Wednesday, February 10th, 2010 by Stephanie Bixeman
Minuteman Parking Fan Page on Facebook
We are pleased to announce that Minuteman Parking Company is now on Facebook and Twitter!
In addition to our blog posts, our Facebook and Twitter will provide the latest and greatest news from Minuteman, as well as up-to-date information in the world of valet parking. Our Facebook page allows visitors to view picture albums that are dedicated to what we know best: hotels, hospitals and special events.
Facebook was founded by a small group of Harvard students and it is one of the fastest growing internet sites for both social and business contacts. The site currently has over 350 million active users worldwide and is the second most-visited site in the world, falling behind Google.
Twitter is another social networking site that allows its users to send and read messages known as tweets. The site was founded in 2006 and allows followers to keep up with what is happening right now.
Even if you are not currently using Facebook or Twitter, you can still visit our pages and see our updates. And if you are already part of the latest social phenomenon, we would love for you to become a fan and follow us!
You can access our accounts using the following links:
Minuteman Parking held our annual Managers Meeting last week at our corporate headquarters in El Segundo. Attending the meeting were more than 30 managers and members of the management team.
Minuteman Parking had another successful year and revenues grew by almost 20% in 2009 even as the hotel and hospitality business slumped due to the economy. We were able to grow our business and add shuttle operations in a year when our competitors were scrambling to survive. Making up the difference was our recent focus on parking services for the Medical Facilities business where we added four new accounts in 2009. Our goals for 2010 are to continue our strong growth, focus on the customer and improve all of our customer encounters.
I am proud to announce that Tu Sam was selected as Minuteman Manager of the year for 2009. Tu is the manager of the Seattle Airport Marriott site and has worked for Minuteman for almost six years. Tu started as a Driveway Ambassador and worked his way up to manager. Tu was the highest scoring manager in our location audit and had superior guest satisfaction scores. The bonus was that his facility had zero accident claims for 2009 which is amazing because it happened at an airport property.
Minuteman Parking President Chris Fox Presenting 2009 Manager of the Year Award to Tu Sam from the Seattle Airport Marriott
Some of the other awards handed out include:
The Revolving Doorwon by Dawn Harper atHoag Hospital for hiring the most employees during the year
Most Appreciated Manager won byRon Machonat Torrance Marriott for hiring just 1 new employee all year
Mr. Discipline won by Gary & John atSt Joseph Hospital for handing out the most written warnings
Follows the Rulesby Kennedy Maringa atSt Bernadine for having the highest score on the location audit
Just Focus and Do It byBryan Kramer atTower Hotel for accomplishing all of his goals during the year
Knows What Time It Isby Kennedy Maringa atSt Bernadine for having the lowest overall lunch punches
Knows What Time It Isby Ian Wilson atManhattan Marriott, Tu Sam atSeattle Airport Marriott, Aaron Rosen at Fantasy Springs and Derek Coffinger at the W Hotel for great improvement in reducing lunch punches
Zero Tolerance awards toTu Sam atSeattle Airport Marriott, Ron Maachon at Torrance Marriott and Kennedy Maringa at St. Bernadine for having $0 (ZERO) claims in 2009
Mr. Safety for the best improved claims toWalter Avelarat Marina Marriott, Rico Saavedra at the Huntley Hotel and Ian Wilson at the Manhattan Marriott
The Closer Award for successfully closing the Monterey Plaza Hotel byAidan Gabriel at theMonterey Plaza Hotel
Mr. Service Award to Walter Avelar atMarina Marriott for improving the overall guest satisfaction score
Our team building activity this year was bowling at the Lucky Strike Lanes in Torrance. Dawn Harper and Ron Machon surprised the rest of the managers with their bowling prowess by each bowling well in excess of 150.
Minuteman President Chris Fox Thowing Yet Another Gutter Ball
I would also like to thank Crecenciano Moreno who created our lovely balloon centerpieces. Creceniano is one of our shuttle drivers at CHOC and he makes balloons all day long for the visiting children. We value his extra efforts and dedication to bringing his version of happiness and joy to the CHOC facility.
