During this industry downturn, we all know that we have to contain costs and drive efficiency at the property level. Experienced operators have learned from previous slumps that avoiding certain temptations will help your performance versus your competitive set now and help set you up for success when the economy improves. While these may seem like basic measures, too many operators forget these five simple things that you should not do.
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William Edmundson
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1. Don’t cut corners
Your guests have certain expectations for their experience at your property based on your brand’s promise and what they have experienced during past stays. Guests know when you have taken away a bar of soap or shortened breakfast hours. Even worse, they will remember that you devalued their experience at your property, resulting in negative word of mouth or worse – going to your competitor.
Your employees likely have seen cutbacks in your staff, so keep the team focused on goals like achievement of guest-satisfaction scores and relative measures like yield index. Track scores and performance with your team. Celebrate successes if only by a round of applause. The praise will be noticed. Take advantage of any brand programs or training that can help improve performance. Many brands now offer self-paced, Internet-based training for employees.
2. Don’t forget the guests
The old saying “take care of your guest or somebody else will” still is true. Today’s travel is tougher than ever. While we have fewer guests, they are often faced with more difficult travel, reduced flight schedules, smaller travel budgets and bad attitudes along the way. Anticipate your guests’ needs. Give them the extra smile, show some empathy or remember their name or something about them. These little things can make your guests’ day a little better and your hotel stand out from the competition.
3. Don’t slack on the sales effort
A common mistake during industry downturns is pulling back on the sales effort. Too many managers let their sales efforts pull up short during slow times because sales calls may not yield immediate business. Some operators even use the sales team for operational tasks in an effort to save money. These are short -term tactics that get in the way of long-term strategies. Experienced operators have learned that sales plans should be reviewed and updated at least quarterly and should focus on keeping the guests you have, keeping in touch with the ones that you had before travel cut-backs and keeping up the search for new accounts. Business will eventually turn around – make sure your hotel is top-of-mind when it does.
4. Don’t hire on the cheap
Your hotel is a multimillion-dollar asset. Don’t hire cheap talent. You get what you pay for. The cost of an inexperienced employee well outweighs the savings. A great example is hiring a rookie GM during an economic downturn. Yes, it may save payroll, but you stand to lose money on every staffing, service, purchasing, sales or revenue-management decisions. That adds up quickly. If you are able, use this opportunity to upgrade key team members. Again, you get what you pay for. You can’t afford to compound the problems of a bad economy by gambling on performance.
5. Don’t forget to use the resources you already are paying for
Use all of the resources that are included in your franchise fees. Experienced operators may have reduced expenses where possible, but they have learned to take advantage of the tools their brand or management company offers. If available, use this opportunity to ask your franchisor’s field-support contact to review your property and make recommendations for operations, pricing and your sales and marketing plan based on the best demonstrated practices of the many hotels they work with.
Follow these five “don’ts” as you focus on surviving the industry downturn. Use them to gain ground or get ahead of your competitors while you contain costs and work to drive efficiency at the property level. If you do, your hotel will be in a much better position through the downturn and when business picks up. Your hotel, staff and guests will be better for it.
William Edmundson is a hospitality executive with more than twenty years experience in brand building, culture creation, innovative marketing and sales, operations, and franchise relations. He has worked on industry leading brands for Holiday, Promus, Hilton and Choice. William is currently consulting, speaking and writing for the hospitality/travel industry and can be reached at williamledmundson@yahoo.com or 301-653-0506.
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