Alchemy Lesson Plan Benchmarking

Overview: Monsieur Jacques Le Fou is the proud owner the Hotel Des Congres in Lyon, France. In recent years, the hotels former 3.5-star prominence in the local hospitality industry has slipped, however Monsieur Le Fou cannot understand why. Hes perplexed and wonders how his hotel compares to others in Lyon. Fortunately for Monsieur Le Fou, the International Benchmarking Conference for OD Students is taking place in one of the hotels meeting rooms. Quel bon chance! In his charming French way, Monsieur Le Fou has offered complementary champagne for the conference in return for using his hotel as the primary example for demonstrating benchmarking so that he may better understand how he compares to the competition.

A slide deck presentation will highlight key concepts shared in 3 sections. Each Alchemy member plays a role for our presentation, TBD. Possible role assignments: Dawnet & Carol principle conference instructors/leads; Lacey & Natalie two Intl benchmarking guest experts; Marco the owner of Hotel Des Congres, Monsieur Le Fou; Shefali Madame Le Ritz, owner of all the Ritz-Carlton Four Seasons hotels, the best-in-class.

1. Intro Dawnet welcomes, introduces everyone; gives context: presentation & conference (slide 1). She introduces experts & special guests, Monsieur Le Fou, Madame Le Ritz. Carol overview of what will be covered for benchmarking presentation (slide 2). Then explains: a. What is benchmarking? (slide 3) Carol turns to the experts, Natalie & Lacey who explain (short): b. Types of benchmarking Internal, Best Practice, Compare groups (slide 4) c. Who uses benchmarking; what functionality do they measure? (slide 5) Natalie asks Madame Le Ritz what the Four Seasons benchmarks (short reply). Dawnet fields the room for questions; Monsieur Le Fou needs help. He explains that hotel revenue and guest attendance are down, but how could benchmarking help?

2. First breakout Dawnet asks the OD students (in small groups) to discuss the following (5 minutes): a. As hotel guests, what has been your experience? What have you noticed strengths, weaknesses of hotel staff, processes, functionality? b. As student consultants, what observable behaviors or processes would you benchmark, especially those affecting revenue and guest attendance? After breakout, Carol gets student input popcorn-style (flipcharts?); then explains: c. Different approaches to benchmarking (slide 7); She suggests a practical, simple approach to help Monsieur Le Fou. Carol turns to experts, who (reference flipcharts?) explain: d. How to conduct benchmarking actual process & steps (slides 8-12?) [Lacey and Natalie may divide this up, i.e. Lacey defines a step and Natalie applies it to Monsieur Le Fou and hotel; repeat for all steps: definition application.] Dawnet highlights the importance of measuring similar performance metrics to understand effect on output; explains gaps: positive, neutral, negative (slide 13).

(slide 6)

3. Second breakout Dawnet asks OD students to discuss how they would or would not apply what they just learned (benchmarking process) to previously discussed issues (5 minutes). After breakout, Carol gets student input popcorn-style; what did they learn? Then: a. Carol includes Madame Le Ritz to share how Ritz-Carlton uses benchmarking to highlight benefits; everyone else benchmarks against them (slide 14). b. Monsieur Le Fou brings up concerns, asks of downsides of benchmarking. Dawnet & whole team encourage Monsieur Le Fou: benchmarking specific processes at Hotel Des Congres will indeed improve revenue and guest attendance. c. Carol summarizes all components learned (slide 15). Open Q&A. Together, entire team fields student reflections for specific examples how they see benchmarking as a useful tool for client systems & future practices. Dawnet thanks everyone & closes presentation. [Total presentation time: 45 min.] Finis.