Six Sigma (6s) is a disciplined management methodology remains a mystical term in the corporate sector.

The tool enables the organization to continuously improve its work culture and processes and divulges ways of its implementation and benefits to the hospitality industry

Six Sigma has gradually gained traction in other types of service industries, including hotels and lodging. Starwood Hotels and Resorts, one of the largest hotel chains in terms of revenue, was the first hospitality giant to embrace Six Sigma. In 2001, Starwood adopted the method to develop innovative, customer-focused solutions and to transfer these solutions throughout the global organization. Six Sigma gives us the tools to eliminate variation and improve efficiency, said Denise Coll, regional vice president of Starwoods New England operations. Leveraging the approach of the Starwood group, our leading hotel chains in India viz. Oberoi, Taj, Hyatt, Meridien, Intercontinental, ITC, Leela, Park etc can also benefit from this program. In order to enhance Customer Experience and Reduce Cost, all they need to do is welcome Six Sigma with open arms and make it a part of their culture. A number of Hotel Management graduates are today a part of the Six Sigma galaxy and they wait for the day when Six Sigma becomes a household name in the hotel fraternity. Six Sigma has strong record in manufacturing productivity, perhaps most visibly at General Electric (GE). Its also extremely adaptable in service industry since its introduction at Starwood, they have refined it dramatically to reflect the focus on service quality and satisfying the voice of the customer. Six Sigma has been successfully deployed by many organizations in Hospitality industry across the globe, some of them are: Starwoods Hotels Marriott International Sheraton Miramar resort Ritz-Carlton ITC Hotel

GRT Hotels

Need for using Six Sigma in Hospitality Industry

In an industry where customer interactions occur on an hourly basis, each customer touch point is critical for building personalized service credibility and developing customer affinity. The call of the hour is to welcome Six Sigma in this industry and utilize the skill to enhance employee efficiency and customer satisfaction. Increasing competition from other organisations and intensive work reaffirms the above hypothesis. Six Sigma successful implementation will sustain and build new momentum, strengthen the brand, enhance ability to share best practices globally, speed the adoption of new technologies, prepare for the challenges of constant change, provide critical focus on the customer and, over time, help deliver a dramatic improvement in the bottom line.

Benefit to Hotel
Increased customer satisfaction. Translating to fewer errors Better processes Strengthen the Brand Reduce cost/ cost savings.

Areas where Six Sigma adds value

a) Hotel-wide: Enhance Customer Loyalty Reduce Employee attrition Productivity/Efficiency Improvement Developing better performance measures/ metrics Increase Revenue

Reduce Cost

b) Processes: Optimal utilization of the current product mix (rooms) to increase revenue Reduce wait time during peak check-in time/ check out time. Eliminate billing errors and improve accuracy Reduce No shows Increase Occupancy Reduce the turnaround time of making/turning down a room Standardization of cleanliness across areas. Reduce the turnaround time of making/turning down a room.

c) Front Office Operations/ Sales & Marketing

Reduce wait time during peak check-in time Reduce wait time during peak check-out time Eliminate billing errors and improve accuracy Reduce No shows Increase Occupancy Optimal utilisation of the current product mix (rooms) to increase revenue Increase customer delight at the Executive Club Reduce/eliminate loss calls (Operators area) Accuracy of information

d) Food and Beverage Service / Production

To maintain optimal inventory Minimise wastage/pilferage

Standardised output of Food and Beverage Reduce the time from order to service Optimal utilisation of current product mix (F&B/Outlets) to increase revenue

e) Accommodation Operation (Housekeeping)

Reduce the turnaround time of making/turning down a room Standardisation of cleanliness across areas

f) Purchase/Stores

Reduce Inventory surplus Cost Benefit Analysis between cost of inventory and cost of storage of products where prices vary seasonally Standardise the operating procedure of issuance to various departments Reduce the turnaround time of issuance to various departments

g) Human Resources/ Personnel

Accuracy of payroll Documentation management Reduce the turnaround time of recruitment Reduce the turnaround time of relieving

Process mapping is an effective means of gathering information to determine how the hotel is performing. It can help hotel management staff understand the guest experience as well as the employee experience, and can reveal areas of inefficiency and opportunities for improvement. Creating process maps also allows managers to uncover instances of variation in a process, when steps are performed differently by different individuals or groups or under difference circumstances.

