Undercover Boss (2010) s03e01 Episode Script
Diamond Resorts
This week on Undercover Boss the chairman and CEO of Diamond Resorts International, one of the largest timeshare organizations in the world, poses as someone frustrated in his current career with dreams of finding a job in hospitality.
- Hi, I'm Jack.
- I'm Sarah.
Hi, Sarah.
You don't see any flames, do you? By working on the front lines - No flames.
- Good.
It's hot, though.
Whoa! Watch it, now.
he'll find things are not up to his standards.
I personally don't like it at all.
To say the least, I despise it.
I just don't see anything in Miami, Florida.
And when he reaches his breaking point This is insanity.
Babe he blows his cover.
My name is Steve Cloobeck.
Hi.
I'm gonna go see your supervisor and I'm gonna find out what's going on here at this call center.
And lives are changed like never before.
Do you have a mortgage? What's your mortgage? Undercover Boss 3x01 - Diamond Resorts Original air date January 15, 2012 With global headquarters in Las Vegas, Nevada, Diamond Resorts International is one of the largest timeshare companies in the world.
With more than 200 resorts and 24,000 guest beds in 28 countries, Diamond Resorts International offers vacations to more than And at the head of this $1/2 billion company is one man.
I'm Stephen J.
Cloobeck, chairman and CEO of Diamond Resorts International.
Diamond Resorts International is in the hospitality business.
We happen to sell time-share vacations.
but you could take excursions, you can go on a safari in Africa, and it's about being able to really make sure that that vacation experience is beyond the dream.
When I wake up every morning, my mission statement is clear to make sure each and every guest is taken care of.
We try to go the extra mile in delivering that unbridled hospitality experience at our four-star product.
So I came up with a concept, the meaning of yes.
No matter what you need as a guest, the answer is yes.
I grew up in Encino, California.
My father's values are probably the most important in the creation of who I am today.
When I was a young kid, we didn't grow up with a silver spoon in our mouth, and he taught me to work hard.
I was kind of on the chubby side.
Started to work out at 16, 17, 18.
Kind of took it to the extreme, became a bodybuilder.
'Cause if you don't work hard, you're not gonna get anywhere in life.
I always thought I wanted to be a doctor or surgeon, but it was gonna limit the amount of money I wanted to make, so I decided to go work in the shopping center, development business and I made millions and millions.
In late '06, there was a company by the name of Sunterra that was having problems.
I said, "wow, this is a great opportunity.
" So I spent about $5 1/2 million of my own money and I bought it.
So it was my chore to figure out how to rebrand this joint, so I came up with Diamond Resorts International, a pretty spiffy name.
People in the industry, there was a bet in over under six months, I'd be broke.
Well, we're going on our 4 1/2 year anniversary and we're going strong.
Looking good.
I married this great gal by the name of Chantal Leduc.
- My dogs are the best.
- Mm-hmm.
She was an aspiring model and actress from Montreal.
She was best known for winning the spokesmodel category on Star Search.
When I met Chantal, she was sick and I took care of her, and she sent me some flowers.
I thought that was great.
So I asked her to go back to Vegas with me and she did.
And she never left.
Hey, honey, you do me a favor? Yeah.
So pack me like you always do.
Mm-hmm.
And remember to put a little love note in there.
Stephen at manual labor? Mmm, not so great.
I don't think he's ever changed a light bulb.
I don't think we even have a hammer in the house, so I have no idea how he's gonna pull this off.
Okay.
I want to go undercover because we've been acquiring a lot of resort companies that have failed.
I mean, I've seen those resorts prior to us acquiring them, in their old state, and it's important for me to see how they've transformed and how well the Diamond brand has been taught.
All right, give me a hug.
I will, one day, have thousands and thousands of resorts worldwide and be known synonymously with the legacy of Marriott and Hilton.
I will be that great hotelier.
While undercover, I'll be posing as Jack Fisher, a man pursuing his dream job in hospitality.
Company team members believe I need their advice on whether to keep my day job or make a career change.
You know, being a CEO has its up sides.
I don't have to wait in lines at airports.
I get to fly in my plane, so we kind of get there quick.
I will do my best to stay at these accommodations that will be consistent with Jack Fisher's lifestyle, which is not Diamond Resorts.
Give me a few minutes.
I'll check it out.
All right, thanks.
Dale, my personal security guard, he's a former British commando.
He sweeps the rooms that I go in.
He makes sure that things are safe for me.
And every now and again, we run into a crazy.
- Okay, Steve.
- What do you think? The door was of low quality.
The windows had no integrity to them.
Not exactly your five-star luxury, I don't think.
Let's blow out of here, Dale.
Nice to see you.
Now this is what I'm talking about.
Dale, can you get my stuff together in the bedroom? Yeah, I've got it right here, Steve.
Thank you.
Got all your typical gear, Steve.
Smoke hood, radio, panic alarm, flashlight.
- Have a good night.
- Long day.
- Sleep well, Steve.
- All right, thank you.
I'm here at Los Abrigados Resort in Sedona, Arizona.
I acquired this property a little over nine months ago out of a bankruptcy.
This property is in need of cabinetry, great linens, duvets, comforters, so all of those things will be done over the next couple of years.
I'm looking for Randy.
I'm here undercover to make sure each team member knows that we've got to come in with those Diamond standards that I expect at a Diamond property, and I expect each property to adhere to them.
- Are you Randy? - Yeah, I'm Randy.
- Hey.
Jack.
- How are you doing, buddy? - What's going on? - It's hot, man.
Oh, my God.
I'm dying.
- I've never done this.
- Never did any electrical work? - No.
- No? - No.
Can you teach me? - You betcha.
Scuba tank.
No, that's just nitrogen.
Have you ever did any welding or anything? Nope.
We're not gonna blow up are we? No, no.
What we're gonna do, I've got, uh, an AC unit on the roof that has got an expansion valve froze up.
- Yep.
- So we're gonna de-solder that.
Put a new expansion valve in, evacuate You're gonna do what with it? - I'll tell you up there.
- Okay.
Yeah.
That room right there, that's the room that the AC is not working.
- It's hot in there.
- Yeah.
Get up there? Yeah, all the way at the top.
Okay.
All the way, there you go.
- Hey, I did it.
- Right on.
It's a great view up here.
It is beautiful.
Okay.
Now I'm gonna step out of the way so I'm not underneath it, okay? I work out but those were heavy buckets.
Those were at least 40 to 45 pounds each.
All right, now we just need to carry all this stuff over to the AC.
Ooh, my back.
This is not something I'd like to do on a day to day basis.
I was feeling my abs to see if they're getting harder, stronger.
What do you need me to do? - Where I'm not gonna kill myself? - Well 'cause I've never seen anything like this.
There's something wrong with this valve right here.
It's not letting the freon go through.
So, we need to replace that valve.
So you're going to Be in charge of - the fire extinguisher.
- Yeah.
Bucket right there.
- Of water? - Yeah.
Put that right beside you.
It's got wet rags in it, for sparks or anything that might get hot.
But you're not gonna catch yourself on fire anyway.
Nah.
- This line right here - Yeah? - Is the one I'm soldering.
- Yeah.
So I might have you grab that pliers, and when I tell you, just kind of pull up on that line.
And it'll come loose from down here.
Don't touch it with your hands.
- So just use the pliers? - Yep.
What kind of which ones? These gentle locks right here.
Okay.
- Can you reach the pipe? - Yep.
Good, here we go.
Pull on that pipe in just a second.
Not yet, hang on.
You don't see any flames, do you? - No flames.
- Good.
- Hot though.
- There we whoa! - Fire! - Oh, my God.
Stephen J.
Cloobeck is a boss undercover in his own company.
Are you Randy? - Yeah, I'm Randy.
- Hey, Jack.
How you doing, buddy? And right now, things are heating up.
Pull on that pipe in just a second.
You don't see any flames, do you? - No flames.
- Good.
- Hot though.
- There we whoa! Watch out.
We're okay.
I got it, no, no, no, I got it.
- I was ready.
- Right on.
Boom, fire.
Had to grab that extinguisher.
I had to move in a second and put that fire out.
What that was was a little bit of oil.
- Yeah.
- And it's kinda normal to come out of there.
Were you just, like, testing me? No, that scared the crap out of me, man.
It's okay, it scared the crap out of me too.
It would not have been good to have the roof catch fire with the chairman and CEO of Diamond Resorts on it.
Oh, crap, dude.
What? When you I clamped it.
You smashed the heck out of it.
What do you want, you told me to do that.
No, I told you to pull it up.
Now we gotta replace this line.
- All right, well - And I don't have any.
I'll maybe pick one up on my way home tonight.
