Under the Hospitality Hood
Thoughts & Musings
There can be a tendency for owners and operators to get caught up in the bright glare and excitement of various new restaurant concepts; celebrity chef, reality tv chef, farm-to-table, vegan, etc. As we strive to ultimately improve the overall performance of our assets, we need to be very conscious of the relationship between these varied concepts and the positioning of our properties themselves.
How much time do we really allocate to the development of our people? The short answer is “not nearly enough.” Think about it, how many times have you recognized the fact that the developmental time that you had planned to spend with your less-experienced colleagues this week/this month/this year just did not materialize as you had intended?
It’s nearly impossible today to read about the hotel industry without reference being made to the relentless advance of technology and its impact on what we do. Many of these new apps, new amenities, new services are being made available to ourselves and to our customers in the specific hope of increasing loyalty, and thereby increasing business levels. While nearly all of this is good, it may be stretching things to assume that all technological improvements benefit the hospitality industry simply because they exist.
Historically, internships have been viewed by many as a necessary evil; something that is inherently good to do, but something that no one really wants to be accountable for. As a result, many of even the best-intentioned internships have evolved into little more than administrative assistant roles, with the interns themselves never truly engaging in activities that could be valuable to them in their future endeavors. Internships represent a unique hands-on opportunity for those of us more senior in the industry to closely interact with and impart knowledge upon those who have already raised their hands and said “I want to learn from you.” At the risk of sounding somewhat parental, do we not have an absolute responsibility to respond to this inquiry?
Conceptually, measuring results against efforts does not seem like ‘rocket-science’ when addressing the question of how effective we’ve been in executing a particular strategy. We all want to show a successful outcome from any work that we put forth, but how could we possibly know if it was in fact successful if we cannot measure it?
With Hyatt as the latest global entrant into the world of “soft branding,” the time is right to discuss the inner workings of this concept for hotel owners and operators. Today, with Marriott, Starwood, Hilton, and Hyatt all playing in this relatively new arena, it is apparent that the concept of soft-branding is here to stay; however the jury is still out on how to best use this strategy to one’s advantage.
In major markets around the United States, hotel performance is suffering due to a phenomenon that is forever a part of our world: the addition of new supply to our competitive sets.
Why is it that a high-demand market can be experiencing such a decline in price? Is it not a fundamental of pricing that as demand grows or at least stays strong, so too should price remain constant? The variable here, the basic reason for strong, growing occupancies along with significantly declining rates is, in a word, us.
Ask anyone in the hotel industry and they will tell you that the mini-bar is dead, a victim of its own arrogance, in pricing and in product. The numbers don’t lie, mini-bar revenues are down and the guest has made it clear that this amenity is no longer as important as it once might have been. However, some visionary and perhaps more entrepreneurial hotel operators have found a way to slow and in certain cases eliminate the financial bleeding taking place and actually break even or turn a profit from their minibar programs. So what is their secret?
While the concept isn’t brand new, the practicality of getting into the “on-demand meeting space” arena is still quite new to many of us. New and creative ways of selling meeting space in our hotels translates directly into increased revenues and increased profits, yet renting our spaces for meetings is seldom a priority. As technology evolves, the rules around this standard of our industry are changing a bit. Today, meetings can take place almost anywhere at almost any time, and many of our hotels’ spaces, both public and private, can be ideal for this trend, with minor adjustments necessary from the hotel side of life.
