Under the Hospitality Hood
Thoughts & Musings
After all of the planning and work that goes into the development of our annual business and strategic plans, the new year is nearly upon us. Now comes the time when we start to execute all of those lofty and ambitious tactics and strategies that we said three months ago would bring us success in the coming year. The question is, are those plans that we worked so hard on still applicable, and will we know how to measure their impact?
The hospitality industry has long been a catch-all for words and phrases used to describe seemingly new trends. “Yield Management” evolved to “Revenue Management;” “Sales Management” is often referred to now as “Sales Automation;” and the list goes on. Another word that has worked its way into our hospitality vernacular, even if it is not truly understood by all that utilize it, is “activation.” It is imperative that we endeavor to understand why “activation” takes on so many different definitions in the world of hospitality.
We use traditional methods during the holidays to represent our commitment to the guest. For example when we decorate our lobbies with symbols of the season or when we volunteer in our communities to celebrate. All of this is good and serves an important purpose for our guests. However, while we do a good job with this approach, we sometimes lose sight of the importance of applying this same logic to our employees, colleagues, and associates.
It is “eyebrow-raising”, to say the least, to suggest that hotel operators should increase the levels of service that they offer during a downturn in business levels. It’s basic knowledge that increased service drives increased costs, and to deliberately apply this strategy when we know that revenues are heading southward is certainly “contrary” to normal operations. Which is exactly why we need to consider this approach as a method of protecting market share during a challenging period.
What if all of those hospitality principles that we hold so dear transcended beyond the walls of the typical hotel, resort, or restaurant? Imagine an environment, whether for work or for play, where courtesy, respect, and a satisfactory outcome were experienced by everyone. This description may not require as much imagination as you may think. Today, in workplaces around the country, major US companies are challenging themselves to better understand the implications of hospitality in an office environment.
As hospitality professionals, we spend a significant amount of time and money on the training and direction of our teams to provide guests with the finest in service and hospitality. Our goal is to keep our guests happy & satisfied so that they will return to us, continue to give us their business and sing our praises to their family & friends. Imagine the disconnect that occurs when our actions convey the exact opposite sentiment to our customers, flying in the face of the most basic principles of hospitality and business development. Everyone in every industry knows that good service, good value, and good product improve one’s chances of growing one’s business. So why are we sabotaging ourselves?
In every workplace, in every family, in every industry there is a place for integrity. So when we talk about the importance of integrity in the hospitality world, to many it may not seem to be a provocative topic. Unfortunately integrity can be challenging to find in our business, even when considering our most widely accepted practices and functions.
There is probably not a day that goes by that someone in a managerial capacity at your properties isn’t talking about strategy for the coming year; what is our plan, who is going to create it, who is going to implement it, etc., etc. While all of these conversations are highly important, none of them really make a difference if the strategic plan that we ultimately create is not dynamic, measurable, and executable. Even if we can achieve these three points, the question remains, how will we know if our ‘strategy’ has truly been successful?
In the world of consumer products, the concept of “loyalty” has never been more important. From the inception of airline “frequent flyer” programs in the early 1970’s to today’s rewards programs for almost any product imaginable, the “loyalty” of customers towards products has never been more aggressively sought-after. The question is, what methods are we using to secure this loyalty and is it really working?
The question “how do we define hospitality?” should not be rhetorical. Whether we are Cocktail Servers or CEO’s, Accountants or Asset Managers, each of us has signed up for the hospitality industry and therefore the definition of hospitality must mean something significant to us. While there is a baseline definition of hospitality across our industry, sometimes we can lose sight of an honest definition of the term, and most importantly what this means to our guests.
