Amid immense challenges worldwide caused by the COVID-19 Pandemic, Cliff Drysdale Tennis is highlighting individuals who have gone above and beyond to create value for their members, grow their business, and help tennis succeed as a whole. Over 6 weeks in July and August, staff members from locations across the world will be spotlighted in an effort to give praise to the leaders in our industry.
Spotlight on: Ximena Trujillo, Membership Director of Tennis and Padel at The Ritz-Carlton Key Biscayne
Nominated by: Max Mangones, Director of Tennis at The Ritz-Carlton Key Biscayne
I would like to nominate Ximena Trujillo for the outstanding effort and impact she has had amidst the incredible challenges of the past five months. Like the majority of tennis clubs, Grove Isle, where Ximena presided as Director of Tennis, closed in mid-March. However, at the time the clubs owners made the decision to close for the long term and begin a major construction project with the hope that Grove Isle reopens again in 2-3 years.
During this time, Ximena transitioned into a temporary role at The Ritz-Carlton Key Biscayne Tennis Garden. There was much uncertainty around her new role. Initially it was court maintenance and ensuring the facility was operationally ready to reopen once local government allowed. During this time, we made the decision to transition the program from the paper reservation system we had relied on for the past twenty years to a completely online solution- Kourts. Ximena tackled this task with passion and ease, and we are now proud to say we reserved more revenue in June than ever before, despite having a minimal staff. Ximena was able to achieve such results through two key areas.
Openness to change, and able to positively work through it. This approach is not present in everyone but Ximena faced every change with positivity and welcomed the challenge.
Education and enforcement. Ximena took the time to educate our customers of the changes and helped them navigate the new system. However, she also drew the line and ensured that once the customers had been shown the correct methods and were comfortable with the new protocols, she stepped back and allowed the customers to use the software themselves, thus enforcing the new system. In my opinion, this had the biggest impact as it ensured that our customers had to make their own bookings. From some, there was understandably some initial resistance. However, we are now at 99% compliance and the customers couldn’t be happier.
Overall, we are exceptionally pleased with the transition of Ximena from Director of Tennis at Grove Isle, to the Membership and Padel Manager at The Ritz-Carlton Key Biscayne Tennis Garden.
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