You said grab it, you remember that fire? - I remember that - I jumped on that fire! Thank you, Jack! - Thank you.
- Okay.
Well, so I smashed it at the same time.
That's okay.
So I just blew it.
Like, the gym's gonna be hot longer.
Uh yeah.
Things happen, man.
When you're learning and that's okay.
You'll make it, you'll make it.
- You think.
- Yeah.
All right, we gotta go fix some light fixtures in the bathroom.
Cool.
Now listen, this is like, a big fear of mine.
- What? - Going down ladders.
Down? That's okay, you want me first or you first? I don't know You go.
You can catch me if I fall.
I'm just joking.
Okay, clear.
I'm doing it.
Can't see where my feet are going.
Jack, it's just a ladder.
You can do it, come on, buddy.
Left foot, right foot, man.
I do right foot, left foot.
If Jack wants to do this and turns out to be a maintenance guy he's gonna have to man up a little bit.
You're gonna get a workout, Jack.
That's okay.
Oh, let's set those on the ground.
We don't wanna set anything on the counter.
Okay.
Okay, we're gonna replace these light fixtures.
Replace them? Diamond has a standard that we want to get up to in this resort because we were just taken over by Diamond.
So we want to bring our fixtures up to Diamond standards, so that's why we're doing it.
Okay, if you wanna open these boxes, start taking all the packaging and everything out of there.
And I'll start taking these apart.
So where you from? Oh, I've lived down here for about four years.
Moved down from Flagstaff.
Did you grow up there? No, no.
No, just been there for about in Flagstaff.
RV repair business and What happened to that? Well, I sold it.
- We were it was very successful.
- Yeah.
Young couple came in and were looking for a business to get into, and so we sold it.
Oh, that's great.
And then they just filed bankruptcy.
Oh, my God, so you're left with So nothing.
How much did they owe you? Um about 240,000.
And I was planning on that for retirement.
So you had to go back to work? That's what we're doing.
So, you're wife working too? She is, she's still - Where's she working? - She's a teacher.
But she's working at Home Depot.
She took a second job there and I, um, got another job also.
I work, uh, UPS, unloading trucks in the mornings.
You have two jobs? Oh, yeah.
Trying to get things back in order.
It kinda, kinda threw us for a loop.
You know, I think Randy's just a great guy.
I mean, he's had a tough time.
He and his wife created a great business, and he got, uh, laid away with a bad transaction.
It was just kind of devastating for us so we just, uh, we just kind of decided to fail forward fast and move on.
I've had business deals that have gone bad, so I have empathy for him.
Move on.
You know, we're collectively a team and it's my responsibility to worry about all these team members.
- Just tighten her up.
- Okay.
I think this property's in major transition.
What Randy was fixing in the bathroom was not up to Diamond standards until he put the new sconce in place.
You know what, I'm not good at this.
I'm gonna break that thing.
Course.
But I did put out the fire.
Man, those are gonna get look good.
Wow, look how good that looks.
So I think within the next year or two, this property's gonna be a fully branded Diamond Resort property.
They got a problem at the pool.
I thought we're done at 5:00.
It's 5:00 somewhere.
You're a funny guy.
I'm here at one of our call centers in Miami.
These call center jobs are very important because once the consumer buys a vacation experience, this is where all the reservations are made for future fulfillment.
I'm here today to make sure that these agents have been trained properly.
To make sure that all my guests' requirements can be fulfilled.
With the meaning of yes.
Hi, how are you? Welcome to Diamond Resorts.
I'm Jack Fisher.
I'm here for Sarah.
No problem, I'll go ahead and I'll lead you in.
With them handling anywhere between six or seven hundred thousand calls each year, we can't mess it up.
Sarah? Oh, hey Sarah.
- Hi.
- Hi, I'm Jack.
- I'm Sarah, nice to meet you.
- Hi, Sarah.
How are you? I am gonna be training you today.
So this is, uh, a call center we're gonna, um I answer calls.
And they're gonna be calling to book vacations.
They purchased a timeshare.
Most of these members are on a, like, a point package and they bought a certain amount of points.
- Uh-huh.
- With these points, they can travel.
It's a minimum of two nights.
Right now we have a deadline that's coming up.
And they have the option to save them from this year into next year.
Basically, if you don't use them, you will lose them.
Wow.
So do you like working here? I actually do.
Um, I wanna make it to the corporate office just 'cause the benefits here are just so good and I just would like to keep the seniority so I can have more vacation time.
I'm actually going to school now.
Where? I go to Everest Institute.
I actually am gonna be graduating.
What kind of degree are you getting? Business Administration.
I got a call, do you wanna listen in? Oh, yeah, I wanna check this out.
Okay.
Thank you for calling Diamond Resorts International.
My name is Sarah.
And, Mr.
Malone, how can I assist you today? The point at Poipu? Okay.
And what dates are you interested in traveling? Perfect.
And I actually don't have anything available.
Do you want me to check all of Hawaii? I have a two bedroom available but it's going for 10,500 points.
For the week of July 9th through the 16th.
Other than that I have Exactly.
I'll call back.
Okay.
He could have bought more points.
She could have referred the call to our marketing center in Las Vegas, and he could have bought more points.
That's problematic with me.
"L i h u e?" Lihue? I I don't quite know what that means.
Lihue.
[La-hooey.]
She can't even pronounce the airport Lihue.
I'm just still searching.
Okay, you have a great day.
This is not the way I want my brand represented.
So wow.
See, he did have availability.
He could have Yeah, it popped up now, and you don't have him on the phone.
He doesn't he didn't wanna wait.
He didn't wanna wait.
No.
Why didn't you keep him on the phone? I tried to keep him on the phone as much as I could.
- Really? - That's all we can do.
This is insanity.
Is there anything available in Miami? Are you gonna be flexible, or? I think we can only do it in July.
I just don't see anything in Miami, Florida.
We make mistakes all the time.
But we try to limit them.
And I was watching her on the computer.
Why's it so hard to book a timeshare in Miami? Why why don't you put it in in July.
Start with July.
She didn't even put in the right dates.
Just bear with me one moment.
Why don't you start with July? Why September? Sarah has not been trained properly.
It's not that she doesn't have the intellectual capital.
She's a smart girl.
But it's obvious to me she doesn't understand our system.
And that's what drives me nuts the most.
It is a lack of training.
Okay, I just want to advise that our deadline for saving points is coming up of June 30th.
Okay, so I have until the 30th? That is correct.
I would have said it a little bit differently.
I strongly suggest to you that you roll your points over because you will lose half of them in three days.
She could have said, let me just do it for you right now.
This is for your benefit.
But she didn't do it.
So I don't I don't get it.
If they buy points? Right now, we're within the deadline that we save these points for them if they're not sure how they're gonna travel.
She should have absolutely forced that customer to save their points.
She blew it.
I'm about to just flip out here.
Sarah, I I look.
Babe, do you know who I am? You have no idea? No.
My name is Steve Cloobeck, chairman and CEO of Diamond Resorts.
Hi.
You need a lot of training, honey.
You do.
It's not your fault.
I'm gonna find out what happened.
Like, you don't know my product.
- Well - No, no, don't.
You didn't fulfill any of their requests.
You didn't make that young lady on the phone force her to save her points.
You should have just done it for her.
That's the meaning of yes.
I'm gonna go see your supervisor and I'm gonna find out what's going on here at this call center.
- Hey.
- Haven't seen you - in a long time.
- That's right.
Good to see you today.
How you doing? I'm good.
I'm not.
- You're not? - Nope.
What can we do for you? I sat with this nice young lady; she's bubbly, she's cute.
She provide good service for you today? - No.
- She didn't.
Nope.
She doesn't know my product.
She said no multiple times to three guests.
It's about the meaning of yes and you know I'm a wild man when it comes to that.
I'm crazed by it.
I didn't see any customer service from this young lady.
What can we do? - Just - What can we do? Just go listen you go listen to those tapes.
- Okay? - We will.
And you fix each one of those situations.
Sounds like she needs a lot more training.
Oh, lots So how many more are there like that here? Don't answer it.
That's for you guys to figure out.
Understood.
The meaning of yes.
Get me out of here.
Anything in Puerto Rico? Let's get out of here.
You don't have anything in the end of December? Not such a good day, Steve? Not a good day.
I was livid today.
But I'm not gonna blame her because she was improperly trained.
I hope that my future undercover jobs go better, because when I see things that aren't up to my expectations, I go insane.
Coming up, the boss chokes on the job.
And later, the boss discovers some disturbing news.
Our motto is the meaning of yes and then you're telling him that unfortunately I don't have a room for you.
You're kind of just doing the opposite of what the company motto is, right? Today we're at historic Williamsburg, Virginia.
This is one of the largest resorts the we have worldwide.
