Own site

It is a prerequisite for a successful hotel business to have a user-friendly website. Attracting new customers through conveniently packaged information, colourful pictures and great deals is an important part of success. The attractiveness of the design and quality of the content must be tailored entirely to the business.

In order to attract the attention of old and new customers alike, care must be taken with the look and feel of the content. The target audience will stop their attention where they are more comfortable to take action and where the structure of the information is clear.

A number of points need to be met for good usability design:

• A logical and well-structured website. The user should be able to find the information they need instantly by navigating through the relevant sections. Navigation should be clear and concise.
• Colour design. Designers advise not to make the homepage too flashy. Brightness can be increased in different tabs to attract attention.
• Adapting the website for mobile devices. Fulfilling this condition will greatly expand the range of potential customers. That is, it is important not only to attract an audience within a specific strategy, but also to have a long-term plan that will cover other options.

Website search engine optimisation

The keywords that users use to find the information they want are an important part of good promotion. The more keywords involved, the more target audiences will reach the page and, consequently, the number of reservations from an official source will increase.

For search engine optimisation, you need to do:

• Competitor analysis;
• a technical audit that fixes problems sorting the site in search engines;
• Usability in the form of maintaining efficiency, memorability, orientation, security and satisfaction;
• Developing semantics to increase the reach of the target audience;
• internal optimisation for comprehensive website promotion.

Adding a Google company

An important action is the registration of the site in search engine services. The hotel’s placement on Yandex.Maps, Google and 2GIS will bring in a lot of revenue, as interested users will actively navigate through these channels to find out more about certain information. It is important to make sure that their request is satisfied as much as possible. To that end, they also think about user-friendly design and maximum clickability of the right tabs.

Hotel promotion methods such as adding a company to Google have the aim of creating a successful company in order to add the necessary information to the search engine’s ranking. It is possible to be added to these services completely free of charge. To do so, you follow a step-by-step authorisation in the system and increase the visibility of the card, which contains key information. This includes the hotel’s opening hours, list of services, contacts and social media links.

The important point is to create high-quality images and photos that will not only interest the potential customer of the service, but will also attract the passing customer who cares about the offer. Completeness of the card is a sure step towards increasing reach, conversions and views.

Google.Adwords

Google.Adwords is a type of contextual advertising that is available to users in search when they enter their queries. Its essence is to present services that people are interested in. Such advertising attracts a sufficient percentage of the target audience to the hotel’s website who are interested in the service offered. This percentage of attracted people is more likely to book a room, contact a manager or sign up for updates through a newsletter or promotions.

Advertisers have to pay the cost of Google.Adwords each time a user clicks on an ad. But there are set-up options that involve paying for contextual advertising per impression or conversion. The advantages of setting up contextual advertising are great: it appears exactly when the user searches for the service they want.

Social media

Targeted advertising on social media has great benefits. It is a mechanism for identifying a target audience and successfully promoting services. Facebook, Telegram and Instagram are good and profitable platforms.

If you take Facebook, advertisements are formed in the form of handy banners that pop up in the feed. These can be photos or videos of different content, which clearly and concisely state the offer. On Instagram, for example, the focus should be on collaborating with bloggers. Regardless of how many subscribers a blogger has, a smart social network feed can send ads to anyone interested without any problems.

The most important thing to know about hotel promotion is that you should not stop at promoting your services in only one niche of the internet space. It is necessary to use as many platforms as possible where potential customers can be found. It is also important to consider ways and methods of promotion: SEO-optimization, SMM strategies, making the right semantic core, promotion in social networks and quality advertising. The wider the reach of the audience, the more numbers will be booked and profits will increase significantly.

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Swimming pool and spa

A large hotel is unthinkable without a swimming pool and spa. An artificial pool is most often located next to the bar area, providing an opportunity for lounging around. Indoor swimming pools with heated water are especially popular and can be used at any time of the year. In some hotels there are several. Swimming pools can be open, indoor, adult or children’s. Hotel guests also relax in spa centres. It is a pastime mainly chosen by women. Hotel spa facilities include a variety of body care, hair care, massages and Jacuzzis.

World-renowned hotels boast mini-waterparks on their grounds.

Playroom

A good hotel must have a games room with board games, video games, billiards and an online casino club without registration https://onlinecasinozonder.com/. It keeps guests entertained when the weather is bad and you can’t go for a walk in the neighbourhood. You can spend the evening inside the hotel, relaxing at the games and socialising with other guests.

Fitness centre

A good hotel is sure to have a fitness room. This is a way for hotels to take care of their health-conscious, active clients. The possibility of fitness in a hotel is very important, it allows you to combine relaxation with activity, to keep your body in good shape. Many people come back from holiday with extra pounds; if the hotel has a gym, that is less likely to happen. Guests can enjoy a variety of workouts and exercises in the fitness centre. Having an instructor available at an additional cost will be a big plus. A gym with fitness equipment will keep you from gaining excess weight during your holiday. The fitness room offers aerobics, gymnastics and other activities.

