The human connection

BridgeStreet Worldwide believes in consistency and controls in processes, and a human touch in customer relationships. President Lee Curtis talks to Keith Regan. Corporate housing provider BridgeStreet Worldwide was formed in 1996 through the roll up of what had been seven separate privately held companies. The company, which provides fully furnished apartments for corporate clients who need to provide short-term accommodations to employees and consultants (the typical stay is 60 to 90 days) formally became BridgeStreet Accommodations (now BridgeStreet Worldwide) and went public in 1997. In 2000, BridgeStreet Accommodations was purchased by MeriStar Hotel and Resorts and a new management team was brought in to set a focused strategic direction for the firm, according to president Lee Curtis. ÔÇ£We came in and found that while we had a brand name, we didnÔÇÖt have a strong brand. The culture was not cohesive and processes lacked consistency.ÔÇØToday, BridgeStreet Worldwide has a strong unified culture and extensive controls in place to ensure that the same practices are being followed and the same level of service is being provided across some 100 metropolitan areas in the US and several foreign cities that it serves. With the company centered on the mantra of ÔÇ£Corporate housing made easy,ÔÇØ BridgeStreet delivers a comprehensive suite of temporary housing services to its clients, who are often high-level decision makers in major corporations. From VIP guest services such as airport chauffeur pick-up to total project management for large corporate moves, BridgeStreet simplifies the temporary housing lifecycle for clients and guests alike.ÔÇ£We are a very process-oriented company,ÔÇØ Curtis says. At the highest levels, BridgeStreetÔÇÖs On Target program uses a four-quadrant business model to focus on revenue, associate satisfaction, guest satisfaction and operations. Through those quadrants flow a number of other programs meant to ensure consistency, to enable rapid response to issues that arise and to keep employees trained and motivated in what is at its core a human-relations business. Overall, the corporate housing niche of the hospitality industry generates between $3 billion and $4 billion in revenue each year in the US, with between 70,000 and 90,000 furnished apartments made available to clients, primarily Fortune 5000 companies. BridgeStreet Worldwide had $140 million in revenue last year. To keep close tabs on its processes and business success, Curtis favors a visual flow-chart approach that borrows from and blends ISO-9000 with six sigma and other techniques. The program is known as BridgeStreet Basics, or B2 for shorthand. ÔÇ£It allows us to constantly monitor and isolate what works and what doesnÔÇÖt work, to find out where things break down and achieve a greater level of consistency,ÔÇØ Curtis says. ÔÇ£The ultimate goal is to have the highest level of guest satisfaction and employee retention, but also to get to where we can let the process of the company sort of run itself day to day, so we can spend more time planning new and exciting ways to grow the business and do better by our customers.ÔÇØAs with any six sigma program, feedback is critical and BridgeStreet is constantly getting input both from its client businesses and the guests of its apartments. A Web-based survey known as the Electronic Survey Program, or ESP, is sent to end-users two days after they move into apartments and just after they move out and offers feedback on a range of topic areas. The system is designed to immediately red-flag responses that show something didnÔÇÖt meet expectations. Curtis, his assistant, and appropriate local managers and guest service personnel are all alerted by email. BridgeStreet requires a follow-up phone call to set things right within 24 hours. The company offers a money-back guarantee to back up its commitment to superior service and harkens back to BridgeStreetÔÇÖs drive to make corporate housing easy.BridgeStreet Basics was rolled out late in 2002. Originally geared toward ÔÇ£high touch-pointÔÇØ areas such as housekeeping and amenities, the program is now infused in the company culture, affecting everything from accounting and non-guest areas. ÔÇ£My belief is that you have to be able to flow chart it. IÔÇÖm not a six sigma maven, but I believe in the core ideas of simplicity and repeatability. IÔÇÖm a visual person, so I believe the flow charts are the key. They are the key to being able to articulate how things work. If you can map it out, you can write it out and physically step through the process afterwards.ÔÇØB2 and other efforts enabled by technology have helped boost the companyÔÇÖs operating efficiencies. Through a smart growth program, the company helped increase its occupancy rates from 88 percent in 2002 to 92.5 percent today. Curtis believes strongly that B2 has made BridgeStreet a world class company in operations and hopes to be able to have third-party confirmation of that in 2007. The company is now laying the groundwork to apply for the Presidential operational excellence program known as the Malcolm Baldridge Award. ÔÇ£Our goal has been to prepare ourselves over the last two to three years to be fine-tuned enough to be able to apply,ÔÇØ he says. While winning the award would be a huge boost for company morale, the process of being audited and gaining feedback if the company qualifies for the program will be invaluable as well. ÔÇ£We do a lot of measuring against ourselves and our own metrics. This would be a great way to test what weÔÇÖve done by rigorous outside standards.ÔÇØAchieving that level of excellence requires a strong training program. Everyone involved in guest services gets a three-day face-to-face training session, along with ongoing programs through newsletters and Web-based meetings and conference calls. Sales staff undergo an intensive five-day up-front training known as Mission Possible that focuses on ensuring that in a business-to-business environment, sales people are focused on solving client problems and addressing their needs. That is backed up with twice-monthly conference call training. All regional general managers go through all of the same training with their employees. Curtis takes pride in another program aimed at customer satisfaction and one that clearly boosts employee pride and satisfaction as well. The BridgeCare Awards honor those employees who take extraordinary steps to ÔÇ£make the human connectionÔÇØ with guests in the companyÔÇÖs properties. The program recognizes that the corporate relocation process has very real human consequences. ÔÇ£At some point, thereÔÇÖs a hand-off where instead of dealing with their company, the guest is handed over to our care,ÔÇØ Curtis notes. Employees are trained to ask key questions aimed at finding out the residentÔÇÖs true and unique needs by asking about pets or family situations. ÔÇ£If a spouse is coming with kids or is pregnant, maybe we help them find doctors in the area or make sure the apartment has crayons or toys when they arrive.ÔÇØ The BridgeCare quarterly awards include a cash bonus and having a star name after the winning employee. The top annual winner gets an extra week of paid vacation, with BridgeStreet sending the employee wherever they wish and picking up the tab. Curtis speaks of the program with obvious pride, telling of the team in Columbus, Ohio that when it recognized that a relocated executive would be running the cityÔÇÖs marathon without his family, which had not moved with him, set out to hold signs along the race route and cheer the runner along. Another team, in Baltimore, learned that one of its guest families had lost their home in a fire just before Christmas. The regional office staff purchased presents for the familyÔÇÖs children, set up and decorated a tree in their temporary apartment and brought a cooked Christmas dinner to the house. ÔÇ£ItÔÇÖs big things like that, but it also might be a small thing like replacing a TeleTubbies DVD because one was lost during the move,ÔÇØ Curtis says. ÔÇ£We all do this business because we like to take care of people and weÔÇÖre at our best when thatÔÇÖs what we focus on.ÔÇØ