For Crisis Sake ! This Is Not My Job

William Shakespeare said it the clearest :

This article is meant to ask the provocative questions to both Hospitality sellers and buyers:

Have you , as a responsible executive, become personally involved and have you involved your key staff in anticipating disaster s and thought about the likely responses ?

And please don’t say : “ That is not my problem ”

Many owners of tourism orientated organizations in South West Thailand and Sri Lanka are finding out how much it is their problem and now do realize that some minor homework and preventive thinking could have reduced their present challenges considerably !

Now is the time for all stakeholders in the Hospitality Industry to focus on something that was, until September 11, 2001, and then October 12, 2002, and then March 26, 2004 and now since December 26, 2004 “unimaginable” and, therefore, was only in the back of their minds :

Risk and Crisis Management

It is fascinating to see how hotel operators ( the big and, even more, the small ) feel that Risk and Crisis Management is the job of the Government and it is sad to see how little they know about the techniques and procedures that can help them to prepare for risks and crises on a property level.

Risk and Crisis Management is about recognizing symptoms and now, sadly but true, all partakers in the Hospitality Industry will have to learn to look for dangers, threats and risks for their guests, their customers, their suppliers and their staff

We live in rapidly changing times where buyers, and now also guests, are increasingly willing to claim their rights, lawyers are ever more litigious and the media are ready to expose crises within minutes on a world wide scale.

An organization or destination in the midst of a crisis can not fully control all these factors, however adequate Risk Management preparations and effective Crisis Management procedures can significantly reduce its impacts on all imaginable stakeholders

Many industry leaders are currently realizing that they not only have a moral obligation but also may need to take a legal stance to be prepared to cope with incidents that involve their clients. Planning, though critical, is not the only component. Training, conducting drills, testing procedures and providing additional external resources are other important functions.

By taking the following step first, the Hospitality Industry can go a long way to emerge, in the future, from such incidents with their reputation intact and/or corporate image even enhanced.

RISK MANAGEMENT

Hoteliers, but also Wholesalers, Tour Operators, Conference Organizers, Incentive Houses , as well as Destination and Tourist Board Executives will all have to learn the trade of Risk Management, a practice with processes, methods, and tools for managing risks in each of their product(s) or project(s).

It provides a disciplined environment for proactive decision-making to:

• assess continuously what can go wrong (risks).
• determine what risks are important to deal with.
• implement strategies to deal with those risks.

They will have to learn to identify, search for and locate risks before they become problems.

• Analyse | Transform risk data into decision-making information. Evaluate impact, probability, and timeframe, classify risks, and prioritise risks.
• Plan | Translate risk information into decisions and justifying actions (both present and future) and implement those actions.
• Track | Monitor risk indicators and mitigation actions.
• Control | Correct for deviations from the risk lessening plans.
• Communicate | Provide information and feedback internal and external to the project on the risk activities, current risks, and emerging risks.

THE BOTTOM LINE

“ You can’t address a risk unless you first admit you have one” one of my former bosses in Sheraton always alleged, only now it is becoming clear that very few Hotels and Resorts ( as well as Travel and Tourism organizations and / or destinations ….. ) have established , on a local level, Risk Management procedures that have learned the lessons for the past and, at the same time, do show the foresight of Hollywood calamity movie producers

May all the “talk-fests” that are taking place at the moment result in action, may all organizations keep Risk & Crisis Management in focus as a priority that, unfortunately will cost money time and human resources for systems we hope we will not need

For your own action on Risk & Crisis Management, please visit, for instance, the following web sites :

The Winning Edge, organizing a Risk & Crisis Management seminar in Bangkok on February 28-March 1, 2005

As one reaction on my first article mentions :

I have lost more than one job over trying to make my owners understand what a contingency is, and why some resources need to go into "possible" rather than proven scenarios. - To no avail, if they cannot touch it, it does not exist.

This bottom line is simple; we all need to sharpen our skills at predicting, preventing and handling such situations so that next time we don’t have to say :

Bert “Bow-Thai” van Walbeek has been an Hotelier for 35 years and Marketer of Tourism for 25 years, a Motivator for 15 years and a lecturer for 15 years. After completing the Hotelschool in The Hague, the first part of his career was accomplished in Europe working in operational and later sales and marketing positions in Hilton, Inter-Continental, Canadian Pacific and Sheraton Hotels around Europe. The second part started with his arrival in Thailand in 1985, where he spearheaded the successful marketing efforts to reposition the Royal Orchid Sheraton. He also became a member of the Marketing Committee of TICA ( Thailand Incentive & Convention Association ) , and was the Founder and first President of the Thailand Chapter of SITE ( Society of Incentive Travel Executives). By the end of 1988 he was appointed as Sheraton’s Vice President Marketing for the Middle East, an area that covered 5 time zones and 26 hotels. During this tenure he had to face the marketing opportunities of the Gulf Crisis and developed the "Back To Normal" concepts for both the Sheraton Hotels in the area and for the Egyptian General Authority for the Promotion of Tourism. These recovery programs were launched 2 weeks after the Gulf Crisis was resolved. Click here for more...