Instructions
Create a list of the main areas of service for the hotel, such as guest check-in, housekeeping, room service, valet service and bellhop service which include internal areas, such as staffing and payroll. List the individuals or groups that are involved in each area. For instance, housekeeping includes not only the housekeeping staff, but also the front desk staff and the phone operators, who handle requests for housekeeping. Consult the people involved in each service area to gather information about their process. You may want to bring all of them together for a focus group, or you may interview different individuals or groups separately. Be sure to clarify that the goal is to understand and improve processes, not to identify opportunities for discipline or blame, and that it is important that any variations and exceptions in the process are specified. Write a description of the process, including the beginning and end points. For instance, if you are interested in the check-in process for guests, your description might be, "The check-in process begins when the guest arrives at the hotel, includes room assignment and payment, and ends when the guest enters his room." Start your process map by putting the beginning point at the upper left of your document and the ending point at the bottom right of your document. These are usually indicating using a rounded rectangle shape. Add additional steps using a rectangle shape and label each one with a short phrase. For check-in, steps might include "customer approaches front desk" and "Staff member provides key and room number." Indicate decision points using a diamond shape. For instance, the front desk staff might do something different depending on whether the guest provided a credit card number when booking the reservation, or has not yet provided payment information. Connect consecutive steps using an arrow that shows the direction in which the process flows. For a decision point, at least two arrows will lead from that step to the possible next steps. Be sure to label each arrow to show which decision leads to which next step. Ask participants in the process to review the process map, and make any changes necessary to remedy any mistakes or missing steps.

Measuring success
Six Sigma and how its being used in service sectors, one must understand critical success factors (CSFs), critical-to-quality (CTQ) characteristics, sets of tools and techniques (STTs) and key performance indicators (KPIs). CSFs are described as essential ingredients required for successful Six Sigma projects. CTQs are those quality dimensions that a Six Sigma project aims to improve. They are the product or service characteristics required to satisfy customer needs. KPIs are not well defined in literature, and there are many interpretations. Mostly, KPIs are likened to performance metricsthat is, measures of performance in terms of cost, quality, yield and capacity. The STTs used in Six Sigma are nothing new. The Six Sigma method simply provides aframework for their systematic application. Tools have specific roles with a narrow scope,while techniques have wider application and require specific skills, creativity and training

Creativity and innovation

A detailed research can offer insights into how Six Sigma relates to creativity and innovation. Traditionally, Six Sigma has been seen as a prescription for conformance rather than a formula for creativity, breakthrough thinking or entrepreneurship.

Six Sigma at hotels, however, proved to be a source of innovation, as shown by the development of profitable guest programs. For example, Starwood team members used Six Sigma to formulate one program called Unwind, which offers complimentary massages for guests and draws them to the lobby to meet and mingle. This initiative actually helped and also surprised Starwood as the revenues from paid massages in the hotel spa hit an all-time high, rising 30% over the previous year. Another program, Star Meeting Concierge, grew from another Six Sigma project. The hotels now provide a meeting concierge assigned to a Meeting Organizer as a permanent point of contact, on hand to welcome delegates, explain how the technology works, anticipate needs and respond quickly to any requests for assistance, ensuring the best service. Outside meeting planners are given business cards with

the photo of their concierge so they can recognize them in an area where several meeting groups may be gathered. The free service enhances the customer service the concierge was able to provide to the meeting planners. As a result of the program, 95% of meeting planners rated their concierges responsiveness as excellent.

Bottom-line results
Financial metrics can help us to understand the success of Six Sigma in any organization. For example: At the Westin Turnberry Resort, a Six Sigma project resulted in an 11.95% increase in incremental spending by customers and an increase in room revenue of more than 19%. A Six Sigma project improved reservation systems and helped maximize the use of massage therapists and treatment rooms, increasing spa-related revenues from $145 per booking to $225 per booking. Another Six Sigma project focused on improving the housekeeping service process. That project resulted in: An estimated yearly reduction of $500,000 in cost of poor quality Reducing the time it takes to clean rooms by 65%, to eight minutes. Reducing the number of defects per room from 42% to 3.7%. This resulted in cleaner rooms. Increasing the number of rooms that a member of the housekeeping staff can clean each dayfrom 13 rooms to 17 rooms. This resulted in labor cost savings. Reducing a housekeepers movement within a guest room by 64%, or 205 feet. Another pilot project at the Westin, Atlanta North hotel focused on streamlining the laundry separating process. As a result of the project, the laundry department improved productivity by 14%, representing a savings of 291 hours of non-value added time each year. The same project at another resort resulted in a savings of 815 hours of non-value added time each year, or $11,415.

When Six Sigma was initiated at Starwood, the company incurred $17 million in training costs. At the same time, the company reaped tangible earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization increases of more $17 million. Since then, programs developed under Six Sigma have delivered more than $100 million in profits to Starwoods bottom line.

The findings also showed that Six Sigma can spark innovation and promote a culture of creativity in Six Sigma projects. For large-scale systems that share customers across business units, Six Sigma can have a big impact when it comes to innovation. One of the important aspects of Six Sigma is linking projects to dollar savings. This enables top management to assess the actual effectiveness of each project and the overall success of Six Sigma program. Starwood has not only achieved and exceeded customer expectations, but it has also has registered a high bottom-line results. This should be an important indicator for top management of other service organizations, as well as practitioners while implementing Six Sigma. Limited scholarly articles on Six Sigma implementation in service organizations are a cause for concern, especially when a high-profile service organization such as Starwood is reaping such great benefits. Scholarly studies on Starwoods success could encourage Six Sigma implementation at manufacturing and service organizations, just as GEs story did in 1990s.