How to open the Digital Gateways for Hotels — Photo by Are Morch, Digital Transformation Coach

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I have for many years studied digital transformation to identify new and more effective ways for hotels to succeed in a new environment.

And I learned a lot, especially in the last two years where COVID-19 provided us all with new unique challenges none of us was prepared for.

COVID-19 accelerated digital transformation among brands and consumers. As a result, many consumers became confined to their homes they learned fast how to use technology to help them with their daily tasks.

Remote work or work-at-home became a fast-growing trend that brands had to adapt to.

As travelers were starting to come back again to hotels, many now had to start implementing new contactless and touchless experiences both for employees and customers.

Travelers were coming back, but hotels all over the line now experienced major challenges with hiring new staff and retaining existing or former staff members.

And what we learned from the travelers that were coming back they now wanted hotels to work with them to provide them with alternative solutions creating convenient experiences.

Before the COVID-1 pandemic hit hotels had the people, but there was a gap between people and the level of technical skills required to meet demands as a result of the already ongoing digital transformation.

Travelers discovered that online travel agencies and alternative service alternatives like Airbnb were more up to par on their technology skills. Despite a lot of effort within the hospitality industry launching all kinds of direct booking campaigns travelers were not convinced.

Transparency is important in my processes. And already early this year I got in reports that indicated a positive trend that people were ready to travel again. Governments in many areas of the world also started to lift several of their COVID-1 restrictions to make it easier for people to visit their dream locations again.

The numbers we have seen for the first quarter of this year have been better than the first quarter of 2019. And hotels all over the line in the U.S. more or less are fully booked. Especially around peak dates like the 4th of July.

And consumer response points toward challenges with pre-check-in arrivals, kiosks, mobile applications, SMS, and QR codes. And this is in line with the demand for contactless and touchless experiences.

In a recent report from AHLA, as much as 97% of U.S. hotels reports staffing shortage.

Even though many hotels are running with a limited team we currently don’t have enough data to show how this is impacting the customer experience. After kids are back in school again we will get more data on how this impacted employees, customers, and the community.

This is why the key to a successful digital transformation lies in identifying how people and technology can work in harmony.

Technology is just a tool to help people identify alternative solutions. It is all about value-innovation through cost-efficiency and differentiation.

We have to learn and help to learn to be in the best position to provide the best available alternative solution no matter the conditions.

That is why I created the Digital Transformation Framework for Hotels that shows you the step-by-step process of “How to create a digital transformation framework for your Hotel that opens the digital gateways to more direct bookings without competing with the OTA’s”.

Digital Transformation Framework for Hotels

To achieve a successful digital transformation framework hotels have to overcome four key hurdles.

  1. Cognitive hurdle: The mental blocks that exist toward recognizing that there is a need for a change. Numbers typically are too abstract for employees. Employees have to experience situations where they can see and understand the hotel's worst operational problems in the context of the most disgruntled customers. This will help them see the need for change themselves.
  2. Resource hurdle: Related to beliefs about implementing change with limited resources and time. And with this mindset, there is a belief that the greater the change greater the resources and time needed to execute it.
  3. Motivational hurdle: Lies in motivating people in executing a new strategy. Breakthrough strategies often fail due to people failing to execute them properly. Here we focus on three disproportionate factors influencing employees. First, identify the kingpins which are key influencers within the hotel organization that can unlock or block any access to key resources. And then focus on fishbowl management where activities by key influencers are made transparent for all to see. This requires transparency, inclusion, and a fair process. And then implement atomization where you break down the execution of the digital transformation in step-by-step bite-size atoms that employees at each level of the hotel organization can relate to and feel responsible for.
  4. Political hurdle: The strong political forces that arise to block the execution of a new strategy. Even the wisest decisions can be knocked dead by the strong, intangible political forces that exist within any hotel. Here you have to identify three types of people. Angels are those within a hotel organization who have the most to gain from the execution of a new strategy. You want to collaborate with them as early as possible in the transformation process. Devils are those that likely will fight the execution of the transformation process. The consigliere is a politically adept and highly respected insider who can help identify landmines that may lie ahead in executing the transformation. They also will help you identify Angels and Devils in the hotel organization.

Where is the digital transformation tipping point?

After you got a good understanding of your key hurdles you are now in a position to tip the digital transformation process more favorably and efficiently for your hotel.

Humanness is the digital transformation tipping point that creates harmony between people and technology.

Humanness

This is about creating understanding into the transformation framework so that people are willing to engage fully at every step – even when they are hesitant, may not trust one another, or are skeptical of their ability to succeed on the transformation journey.

Humanness is achieved through three key activities;

  1. Atomization: Breaking the challenge into small concrete actions; people have the confidence to act on them step-by-step.
  2. First-hand Discovery: Allowing people to see things that they never saw before and realize the need for change.
  3. Fair Process: recognizes people for their intellectual and emotional worth, building trust and inspiring voluntary cooperation.

Fair Process

Fair process is the point in the digital transformation where you focus on collaboration, community, and building trust.

Building trust and making friends first will inspire your hotel's employees to use their energy and efforts to the best of their abilities to go beyond the call of duty to help you execute the digital transformation framework.