We have close to 850 units.
- Are you Greg? - Greg d'Amico, yeah.
I'm one of the painters here at maintenance.
Come on, hop in, we've got plenty of work to do.
Ow! I just bopped my head right on the top here.
Let's go to work.
All right.
To keep the natural luster of the history of this project going, I'm here undercover to make sure that both the interior of our units and the exterior of our buildings are looking ship shape.
We're gonna have a lot of stuff to take in.
- Okay.
- You got it? - I got it, yeah.
- You got it, all right.
I'm a strong guy, work out all the time.
Ah, ooh, what happened to that front door? Um these are some of our older units.
All right, so, this was a leak.
- We've already patched it.
- Mm-hmm.
What we're gonna have to do today is we're gonna have to sand all this down.
- Yep.
- So it's level.
Okay.
Like this.
Kinda stay in the area.
Work one area to the next area.
And when we're done with this, customer's not supposed to know that we did it.
Go ahead, give it a start, see if you can do it.
Ooh, it looks like fun.
Don't worry about the plastic.
We can readjust that later.
Why don't you come back in this area here and just kinda keep working it doing the circular motion but nice and easy.
Nice and easy.
Let me back up here.
All right, you did say you worked out, right? Put a little muscle power into it.
You calling me a wimp? Naw, I'm not calling you a wimp.
Let me see what's on that.
Right now, you can probably tell why these safety glasses aren't the best things in the world.
It really doesn't seal your eyes up very well.
Where'd you get those big plastic ones? Well, the cheap ones are the ones we end up getting.
That's dumb.
All you end up with is cloud.
Yeah.
Some other ones that have the, uh, masks already built into it.
Which makes more sense than having to mess with these.
You need a little respirator or something, right? Correct, correct.
'Cause you don't wanna get this in you.
No.
You gonna check my work out? I'm gonna check it out.
Let's see.
All right, got a spot there.
We just need to get out some of the blemishes.
Where are they? I don't see them.
Jack seemed to want he wanted to get it done, get it done quick and move on to something, but you can't.
This is boring.
I'm bored.
He was taking some pretty wide swirls there and missing a whole lot of stuff in between.
Feels like watching paint dry.
It would be nice to have some electric sanders to do this instead of having to do it by hand.
Well, that makes sense too, right? How many times you do this a week? A lot.
All right, yeah, this is feeling pretty good here.
We're gonna have to come back and finish this.
There's no excuse that Greg was using a sander like that.
Position as a painter, there's a lot more to it, as you're about to find out.
If he had a heavy sander, he could have done that job in ten minutes or less.
Um, and it took two guys 40 minutes.
Painting here, it's a lot of on the go, fast-paced.
- We've got an active leak here.
- Oh, wow.
That's water coming through and we gotta call that in to a tech right now.
Hey, this is Pepper.
I'm over at 79-A.
Moving around, getting around places, getting in, getting out.
First thing we wanna do, let's get this furniture out of the way.
All right, that's good.
How about that? There's a total of four painters responsible for short of 300 units each, to have to take care of.
Get a nice coat, cover all the drywall.
Pull it back, too close.
Back it up, back it up, you need about 12 inches.
It is extremely difficult to keep up.
- Too close, way too close.
- Sorry.
Way too close.
You're gonna make it hard for us to fix.
You gotta back it up a little bit.
And the last thing you wanna do is have to take it out and start all over again.
Nope, too close, too close.
Stop, stop, stop, stop.
It's about time for lunch.
I'm hungry, that's great.
Sounds good, all right let's go.
What have you got for lunch? Some smoked pork and I got a beef tip that I marinated, sort of a barbecue kind of sauce.
So you cook? I do, I grill year round.
Smoked pork? You wanna taste this? Taste it, taste it.
That's so nice of you to offer this.
Oh, it's not a problem.
Marinated in some mushroom and some other secrets.
Fantastic.
All my sauces marinate phenomenal.
Greg was a great guy.
He's just a nice Southern gentleman.
And uh, he's a hard worker.
Diamond's had the place four or five years I think.
Somewhere in there.
No pay increases? That doesn't make sense.
We've lost plenty of good people.
Gas prices going up.
I pay I pay what do I pay? Over $200 to f I got a van.
Over $200 dollars a month.
Just to travel between work and home.
And I don't even stay that far.
Can't afford to buy a small car.
'Cause, you know, my situation's not that good.
You have enough people in your department? Oh, no, I mean not in my opinion.
Like today.
They got two painters off.
I'm the only one here and the supervisor.
For 880 units? - That doesn't make sense.
- No.
And this this is a newly-changed schedule.
I'm not sure I even understand why they did it, but they did.
They don't talk to you about it? Nah, they just told me they were changing it.
Supposedly the rationale was they wanted everybody here Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, which doesn't make a lot of sense 'cause Monday is the slowest day we have.
There's no question in my mind we need more people.
I think Greg needs some help.
I gotta back-fill some positions.
But we have that issue every now and again, especially with specialty positions.
But all the things that I learned today, I wanna make sure I deliver to him.
It'll certainly improve the efficiency of the company 100%.
All right, we got another unit we gotta go to.
Damn, I hit my head again.
I'm here at my Scottsdale Villa Mirage Resort.
And I'm here to work at the front desk.
When I first acquired this resort in, uh, 2007, there was no ambiance, there was no liveliness at the front desk.
Our guests come to the front desk when they have questions.
They come there when they first check in.
They're there when they check out.
If they have any special needs, our front desks need to take care of a varied, uh, amount of issues that our guests have.
So I'm here undercover, to make sure that the meaning of yes really is being used on a daily basis.
It's delivering anything and everything, that that guest would need at that resort.
And I don't wanna hear the word no.
Hey, is Amanda here? You found her.
Oh, wow, how are you, I'm Jack.
Nice to meet you.
Nice to meet you.
What's going on? This is the front desk.
- Wow.
- Yeah.
Walking in, my palms are sweaty.
- That's cool.
- Yeah.
Where are all the people? 'Cause for obvious reasons, my picture is at the front desk.
These are all of our check-ins for today.
- Oh, wow.
- Yeah.
About 48, if I'm not mistaken.
- Wow, still to check in? - Yep.
I did everything I could to keep all that hair in front of my eyes.
I needed to hide 'cause I was terrified.
I'll just give you a quick tour of where everything's at.
Okay, cool.
This is our room keys.
So if you need a key, it's right here.
And then when a guest comes to check in we'll greet them when they come in.
Yeah.
Jack, uh, shaggy hair, that might have to go.
It's nice, like, does he have, like, the Justin Bieber thing going on? But you need to be able to cut it so you can see your face 'cause eye contact is pretty important.
This part does get a little confusing.
What, what, what's This is what we call the room matrix.
When you look at it, it just looks like What does it look like to you? A me a mess.
Red basically means out of service.
So you can't use this room.
You'll see these rooms are currently clean, and um - a little heads-up.
- What? - Stand up straight.
- Oh, sorry, sorry.
- You never wanna slouch.
- Okay.
- Stand straight up.
- Okay.
Because when a guest comes in you're the first person that they see.
And you never wanna tell a guest no.
No is not in in your vocabulary.
Who taught you that? Um, that's the CEO of Diamond Resorts.
Naw, that seems great.
All right, let's go back to this.
Okay hello.
Checking out, okay.
What was your room number? Uh, 237.
Is there anything else I can help you with today? No, that's it.
Okay, you're also you are very welcome.
Thanks for coming.
This is what we call the bucket.
- The bucket? - These are all our units - on property.
- Looks old.
So you would go 237.
So, where's this go? This goes right here Perfect.
Hello, good afternoon.
We're checking out.
You're checking out? Yeah, of course.
Every time you get a check-out, you write it on this list.
We have some archaic ways of doing things behind that front desk.
When I called, I was gonna see if I could upgrade to a 2-bedroom.
So, you'll see in our fancy logs here, that there is an upgrade list.
It's not it's not computerized.
With every job, of course you do get - the pros and the cons.
- Yeah.
out for the life of me why they're writing anything down.
Let's eat.
I know you're hungry.
I'm hungry too.
So what makes you wanna work in hospitality? Um, well, you know, I thought it'd be - like working at a vacation.
- Mm-hmm.
Hanging out.
I think if I worked here, I'd wanna, like, do what you do.
And then, like, come up in the company and maybe like work in Italy or something.
That'd be cool.
I would love to go to Ireland is the place I would l I would be the happiest.
Really? - How old are you? - I'll be 22 in October.
- Wow.
- Mm-hmm.
Just go move to Europe for a while? Um, I'm not going anywhere any time soon.
Really? I have a mom, she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis when I found out when I was in the seventh grade.
- Wow.
