I don't know the psychology behind
it, but clothes do seem to impact the way people feel. So doesn't
it stand to reason that the same must be true of hotel employees
and the uniforms they are required to wear?
A couple of years
ago, I was having a casual conversation with one of the employees
at the Hotel Rouge in Washington. During the brief chat, I asked
the employee, who didn't know I was a reporter, how he liked
working at the hotel, which is one of the many cutting-edge
boutique/lifestyle properties owned by Kimpton Hotels and, frankly,
one of my favorites.
He said he really
enjoyed the job; he liked his co-workers and the hotel's guests.
Then he said, "And I get to wear this cool uniform, so how bad can
it be?"
The uniform was
indeed quite cool: a dark T-shirt and slacks with a nicely tailored
black leather blazer.
The employees working
at New York's Gansevoort Hotel, which prides itself on top-notch
service, are dressed quite fashionably, as well.
After all, Hugo Boss,
one of the top fashion design companies in the business, designed
their uniforms.
Am I seeing a pattern
here? Do better uniforms for employees actually improve service at
hotels?
"One of the things
we've heard in [employee] focus groups is, 
often times, when uniforms look
cheap, [the employees] are bit embarrassed to wear them outside of
the hotel," said Jim Holthouser, senior vice president, brand
manager for Embassy Suites. "It is not just an Embassy Suites
thing, it is more of a service industry thing. You can say that
about just about every business."
So Embassy Suites,
which is upgrading everything from bathrooms to breakfast
offerings, has decided to spruce up its employee uniforms, and it
came about the designs in a rather unusual way.
"Embassy Suites was
in 'The Apprentice' [the reality TV show where contestants vie for
jobs in Donald Trump's empire] in May, and one of the assignments
was to come up with a new hotel uniform that was much more
employee-friendly, that employees would be proud to wear,"
Holthouser said.
Embassy Suites liked
the designs and, with a few tweaks, will be rolling them out
chainwide early next year.
Holthouser said of
the creations, "They obviously will have some very subtle branding
elements, but they will look very professional."
A reality show also
played a role in spurring the designs of employee uniforms at NYLO
Hotels.
The chain is still a
ways off from opening its first property, but it has already tapped
Daniel Vosovic, a Fashion Institute of Technology grad who came
close to winning on Bravo's "Project Runaway," in which aspiring
fashion designers compete.
NYLO's executives
were so impressed with the 24-year-old Vosovic's work on the show
that they asked him to design all of the hotel's employee
uniforms.
"I think this is such
a great opportunity for a young designer to create something on
such a large scale," he said. "It will show my range."
NYLO is even
considering selling certain "signature items for the brand" to the
public on the chain's Web site.
"I think clothing is
such an underrated motivator," Vosovic said.
Holthouser
agreed.
"I think it ends up
serving the customer indirectly because if you take care of your
team, they will feel good about what they do and take better care
of the customer," he said.