John Dowd

Experience

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  The St. Regis Hotel NY, NY

  Apr 1992 - Aug 1996

  Hotel Butler (Maitre d'Etage) promited to Laundry / Valet Manager

  Member of the pre-opening management team. Lead the implementation of the brand's signature service, a Maitre d'Etage (Butler) system; wrote the staff manual for this, the first of its kind in the US. Heavy celebrity clientele contact. Promoted in 1994 to oversee IBU (Independent Business Unit) at Valet services. Grossly problematic in areas of service and profitability when I took over, this operation was soundly profitable and service superior in 1 month (the fixes were simple; they just needed to be identified and implemented). Further promoted to Valet/Uniforms Manager with a million dollar-plus budget and purchasing power for uniforms annually. Further promoted to Asst. Laundry Director, which included previous duties and the addition of a 40 person, in-house state of the art laundry facility. Show less

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  The Park Hyatt Hotel (Chicago)

  Mar 2000 - Oct 2003

  Concierge (Pre-Opening)

  Part of the Opening Team for the Park Hyatt, Chicago. Remarkable experience to team up again with my old GM from the St. Regis in NYC. I wrote detailed tours of this art-laden property and toured both the Mayor of Chicago and the Governor of the State of Illinois upon opening. Internally, I was a member of the both Solutions and safety Committees, and externally I was active in the local professional concierge association (The CHCA) as Chairman of the Fundraising and Public Relations Committees and functioned as the CHCA Liaison to Mayor Daly's "We're Glad You're Here" tourism initiative. Content Editor CHCA website / monthly newsletter. Helped develop the "Kidcierge" program for Park Hyatts worldwide, garnering national media attention for the launch. Show less

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  Palmer House

  Oct 2003 - Mar 2006

  Head Concierge

  A Clefs d’Or concierge manager overseeing a team of 8 career concierges at a 1650-room, 4-diamond Chicago icon - the oldest, continuous-service luxury property in the US. Hired to shore up systems and procedures, service basics, and morale for a team without management leadership for more than a year. Renegotiated vendor contracts and re-engaged the hotel’s commercial community, to include relationships at the Chicago Stock Exchange, Board of Trade, the Mayor’s Office and the Federal Building. Training-, liaison-, and PR-intensive. Redesigned and reconfigured existing desk to maximize function, maintaining the architectural integrity (composition and design) of an architecturally significant lobby. Identified key skills/staff and reconfigured the staff roster accordingly. Show less

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  The Drake Hotel

  Mar 2006 - Oct 2008

  Head Concierge

  Transferred from the Palmer House to reinvigorate the service product at this 4-Star Chicago icon. Repopulated the team, and upgraded systems and procedures to modernize an antiquated desk. Moved from a paper desk to an electronic desk, adding modern software, to more efficiently implement, track and measure guest service and satisfaction. Wrote the manual for desk standards and procedures, creating Standard Operational Procedures for all major tasks. Worked closely with the Regional VP for Public Relations resulting in national media exposure, to include news articles and features in the Chicago Tribune, The Christian Science Monitor, and Hospitality.com. Streamlined the interactions between the concierge desk and all other departments. Increased Les Clefs d’Or representation, (the internationally recognized gold standard accreditation), on the team from one to five in less than one year. Guest service ratings and feedback ranked superior during my tenure. Show less

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  Reside Living

  Oct 2009 - May 2014

  Executive Concierge Manager

  Hired by an outside contractor, my contract was bought out by Reside, after only 9 months, to reconfigure the operation to provide a hotel-style concierge service product - a virtual start-up. Grew the service product to accommodate a rapidly-expanding portfolio, serving 27 communities, 2000-plus residential and commercial units, with a resident base of over 4000 - always under annual payroll budget, achieved with the original staffing head count. Retooled the service product to honor ownership vision, working closely with the Sr. VP Operations, VP Marketing and individual Property Managers. Expanded services to include building management operational needs. Admin.-, PR-, event planning-, social media- and vendor relations-intensive, I created standard operating procedures, drafting the staff manual, and training the team to exacting standards. Worked with VP Marketing to devise new marketing strategies to aid the sales teams, increasing resident retention and rental rates, and exponentially improving resident satisfaction survey scores. Added, and trained staff in, new building management software. Planned and presented concierge service roll-out events for large groups at individual properties. Other achievements include: website content maintenance; daily feed to social media/blog; the creation of a Rewards Program (200 vendors strong – the largest of its kind in Chicago - adding value to the resident experience); a “Deal of the Month” initiative with the local Chamber of Commerce engaging the vendor community; running an Art Gallery at the flagship property - booking artists and planning events for exhibit openings; and winning the CAMME for “Best Resident Services” (Chicagoland area), the gold standard industry recognition. Winner of the “Presidents Club Award” as an "Outstanding Company Performer." Show less

