gratitude loop for Housekeeping, complimentary shuttle drivers, front desk, and food and bev staff.

The Challenge

The Aloft-Element Dallas Love was looking for an effective way to ensure hourly team members felt recognized and rewarded for their hard work. Being located close to a busy airport, this property regularly sees occupancy rates of 90% and higher with shorter stays. Housekeeping staff need to efficiently turn 12-15 rooms per day, shuttle drivers need to get guests to the airport quickly, and guest services often wear many hats – from front desk to complimentary breakfast and happy hour support.

General Manager Enrique Torres and Director of Operations Scott Perlmutter were searching for a way to remove the friction guests experience when they want to leave a tip or say thank you to a staff member who made their trip. “We know one of the competitive advantages we can offer to our team members is more money in their pockets and more positive feedback from our guests. But between guests not having cash and being in rush, there’s not really a great way to make that happen as often as we’d like.” – Scott Perlmutter, Director of Operations, Atlantic Hotels Group

Enter Grazzy.

The Solution

“Change can be intimidating, that was true for my team. Especially for employees who are not the most tech savvy. With the support of our Grazzy representatives, we were pleasantly surprised at how easy the Grazzy platform is to use. My team was thrilled the first time they received their Grazzy payouts. Grazzy is a great benefit to my team! I highly recommend for any housekeeping staff.” – Chirstina Gomez, Housekeeping Manager, Aloft Dallas Love

“We’ve been able to designate pooled tips vs. direct tips for each team, which has been great. Pooled teams have loved working together to deliver the best guest experiences and get that ‘top team’ spot.” – Enrique Torres, General Manager, Aloft Dallas Love

In addition to education and enablement throughout the property, Grazzy is able to offer direct payouts to team members, while still ensuring that taxes and reporting are simple for the back-office. “The fact that Grazzy pays out employees directly makes life a lot easier for us – and our team members love having instant access to their tips vs. waiting for two weeks for a paycheck.” – Enrique Torres, General Manager, Aloft Dallas Love

“The Grazzy team gives me an easy report to implement during payroll to ensure all the tax requirements are covered. It’s really simple and I love seeing the team getting a little something extra for all their hard work.” – Thomas Emerson, Human Resources Manager, Aloft Dallas Love

The ROI

Improved Retention & Recruitment

Enrique spends a lot of time making sure his team feels appreciated, but like everyone in the hospitality industry, recruitment and attrition is a constant pull on bandwidth. Prior to Grazzy, the Aloft -Element Dallas Love experienced an average of 10% attrition per month. Since implementing Grazzy, that number has decreased to 0%!

“Being able to first show the team that we were investing in them by implementing Grazzy meant a lot – esp. to the housekeeping team. Now that they are seeing tips and feedback in their wallet every day, that promise is really coming to life. It’s not only helping to keep team members around longer, but it’s a selling point for me on the recruiting side.”

Enrique Torres, General Manager, Aloft Dallas Love

Increased Effective Wages

Since implementing the Grazzy platform, just three weeks ago, guest tipping and personalized team member feedback has skyrocketed. To date, the Grazzy platform has created significant tip earnings for previously undertipped teams and guests have expressed appreciation for such a simple way to say thank you.

Housekeeping and front desk have been the top tip and feedback earners with guests sharing positive feedback that calls our team members by name.

“We’re already seeing value in the first month. I’m excited to extend the program to other properties in our group portfolio in the coming months.” – Scott Perlmutter, Director of Operations, Atlantic Hotels Group