- Yeah.
There's one time, she I was looking over, I asked her if she was okay and she asked me who I was.
And didn't remember me.
I was so depressed, I started crying.
How many times did this happen? Um, when she's on her medicine, it doesn't happen often.
Does she take her medicine all the time? There was a time when financially, it was a little tough.
I give my parents $100 a month just for, like, food.
Wow.
My mom is um, I'm gonna start to cry.
That's okay.
She's the the strongest person that I know.
I love my mom more than anything or anybody on the face of this earth.
- Here.
- I'm fine.
Thanks.
That's very sweet.
I know.
Amanda, she's growing up with a great mommy that's really sick.
Back to work we go.
You know, I understand the compassion and the, the love that she has for her mom and it's palpable.
Hello, welcome to the Villa Mirage.
How are you? - Good, thanks.
- Good.
This is Jack.
He's gonna be training with me today.
So I'm gonna be just showing him how to do a step-by-step check-in.
Okay, so, I have a 2nd and a couple of 3rd floors that are clean and ready to go.
Correct, we do not have - Okay, perfect.
- Thank you.
You're very welcome, I'll see you later, of course.
Nice meeting you.
- They were so sweet.
- Mm-hmm.
Not every guest is like that.
There was a time in January, I believe, it was the first time I've ever seen an overbooking situation.
Overbooking, what does that mean? That means you have more reservations than you do rooms.
In a simpler term.
Wow, what do you do? You can never tell a guest that you are overbooked.
So what we do, is we do the maintenance issue.
Like, unfortunately, due to some maintenance issues, we do have to relocate you for the evening.
But, I personally, don't like it, at all.
I, to say the least, I despise it.
Like, our motto is "the meaning of yes", and when, when they're coming and then you're telling them that, unfortunately, I don't have a room for you, you're kinda just doing the opposite of what the company motto is, right? Which isn't very I don't like it.
All resorts overbook, because we do have a no-show factor.
But, I would not be happy if I was explained there was a maintenance issue with the room.
I don't exactly know how the whole overbooking thing works.
It might be something in corporate.
But I don't know how to do it.
The meaning of yes is not being achieved.
Just breaks my heart.
And I will keep working to make sure that we do a better job taking care of our guests.
This company means more than anything in the world to me.
I'm in the greatest craft that I could have found hospitality.
When I built this brand from nothing, I was working so hard at growing the business that I lost focus on insuring that my high standard of service was being met throughout my company.
I really need to make sure that we strive for perfection at each one of our resorts.
And there's a way always to make our guests happy.
That's what's most important.
Coming up Stephen invites the employees to his beach home.
How will they react when they receive the biggest news of their lives? You have a mortgage? What's your mortgage? It was very nice that my team members showed so much compassion and warmth.
I wanted to find a place where I could meet them, that wouldn't be so formal.
So I want to invite them to my beach home.
You know, I I've given it some thought about whether Jack should come in our industry or keep his day job, and I still got mixed emotions about it.
Hi! Oh, you got a haircut.
You look like a cleaned-up version of Jack.
I'm Stephen J.
Cloobeck, chairman and CEO of Diamond Resorts.
- Really? - Really.
Oh, my gosh.
Greg, you know, I learned a lot working with you.
I thought I was gonna asphyxiate myself sitting in that room with you.
So, I'm gonna upgrade your goggles, your ventilation equipment, and make sure this happens company-wide.
That's a good thing.
The guys'll be happy.
I'll be calling the supervisor, you gotta get some power-tools to do that sanding because, my friend, that ain't easy.
No, sir.
So, we're gonna get you electric power-sanders.
The guys'll be happy.
That kinda stuff? And the staffing levels, I'm shocked that you have to take care of so many of those buildings.
Yes, sir.
And I know, with time it's gotten worse and worse.
You know, first, we need to make sure we're staffed properly.
We really have to watch our open positions, and make sure that we fill those open positions in a very timely manner.
That's a great idea.
You know, I learned a lot about you.
You made that meal.
Taste it, taste it.
That's so nice of you to offer this.
You liked that, did you? Yeah, and you let me try it.
That was nice.
So, Greg, I'm gonna subscribe you to The Meat Of The Month Club.
'Cause I'm gonna send you meats, and lambs, and sausages every month.
And, you're gonna need something to keep it in.
So I'm getting you a big industrial-size freezer.
Damn, that's nice.
- That's nice.
- Okay? That's, that's really nice.
And, you know, your car is a little beaten up and eating up your monthly check.
Does a pretty good job of that, yes.
Yeah, I'm buying you a new hybrid truck.
God da is this Christmas? This is you gotta be kidding me.
Oh, man.
By being undercover and being able to do this, I got to see firsthand what it's like to do what you do.
That's a good thing.
You know, I thought about it long and hard I'm gonna give you a $20,000 bonus.
I beg your pardon? A $20,000 bonus.
That gonna help you out? You you have no idea.
You have no idea.
That's gonna take quite a while to sink in.
Unbelievable.
Just unbelievable.
Sarah you nervous? - Mm-hmm.
- Why? Because you were very upset with me the last time we saw each other.
You need a lot of training, honey.
- You don't know my product.
- Well I intimidated you? Mm-hmm.
I want to apologize to you.
It's not your fault.
I'm personally coming back to the call center to train each team member myself.
That means a lot, thanks.
You're bubbly, you're vivacious, you're cheerful.
You've got a wonderful spirit about you.
Thank you.
I know I can be a little intimidating at times.
And I stressed you out.
I'm gonna send you and a friend, all expenses paid, first-class airfare for a week to Kauai.
So you can go to the Lihue airport and look at the ticket.
And know where I'm at.
Appreciate it.
You'll never forget the name will you? No.
And you know, I know you want to get into business management.
I just registered my last semester, so You just registered? You have any school bills? I have my school loans, yeah.
Really, how much do you owe? You owe $15,000? Mm-hmm.
Not anymore.
No? I'm paying it off.
Thank you.
That's like the biggest weight off of my back, Mr.
Cloobeck.
That's amazing.
You can cry, it's okay.
I am, tears are coming.
Tears are coming.
That's okay.
Thank you so much.
You're welcome.
Give me a hug.
Last time I saw Stephen Cloobeck, I didn't know whether my job was secure.
I went home and I was pretty upset.
Now I'm ecstatic to continue with the company and now, $15,000 off my shoulders.
It's a big relief.
I feel like I can breathe.
Amanda, I've always wanted to sit at the front desk.
How was it? It was great.
I learned a lot.
It was invaluable.
You took care of each one of those guests - Thank you.
- You're very welcome.
I'll see you later.
You you're a wonderful team member.
- Thank you.
- I'm so proud of you.
Oh, thanks.
You helped me discover that our scripting for overbooking issues is wrong.
It needs to be changed.
And we also need to come up with creative solutions to let our guests know when we have an overbooking situation and email them in advance.
- That's a great idea.
- Yeah.
So you taught me something.
You also told me you had a dream.
So if you want, I'm gonna give you the opportunity to go to Ireland and work, and be assistant front desk manager.
I would love that.
- It's your choice.
- I really would.
You told me about your mom.
You touched me.
I heard she's got a lot of medical bills.
And I know you've been helping out, with the family.
- Yeah.
- And, you know I wanna do something special for you.
So I'm gonna make your life a little bit easier.
Diamond Resorts wants to give you $50,000.
Oh, my God.
Oh, my goodness.
I don't know what to say.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
You're very sweet.
My mom's my best friend.
I would do anything for her.
I don't tell her enough how much I appreciate everything she's done.
But I think she know it.
Thank you.
Is there a word beyond life-changing? It's I can't even begin to describe what it is.
Randy, I had so much fun with you.
You almost killed me.
We had a close call there.
Whoa! You have such a great attitude.
We have to take care of our guests.
That's our number one rule.
I know, and you get it.
Without them, we have nothing.
Where you living now? Living in Cottonwood.
We moved down there about four years ago.
Um, when things went south in Flagstaff.
- Do you have a mortgage? - We do have a mortgage.
What's your mortgage? Um about 150,000 probably.
$150,000? Yeah.
You told me about that bad business deal you made, and you're hurting, so I'm gonna pay off the mortgage.
Oh! Diamond Resorts is gonna take care of that.
You taught me so much.
And I'm gonna give you $50,000 in cash.
There are no words.
It's an unbelievable breath of fresh air.
He's paying off our mortgage.
He's giving us $50,000 cash.
No way! We don you don't have to work two jobs anymore.
Tell him thanks.
I will tell him thanks.
This experience has given me invaluable lessons.
Stephen J.
Cloobeck could never have talked to those team members the way Jack Fisher did.
And it was enlightening and humbling and a wonderful growth experience.
