Hoteliers from independent bed-and-breakfast concepts, global hotel chains, and everything in-between have faced immense challenges throughout the pandemic.
As hospitality evolves to meet the needs of today’s complex environment, widely adopted processes and procedures have now expired in favor of safety, secured profitability, and lean operations.
“Our primary driver of business had been removed, and our world as we knew it had been turned completely upside down.”
– Jeff Bay, Managing Director of HayMax Hotels
“Never in Hilton’s 101-year history has our industry faced a global crisis that brings travel to a virtual standstill”
– Christopher Nassetta, Hilton CEO
So how are hoteliers measuring new success metrics?
Understanding Today’s Market
A recent hotel report by SevenRooms shared that even though we’re still in the midst of this pandemic, nearly half (46%) of Americans they polled would be open to booking with a hotel under the right circumstances.
As you might expect, health & safety was at the top of their priority list when considering booking a hotel stay:
- 34% were more inclined to book at hotels operating at a reduced guest capacity
- 41% would stay at a hotel that offered pre-stay communications related to health & safety measures
- 30% would only book at hotels that offered health screenings for guests upon arrival
Customers have said that health & safety is a top concern for them, so hotels have to first focus on instilling guest confidence through cleanliness and safety certifications and protocols. Bottom line, up front: these are your new engagement metrics.
“People want to be safe and social distance, but they still want to be around people”
– Rebecca Gallagher, Owner & Innkeeper of Historic Smithton Inn
According to SevenRooms, there are also some clear deal breakers that would cause a guest to leave or end their stay early:
- 67% – if hotel staff and servers look or sound ill
- 63% – if the hotel is too crowded and does not enforce social distancing
- 63% – if staff and servers are not required to wear masks
- 58% – if hotel guests look and/or sound ill
- 55% – if hotel guests are not required to wear masks
“Making the guest feel comfortable, no matter the situation, is and always will be the aim of a hotel and its staff”
– Terry King, Regional Director at Guidepost Solution
Things may not be back to their pre-Covid levels yet, but hotel operators are navigating new operational challenges and they’re adapting to changing guest considerations as they chart their way forward back into profitability.
Protecting Hotel Profitability
Look at the tools readily available to you. Internal processes and technology, when leveraged to the extent of their purpose, will deliver time and money savings opportunities. It starts with a plan and a sincere desire to examine every aspect of running your hotel and serving guests, including the technology you are using (or not using) to make it all happen.
You need to find answers to questions like:
- How can you streamline processes?
- How can you reduce costs?
- How can you eliminate time-consuming and error-prone manual processes?
- How can you optimize purchasing and maximize buying power?
- How can you pivot Food & Beverage to meet changing demands?
- What are your most popular and profitable menu items?
- How can you track waste and identify where savings can be made?
- How can you build more accurate forecasts?
- How can you leverage your data and apply analytics?
Get answers to all these questions and many more in our latest eBook, Protecting Hotel Profitability in Disruptive Times – Six Ways to Position your Hotel for Success
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