Balloon Arrangements Created by Crecenciano Moreno, Shuttle Driver for CHOC
The Orange Coast Memorial Medical Center in Fountain Valley becomes our 4th new medical facility customer this year on November 9th. We are delighted to begin partnering with Orange Coast as they are the only not-for-profit hospital in Fountain Valley and its surrounding communities. And the hospital was voted “Best Place to Work” and “Best Companies to Work for” by the readers of the Orange County Register and OC Metro Magazine.
We will start with a valet station at the front door of their new Orange Coast Patient Care Pavilion which is opening this month. Connected by a sky bridge to the main hospital, the 6-story, 162,500 square-foot structure will be home to some of the most advanced medical treatments and highly-regarded specialists in the region. We are also adding a brand new Gem golf cart to ferry visitors and patients from the self-parking lot to the hospital entrance. Over the next few months, we plan to add other valet and Door Ambassador positions throughout the Medical Center campus.
Orange Coast Patient Care Pavilion Opens in November 2009
I would like to share a letter we received from Janice Vande Steeg, General Manager of the Manhattan Beach Marriott this week.
And I would like to congratulate Ian Wilson, Kirk Boardman and the rest of the Minuteman Parking team at the Manhattan Beach Marriott for delivering exceptional service and fulfilling the MinutemanCommitments To Excellence for one of our longtime customers.
Medical facilities across the country are preparing for the worst as we head into a new flu season. The H1N1 virus also known as “swine flu” is expected to infect millions of people this winter and public health officials hope to lessen the threat by providing vaccines to the those people with the highest risk.
The initial priority should go to health care and emergency workers, pregnant women, those from 6 months to age 24, and adults with underlying medical conditions ranging from heart disease to asthma.
To help minimize the spread of the H1N1 virus, Minuteman Parking has teamed up with the staff at St. Joseph Hospital in Orange to hand out face masks to visitors who may be exhibiting flu symptoms when they use our valet parking services. We are proud that we are on the front lines of fighting this potential epidemic, and pleased that a picture of team member Jim Kirkpatrick was included in the OCRegister article.
Minuteman Parking Team Member Jim Kirkpatrick Passes Out Face Mask at St. Joseph Hospital in Orange
The Challenge - The Marina del Rey Marriottarrival score ranked 43rd out of 46 hotels at the end of 2008. Local management was not pleased with this mediocre result and they approached us with a challenge to help them improve their ranking.
Our Solution - After a series of meetings with the “front” of the property staff including doormen, valets and bellmen, we devised and implemented new guest hand-off procedures to ensure comprehensive and consistent coverage at the “front” of the property.
The Results - As a result of our program, the Marina del Rey Marriott is currently ranked 8th out of 46 hotels on the arrival score metric. Plus, the staff is doing a better job of working together and they feel more empowered based on increased feedback from guests and management.
Here is what Doug Smith, Assistant General Manager at the Marina del Rey Marriott, has to say about the drastic improvement:
“The Minuteman Parking team has done a fantastic job focusing on the customer, and dramatically improving our customer satisfaction scores. They have created an arrival experience that exceeds our customer’s expectations.”
Specifically, the Minuteman solution included:
Upfront meetings - The upfront meetings were moderated by the local Minuteman Parking onsite team and were essential to identifying the root causes of the low arrival score.
Daily training huddles - The training huddles were used to get the team together to discuss the service initiative for the day. While these meetings did not take very much time, they serve to set the tone for each day and get the team focused on delivering superior service.
Toys for kids - During the Summer months when many people are traveling with children, we started handing out small toys to customers with children. The toys included “Bob the Bear” for children which is a Marina del Rey teddy bear and an arrival gift bag for families which included a Marina del Rey Marriott beach bag with a bucket, shovel and sun screen. These simple gestures went a long way towards making customers feel good about choosing Marriott as their hotel option, and eased the challenges of families traveling with children.
Shortened valet shifts - The shortened valet shifts provide Marriott with more available attendants during peak times which serves to minimize wait times for customers arriving and departing the property. We are providing the same amount of labor, but with more resources for certain peak time periods.
Tracking - To measure the effectiveness of our training, we started tracking how many different attendants in the front used each customer’s name.