It's my job to make sure that we get it right every single time for every single guest.
'Cause we don't have a second chance.
This is their vacation and that's my legacy.
- Hi, I'm Jack.
- I'm Sarah.
Hi, Sarah.
You don't see any flames, do you? By working on the front lines - No flames.
- Good.
It's hot, though.
Whoa! Watch it, now.
he'll find things are not up to his standards.
I personally don't like it at all.
To say the least, I despise it.
I just don't see anything in Miami, Florida.
And when he reaches his breaking point This is insanity.
Babe he blows his cover.
My name is Steve Cloobeck.
Hi.
I'm gonna go see your supervisor and I'm gonna find out what's going on here at this call center.
And lives are changed like never before.
Do you have a mortgage? What's your mortgage? Undercover Boss 3x01 - Diamond Resorts Original air date January 15, 2012 With global headquarters in Las Vegas, Nevada, Diamond Resorts International is one of the largest timeshare companies in the world.
With more than 200 resorts and 24,000 guest beds in 28 countries, Diamond Resorts International offers vacations to more than And at the head of this $1/2 billion company is one man.
I'm Stephen J.
Cloobeck, chairman and CEO of Diamond Resorts International.
Diamond Resorts International is in the hospitality business.
We happen to sell time-share vacations.
but you could take excursions, you can go on a safari in Africa, and it's about being able to really make sure that that vacation experience is beyond the dream.
When I wake up every morning, my mission statement is clear to make sure each and every guest is taken care of.
We try to go the extra mile in delivering that unbridled hospitality experience at our four-star product.
So I came up with a concept, the meaning of yes.
No matter what you need as a guest, the answer is yes.
I grew up in Encino, California.
My father's values are probably the most important in the creation of who I am today.
When I was a young kid, we didn't grow up with a silver spoon in our mouth, and he taught me to work hard.
I was kind of on the chubby side.
Started to work out at 16, 17, 18.
Kind of took it to the extreme, became a bodybuilder.
'Cause if you don't work hard, you're not gonna get anywhere in life.
I always thought I wanted to be a doctor or surgeon, but it was gonna limit the amount of money I wanted to make, so I decided to go work in the shopping center, development business and I made millions and millions.
In late '06, there was a company by the name of Sunterra that was having problems.
I said, "wow, this is a great opportunity.
" So I spent about $5 1/2 million of my own money and I bought it.
So it was my chore to figure out how to rebrand this joint, so I came up with Diamond Resorts International, a pretty spiffy name.
People in the industry, there was a bet in over under six months, I'd be broke.
Well, we're going on our 4 1/2 year anniversary and we're going strong.
Looking good.
I married this great gal by the name of Chantal Leduc.
- My dogs are the best.
- Mm-hmm.
She was an aspiring model and actress from Montreal.
She was best known for winning the spokesmodel category on Star Search.
When I met Chantal, she was sick and I took care of her, and she sent me some flowers.
I thought that was great.
So I asked her to go back to Vegas with me and she did.
And she never left.
Hey, honey, you do me a favor? Yeah.
So pack me like you always do.
Mm-hmm.
And remember to put a little love note in there.
Stephen at manual labor? Mmm, not so great.
I don't think he's ever changed a light bulb.
I don't think we even have a hammer in the house, so I have no idea how he's gonna pull this off.
Okay.
I want to go undercover because we've been acquiring a lot of resort companies that have failed.
I mean, I've seen those resorts prior to us acquiring them, in their old state, and it's important for me to see how they've transformed and how well the Diamond brand has been taught.
All right, give me a hug.
I will, one day, have thousands and thousands of resorts worldwide and be known synonymously with the legacy of Marriott and Hilton.
I will be that great hotelier.
While undercover, I'll be posing as Jack Fisher, a man pursuing his dream job in hospitality.
Company team members believe I need their advice on whether to keep my day job or make a career change.
You know, being a CEO has its up sides.
I don't have to wait in lines at airports.
I get to fly in my plane, so we kind of get there quick.
I will do my best to stay at these accommodations that will be consistent with Jack Fisher's lifestyle, which is not Diamond Resorts.
Give me a few minutes.
I'll check it out.
All right, thanks.
Dale, my personal security guard, he's a former British commando.
He sweeps the rooms that I go in.
He makes sure that things are safe for me.
And every now and again, we run into a crazy.
- Okay, Steve.
- What do you think? The door was of low quality.
The windows had no integrity to them.
Not exactly your five-star luxury, I don't think.
Let's blow out of here, Dale.
Nice to see you.
Now this is what I'm talking about.
Dale, can you get my stuff together in the bedroom? Yeah, I've got it right here, Steve.
Thank you.
Got all your typical gear, Steve.
Smoke hood, radio, panic alarm, flashlight.
- Have a good night.
- Long day.
- Sleep well, Steve.
- All right, thank you.
I'm here at Los Abrigados Resort in Sedona, Arizona.
I acquired this property a little over nine months ago out of a bankruptcy.
This property is in need of cabinetry, great linens, duvets, comforters, so all of those things will be done over the next couple of years.
I'm looking for Randy.
I'm here undercover to make sure each team member knows that we've got to come in with those Diamond standards that I expect at a Diamond property, and I expect each property to adhere to them.
- Are you Randy? - Yeah, I'm Randy.
- Hey.
Jack.
- How are you doing, buddy? - What's going on? - It's hot, man.
Oh, my God.
I'm dying.
- I've never done this.
- Never did any electrical work? - No.
- No? - No.
Can you teach me? - You betcha.
Scuba tank.
No, that's just nitrogen.
Have you ever did any welding or anything? Nope.
We're not gonna blow up are we? No, no.
What we're gonna do, I've got, uh, an AC unit on the roof that has got an expansion valve froze up.
- Yep.
- So we're gonna de-solder that.
Put a new expansion valve in, evacuate You're gonna do what with it? - I'll tell you up there.
- Okay.
Yeah.
That room right there, that's the room that the AC is not working.
- It's hot in there.
- Yeah.
Get up there? Yeah, all the way at the top.
Okay.
All the way, there you go.
- Hey, I did it.
- Right on.
It's a great view up here.
It is beautiful.
Okay.
Now I'm gonna step out of the way so I'm not underneath it, okay? I work out but those were heavy buckets.
Those were at least 40 to 45 pounds each.
All right, now we just need to carry all this stuff over to the AC.
Ooh, my back.
This is not something I'd like to do on a day to day basis.
I was feeling my abs to see if they're getting harder, stronger.
What do you need me to do? - Where I'm not gonna kill myself? - Well 'cause I've never seen anything like this.
There's something wrong with this valve right here.
It's not letting the freon go through.
So, we need to replace that valve.
So you're going to Be in charge of - the fire extinguisher.
- Yeah.
Bucket right there.
- Of water? - Yeah.
Put that right beside you.
It's got wet rags in it, for sparks or anything that might get hot.
But you're not gonna catch yourself on fire anyway.
Nah.
- This line right here - Yeah? - Is the one I'm soldering.
- Yeah.
So I might have you grab that pliers, and when I tell you, just kind of pull up on that line.
And it'll come loose from down here.
Don't touch it with your hands.
- So just use the pliers? - Yep.
What kind of which ones? These gentle locks right here.
Okay.
- Can you reach the pipe? - Yep.
Good, here we go.
Pull on that pipe in just a second.
Not yet, hang on.
You don't see any flames, do you? - No flames.
- Good.
- Hot though.
- There we whoa! - Fire! - Oh, my God.
Stephen J.
Cloobeck is a boss undercover in his own company.
Are you Randy? - Yeah, I'm Randy.
- Hey, Jack.
How you doing, buddy? And right now, things are heating up.
Pull on that pipe in just a second.
You don't see any flames, do you? - No flames.
- Good.
- Hot though.
- There we whoa! Watch out.
We're okay.
I got it, no, no, no, I got it.
- I was ready.
- Right on.
Boom, fire.
Had to grab that extinguisher.
I had to move in a second and put that fire out.
What that was was a little bit of oil.
- Yeah.
- And it's kinda normal to come out of there.
Were you just, like, testing me? No, that scared the crap out of me, man.
It's okay, it scared the crap out of me too.
It would not have been good to have the roof catch fire with the chairman and CEO of Diamond Resorts on it.
Oh, crap, dude.
What? When you I clamped it.
You smashed the heck out of it.
What do you want, you told me to do that.
No, I told you to pull it up.
Now we gotta replace this line.
- All right, well - And I don't have any.
I'll maybe pick one up on my way home tonight.
You said grab it, you remember that fire? - I remember that - I jumped on that fire! Thank you, Jack! - Thank you.
- Okay.
Well, so I smashed it at the same time.
That's okay.
