Productivity is like our health and fitness. We are never just staying in one place for long. You are either moving toward a better picture or you are moving away from the ideal shape you want to be in.
After my last pandemic-focused article, my inbox was flooded with queries about remote work. I had urged hotels to embrace remote work and stop putting geographical restrictions on hiring the best talent. Most of the emails I received questioned the long-term feasibility of remote work, especially for a hotel organization.
I saw a young Australian couple traveling with an infant. A placid sleeper in Australia, the infant had been screaming through the night since arriving six days earlier, attracting complaints from other guests, driving the poor parents to desperation. They wanted to go home.
In spite of numerous threats, with crises also come new opportunities. While many hotels had already started their digital revolution and were thinking of creative and innovative business strategies, the pandemic has turned this will to change into a real must. Finding ways to better monetize and commercialize different offers is mandatory, as clients’ habits have evolved and now include non-room products and services such as eating in a restaurant, drinking at a bar, benefitting from packages, visits and activities. This change of habits does not only regard clients, but the needs of each individual. People have adapted to new ways of working, and concepts such as online shopping, catering services or take-out and delivery by hotels, restaurants, or even grocery stores have become the norm.
Nearly two years since the world plunged into lockdown, travel and hotel bookings continue to show strong recovery, exceeding the record-breaking year of 2019. But although international travel is resuming with a vengeance, the business travel segment (crucial for City Center Hotels and Groups surveyed) is showing a much slower recovery.
Coming out of the pandemic, it’s in many ways a branding carte blanche for hotels, especially as we head in 2022 where we know that the virus is here to stay, corporate travel will remain low for quite some time and the demands for all segments has changed forever. Given the dearth of hotel marketing over the past two years, many customers don’t have a good impression of what each property stands for and what each’s unique value is. Hence, it’s time for all of us to evolve by finding a new niche within the seismically shifted hospitality ecosystem.
Last year, 2020, was not only the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic, but it also saw a rise in major storms and other natural disasters such as forest fires around the world. The year 2021 has taught us again that things can always get worse. In the United States, New Orleans and many tourism cities along the Gulf Coast were devastated by one of the world’s worse hurricanes. In the west forest fires closed down parts of world-famous Lake Tahoe. Other parts of the world also suffered In Europe Greece saw its worst forest fire season, and many European nations suffered from severe flooding.
It is always the hard times that serve the role of a tough teacher, leaving in their wake lessons that become ineffaceable. It is human nature to gloss and glide over the good times and take them for granted. But the difficult phases are the time when thought processes are put into active gear, strategies are formulated and fine-tuned, perspectives are widened and a long view is taken of the status quo.
Hotels struggled to remain upright in 2o2o: just breaking even was considered a monumental feat. In order to do so, many hotels were forced with the unenviable—though necessary—task of slashing services where they could.
As the pandemic rolls on, it’s time to think again about your F&B, specifically in this case whether to recruit a restaurant franchisor or not. Initially these were a lifesaver for all manner of select service, economy and upscale hotels. You sign a contract with a prominent restaurant franchise; they manage all their own operations while you collect your dues and keep your guests happy. All was well, except then the model stagnated. Why?
The luxury hotel segment, which currently accounts for around 11% of India’s total quality hotel supply, has regained developer interest in recent years due to its tremendous potential on account of limited supply. Domestic hotel brands such as IHCL, Oberoi, and ITC traditionally dominated the luxury segment in India. However, in recent years, several international hotel chains, including Marriott, Accor, Hilton, and Hyatt, have entered the luxury and ultra-luxury hotel categories in the country, making the segment more competitive. As a result, luxury properties contributed 11% of overall brand signings by key in 2020, up from 9% in 2018.
Bleisure is a combination of the words ‘business’ and ‘leisure’ and, with that in mind, bleisure travel refers to the concept of combining professional business travel with personal leisure time.
As with all things COVID-19, it’s time to rethink how your hotel gets the most out of its public spaces, Specifically, the hotel lounge, often part of the lobby, will return post-pandemic as a key point of differentiation for properties. People will yearn to socialize and have the experience of meeting new people from different places. As a vibrant space, bustling with both locals and out-of-towners, this venue allows hoteliers to increase guest socialization, so as to heighten satisfaction and possibly drive additional F&B revenues.
When it comes to lessons in organizational skills, look no further than General George C. Marshall. For reference, he was the Chief of Staff under FDR who coordinated all of the United States’ military efforts across both theaters of war during WWII, and then went on to orchestrate what became known as the Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe in the aftermath of that deadly conflict.
At a time when many Americans are patronizing hotels for the first time in almost 18 months – and cases of the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 are on the rise – hotels must cease the dangerous trend of ‘hygiene theater’ and adopt an effective, sustainable, cost-effective and risk-based approach to hygiene interventions.
We are 100% open at all our hotels and while there are still some closed hotels, they are now the exception, not the rule.
The path toward leadership is the road less traveled. Not because there aren’t countless individuals eager and well-equipped to walk it, but because it’s a path that cannot be walked alone. Sure, great ideas help. It’s less about the idea and more about the people who bring it to life. In this respect, a crucial part of leadership is not only generating great ideas but bringing great people to the table, and more importantly, inspiring them to stay.
No matter what proclamations are made by various governments, the CDC, the WHO or any other regulatory bodies, PPE, sanitization and physical distancing have been so ingrained into the mindsets of travelers that hotels cannot relax on this front. Through the repetition of COVID-19 safety guidelines throughout 2020, travelers will now expect hotels to have pristine cleanliness for the entire decade ahead at least.
“Doctor Dolman is out of town. Could you speak to a guest at the Fairmont?” That was a jolt. Dolman was an ambitious young doctor aiming to start a concierge practice. He had phoned months earlier to introduce himself and offer to cover my hotels when I wanted to get away.
Years ago Prentice-Hall published The Man’s Health Book, and UPS delivered my ten free copies. Usually I gave those to family and friends. Except for my mother, no one reads them, so I wondered if I could put them to better use.
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