Restaurant and bar

It is difficult to imagine a good hotel without a restaurant and bar. Food and drink is an important consideration when choosing a place to stay. Many guests prefer to eat at the hotel so that they do not have to spend time searching for canteens and cafés in the area. Some hotels have a separate menu for younger guests. Five-star hotels offer their guests an opportunity to taste dishes from different cuisines of the world: European and Asian. They are prepared by experienced chefs paying special attention to food design. It is convenient to have a meal in the hotel restaurant. People who come to another city or country on a business trip can solve business issues at the same time with dinners and lunches.

Recreational activities

Hotel entertainment is important to most guests. They mean an opportunity to spend an enjoyable time. These can include discotheques, live music and various workshops. Some hotels organise performances by pop stars on holidays and the opportunity to sing karaoke.

Entertainment events also include themed evenings and celebrations to mark national holidays, such as the country’s Independence Day.

Hotels abroad, such as those in Hungary, hold classical music evenings.

Excursions and tours

Almost all hotels organise excursions and tours for an extra fee. People visiting another city or country often want to explore the local attractions, but do not know how to get there. The hotel will offer an interesting excursion programme and organise transfers. This will make your stay as eventful as possible and allow you to see the surroundings and interesting places in the city. By providing such a service, hotels attract more clients.

The list of available activities may also include fishing or skiing, sledging in the winter season.

Children’s club

Many travellers wonder what activities are available for children in a hotel. Many hotels are family-friendly. There are children’s clubs on their premises. Little guests do not get bored, because they are entertained by an experienced animation team. Children watch cartoons and draw. Some hotels provide babysitting services for an extra charge so parents can go about their business while their child is being looked after.

Sporting events

The list of activities at the hotel can also include a variety of sports activities. This option is ideal for those who enjoy an active lifestyle. Hotels organise football, volleyball, basketball and table tennis matches and tournaments. Guests often get to know one another and have a good time at these tournaments. Sporting events train the body and spirit, and victories improve the mood. You don’t have to go somewhere else to play golf or darts; such activities are often available at the hotel.

Cultural activities

A large number of hotels also offer all kinds of cultural events, such as exhibitions, theatrical productions and concerts. You can also enjoy a variety of cultural events, such as exhibitions, theatrical productions and concerts. Some events are included in the accommodation price, while others have to be paid for – it is advisable to check this information in advance before you check in.

The more entertainment a hotel has to offer, the more customers it gets. There is no shortage of guests. The hotel entertainment industry is growing rapidly. The activities available are often told to guests at the time of booking a room and they can also be found in the reviews published on the hotel’s website. This is one of the most important criteria for choosing a hotel.

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But we’re here to tell you that there are ways. With these eight practical ways to generate more hotel revenue and profit, we’re sure that your business will be booming in no time.

1. Partner With Local Businesses

If you’re looking for ways to increase the revenue and profit of your hotel, partnering with local businesses is a great place to start. You can partner with restaurants, museums, and other attractions in the area and offer package deals to guests. You can also partner with spas, salons, and other local businesses that might want to provide their services at your hotel. 

This will help your hotel stand out as not only a place where people can stay but also where they can get anything they need while visiting your city. This increases profits for your hotel and expands your reach by allowing you to reach a new audience that may not have otherwise considered staying at your hotel.

2. Personalize Your Target Market

To generate more hotel revenue and profit, it’s important to tailor your marketing efforts to your target market. For example, local businesses should be your primary focus if your hotel is located in a particular state. If you have a specific demographic of guests you cater to yearly, they should be at the top of your list.

However, if you’re unsure where to start personalizing your target market, start with basic research into the demographics of the area where your hotel is located. You can also look at how many people visit each month—how many people come from what cities? What is their average income level? These answers will give you an idea of who is likely to stay at your hotel and what kinds of incentives might attract them most effectively.

3. Maximize Online Reach

The most important thing you can do to grow your online reach is to ensure that you have a website up and running. You may be tempted to post on social media, but that’s not enough. You need a blog, or at least some web presence, where you can post all of your content—from photos and videos to news about your hotel and its amenities, as well as information about any special events in the area.

Maximizing your online reach is about more than just having a website; it’s about making sure people know about it. One way you can do this is through search engine optimization (SEO), which involves writing content that will appear higher in search results when people look for hotels like yours in their area.

4. Create a Roadmap

The first thing you need to do when planning your revenue growth strategy is to figure out what you have now and where you want to be in the future. You should start by looking at your current occupancy rate, room rates, and other key metrics (such as social media following). Then, consider leveraging these numbers to increase your hotel’s performance.

After you’ve created this initial roadmap, it’s time to get into the details. Your roadmap will help guide your decisions, so don’t skip this step.

5. Focus on Customer Satisfaction

The most important thing you can do to generate more revenue and profit is to focus on customer satisfaction. The most effective way to do this is to ensure that your customers are happy with their stay. 

You can accomplish this by providing high-quality services and amenities and ensuring that your staff members are friendly and helpful. If your guests feel like they had a good experience at your hotel, they are likely to return in the future.

6. Consider Dynamic Pricing 

Dynamic pricing is a way to give your hotel a competitive edge while ensuring that you’re getting the best rate possible.

A crucial part of dynamic pricing is understanding your market and what your competitors are doing. In a highly competitive market, you may want to offer a lower price than the other hotels to attract more customers. You can also use this technique to attract business travelers seeking bargains.

