The crucial difference between a 4-star hotel and a 5-star hotel,
The reason why rooms costing tens of millions of won per night are always fully booked is because of the details!

★ Korea's first Michelin 3-star restaurant challenge
★ The Arabian Nights that heated up social media: The story behind the birth of Kaymak Bingsu
★ Unprecedented hotel shutdowns and overcoming the crisis amid the MERS pandemic

The first public disclosure by CEO Jo Jeong-wook, a hotelier with 24 years of experience
The secret to premium hotels satisfying their customers!

Actress Seonwoo Yongnyeo, who has started a new career as 'Korea's oldest YouTuber', has become a hot topic with a video of herself eating breakfast at a hotel buffet every day, and Ambassador Seoul Pullman has also become the center of attention.
Already famous as a "breakfast restaurant," the hotel is undergoing a complete remodel and reopening in 2022, with CEO Cho Jeong-wook leading the change and innovation.
What secrets lie behind the management of this hotel, which has been featured in the Michelin Guide for two consecutive years, has become a renowned breakfast restaurant, and has developed unique F&B products, attracting the attention of both the industry and the public?

CEO Cho Jeong-wook, who joined Samsung Group in 1989 and moved to Shilla Hotel in 2002, served as general manager of Shilla Hotels in Seoul and Jeju, and is in his 24th year as a hotelier.
The experiences and insights gained from working in hotels for such a long time are revealed for the first time in 『Detailism: How Premium Hotels Satisfy Guests』.

CEO Cho Jeong-wook describes hotels as “complex business ecosystems that bring together almost every function in the world.”
While working as a hotelier, he discovered that the essence of hotel management was 'detail' and that "every moment was a series of uncompromising details."
'Detailism,' which is also the title of this book, is an expression that encapsulates this management philosophy.
This is not simply technical perfectionism.
It refers to a natural result that comes from a sense of ownership based on respect for customers and responsibility for the brand.

"Detailism" explains "detail," which is considered the essence of hotel management, in detail, dividing it into four topics: philosophy, talent and organizational culture, crisis response and management, and service and product differentiation.
This book is a precious record of 24 years of listening to the pulse of the field, anticipating customer movements, and preserving the essence of the hotel at every moment of change. It provides a field sense to students dreaming of hotel management, and management wisdom to those working in the field, while showing the essence of "customer-oriented management."

In the future, the strategic diagram of all hotels should change like this.
Location + Excellent People + Brand + AI Marketing = A Hotel Customers Love and Reach
The era of searches via Google or Naver, where page views were the core of KPIs, is now fading. AI visibility—how well AI's operating principles and results are visible and understandable—is becoming a core KPI. Therefore, the equation for success in the hotel business must change accordingly.
The ability to brand and connect with guests through diverse stories and content will become increasingly important across all areas of the hotel.
It's not easy to predict how the hotel business will evolve in the AI ​​era, which could completely change the existing hotel systems and processes, from hotel reservations to service provision, and thus the entire business paradigm.
However, the core value of hotels that will not change is 'hospitality', and if we maintain this well, we will be able to find the right path even in the midst of great change.
--- p.21~22, from 「Check-in_ How will hotels make money now?」

What I learned from the CEO who agonized over a minibar until dawn was not simply the importance of perfectionism.
Because obsession with detail doesn't mean pursuing perfectionism.
The key is to have the mindset that it's my job.
Only when I have the mindset that everything in the hotel I work at is related to me and that every moment the guest experiences is my responsibility, can I truly create detail.
This is another expression of respect for our customers and responsibility for our brand.
And above all, it will be a natural result of the sense of ownership that ‘this is my job.’
(…)
True luxury is born from perfection, even in the unseen areas.
Completing the product with the highest quality, even in the parts that customers cannot see directly.
This is exactly what premium brands have in common.
And this philosophy should be applied equally in hotels.
An obsession that cannot neglect anything.
This is the only way to turn the ordinary into a luxury item.
Details are not a technique, they are a philosophy, and that philosophy ultimately determines the fate of a brand.
--- p.41~42, from 「Floor 1_ 'The devil is in the details'」