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  Villa Healthcare

  Oct 2014 - Apr 2016

  Corporate Director Concierge Services (Consulting)

  Hired as a consultant to develop luxury, hotel-grade customer services for a 10-facility medical group over a 3-state area. Promoted to Corporate Director within 3 months, ultimately responsible for all 23 facilities in 4 states. Grew the service product to include concierge services on a pre-admission to post-discharge patient contact timeline, working directly with 1) sales teams externally - and 2) admissions, customer services and clinical teams internally. Wrote the company’s Concierge / Customer Services Manual, hired and trained a team of 30-plus Concierges / Directors, training staff in all depts., at all facilities, in all elements of the patient service experience. Implemented tech and software solutions for tracking and trending of patient satisfaction surveys, and the patient contract process. Rolled out new initiatives to elevate the ‘service culture’ across the brand. Supported Sales and Mktg. efforts by presenting to board-level decision makers at large hospital groups, developed C.S.-specific marketing materials. Planned CS training conferences, created training materials to onboard new staff and in-service executive personnel. Procured and branded company collateral. Key note speaker at company AGM. Presenter at Annual National Conference, Regional Orientations. Reported directly to the CEO and COO. Show less

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  Sodexo, North America

  Nov 2016 - Mar 2017

  Hospitality Consultant / Head Concierge

  Scouted to head up the development of ultra-luxury, hotel-grade concierge services at the world's first United Airlines ‘Polaris’ Lounge for First Class International travelers at Chicago’s O’Hare airport. Promoted to Head Concierge within three months. Charged with rolling out the beta model at O’Hare with additional responsibility for rolling out a culturally-specific service product in city airports globally, as diverse as London, Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro and Beijing, etc. Concierge and Customer Service Implementation Consultant / Trainer with a roving portfolio for Sodexo at large. Drafted to help pitch the bid for the National Family Mae account as the Hospitality / Customer Services anchor, a $50 million annual account. Invited onto the Fannie Mae National Hospitality Advisory Committee by the client and the Sodexo North America CEO, with input for staffing, training and drafting the training manual for the client. Heavy national and international travel, platform and motivational speaking. Show less

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  The Inn at Honey Run

  Jul 2017 - Sept 2017

  Consulting Guest Service Director

  A truly remarkable experience directing guest services at an exclusive 40-room / -50 acre resort in paradise - Amish Country, near Millersburg, Ohio. The resort featured 12 architecturally unique 'Honeycombs' (independent of the main Inn) discretely built into rolling hills overlooking breathtaking meadow-land views and two ultra-luxury 2-bedroom cottages; again located at a distance from the main Inn for seclusion and privacy. The grounds feature multiple trails and hiking walks, one of which, scenically jaw-dropping, tracks the Honey Run stream; another explores one of the country's finest, natural outdoor art museums, featuring outdoor, durable art installations by notable artists and artisans. A high-demand wedding destination with extensive conference facilities, the Inn at Honey Run also hosts the discerning palate at 'Tarragon' - a fine dining experience recently voted one of the Top 10 restaurant views in the U.S. Hired to upgrade services and grow the business at one of the Midwest's best kept hospitality secrets, this was a tightly run operation with guest reviews routinely hitting 5 stars. Reported directly to ownership. Show less

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  Lee Silsby Compounding Pharmacy

  Sept 2017 - Apr 2018

  Consulting Director of Patient Experience

  A compounding pharmacy ('Little Pharma') specializing in customizing medications for people on the Autism spectrum, as well as other critical health needs... Enough said. A substantial responsibility and a calling answered. Hired to take the Customer Service product from Good to Great. The declared intent of ownership was "To provide the Best Compounding Pharmacy Services in the World" !! Moved our Google review rating from 3.2 to 4.1 in 6 weeks - A Four Star rating - 19 consecutive 5 Star reviews! Hired to assess operations and service-critical, third party vendors for efficiency in what is, effectively, a production line setting (where medications and their post-compounding handling are checked from production to order assembly through the shipping process), to fuse seamless interaction between the different departments, draft new operational systems and procedures - to include telephone call scripts, company statements to prescribing physicians and patient base. Training and standards accountability. Conducted all-staff / select staff conferences. Service contract research and negotiations (UPS alone was a $3 million spend over 5 years). Created job descriptions and posted to multiple sites for multiple positions. Reported directly to ownership. Show less

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  Self-employed

  Mar 2019 - now

  Specialty Health Insurance Sales