Another thing to consider is demand. If you have a lot of bookings coming in during certain times of the year, you might want to raise prices during those times so that you can make more money from that period.

Dynamic pricing also allows you to adjust rates based on seasonality and time of day.

7. Take Advantage of Upsell Opportunities

The best way to increase profits is to find ways to sell more things to the same customers. That’s why it’s important to offer upsells—the practice of trying to get your customers to spend more money on their orders by adding on products, services, or upgrades.

For example, if you’re running a hotel restaurant and someone orders a meal, you could try offering them beverage refills or dessert as an upsell. If you’re running a boutique hotel, you could provide guests with an upgrade from the standard room rate to include breakfast for two or access to an executive lounge. Or if you’re running a local attraction like an amusement park, you could offer discounted admission for children under 12 years old if they bring their parents along with them.

8. Offer Promotions During Slow Periods

Holidays, holidays everywhere! But you may be surprised to discover that the summer months aren’t the only time people want to travel—and they’re not always looking for a beach vacation. They might book their next trip with you if you offer them a deal.

Use this time to ensure your hotel is well-stocked with supplies and amenities so that guests don’t feel like they’re saving money at the expense of their comfort.

Conclusion

The most important thing to remember when generating more hotel revenue and profit is that it’s not just about the number of guests you have but how you treat them. Your business can’t survive on empty beds alone—it needs to be built on a foundation of happy customers who will return. With these ten tips, you’ll be well on your way to doing just that!

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When deciding where to open your hotel, there are several important factors to consider. By taking these into account, you can ensure that your property is successful and profitable for years to come. Choosing where to open your hotel can be tricky, but these nine features will help you make the right decision:

Proximity to Attractions

The location of your new property can be one of the most important factors in determining its success. You want to ensure that it is close enough to attractions and other businesses that guests will find it convenient, but not so close as to cause inconvenience. If they have to walk too far to get there, they may decide not to stay.

The location of your hotel is an important consideration when choosing where to open your hotel. You want guests to explore the city and all its attractions easily. You also want them to find food, entertainment, and shopping nearby.

Accessibility From Public Transportation

If possible, try to get a hotel accessible from public transportation. It will make it easier for people who don’t have cars or prefer not to use them. If you can’t get one near a train station or bus stop, try at least getting one near local taxi stands. It will allow easy access for those without cars or who don’t want to pay expensive cab fares.

Availability of Parking Spaces for Guests’ Vehicles

It goes without saying that parking is a big concern for many hotels. It’s important for guests with cars, but it’s also important for those who don’t want to deal with finding parking on their own after a long day at work or sightseeing in the city. Ensure that there is ample parking available on-site or nearby for those who choose not to park on-site.

If your hotel doesn’t have adequate parking spaces for guests’ vehicles, this could lead to problems. It is especially true if guests need somewhere secure and safe where they can leave their cars while they’re away exploring the city during their stay.

Size and Capacity

When deciding how many rooms your hotel will have, consider the number of guests you anticipate having at any given time. The larger the number of people you expect in the near future, the more rooms you’ll need available at all times.

Staffing Needs

Staffing is another important consideration when opening a new business because it affects every aspect of your operations and how much profit you make from each guest or client who visits or purchases from you. 

For example, suppose you want your staff to be available 24/7 because there will be no time off except during vacations or holidays. In that case, this will affect how many employees are needed and what tasks they must perform daily.

Traffic

You want to be close enough to a major highway or interstate to quickly get customers in and out, but not so close that you’re in a noisy, dirty area. In addition, it’s important that you’re near enough to other attractions so that guests can easily visit them while they’re in town.

Dining Options

Your dining options should include fast food chains, sit-down restaurants, convenience stores, and grocery stores. If there aren’t any good dining options nearby, your guests will be forced to drive elsewhere for meals. 

Therefore, they won’t spend as much time at your hotel as they normally would. You don’t want this because eating out is generally more expensive than eating at home or buying groceries at a local store and eating in their rooms or suites.

Shopping Options

Your guests are going to want access to shopping options while they are staying at your hotel. They may be traveling on business or vacation and don’t necessarily have time to explore every new city they visit. The last thing they want is to get bored while staying with you!

If there aren’t any shopping options nearby, your guests will have no choice but to drive elsewhere. It could be for souvenirs, gifts, and other items they may need during their stay with you. 

Property Taxes

Property taxes can quickly make a big difference in your bottom line. So, it’s important to find out what kind of taxes you’ll be paying on any property you consider buying or leasing for your hotel. It helps if you already live in an area where you plan to open a hotel. You can get tax information from the local government office instead of having extensive research from afar.

Get the Perfect Spot for Your Hotel

Finding the right location for your hotel is essential to success. It may feel like a daunting task, but finding the perfect spot will be a breeze if you know what to look for.

The first step is to ensure that you clearly understand what kind of hotel you want to open. It’s important to have a clear vision of what your hotel will look like and what kind of experience you want guests to have. It can help narrow your search and make it easier for you to find the perfect spot.

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If you dream of starting your own hotel business, you’re in good company. As the hospitality industry grows and evolves, it’s a great time to get involved. Here are seven tips on starting a hotel business:

Do Your Homework

If you’re looking to start a hotel business, you’ll need to do some research first. The success of your business depends on knowing what to expect and how much it will cost to get started.