And three activities are put in place to implement Fair Process and start reimagining new possibilities with your employees;

  1. Engagement: This is about collaborating and involving employees and customers in new strategic decisions that affect them by soliciting their input and allowing them to refute the merits of one another’s ideas and assumptions. It is key to communicate respect for individuals and their points of view. This will result in more effective decisions and genuine commitment from everyone involved in execution.
  2. Explanation: ensure that everyone involved and affected understands why the final strategic decisions are made. An explanation of the rationale supports confidence among all the people involved, and that their ideas and input have been considered. This principle serves as a powerful opportunity to learn and help to learn.
  3. Expectation clarity: requires that after the strategy is set the new rules of the game have to be clearly stated. If you started in the spirit of collaboration and partnership with people through the engagement and explanation principles they will take ownership of the new rules of the game. When people clearly understand expectations, political jockeying and favoritism are minimized, and everyone involved can focus on executing the strategy rapidly.

Tipping Point Leadership

Tipping point leadership represents the principles that allow the hotel to overcome the digital transformational hurdles while winning back employees.

And tipping point leaders have a simultaneous pursuit of differentiation and low cost, creating a leap in value for employees, customers, the community, and the hotel.

To achieve a strategic shift towards low cost and differentiation hotel leaders need to focus on the extremes; the people, acts, and activities that exert a disproportionate influence on performance.

  1. People: once the beliefs and energies of a critical mass of people are engaged, conversion to a new idea will spread like an epidemic, bringing about fundamental transformation very quickly.
  2. Acts: identifying what factors that hotels compete on should they eliminate and reduce. What factors should hotels raise and create to uplift leadership, employee, and customer value?
  3. Activities: identify the activities that exert a disproportionate influence on performance.

ERRC Grid

TIPPING POINT LEADERSHIP
emphasizes what acts and activities leaders should eliminate and reduce in what they do as they should raise and create.

ELIMINATE
Which factors that your hotel takes for granted should be eliminated?
Example: Front desk

REDUCE
Which factors should be reduced well below your hotel’s standards?
Example: Guestroom types

RAISE
Which factors should be raised well above your hotel’s standards?
Example: Free instant high-speed internet

CREATE
Which factors that your hotel never offered should be created?
Example: Kiosks for self-check-ins

Digital Transformation Framework Canvas

Source: Are Morch, Digital Transformation CoachSource: Are Morch, Digital Transformation Coach
Source: Are Morch, Digital Transformation Coach

With the data from the ERRC grid hotels now can plot their Tipping Point Leadership key acts and activities that are needed to be cut back on to free up time and space and those that should be focused on to uplift leadership, employee, and customer value.

Digital Transformation Framework – Reimagine the Possibilities

Remember the digital transformation framework is a dynamic and flexible process that requires a little bit of transparency.

And it is key to understand the values of collaboration, community, and trust.

Together we have now gone through the digital transformation frameworks step-by-step showing you how to create a digital transformation framework for your Hotel that opens the digital gateways to more direct bookings without competing with the OTA.

At this point, you will have all the data gathered that will give you a bird’s eye view of the hotel and the customer perspectives.

Digital transformations have impacted consumer patterns, behaviors, and habits. Customers today want hotels to work with them and understand their digital journey.

Mobile devices, apps, machine learning, automation, and much more allow customers to get what they want almost exactly when they need it.

Customers expect relevant content concerning what they’re doing anytime, anywhere, and in the format and on the device of their choosing. It's their digital journey that now dictates your hotel's digital transformation framework.

Source: Are Morch, Digital Transformation CoachSource: Are Morch, Digital Transformation Coach
Source: Are Morch, Digital Transformation Coach

For hotels, the experience market will require them to create co-working spaces that enable them to build new partnerships with customers.

Digital transformation has made consumers more open to new experiences.

Within the hotel perspective you should now have an understanding of;

  • The percentage reduction in staff
  • Percentage costs reductions with new technology
  • Efficiency gains from partnerships, cost innovations, and highly motivated staff
  • Cost savings
  • Cost additions
  • Cost positioning
  • Volume
  • Expanded markets
  • Marketing Cost
  • Partnership and collaboration earn more direct bookings
  • Growth in revenue and profit

And from the customer perspective you will know;

  • Location
  • Sleeping environment
  • New communal and co-working space
  • One-to-three-minute self-check-in alternatives
  • SMS/QR Code
  • Contactless/Touchless demands
  • Pre-check-in arrivals demands
  • New experience alternatives
  • Content collaboration
  • Free high-speed internet
  • Competitive pricing

Digital Transformation Framework Partnership for Hotels

Hotels today have to invest in people and technology in a context that adds value to everyone involved.

Don’t continue to neglect or take the people's transformation for granted. Technology is a digital tool that will help your hotel when implemented in collaboration with your employees.

Partner with your employees and they will help with retaining and hiring people.

I also INVITE you to work with me as your hotel partner to help implement a new innovative digital transformation framework that opens the digital gateways to more direct bookings without competing with the OTA.

Shoot me an email at: [email protected]

This article represents the cliff notes for my Digital Transformation for Hotels PDF illustrations. I recommend downloading this illustration here.

Are Morch is a digital transformation coach helping hotels open their digital front door, reimagine their processes and culture, and transform experiences in a fast-paced world!

Are Morch
Digital Transformation Coach
Are Morch, Digital Transformation Coach

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