Vision - Now the entire staff has the same vision how superior customer service should be delivered for the Marina del Rey Marriott, and they are working together to achieve that goal.
To extend the healing ministry of Jesus in the tradition of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange by continually improving the health and quality of life of the people in the communities we serve
Starting today, Minuteman Parking will be helping St. Jude reach their mission by providing a shuttle operation to deliver employees and patients to their destinations more efficiently and safely, and by providing Lane Ambassadors who will help introduce their new pay-in-lane parking equipment.
St. Jude joins the growing trend of medical facilities that are using parking and valet solutions to improve both patient and visitor satisfaction along with improving “patient flow”. These services also have an added side benefit of improving safety for all patients, visitors and employees.
Little Company of Mary Medical Facility is part of the Providence Health and Services system, and they have more than 4000 employees, physicians and volunteers who have been serving our South Bay community for over 40 years.
Minuteman Parking is excited to bring a new look-and-feel to patient and visitor arrival at Little Company of Mary and will be implementing changes in the parking area to improve patient flow and overall satisfaction. We will staff two valet stations - at the main entrance and at the outpatient services entrance - from Monday through Friday. In addition, we will provide an on-campus golf cart shuttle during peak times and upon request. Our contract with Little Company will also add about 15 new associates to the Minuteman Parking family.
Craig Owens, Ron Machon and Dawn Harper are leading the implementation team and our South Bay management team will oversee day-to-day management of the operations.
Little Company of Mary is the latest addition to the family of medical facilities served by Minuteman Parking. In addition to Children’s Hospital of Orange County (CHOC) which we added in April, we also provide parking services at Hoag Hospital, St. Josephs and Newport Lido Medical Center in Orange County, the Loma Linda Medical Center in Loma Linda and St. Bernadine Medical Center in San Bernadino.
The Marriott Torrance Has Been An MPC Customer Since 2003
Minuteman Parking Manager Ron Machón received a special “Recognition to Service Excellence” award from the Torrance Marriott recently. Only four associates from each property are recognized each quarter, and Ron was the only vendor recognized for his efforts.
“Exceptional customer service is one of the cornerstones for Minuteman Parking and it is wonderful that one of our employees is recognized for his efforts by one of our customers. This award is a tribute to the hard work and dedication to customer service that Ron brings to everything he does,” says Minuteman Parking President Chris Fox.
Ron just completed his 1-year anniversary at the Torrance Marriott in May. However, Ron has been working for Minuteman Parking since 2004 when he started out as a valet at the Marina Del Rey Marriott while attending college. Ron graduated from Cal State Long Beach in 2007 with a BS degree, majoring in criminal justice and minoring in Human Development. In his spare time, Ron enjoys riding motorcycles.
Minuteman Parking just added CHOC (Children’s Hospital of Orange County) as our newest customer in our growing medical facilities area. CHOC is the first hospital devoted exclusively to caring for children in Orange County. Since opening its doors in 1964, CHOC has led the way in many areas of pediatric health care.
We will be providing services for all of CHOC’s parking and shuttle operations in the City of Orange. CHOC is embarking on a construction project to build a new state-of-the-art patient care tower scheduled to open in 2013, and we will be shuttling all employees and visitors during construction with up to six shuttle buses. We will also manage their 5-story, 526 space self-parking garage and will provide Ambassadors for the front entrance and visitor valet parking in the garage.
As with our other medical facility customers, we are improving patient flow and serving as an extension of these facilities’ already outstanding patient care. In addition, our Ambassador program continues to dramatically improve patient satisfaction scores at our partner hospitals. Minuteman Parking also provides parking services to Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach, St. Joseph Health System in Orange, Loma Linda Medical Center, Catholic Healthcare West and Newport Lido Medical Center.
Signing up CHOC as a new customer was a team effort for Minuteman Parking, and they were impressed with our medical facilities experience and our approach to customer service. The bid team included VP of Operations Craig Owens, Controller Wilson Tang, and CFO Consultant Mike Gleason. We are looking forward to implementing our stellar customer service and parking operations services at CHOC starting at the end of April.