You should first research the industry and talk to people already in it. It will help you know about this industry before starting your own business. If you don’t know what you’re doing, you won’t succeed. Know the costs of running a hotel and ensure you have enough capital for all expenses, including marketing and advertising costs.

You may also want advice from an accountant or financial advisor before starting your own hotel business to avoid making costly mistakes. If you’re just starting, consider working for someone else in the industry first to learn about the ins and outs of running a hotel before taking the plunge yourself.

Choose Your Location Carefully

A good location is essential for any successful hotel business — but it’s not easy to find one that’s both profitable and affordable. When choosing a location for your hotel, look for areas with high traffic volume. Still, low competition from other hotels or restaurants will help ensure that your guests always have somewhere to stay nearby when they visit your city or town!

You want it to be close enough to a major city or town to have access to its many amenities but far enough away so that you don’t have much competition from other hotels. You also want it to be located in an area where people frequently come – for example, by the beach or near a popular tourist attraction.

Decide What Kind of Hotel You Want

Once you’ve chosen where your hotel will be located and how many rooms it will have, it’s time to decide what hotel it will be. Decide if it will cater exclusively to families or couples only, or if it will also accommodate groups. It could be sports teams traveling for games or conventions taking place nearby who need affordable lodging.

You must first determine who will be your customer base. If it’s families, will they come from out of town or just pass through? Are they looking for luxury or budget-friendly accommodations? Do they want amenities such as a pool or gym? Once you’ve determined your kind of hotel, it will be easier for you to figure out how much to charge for each room type and what amenities to include in each one.

For instance, if it’s a group of youths who are into gaming, ensure their rooms have the necessary amenities to join betting sites. You can even suggest sports betting not on Gamstop for an amazing gaming experience.

Think About Branding Early On

If you want to build a strong brand for your company once it’s up and running, consider branding early in its development stages. That way, everything from logos to website design aligns seamlessly (and doesn’t confuse customers).

Know Your Market

Before you start a hotel business, you need to know your market. It is important to understand where the demand for your services will come from and how much it will cost to meet that demand.

You can find out what your potential customers want in many ways. You can read magazines, newspapers, and trade journals, talk to other business owners, or talk with people in the industry who might be willing to share their knowledge.

Your market is everything — it’s your customers, your competitors, and the industry in which you operate. It’s important to know who your customers are and what they want so that you can determine where your business fits into this picture.

Find Reliable Suppliers

Once you know what types of guests are likely to visit your hotel and where they will come from, you need to find reliable suppliers. Look for those who can provide everything they will expect from their stay at your hotel — from bed linens and towels to food options and entertainment choices. 

These suppliers should provide items at reasonable prices and offer fast delivery times so that when your guests arrive at the hotel, everything is ready for them.

If you plan on purchasing stock at wholesale prices, ensure you have a source for quality merchandise at competitive prices. If possible, find one supplier who offers everything from linens to kitchen supplies so that you aren’t forced to shop around for each item separately when time is limited. 

It can save you time and money in the long run since it means less legwork when ordering new items or changing existing inventory.

Hire Skilled Staffers

A hotelier needs people who can handle all aspects of running a business and manage employees effectively. No matter how great your business plan is, if you don’t have the right people to implement it, then it will fail. 

You need to hire skilled staffers that can handle everything from front desk duties to housekeeping and maintenance. A good example is hiring a concierge who can help make reservations for guests and provide them with information about local attractions and restaurants.

Start Your Hotel With Knowledge! 

Starting a hotel business is not easy, but it’s doable. You need to be prepared and willing to work hard. Whether you’re a seasoned hotelier or new to the industry, you should consider the above tips before launching your own business.

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As a housekeeper, it would be most beneficial for you. Imagine, you just need to wave the wand and everything turns sparkling clean. Be it the lobby, rooms, laundry, or restaurant. 

 In fact, you don’t need any staff to do it. And because of that, the level of guest satisfaction would top the charts. 

However, the sad part is that such kind of magic is impossible. But, I can tell you tips to improve hotel housekeeping operations for better guest experience. 

By now, you might have figured out what this blog is about. But, before getting to the tips, let me give you an overview of the housekeeping department. 

What are Housekeeping Operations in Hotels?

Housekeeping department is called the backbone of the hotel. The reason behind it is that housekeeping handles one of the most important tasks of a hotel – maintaining cleanliness and hygiene.

However, the tasks involved under housekeeping operations are not limited to it. There are other responsibilities too, like:

1. Raising inventory requisitions
2. Maintaining stocks
3. Managing laundry services
4. Handling the lost and found artifacts
5. Keeping a track of hotel room thefts and losses

Although the housekeeping department is not counted amongst revenue-generating ones, you cannot deny the fact that it does play a vital role in cost-control.

How to Optimise Hotel Housekeeping Operations?

Now that we are done with a refresher course on hotel housekeeping operations, let me tell you the steps you can use to make it more efficient. Let’s take a look at them.

1. Streamline your process

When I say streamline your process, it doesn’t mean working on your SOPs. Of course, it is also important and we’ll be discussing it in the next point.