So I just blew it.
Like, the gym's gonna be hot longer.
Uh yeah.
Things happen, man.
When you're learning and that's okay.
You'll make it, you'll make it.
- You think.
- Yeah.
All right, we gotta go fix some light fixtures in the bathroom.
Cool.
Now listen, this is like, a big fear of mine.
- What? - Going down ladders.
Down? That's okay, you want me first or you first? I don't know You go.
You can catch me if I fall.
I'm just joking.
Okay, clear.
I'm doing it.
Can't see where my feet are going.
Jack, it's just a ladder.
You can do it, come on, buddy.
Left foot, right foot, man.
I do right foot, left foot.
If Jack wants to do this and turns out to be a maintenance guy he's gonna have to man up a little bit.
You're gonna get a workout, Jack.
That's okay.
Oh, let's set those on the ground.
We don't wanna set anything on the counter.
Okay.
Okay, we're gonna replace these light fixtures.
Replace them? Diamond has a standard that we want to get up to in this resort because we were just taken over by Diamond.
So we want to bring our fixtures up to Diamond standards, so that's why we're doing it.
Okay, if you wanna open these boxes, start taking all the packaging and everything out of there.
And I'll start taking these apart.
So where you from? Oh, I've lived down here for about four years.
Moved down from Flagstaff.
Did you grow up there? No, no.
No, just been there for about in Flagstaff.
RV repair business and What happened to that? Well, I sold it.
- We were it was very successful.
- Yeah.
Young couple came in and were looking for a business to get into, and so we sold it.
Oh, that's great.
And then they just filed bankruptcy.
Oh, my God, so you're left with So nothing.
How much did they owe you? Um about 240,000.
And I was planning on that for retirement.
So you had to go back to work? That's what we're doing.
So, you're wife working too? She is, she's still - Where's she working? - She's a teacher.
But she's working at Home Depot.
She took a second job there and I, um, got another job also.
I work, uh, UPS, unloading trucks in the mornings.
You have two jobs? Oh, yeah.
Trying to get things back in order.
It kinda, kinda threw us for a loop.
You know, I think Randy's just a great guy.
I mean, he's had a tough time.
He and his wife created a great business, and he got, uh, laid away with a bad transaction.
It was just kind of devastating for us so we just, uh, we just kind of decided to fail forward fast and move on.
I've had business deals that have gone bad, so I have empathy for him.
Move on.
You know, we're collectively a team and it's my responsibility to worry about all these team members.
- Just tighten her up.
- Okay.
I think this property's in major transition.
What Randy was fixing in the bathroom was not up to Diamond standards until he put the new sconce in place.
You know what, I'm not good at this.
I'm gonna break that thing.
Course.
But I did put out the fire.
Man, those are gonna get look good.
Wow, look how good that looks.
So I think within the next year or two, this property's gonna be a fully branded Diamond Resort property.
They got a problem at the pool.
I thought we're done at 5:00.
It's 5:00 somewhere.
You're a funny guy.
I'm here at one of our call centers in Miami.
These call center jobs are very important because once the consumer buys a vacation experience, this is where all the reservations are made for future fulfillment.
I'm here today to make sure that these agents have been trained properly.
To make sure that all my guests' requirements can be fulfilled.
With the meaning of yes.
Hi, how are you? Welcome to Diamond Resorts.
I'm Jack Fisher.
I'm here for Sarah.
No problem, I'll go ahead and I'll lead you in.
With them handling anywhere between six or seven hundred thousand calls each year, we can't mess it up.
Sarah? Oh, hey Sarah.
- Hi.
- Hi, I'm Jack.
- I'm Sarah, nice to meet you.
- Hi, Sarah.
How are you? I am gonna be training you today.
So this is, uh, a call center we're gonna, um I answer calls.
And they're gonna be calling to book vacations.
They purchased a timeshare.
Most of these members are on a, like, a point package and they bought a certain amount of points.
- Uh-huh.
- With these points, they can travel.
It's a minimum of two nights.
Right now we have a deadline that's coming up.
And they have the option to save them from this year into next year.
Basically, if you don't use them, you will lose them.
Wow.
So do you like working here? I actually do.
Um, I wanna make it to the corporate office just 'cause the benefits here are just so good and I just would like to keep the seniority so I can have more vacation time.
I'm actually going to school now.
Where? I go to Everest Institute.
I actually am gonna be graduating.
What kind of degree are you getting? Business Administration.
I got a call, do you wanna listen in? Oh, yeah, I wanna check this out.
Okay.
Thank you for calling Diamond Resorts International.
My name is Sarah.
And, Mr.
Malone, how can I assist you today? The point at Poipu? Okay.
And what dates are you interested in traveling? Perfect.
And I actually don't have anything available.
Do you want me to check all of Hawaii? I have a two bedroom available but it's going for 10,500 points.
For the week of July 9th through the 16th.
Other than that I have Exactly.
I'll call back.
Okay.
He could have bought more points.
She could have referred the call to our marketing center in Las Vegas, and he could have bought more points.
That's problematic with me.
"L i h u e?" Lihue? I I don't quite know what that means.
Lihue.
[La-hooey.]
She can't even pronounce the airport Lihue.
I'm just still searching.
Okay, you have a great day.
This is not the way I want my brand represented.
So wow.
See, he did have availability.
He could have Yeah, it popped up now, and you don't have him on the phone.
He doesn't he didn't wanna wait.
He didn't wanna wait.
No.
Why didn't you keep him on the phone? I tried to keep him on the phone as much as I could.
- Really? - That's all we can do.
This is insanity.
Is there anything available in Miami? Are you gonna be flexible, or? I think we can only do it in July.
I just don't see anything in Miami, Florida.
We make mistakes all the time.
But we try to limit them.
And I was watching her on the computer.
Why's it so hard to book a timeshare in Miami? Why why don't you put it in in July.
Start with July.
She didn't even put in the right dates.
Just bear with me one moment.
Why don't you start with July? Why September? Sarah has not been trained properly.
It's not that she doesn't have the intellectual capital.
She's a smart girl.
But it's obvious to me she doesn't understand our system.
And that's what drives me nuts the most.
It is a lack of training.
Okay, I just want to advise that our deadline for saving points is coming up of June 30th.
Okay, so I have until the 30th? That is correct.
I would have said it a little bit differently.
I strongly suggest to you that you roll your points over because you will lose half of them in three days.
She could have said, let me just do it for you right now.
This is for your benefit.
But she didn't do it.
So I don't I don't get it.
If they buy points? Right now, we're within the deadline that we save these points for them if they're not sure how they're gonna travel.
She should have absolutely forced that customer to save their points.
She blew it.
I'm about to just flip out here.
Sarah, I I look.
Babe, do you know who I am? You have no idea? No.
My name is Steve Cloobeck, chairman and CEO of Diamond Resorts.
Hi.
You need a lot of training, honey.
You do.
It's not your fault.
I'm gonna find out what happened.
Like, you don't know my product.
- Well - No, no, don't.
You didn't fulfill any of their requests.
You didn't make that young lady on the phone force her to save her points.
You should have just done it for her.
That's the meaning of yes.
I'm gonna go see your supervisor and I'm gonna find out what's going on here at this call center.
- Hey.
- Haven't seen you - in a long time.
- That's right.
Good to see you today.
How you doing? I'm good.
I'm not.
- You're not? - Nope.
What can we do for you? I sat with this nice young lady; she's bubbly, she's cute.
She provide good service for you today? - No.
- She didn't.
Nope.
She doesn't know my product.
She said no multiple times to three guests.
It's about the meaning of yes and you know I'm a wild man when it comes to that.
I'm crazed by it.
I didn't see any customer service from this young lady.
What can we do? - Just - What can we do? Just go listen you go listen to those tapes.
- Okay? - We will.
And you fix each one of those situations.
Sounds like she needs a lot more training.
Oh, lots So how many more are there like that here? Don't answer it.
That's for you guys to figure out.
Understood.
The meaning of yes.
Get me out of here.
Anything in Puerto Rico? Let's get out of here.
You don't have anything in the end of December? Not such a good day, Steve? Not a good day.
I was livid today.
But I'm not gonna blame her because she was improperly trained.
I hope that my future undercover jobs go better, because when I see things that aren't up to my expectations, I go insane.
Coming up, the boss chokes on the job.
And later, the boss discovers some disturbing news.
Our motto is the meaning of yes and then you're telling him that unfortunately I don't have a room for you.
You're kind of just doing the opposite of what the company motto is, right? Today we're at historic Williamsburg, Virginia.
This is one of the largest resorts the we have worldwide.
We have close to 850 units.
- Are you Greg? - Greg d'Amico, yeah.
I'm one of the painters here at maintenance.
