Niki Leondakis
12/01/2005
When the Kimpton Group is hiring staff for a new hotel, every interviewee for every position is given an unusual test. The interviewer hands the applicant a small sack of ordinary items. We then ask the interviewee to take 10 minutes to come up with a story involving each of the items.
The test is one way that we employ psychographics, a term marketers have used for a couple of decades to imply tapping into the personal values and lifestyle behind a customer’s product choices. In a service industry that requires constant face-to-face encounters between the staff and the customers, however, psychographics also works as part of our management strategy aimed at hiring staff able to cultivate a sense of genuine rapport with the guests.
We handed one young woman a bag containing thread, lipstick, a ruler, a watch, a shoelace, chewing gum, a comb and a Post-It note. The applicant managed to adapt all of the items into a story about a woman on a job interview: “As Betsey approached the office building for her big interview, she looked at her watch, which read 8:45, and glanced at the Post-It note she had on her resume that read 9 am . . . . She made her way to the ladies room . . . touched up her lipstick and glanced down at her well-worn suit, wishing she had a needle and thread to fix the loose button . . . .”
The test is designed to measure the applicants’ ability to think on their feet, as opposed to following a rulebook. You can train the staff to fawn and respond to every guest demand with “Anything you wish, sir,” but to fulfill a request in a way that leaves the customer feeling truly understood and cared for, you need someone who will respond with insight and personal initiative—and, at times, a sense of humor. A person who responds with a really dark story or cannot come up with a creative answer at all will probably not be a good fit in our organization.
| The test is designed to measure the applicants’ ability to think on their feet, as opposed to following a rulebook. |
In that hypothetical scenario, the employee might first check to see if we have a profile on the customer, and if the profile mentions anything about liking tea, or if she might prefer Irish coffee. If a guest has stayed at a Kimpton Hotel before and filled out a survey, we will have at least a general idea of what he likes in a hotel. The survey asks about favorite snacks and beverages, hobbies, favorite magazines or newspapers, as well as preferences vis-à-vis a high or low floor of the building, proximity to elevators, foam or feather pillows or a request for specialty rooms, such as one that is environmentally friendly or has high ceilings.
At many of our hotels, our staff members will pick up the telephone and conduct their own psychographic research on customers before they arrive. A recent guest at our Hotel Monaco in Washington, D.C., checked into her room and found framed digital photos of her cats on the night table. A marathon runner, she also found a copy of Runner’s World, a city map showing a seven-mile run, Luna bars and Gatorade in her room. A clerk had contacted her assistant to ask about her interests, and staff members had fun using the information to customize the room.
Our aim is to foster a customer base with an emotional connection to the hotel as well as the Kimpton brand. For those who like our boutique hotels enough to return frequently, we use psychographic profiles in our loyalty program, offering rewards that are tailored to the guest’s interests. Two months ago, an oenophilic member of our Inner Circle, which requires at least 15 stays at a Kimpton hotel, was rewarded with a trip to Napa Valley and a private tasting and tour at Kimpton CEO Tom La Tour’s vineyards.
And that interviewee who told the story about the watch and the lipstick? She got the job.
| Niki Leondakis is chief operating officer of Kimpton Hotels and Restaurants. |  |