Streamlining your process means aligning hotel housekeeping operations with tasks of other departments. Let me explain in detail. 

The housekeeping department is responsible for upkeep of the room and the amenities associated with it in a perfect manner. Now, this also includes checking for any maintenance issues. 

Suppose, one of the rooms requires major maintenance work. In that case, the housekeeping supervisor needs to inform the front office and maintenance department, respectively.

Such tasks do take a lot of time, which means one room is out of order for a brief period. Hence, the revenue management team would ensure that sales from other rooms are on the higher side to cover the loss of one room night for that period. 

This is just one example. There are many other tasks that require help from other departments. That’s why you need to streamline your hotel’s housekeeping operations to avoid any complex situations.

2. Bring timely changes in SOPs

As I said above, you need to optimise your SOPs from time to time. The reason is, it will help you improve your housekeeping operations and increase staff’s efficiency. 

In college, we were taught that getting a room ready should take an average of 20 minutes. The bifurcation is as follows:

• 7 minutes – Bed making
• 5 minutes – Bathroom cleaning
• 3 minutes – Dusting
• 2 minutes – Amenities replenishing
• 3 minutes – Sweeping and mopping

But when I started working in hotels, things were actually different. Every task associated with room cleaning had a different time depending on the size of the room, the number of staff involved in it. 

For example, some hotels use vacuum cleaners or mop sticks, instead of traditional brooms and mopping cloth. This aided in reducing the time required to clean one room. 

Similarly, you need to figure out ways to optimise SOPs related to every process involved in the housekeeping operations. 

3. Standardise the quality of cleanliness and hygiene

No one likes to stay in a shabby and dingy hotel. Moreover, after covid-19, guests are more concerned about the cleanliness and hygienic environment provided by the hotel. 

That’s where the housekeeping department comes into the picture. Ensure that you’ve set the highest standards pertaining to cleanliness and hygiene. Here are some steps you can take:

1. Room sanitisation after check out
2. Change room linen for new guests
3. Use a disinfectant for mopping the floor (opt for one with mid fragrance)
4. Keep a sanitiser in each room
5. Wear masks and protective gear while cleaning the room
6. Opt for color-coded cleaning

4. Focus on inventory management

Inventory management is an important part of hotel housekeeping operations. That’s because the housekeeping department is responsible for raising the requisition and distributing all sorts of amenities among guests and staff members. 

This includes room amenities, stationeries for the front office department (pen, files, papers, key cards etc.), staff uniforms, and other such things. Whilst the list is long, you need to ensure you don’t miss even a single item. 

Here’s a blog on inventory management that can help you do it in a better way. 

5. Invest in technology

Technology plays an important role in every hotel and still many of them hesitate to embrace it. Some find it expensive, while there are others who believe it’s futile to invest in technological aspects. But that’s where they go wrong. 

There are various PMS that can do all your calculations, inventory management, and room status update within seconds. Moreover, if they can be integrated with other housekeeping software, it can get you live room status and help with direct bill posting in guests’ folios. 

Apart from that, it can help you keep a track of guest requisitions and whether they are addressed or not. This would aid in improving guest experience. 

The technological aspect is not limited to software, it includes investing in gadgets as well. You can opt for equipment like handy vacuum cleaners, carpet cleaner machines, floor scrubber and dryer, automatic room freshener, and so on. 

6. Hire, train, and reward your staff

Understaffing is one of the common problems faced by the hospitality industry these days. This leads to a tremendous pressure on the existing ones, as they need to handle tasks of other employees simultaneously. And trust me, I’ve seen this happening. 

The hotel where I used to work a couple of years ago was having a shortage of housekeeping staff. This created a lot of problems for the rest of us. 

We had to run from floor to floor in the morning to check rooms which are due for check out. Simultaneously, we had to prepare rooms for upcoming arrivals. And to top that, we were supposed to deliver guests with requested amenities. 

Because of this, none of the staff members in the housekeeping department worked for more than 2-3 months. In fact, we ourselves used to be quite exhausted by the end of the day. 

7. Keep a check on your discards

Most hotels avoid the discarding process, and that’s where they suffer a loss. Basically, discarding involves removing expired items from the inventory and replenishing them with new ones. 

Let’s say, you have kept a stock of old towels to discard. Now, you would either distribute them among your staff, use those for cleaning, or recycle them.

Sometimes, a staff member or a vendor can do foul play here. S/he would be replacing the old ones with new or maybe add some fresh ones in that batch for gaining extra benefits. 

That’s why I recommend doing the discarding process in the presence of CCTV cameras, security personnel, and housekeeping supervisor. 

8. Maintain pantry on each floor

To ensure seamless guest experience and fast service, it’s important that you have a housekeeping pantry on each floor. In case you already have one, check that it has ample stock maintained of each and every amenities. 

First of all, it’ll help your housekeeping staff in avoiding running to and fro. And secondly, it’ll help in raising on time requisitions. 

9. Work with right vendors

Selecting the right vendors for outsourcing any kind of facility is crucial. Moreover, if you are working with just one vendor, I would suggest you find a couple of them as a backup. 

Reason being, depending on a single one would create a lot of problems, such as delay in delivery, unavailability of certain items, impromptu price fluctuations, and so on. Moreover, you need to check the authenticity of the vendors, quality of products they provide, and other factors. 

