selena sprout

Here is the letter I found during working at Christinas. I did not receive this letter (Anh Thuc had sent it before I worked), but for me, becoming a Superhost is a great journey in my life. Working in the service industry as a mirror, I see more and understand more about myself through any guests I serve. I feel emotional when I read these words. It could be said that I went through this journey and became a Superhost, ever went further, an Operations Manager at 20 Tong Duy Tan building, Hang Bong, Hoan Kiem, Hanoi where I received a lot of love. It is the very first step in the hospitality and tourism industry. Today, I am so happy to share this letter.

Gratitude

“Like I mentioned, there are measurable things and unmeasurable things.

To become a Superhost, there are the check-the-box things that you have to do. And there are implied tasks.

Let me break down the phases of hosting, from my point of view:

Host Trainee – This stage is really for you to learn about culture, learn the steps of hosting. Steps of cleaning. Very boring, but very important. This sets the foundation for your future progress so don’t take it lightly.

Make sure you understand how to deal with the team you’re working with and get along well. It’s very important. A good team can get anything done even if the skillsets aren’t there. It could be developed. A team filled with great individuals who are great but cannot work well together will usually underachieve. Anyhow, Make sure you get this foundation down. Step by step. Boring, but necessary. If you take this lightly or get over-confident, your growth will be slowed down. You will not reach your potential.

A Host – now you know the steps, you don’t have to think in your mind anymore of what the check-in steps are. You just check a guest in very naturally; like you’re talking to a friend and making sure your friend is informed of things that are necessary. You’re no longer going through the check-list when talking to guests to make sure you didn’t miss anything. And if you do miss it, you’ll be able to make it up somehow and ask later or tell later.

A Superhost – from my point of view. Can and has to be able to do everything. You will be expected to go above and beyond the checklist. There are implied tasks. Once you get to know a guest, there are things that you keep in mind to also use in the conversations. See if the guest would be a suitable teammate, if the guest is a good person, and possibly even recruit. That’s how I recruited Joe Black. See if guests are interested in our business model or culture etc. we have investors who were our guests initially. These are things that are not taught, but you will develop as you understand more of the company. Know more of our identity. When you also identify with the company more and more. You will forget all the steps of a check-in, you will do step 9 first instead of 1 but still able to get through the whole process properly. You will be able to take care of the property, physically. Know who to call for maintenance. Ac broken, how to fix? Plants are dead, why? Washer and dryers have issues, who to call? what’s the process? towels and sheets have stain, how to treat? or who to ask? bad guest situation, what do you do? how do you handle a bad guest? Knowing about revenues, room prices, able to take bookings for the property and understand which rooms could be upgraded.

Starting to sound like alot? It is alot. But these are skills that you will develop naturally as you host. Everybody will develop them at different stages and in different ways. We are all configured differently. A Superhost just essentially means that you really do see the property as your own. You tend to it as your own. You will make sure people turn off the lights after they use the bathroom. You will fix the shoes that people left un-organized on the steps and let people know to keep it in order next time. What I mentioned above are not the only things that is necessary to make you a superhost.

A superhost is a mental state of mind. It’s not quite things that you do. Hieu khong? A house is not a home. Home is a feeling; not a place. When you can create that feeling of home for guests. Feel that it is your own home. Take care of it as though it is your own home. That’s when you are a superhost, to me.

Thuc”