September 4, 2024

Celebrating The Peabody Hotel: An Interview with President Doug Browne

Glenn chatted with Doug Browne, President of the iconic Peabody Hotel in Memphis, during the Southern Lodging Summit. As the Peabody Hotel approaches its 100th anniversary in its current building, they discuss its rich history and discuss how the hotel is blending its storied past with modern innovations.

Doug shares insights on the hotel’s recent $18 million room renovation, lobby updates, and elevator modernizations, all while maintaining its classic charm. They also explore the Peabody’s exceptional employee retention strategies, boasting a turnover rate of just 11%, and the unique traditions that make the hotel a cherished landmark.

Main Points:

• 100th Anniversary Celebration: The Peabody Hotel is turning 100 years old in its current building next year.

• Balancing Heritage and Modernity: How the hotel preserves its historic essence while integrating modern conveniences.

• Major Renovations: Insights into the $18 million room renovations, lobby enhancements, and elevator upgrades.

• Employee Retention Success: The Peabody’s impressive 11% turnover rate and the strategies behind it.

• Competitive Labor Market Strategies: Competing with major corporations by focusing on exceptional employee experiences.

• Employee Engagement Initiatives: Offering steak lunches, complimentary coffee and donuts, and personal gestures like monthly candy bars and sodas from Doug himself.

• Cultivating a Strong Team Culture: The importance of valuing employees to enhance customer service.

• The Duckmaster Experience: How guests can become an honorary Duckmaster, participating in the hotel’s famous duck march tradition.

• Enhancing Guest Experience: Connecting guests with local culture and creating memorable stays.

Glenn: Hey, everybody. It’s your hospitality, friend Glenn. And I’m at the Southern Lodging Summit here in Memphis. And I can’t come to Memphis without talking to the president of Peabody Hotel, Doug Brown. Good morning. Good morning to you, brother. Happy. I’m so happy to see you. And big question. And we’re happy to have you because our bar revenues go up whenever you visit. I don’t know about that. Oh, maybe. Maybe you might be right. But your cocktails here are so delicious. But one of the things that I was looking at is the history of the Peabody goes way back to the 1860s, and you guys are in the new building, right? He’s turning off the 100 next year. Holy cow. How are you framing it? Isn’t it funny that that’s the new building? I know, that’s why I’m, like, so blown away by. So how are you thinking about celebrating 100 years in this building? And how are you thinking about bringing the Peabody into the next 100 years in this building? Well, you know, it’s interesting that you mentioned that. So I’m constantly struggling with our owner, he loves design, he loves decorating, and of course.

Doug: But.

Glenn: He.

Doug: Loves modern and and and and so I’m constantly trying to pull him back. Hey, we we gotta embrace our history and and our look and having that classic look. So we’re we’re actually getting ready. We’re in the middle of an $18 million rooms renovation. We just did the lobby, which I think you saw. And we we modernized all of our elevators, but I think it’s it’s keeping our history, keeping what we’re good at and and and and and and the feel of the hotel, but then at the same time trying to have modern conveniences, having having all those expectations met that are totally and customer was a trick.

Glenn: Keeping that historical backdrop to set the stage for modern experience has been one of the ways that you have to do that is by keeping that team in place. And one of the things I’ve been blown away with in with so much issues that we’ve had in hospitality, keeping people to you have excelled in that. So I think.

Doug: We fell into it. It was. I wish I could say we were really smart, right. But I think it was an accident. What happened was after Covid and everybody was struggling with hiring people and everything else that we started, we found ourselves competing with Fedex and with with Nike and Amazon and everything else. We couldn’t keep up with them on their pay rates and their signing bonuses. I mean, they they could afford more than we could. So we said, you know what? We’ve got to step back and focus on what we do, and that’s customer service. But let’s do the same for our our associates. Yeah. And so we said, okay, let’s do steak lunches in the employee dining room and, and let let’s welcome them when they arrive in the morning with coffee and donuts. And, you know, it’s all those little things. I walk around once a month and I hit every associate. We have over 500. I will hit every associate with a candy bar and a soda.

Glenn: And it doesn’t cost a lot.

Doug: But it means a lot.

Glenn: So those things, when you connect with the people in a little bit of a meaningful way every day, then they’re not going to go running down the street for a dollar more an hour because they feel taken care. So our turnover year to date, 11%. That’s insane. Yeah. It doesn’t exist anywhere. Wow. Yeah. Wow. That is a that is a absolutely.

Doug: We’re proud of that. We’ve got a and I wish I could take credit. We got an incredible team. We got a great team. They make it happen.

Glenn: And one of the things that I love about your team is the culture there that I just show up and look. I know, yeah. And you excel. Yeah. But your team, every single interaction I have with them is always, what can I do for you? And it’s that real spirit of hospitality. All right. Last question I have for you. The most important question I’ve ever asked in my career is how do I. Yes, I’m.

Doug: Single and.

Glenn: And.

Doug: And all the single women today. Yes.

Glenn: Yeah. All right. Well. Oh, that one. Your question. No. Oh, well, yeah, that takes all the air out of myself. How does one become a duckmaster and take part in the incredible history that you have with cash?

Doug: You know, you just give me cash and we’ll make it happen. No. So that’s another interesting thing. So once a year we always have a meeting on, you know, how can we increase revenues. Where are the revenue opportunities. And somebody said, you know we we get asked so often how do I get to be duckmaster. So we created a package as Duckmaster package. So yeah, it includes a room, an honorary duckmaster. And you get the cane and the whole bit and it sells out all the time. Now obviously if you reach out to me, I think I can work something out, you know? But yeah. But, you know, I often I have friends, their kids, we’ll do it for them. But we’ve had Oprah, we’ve had Steven Seagal, we’ve had a lot of awesome, cool people.

Glenn: And that that just really connects the city to the clientele, to the overall experience and makes the Peabody one of those special real elements. I love it, Doug. So great talk. Oh, always good to see you. See you. You too. Hopefully, hopefully it won’t be another year.

Doug: I know you keep avoiding me during the year, you know? Well, I.

Glenn: Can’t afford the fee to go out with you so. But all right Glenn, thanks so much for watching. See you next time. Bye bye.