The post 9 Best Practices to Optimise Hotel Housekeeping Operations appeared first on OLD-Minster.

In a client-centric industry such as the hospitality sector, you want to empower your staff to be the best employees possible. Some of the keys to managing your staff are delegating, communication, giving positive reinforcement and creating a sense of a team.

In this article, we’ll discuss the importance of building the perfect hotel team and some tips in order to do so. By implementing the right strategies hoteliers can ensure productivity and increase employee retention.

Building the perfect team of hotel staff

In the hospitality sector, your employees are the face of the brand. This industry is incredibly customer-driven, so making sure hotel clients are met with well-trained, experienced employees can be the difference between a three-star and a five-star rating, and can also be the difference between your hotel and the competition.

Plus, the better trained your staff, the more capable they are of handling situations with angry customers and of problem-solving to make sure complaints get turned around into positive experiences. 

The importance of keeping hotel staff engaged

The best way to create the perfect team is to make sure employees are engaged and satisfied. Happy employees will better represent your band and keep up your brand’s reputation. You can keep them happy by creating a positive working environment offering regular training, promotions and giving them rewards based on performance.

In an industry with a 73.8% staff turnover rate, it’s fundamental to keep your hotel staff motivated with this growth-minded environment. This way they are more likely to stick around to succeed within the company instead of going elsewhere. Furthermore, they will be better equipped to promote the business. Working together as a team they can upsell, drive revenue and promote guest retention.

Front desk staff who are happy at their job will be more likely to interact positively with clients and make sure they have the best experience possible. They will ask for feedback and inform clients of discounts if they book on site for a future trip. In the same way, knowledgeable hotel restaurant staff will be better able to understand the clients. If they are wine connoisseurs, they will upsell to a better wine, or if they are deciding between a vegetable entree or a steak, they can wisely and smoothly convince them to order the more expensive item. 

How to manage your team of hotel staff efficiently

Managing staff efficiently is one of the secrets of a successful business. Here we have laid out some tips on how to better manage your team.

Tools are key to efficiency

With so many moving parts, managing front-office, reservations, housekeeping and more, you need a hospitality operations platform that will do the grunt work for you. Using the right PMS is key to efficiency because you can streamline different components of the operations. Automating processes allows high-level management to focus on more strategic revenue-driven decisions rather than focusing on the day-to-day operations. Pro tip: Invest in a tool that helps with revenue management, reservations, and takes care of front office operations and housekeeping all in one. 

Delegate

The key to delegating is that you can combine forces to get things done. By delegating, each employee is aware of what they need to get done, and everyone is working together for a common goal. When tasks are clearly laid out, hotel managers can then focus on overseeing the departments instead of micro-managing. Be sure to check in regularly to see how it’s going. 

In delegating, managers should empower their employees to make decisions despite the consequences of making a mistake because there is no better way to learn than by learning from your mistakes; it’s a great path to success. 

Instead of reporting directly to the manager, your employees can report to the head of the department. Creating a middle-management structure is also helpful for employees’ growth because they will have the organizational structure in place to be able to aspire to grow within the company and become a manager. 

Communication is key

There is nothing more frustrating and alienating for hotel staff than feeling like they’re not a part of what’s going on in the hotel’s day-to-day happenings. This is why communication is so important across all teams, especially for those who work the night shift and often don’t have regular interactions with other staff members and therefore can feel out of the loop.

Brief, regular meetings that involve all departments are not only efficient but they also help staff feel like they’re a part of the team and this in turn makes them more accountable, motivating them to work harder. 

Being in regular contact with your team also helps prevent mistakes from happening because you can catch them before they become a problem. Managers should know how their staff is doing on a regular basis, addressing any concerns, making sure they are aware of procedures and that instructions are laid out clearly. 

This can be achieved through regular training, internal communication, and one-on-one meetings with employees to see how they’re doing and help answer any questions. 

Positive reinforcement

The idea behind positive reinforcement is focusing on what your employees are doing right rather than what they are doing wrong. In this way you can condition your hotel staff to do well by rewarding and praising them every time they do a good job. Make sure their achievements are recognized company-wide. When people see their colleagues’ advances, they are encouraged by example to do the same. You can take positive reinforcement one step further by rewarding your employees with company merchandise, a team breakfast or even give days off or a gift certificate for achieving goals.

Create a sense of team

Creating a sense of team among your entire staff is crucial to managing hotel staff efficiently. Feeling part of a greater team makes people want to work together for a common goal. To create a sense of team, make sure everyone knows what their tasks are and how to achieve them best. 

Once you’ve got your team working together, the next step is to make sure you give them feedback on how it’s going. Quantify their favorable results. Is the hotel seeing better reviews? Is your revenue increasing? Being transparent and letting your staff be aware of common successes gives them a sense of purpose, and allows them to feel motivated by the hotel’s mission. They will work together better to make the guest experience seamless. 

Conclusion

Employees who work together as a team are more efficient and more productive. As a manager, your job is to inspire your employees to do the best job they can by rewarding their successes and giving positive reinforcement. Pamper and respect your employees because if you don’t, they’ll find another hotel who will. 

