Vladan Bogdanovic

Over two decades in hospitality have taken Vladan Bogdanovic from overnight auditor to senior housekeeping leader, shaping a leadership style grounded in respect, recognition and care.

Vladan reminisces on his career. Since arriving in the U.S. from Kosovo 22 years ago, his professional journey has taken many turns, building his path through pride in his work and respect for the people around him. His Hyatt years began about 20 years ago as an overnight auditor at Hyatt Regency Scottsdale Resort and Spa. Supervisor, front office and guest service roles followed. He then stepped down a level to join Hyatt Regency Chicago as an assistant guest service manager, and from there the path took him to housekeeping, through assistant manager to executive housekeeper and director.

Today, as senior director of housekeeping, he oversees a hotel with 2,032 rooms across two towers and nearly 250,000 square feet of meeting space, one of the largest in the country. More than 300 employees are part of the operation, from room attendants to linen runners, many from cultures around the world.

The job, as he puts it, comes down to relationships. He weighs what employees need alongside what guests expect, and puts employees first, since they deliver the service.

Standards Set Before Every Arrival

The hotel has passed its Hyatt brand audits around 95 percent in recent years. Vladan’s team protects that result by looking at every detail, starting with arrivals, departures and where groups are traveling from. In one instance, about 300 overseas guests were expected to arrive and likely request slippers. The team ordered the stock in advance, helping keep supply costs in check.

Each morning, the digital pre-shift shows guest satisfaction scores, comments and improvement plans on screens, and Vladan asks if anyone has a suggestion. The hotel’s two towers are split into four sections, each with managers who complete 20 to 30 room inspections a month to keep standards high. The rooms they check are cleaned by attendants trained for four weeks in the hotel’s culture, standards and the reasons behind each task.

Guest feedback gets a quick response. If someone raises a concern about cleanliness, the team reaches out while the guest is still in the hotel and works to fix the problem. Managers and supervisors are encouraged to make sure guests leave happy, and employees are empowered to take whatever steps are required. Cleanliness scores now finish above 96 percent, among the highest in the last six years.

Attention to the People Behind the Service

Every day, Vladan and his managers pick a few floors and talk with room attendants, asking whether they need any supplies and how their families are doing.

At 7 a.m., music plays in housekeeping, sometimes from around the world. A colleague’s birthday, an anniversary or the birth of someone’s grandchild is recognized at pre-shift in front of the group. Vladan believes these small details, down to a simple hello or good morning, make a meaningful difference to the person receiving it and help employees do their best work.

He has also introduced rotating weekends off for managers, giving each manager one weekend off every month. A manager-of-the-month program based on peer voting gives employees a way to recognize one another’s work.

To the Next Hospitality Leaders

‘Be yourself, respect others, recognize hard work and understand what people need’—he keeps his advice short for the upcoming leaders. He does so by listening to ideas on the floor and after hours, and employees call him with better ways to do things. Without that respect and recognition, he says, no one succeeds as an individual because the enterprise depends on teamwork, cooperation and collaboration.

Twenty years after the overnight audit role in Scottsdale, Vladan leads his employees on the belief that people who feel respected and recognized deliver the standard Hyatt requires. The hotel’s audit and cleanliness scores, the engagement of its team and the consistency of its standards are a reflection of the respect, recognition and trust he extends to his people.