The head chef's invitation to appear on TV was a strategic decision based on insights gained from working at a Japanese sushi restaurant and at Per Se in New York.
No matter how well-made a product is developed or how good the hotel's service is, it is useless if customers do not recognize it and visit the hotel to spend their money.
Making something known to as many customers as possible is marketing and promotion.
The importance of these complex capabilities is even more evident in the hotel industry.
Key members of a hotel must not only be good at their jobs, but also possess the ability to externally demonstrate their expertise.
It was in this context that the head chef's TV appearance was successful.
He was able to achieve success because he was able to convey his outstanding cooking skills in a way that the general public could understand and relate to.
This experience convinced me of a new formula for success in modern business.
Professionalism is the foundation, and only when you add wings of communication and expressiveness to it can you truly soar.
--- p.127~128, from 「Floor 2_ 'The Birth of a Star Chef'」

As I gained more interview experience, it became a habit to observe the applicants around me while watching them answer questions.
The system of an organization called a hotel must operate continuously 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
To make this possible, unity among employees was crucial, and it was necessary for everyone to work together to achieve something unique rather than trying to do something alone.
So, we needed someone who was good at team play rather than someone with flashy individual play, and the key to the interview was to find out such a person.
How well someone listens to other candidates' presentations, how focused they are when it's not their turn, and how well they respond to unexpected questions are all important indicators of their basic character and ability to collaborate within an organization.
No matter how excellent someone's qualifications are, if they are someone you can't work with, they can actually be toxic to the organization.
--- p.187~188, from 「Floor 2_ 'You can tell a person's talent by looking at their face'」

Accidents can happen anytime, anywhere.
The important thing is that the results can be completely different depending on your attitude and how you treat the customer.
The two incidents mentioned above are good examples of how a hotel's response can determine whether a customer becomes a stronger supporter or turns their back on the hotel completely.
This teaches us that how we respond to customers determines the outcome of our incident resolution efforts.
(…)
It is often said that a person's character and sincerity are revealed in times of crisis.
Customers experience the hotel's sincerity during the accident handling process.
The hotel's response to a crisis leaves a lasting impression on customers.
This is why incident response is the watershed that either strengthens your relationship with your customers or blocks and alienates them.
A wise response that turns a crisis into an opportunity is the true alchemy of resolving customer complaints and the perfection of hospitality.
--- p.221~223, from 「Floor 3_ 'The Alchemy of Customer Complaints'」

Innovation isn't about creating something completely new.
There is nothing completely new in this world.
Innovation is the process of reinterpreting something that already exists in the world and bringing it to life in a new way.

Arabian Nights was a reinterpretation of Middle Eastern drinks and desserts to suit the tastes of Korean hotel guests, and Jeju's mango bingsu was a unique experience that could only be experienced in Jeju, unlike in Seoul.
Innovation starts with looking around, reflecting on past experiences, and finding something a little different.
Simply reinterpreting and combining existing good products to suit our environment and satisfy our customers is enough to create innovative products.
Whenever we develop a new product at a hotel, we try to remember that it will always be an evolutionary process.
A perfect product that satisfies the customer cannot be created from the first attempt.
I believe that as these second and third attempts accumulate, the quality of the product will improve and progress towards the perfection we initially expected.
--- p.308~309, from 「Floor 4_ 'Arabian Nights and Mango Bingsu'」

Many people expressed sharp dissatisfaction with the order to conduct the tasting at 3 p.m., which was customarily conducted at the employees' mealtime, as they thought it was no different from asking them to eat again after eating.
However, as time went by and the quality of the food improved and customers gave it positive reviews, I experienced that the harder the hotel staff worked, the higher the customer satisfaction.
The tasting order at 3 p.m., which was difficult, was the management's will to provide the best quality to customers.
Scientific management of food temperature began with the realization that we must provide the best service to our customers.
Temperature is the lifeblood of food.
And the small efforts to maintain that temperature accumulate to create the hotel's brand value.
The unique experience that customers have at a hotel comes from these unseen details.
This is the essence of hotel service and customer-centric thinking.
Putting customer satisfaction before employee convenience is the beginning of true hospitality.
--- p.334, from 「Floor 4_ 'The reason for tasting at 3 PM'」

Ultimately, the most important thing in hotel management is to move the hearts of customers.
And the most powerful tool to move that heart is story.
Just as Cuban youth create everyday stories on the Malecón coast, hotels must constantly create stories that give special meaning to their guests' daily lives.
That is the true perfection of hospitality and how a brand comes to life.

--- p.350, from 「Floor 4_ 'Stories that make everyday life special'」