Come on, hop in, we've got plenty of work to do.
Ow! I just bopped my head right on the top here.
Let's go to work.
All right.
To keep the natural luster of the history of this project going, I'm here undercover to make sure that both the interior of our units and the exterior of our buildings are looking ship shape.
We're gonna have a lot of stuff to take in.
- Okay.
- You got it? - I got it, yeah.
- You got it, all right.
I'm a strong guy, work out all the time.
Ah, ooh, what happened to that front door? Um these are some of our older units.
All right, so, this was a leak.
- We've already patched it.
- Mm-hmm.
What we're gonna have to do today is we're gonna have to sand all this down.
- Yep.
- So it's level.
Okay.
Like this.
Kinda stay in the area.
Work one area to the next area.
And when we're done with this, customer's not supposed to know that we did it.
Go ahead, give it a start, see if you can do it.
Ooh, it looks like fun.
Don't worry about the plastic.
We can readjust that later.
Why don't you come back in this area here and just kinda keep working it doing the circular motion but nice and easy.
Nice and easy.
Let me back up here.
All right, you did say you worked out, right? Put a little muscle power into it.
You calling me a wimp? Naw, I'm not calling you a wimp.
Let me see what's on that.
Right now, you can probably tell why these safety glasses aren't the best things in the world.
It really doesn't seal your eyes up very well.
Where'd you get those big plastic ones? Well, the cheap ones are the ones we end up getting.
That's dumb.
All you end up with is cloud.
Yeah.
Some other ones that have the, uh, masks already built into it.
Which makes more sense than having to mess with these.
You need a little respirator or something, right? Correct, correct.
'Cause you don't wanna get this in you.
No.
You gonna check my work out? I'm gonna check it out.
Let's see.
All right, got a spot there.
We just need to get out some of the blemishes.
Where are they? I don't see them.
Jack seemed to want he wanted to get it done, get it done quick and move on to something, but you can't.
This is boring.
I'm bored.
He was taking some pretty wide swirls there and missing a whole lot of stuff in between.
Feels like watching paint dry.
It would be nice to have some electric sanders to do this instead of having to do it by hand.
Well, that makes sense too, right? How many times you do this a week? A lot.
All right, yeah, this is feeling pretty good here.
We're gonna have to come back and finish this.
There's no excuse that Greg was using a sander like that.
Position as a painter, there's a lot more to it, as you're about to find out.
If he had a heavy sander, he could have done that job in ten minutes or less.
Um, and it took two guys 40 minutes.
Painting here, it's a lot of on the go, fast-paced.
- We've got an active leak here.
- Oh, wow.
That's water coming through and we gotta call that in to a tech right now.
Hey, this is Pepper.
I'm over at 79-A.
Moving around, getting around places, getting in, getting out.
First thing we wanna do, let's get this furniture out of the way.
All right, that's good.
How about that? There's a total of four painters responsible for short of 300 units each, to have to take care of.
Get a nice coat, cover all the drywall.
Pull it back, too close.
Back it up, back it up, you need about 12 inches.
It is extremely difficult to keep up.
- Too close, way too close.
- Sorry.
Way too close.
You're gonna make it hard for us to fix.
You gotta back it up a little bit.
And the last thing you wanna do is have to take it out and start all over again.
Nope, too close, too close.
Stop, stop, stop, stop.
It's about time for lunch.
I'm hungry, that's great.
Sounds good, all right let's go.
What have you got for lunch? Some smoked pork and I got a beef tip that I marinated, sort of a barbecue kind of sauce.
So you cook? I do, I grill year round.
Smoked pork? You wanna taste this? Taste it, taste it.
That's so nice of you to offer this.
Oh, it's not a problem.
Marinated in some mushroom and some other secrets.
Fantastic.
All my sauces marinate phenomenal.
Greg was a great guy.
He's just a nice Southern gentleman.
And uh, he's a hard worker.
Diamond's had the place four or five years I think.
Somewhere in there.
No pay increases? That doesn't make sense.
We've lost plenty of good people.
Gas prices going up.
I pay I pay what do I pay? Over $200 to f I got a van.
Over $200 dollars a month.
Just to travel between work and home.
And I don't even stay that far.
Can't afford to buy a small car.
'Cause, you know, my situation's not that good.
You have enough people in your department? Oh, no, I mean not in my opinion.
Like today.
They got two painters off.
I'm the only one here and the supervisor.
For 880 units? - That doesn't make sense.
- No.
And this this is a newly-changed schedule.
I'm not sure I even understand why they did it, but they did.
They don't talk to you about it? Nah, they just told me they were changing it.
Supposedly the rationale was they wanted everybody here Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, which doesn't make a lot of sense 'cause Monday is the slowest day we have.
There's no question in my mind we need more people.
I think Greg needs some help.
I gotta back-fill some positions.
But we have that issue every now and again, especially with specialty positions.
But all the things that I learned today, I wanna make sure I deliver to him.
It'll certainly improve the efficiency of the company 100%.
All right, we got another unit we gotta go to.
Damn, I hit my head again.
I'm here at my Scottsdale Villa Mirage Resort.
And I'm here to work at the front desk.
When I first acquired this resort in, uh, 2007, there was no ambiance, there was no liveliness at the front desk.
Our guests come to the front desk when they have questions.
They come there when they first check in.
They're there when they check out.
If they have any special needs, our front desks need to take care of a varied, uh, amount of issues that our guests have.
So I'm here undercover, to make sure that the meaning of yes really is being used on a daily basis.
It's delivering anything and everything, that that guest would need at that resort.
And I don't wanna hear the word no.
Hey, is Amanda here? You found her.
Oh, wow, how are you, I'm Jack.
Nice to meet you.
Nice to meet you.
What's going on? This is the front desk.
- Wow.
- Yeah.
Walking in, my palms are sweaty.
- That's cool.
- Yeah.
Where are all the people? 'Cause for obvious reasons, my picture is at the front desk.
These are all of our check-ins for today.
- Oh, wow.
- Yeah.
About 48, if I'm not mistaken.
- Wow, still to check in? - Yep.
I did everything I could to keep all that hair in front of my eyes.
I needed to hide 'cause I was terrified.
I'll just give you a quick tour of where everything's at.
Okay, cool.
This is our room keys.
So if you need a key, it's right here.
And then when a guest comes to check in we'll greet them when they come in.
Yeah.
Jack, uh, shaggy hair, that might have to go.
It's nice, like, does he have, like, the Justin Bieber thing going on? But you need to be able to cut it so you can see your face 'cause eye contact is pretty important.
This part does get a little confusing.
What, what, what's This is what we call the room matrix.
When you look at it, it just looks like What does it look like to you? A me a mess.
Red basically means out of service.
So you can't use this room.
You'll see these rooms are currently clean, and um - a little heads-up.
- What? - Stand up straight.
- Oh, sorry, sorry.
- You never wanna slouch.
- Okay.
- Stand straight up.
- Okay.
Because when a guest comes in you're the first person that they see.
And you never wanna tell a guest no.
No is not in in your vocabulary.
Who taught you that? Um, that's the CEO of Diamond Resorts.
Naw, that seems great.
All right, let's go back to this.
Okay hello.
Checking out, okay.
What was your room number? Uh, 237.
Is there anything else I can help you with today? No, that's it.
Okay, you're also you are very welcome.
Thanks for coming.
This is what we call the bucket.
- The bucket? - These are all our units - on property.
- Looks old.
So you would go 237.
So, where's this go? This goes right here Perfect.
Hello, good afternoon.
We're checking out.
You're checking out? Yeah, of course.
Every time you get a check-out, you write it on this list.
We have some archaic ways of doing things behind that front desk.
When I called, I was gonna see if I could upgrade to a 2-bedroom.
So, you'll see in our fancy logs here, that there is an upgrade list.
It's not it's not computerized.
With every job, of course you do get - the pros and the cons.
- Yeah.
out for the life of me why they're writing anything down.
Let's eat.
I know you're hungry.
I'm hungry too.
So what makes you wanna work in hospitality? Um, well, you know, I thought it'd be - like working at a vacation.
- Mm-hmm.
Hanging out.
I think if I worked here, I'd wanna, like, do what you do.
And then, like, come up in the company and maybe like work in Italy or something.
That'd be cool.
I would love to go to Ireland is the place I would l I would be the happiest.
Really? - How old are you? - I'll be 22 in October.
- Wow.
- Mm-hmm.
Just go move to Europe for a while? Um, I'm not going anywhere any time soon.
Really? I have a mom, she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis when I found out when I was in the seventh grade.
- Wow.
- Yeah.
There's one time, she I was looking over, I asked her if she was okay and she asked me who I was.
And didn't remember me.
I was so depressed, I started crying.