The post How to manage your hotel staff and improve productivity appeared first on OLD-Minster.

The Hotel Dream… Where it all Starts

Where to get started with opening your own hotel? What kind of hotel should it be? How does location influence my business? How to attract guests? How to control operational costs and run a profitable business? These are all crucial questions that should be dealt with prior to getting into the business.

In this article we have put together a series of tips on how to start your own hotel business

What it Takes to be a Hotel Manager – The Skillset

The stereotype is clear: many hours of hard work when everybody else is off…

Everything is true, and even more when you’re in charge of a hotel. So, why might anyone want to open a new hotel? There is only one answer to this question: it is because we love it. It is definitely one of the most rewarding jobs when it comes creating moments that will make people happy.

What does this mean for someone that wants to open a hotel? Although you might not be in direct contact with guests for most of the time (depending on the type hotel you choose), there are certain personality traits that will help you create a successful hotel business. We consider the following characteristics to be of great help:

• Guest first mentality & proactiveness, meaning always thinking of how the guest feels around your hotel and what can be done about it to improve their experience. Either taking action (according to feedback or your own observance) before service failure occurs will greatly improve guest satisfaction and therefore resulting in higher review scores.
• Open minded to feedback. Becoming a great hotel does not happen overnight. Adapting and evolving according to feedback comes before everything else in this process. Guests can always bring out points of improvement, and acting on it will definitely put you ahead of the game. Just think how many times you have been able to make suggestions to hotel staff/owners, making the real question how effectively you will be dealing with the comments.
• Proactive, taking actions proactively will prevent your hotel and staff performance from getting sidetracked. Of course, following KPIs (key performance indicators) will give you some degree of insight, but stepping beyond and letting your creativity help drive revenue and guest experience will enable your hotel to be successful.
• Perseverance. Hospitality is not always the easiest industry to work in, especially when times get though. However, with the right amount of perseverance you will be able to pull through and enjoy the fruits of your labor.
• Multi-tasking. Being a jack of all trades and a good multitasker definitely helps in following the many different processes happening around the hotel. One second you might be doing administrative work – the other – helping out with housekeeping getting rooms ready for the next arrivals.
• Communication, being able to communicate your goals and how the hotel is performing is crucial to the development of your business. Involving your staff with the right communication puts everyone on the same page: the one for success.

Experience Vs No Experience

Having hospitality experience prior to opening a hotel can definitely put you a step ahead. The speed and effectiveness with which you will build your concept will likely coincide with the level of your industry know-how. Below we will give you some examples of where you might face challenges.

Skill Sets Explained

General Knowledge

Knowing the service standards might be the most important of general hospitality knowledge. Without this knowledge it will be difficult to maintain standards and motivate staff to improve their overall performance.

Room Division Experience

Running front of the house can be challenging even for the more seasoned hospitality professionals mainly due to the myriad of processes running all at the same time. Other issues can occur with the alignment of services between other departments such as F&B.

F&B Experience

If you do not have any prior experience in developing and running the F&B side of a hotel, we advise you to be careful with extensive F&B concepts, avoiding risks such as:

• Etiquettes can certainly be learned, but often work differently in practice. Learning what works well and what can be applied can be quite tricky.
• Food and service standards. Running a professional kitchen is totally different from anything you might have seen before. Putting out quality food requires well thought through menus and efficient workflows to ensure speed of service is maintained whilst delivering quality dishes.
• Purchasing, maintaining consistent food quality while keeping food-cost low will be challenging without prior knowledge of handling, preparation, and storage of food in a professional kitchen.
• Concept development covers not only how your hotel will look like, but also how services and facilities align with the operational logistics in the hotel. Making any mistakes here could cost you money, time and loss of operational efficiency.

Revenue Management Experience

Essential to any hotel opening is a solid revenue management strategy. At the core of any successful pre-opening phase are well thought through elements of product pricing and positioning such as:

• Room type strategy (e.g. supplement strategy, promoting differentiation between rooms)
• Distribution (e.g. contracting online travel agents, channel mapping in your PMS)
• Competitive positioning (how do you competitively price yourself in the market, evaluating your value-add and weighing it against your competitors)
• Promotions (when and what kind of promotions will you run, including negotiation and contracting of partners)

Consider if you are capable of developing and executing revenue management strategies and operations. Missing any of the above elements of managing revenue will guarantee a loss of revenue opportunities directly impacting your cash flow.

Marketing Experience

Coming up with a marketing strategy might look simple, but coming up with something exceptional is a different story. If you do not have the needed experience you might lack essential points in your marketing plan causing a significant loss of business opportunity. Also, do you have your planning front of mind? Launching a new hotel requires some serious time to plan, with particular activities that should be on the way one or two years ahead of the opening date, such as the website and distribution contracting.

Any of the above gaps in experience can be filled in by outsourcing the development and support of hotel opening and management services. The most important is to understand exactly where you might be lacking background knowledge to reach a solid business plan and execution.

What Does It Take To Start an Outstanding Hotel?

Becoming a great hotel goes beyond just offering great facilities and service. Everything needs to be aimed towards providing guests something special and creating unique experiences.

How to Stand Out: 5 Steps for Success

First, it is important to settle on the points you really want to stand out. Here it is all about the quality and differentiation of your facilities, staff and service, technological features, and more…

Following the below steps will help you settle on your decision.