How many times did this happen? Um, when she's on her medicine, it doesn't happen often.
Does she take her medicine all the time? There was a time when financially, it was a little tough.
I give my parents $100 a month just for, like, food.
Wow.
My mom is um, I'm gonna start to cry.
That's okay.
She's the the strongest person that I know.
I love my mom more than anything or anybody on the face of this earth.
- Here.
- I'm fine.
Thanks.
That's very sweet.
I know.
Amanda, she's growing up with a great mommy that's really sick.
Back to work we go.
You know, I understand the compassion and the, the love that she has for her mom and it's palpable.
Hello, welcome to the Villa Mirage.
How are you? - Good, thanks.
- Good.
This is Jack.
He's gonna be training with me today.
So I'm gonna be just showing him how to do a step-by-step check-in.
Okay, so, I have a 2nd and a couple of 3rd floors that are clean and ready to go.
Correct, we do not have - Okay, perfect.
- Thank you.
You're very welcome, I'll see you later, of course.
Nice meeting you.
- They were so sweet.
- Mm-hmm.
Not every guest is like that.
There was a time in January, I believe, it was the first time I've ever seen an overbooking situation.
Overbooking, what does that mean? That means you have more reservations than you do rooms.
In a simpler term.
Wow, what do you do? You can never tell a guest that you are overbooked.
So what we do, is we do the maintenance issue.
Like, unfortunately, due to some maintenance issues, we do have to relocate you for the evening.
But, I personally, don't like it, at all.
I, to say the least, I despise it.
Like, our motto is "the meaning of yes", and when, when they're coming and then you're telling them that, unfortunately, I don't have a room for you, you're kinda just doing the opposite of what the company motto is, right? Which isn't very I don't like it.
All resorts overbook, because we do have a no-show factor.
But, I would not be happy if I was explained there was a maintenance issue with the room.
I don't exactly know how the whole overbooking thing works.
It might be something in corporate.
But I don't know how to do it.
The meaning of yes is not being achieved.
Just breaks my heart.
And I will keep working to make sure that we do a better job taking care of our guests.
This company means more than anything in the world to me.
I'm in the greatest craft that I could have found hospitality.
When I built this brand from nothing, I was working so hard at growing the business that I lost focus on insuring that my high standard of service was being met throughout my company.
I really need to make sure that we strive for perfection at each one of our resorts.
And there's a way always to make our guests happy.
That's what's most important.
Coming up Stephen invites the employees to his beach home.
How will they react when they receive the biggest news of their lives? You have a mortgage? What's your mortgage? It was very nice that my team members showed so much compassion and warmth.
I wanted to find a place where I could meet them, that wouldn't be so formal.
So I want to invite them to my beach home.
You know, I I've given it some thought about whether Jack should come in our industry or keep his day job, and I still got mixed emotions about it.
Hi! Oh, you got a haircut.
You look like a cleaned-up version of Jack.
I'm Stephen J.
Cloobeck, chairman and CEO of Diamond Resorts.
- Really? - Really.
Oh, my gosh.
Greg, you know, I learned a lot working with you.
I thought I was gonna asphyxiate myself sitting in that room with you.
So, I'm gonna upgrade your goggles, your ventilation equipment, and make sure this happens company-wide.
That's a good thing.
The guys'll be happy.
I'll be calling the supervisor, you gotta get some power-tools to do that sanding because, my friend, that ain't easy.
No, sir.
So, we're gonna get you electric power-sanders.
The guys'll be happy.
That kinda stuff? And the staffing levels, I'm shocked that you have to take care of so many of those buildings.
Yes, sir.
And I know, with time it's gotten worse and worse.
You know, first, we need to make sure we're staffed properly.
We really have to watch our open positions, and make sure that we fill those open positions in a very timely manner.
That's a great idea.
You know, I learned a lot about you.
You made that meal.
Taste it, taste it.
That's so nice of you to offer this.
You liked that, did you? Yeah, and you let me try it.
That was nice.
So, Greg, I'm gonna subscribe you to The Meat Of The Month Club.
'Cause I'm gonna send you meats, and lambs, and sausages every month.
And, you're gonna need something to keep it in.
So I'm getting you a big industrial-size freezer.
Damn, that's nice.
- That's nice.
- Okay? That's, that's really nice.
And, you know, your car is a little beaten up and eating up your monthly check.
Does a pretty good job of that, yes.
Yeah, I'm buying you a new hybrid truck.
God da is this Christmas? This is you gotta be kidding me.
Oh, man.
By being undercover and being able to do this, I got to see firsthand what it's like to do what you do.
That's a good thing.
You know, I thought about it long and hard I'm gonna give you a $20,000 bonus.
I beg your pardon? A $20,000 bonus.
That gonna help you out? You you have no idea.
You have no idea.
That's gonna take quite a while to sink in.
Unbelievable.
Just unbelievable.
Sarah you nervous? - Mm-hmm.
- Why? Because you were very upset with me the last time we saw each other.
You need a lot of training, honey.
- You don't know my product.
- Well I intimidated you? Mm-hmm.
I want to apologize to you.
It's not your fault.
I'm personally coming back to the call center to train each team member myself.
That means a lot, thanks.
You're bubbly, you're vivacious, you're cheerful.
You've got a wonderful spirit about you.
Thank you.
I know I can be a little intimidating at times.
And I stressed you out.
I'm gonna send you and a friend, all expenses paid, first-class airfare for a week to Kauai.
So you can go to the Lihue airport and look at the ticket.
And know where I'm at.
Appreciate it.
You'll never forget the name will you? No.
And you know, I know you want to get into business management.
I just registered my last semester, so You just registered? You have any school bills? I have my school loans, yeah.
Really, how much do you owe? You owe $15,000? Mm-hmm.
Not anymore.
No? I'm paying it off.
Thank you.
That's like the biggest weight off of my back, Mr.
Cloobeck.
That's amazing.
You can cry, it's okay.
I am, tears are coming.
Tears are coming.
That's okay.
Thank you so much.
You're welcome.
Give me a hug.
Last time I saw Stephen Cloobeck, I didn't know whether my job was secure.
I went home and I was pretty upset.
Now I'm ecstatic to continue with the company and now, $15,000 off my shoulders.
It's a big relief.
I feel like I can breathe.
Amanda, I've always wanted to sit at the front desk.
How was it? It was great.
I learned a lot.
It was invaluable.
You took care of each one of those guests - Thank you.
- You're very welcome.
I'll see you later.
You you're a wonderful team member.
- Thank you.
- I'm so proud of you.
Oh, thanks.
You helped me discover that our scripting for overbooking issues is wrong.
It needs to be changed.
And we also need to come up with creative solutions to let our guests know when we have an overbooking situation and email them in advance.
- That's a great idea.
- Yeah.
So you taught me something.
You also told me you had a dream.
So if you want, I'm gonna give you the opportunity to go to Ireland and work, and be assistant front desk manager.
I would love that.
- It's your choice.
- I really would.
You told me about your mom.
You touched me.
I heard she's got a lot of medical bills.
And I know you've been helping out, with the family.
- Yeah.
- And, you know I wanna do something special for you.
So I'm gonna make your life a little bit easier.
Diamond Resorts wants to give you $50,000.
Oh, my God.
Oh, my goodness.
I don't know what to say.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
You're very sweet.
My mom's my best friend.
I would do anything for her.
I don't tell her enough how much I appreciate everything she's done.
But I think she know it.
Thank you.
Is there a word beyond life-changing? It's I can't even begin to describe what it is.
Randy, I had so much fun with you.
You almost killed me.
We had a close call there.
Whoa! You have such a great attitude.
We have to take care of our guests.
That's our number one rule.
I know, and you get it.
Without them, we have nothing.
Where you living now? Living in Cottonwood.
We moved down there about four years ago.
Um, when things went south in Flagstaff.
- Do you have a mortgage? - We do have a mortgage.
What's your mortgage? Um about 150,000 probably.
$150,000? Yeah.
You told me about that bad business deal you made, and you're hurting, so I'm gonna pay off the mortgage.
Oh! Diamond Resorts is gonna take care of that.
You taught me so much.
And I'm gonna give you $50,000 in cash.
There are no words.
It's an unbelievable breath of fresh air.
He's paying off our mortgage.
He's giving us $50,000 cash.
No way! We don you don't have to work two jobs anymore.
Tell him thanks.
I will tell him thanks.
This experience has given me invaluable lessons.
Stephen J.
Cloobeck could never have talked to those team members the way Jack Fisher did.
And it was enlightening and humbling and a wonderful growth experience.
It's my job to make sure that we get it right every single time for every single guest.
'Cause we don't have a second chance.
This is their vacation and that's my legacy.