Customer Centered Services

Guests crave unique experiences and expectations keep on rising. Offerings should facilitate customer experiences helping you to stand out from the crowd. Think ahead what features and activities can be implemented to excel in your service delivery. Great moments to interact with guests can be simple, such as time for guests to enjoy a complimentary drink and snack on the house.

Another point to consider is how you will be personalizing the way your services are delivered and products are presented through marketing. Customer loyalty is dependent on the way products are marketed towards customers’ needs, with 25% of consumers (Netimperative) indicating to be more loyal to a travel brand that shows an understanding of their needs through marketing.

This is equally important to how services delivery takes place, as customers are open to switching to their choice if they find services better catering to their needs (80% of consumers, Qubit).

We cover this further in our Hotel Trends article diving deeper into personalization in hospitality.

Facilities

Tailoring your facilities to the needs and wants of your target group will be essential. A great example of this are business travellers, who require work related amenities to get their job done. Aim to apply the same thought process behind how your hotel’s public areas and rooms can be decked out with essential features ready to be marketed towards this segment.

Location

Where you choose to locate your property has proven to be critical in the way your hotel can be positioned in the market, and how guests can be drawn to book your hotel. Exactly what will be driving your demand?

• Area features: bars, restaurants, shopping districts
• Transportation: connectivity to any major traffic arteries, train stations, airports, subway stations, bicycle routes etc.
• Other demand generators: proximity to a business area, tourist attractions, industrial park, universities

Besides demand driving factors, you should think about:

• How does the location fit your concept / does it complement your idea of what the hotel should radiate to your target audience
• Can I add something new to the market in this location – or – is there already a similar concept next door
• Strategy & Execution

Many hoteliers underestimate how much planning and thought should be going into your hotel opening. Making sure you have planned enough time to think everything through, covering every single thing you can possibly think of will give you a competitive advantage.

Developing Your Concept and Design

Coming up with an idea solely relying on your instinct and personal design preference would be a mistake. So what should you consider?

Hotel Market Size & Opportunities

Despite it being a tough year for the hospitality industry, hotel project development and openings continue to unfold all across the globe.

Opportunities will always continue to linger around the corner. Not knowing when we recover might be a difficult variable to consider, but we know recovery lies somewhere around the road ahead. Considering the significant amount of time it takes to open a hotel, and emerging opportunities due to Covid-19, we think it is still the right time to open a new hotel.

When it comes to favourable circumstances, we could definitely name a few:

• More room in the job market, making it easier to procure qualified staff. Something that before the crises could not be taking for granted
• Closures of competition, sadly, many hotels businesses have had to pull the plug. This means less competition in a market which was previously getting highly competitive in specific markets.
• Subsequently, this means there are real estate deals out there, ready to be picked up for new hotels to step in

Hotel Segment Opportunities

Much can be gained when diving thoroughly into opportunities that segmentation provides.
Be as specific as possible. You should really want to be aware of which hotel market segments can drive revenue in fine detail as far ahead of opening as possible. With this knowledge, you can focus marketing and sales efforts specifically towards these segments. Without any understanding of these groups, it will be hard to create appealing offers.

With proper hotel segmentation you will be able to:

• Increase attractability across each segment with a focussed approach and initiatives for each group
• Measuring per segment leads to more actionable insights
• More historic data will be available for trend analysis in the future

External Factors in the Hotel Industry

Hospitality is typically one of the first industries to be impacted by macro economic factors. Considering how the following external factors could be affecting the market is therefore vital:

• Domestic travel, whether larger or smaller markets, domestic travel can contribute highly to your performance. Keep an eye on how your market is performing by looking into pulling data from your municipality as well as market data that can be provided by OTAs.
• The same applies to Non-domestic travel. Be aware of your largest feeder markets/countries of which you will be relying on.
• GDP, historically, hotel demand and GDP go hand in hand showing a strong correlation between the two metrics.
• Consumer Confidence Index, describes the optimism on the economy expressed through activities of savings and spending by consumers.

The best places to find travel statistics are your municipality/regional databases as well as OTAs, which also have an abundance of data at their disposal when it comes to feeder markets.

Independent Hotels vs Franchised Hotels

Perhaps one of the biggest questions to be answered..

We believe in the power of independent hotels, more freedom to create a hotel to your liking, less restrictions, and far lower cost not having to pay to the franchise owner.

Still considering to go for a franchise?
Be prepared to add the following fees to your budget:

• Initial fee
• Royalty fees
• Marketing fee
• Sales reservation fees
• Loyalty / frequent traveller programs fees
• Miscellaneous fees

Pulling Everything Together: The Hotel Business Plan

Here is a short list of how your hotel business plan should look like.

1. Executive summary

This part should include two main parts, one being the mission statement, and the other are your objectives. Keep this part short, concise and grab the attention of the reader.

2. Company Analysis

This is the part where you dive deeper into your company’s USPs (unique selling points). Basically, explaining what the concept entails.

3. Industry Analysis

Investors want to know if you properly understand the market you are going to operate in. This also forms the foundation of which trends and developments you will be building your brand on.

4. Customer Analysis

This part focuses on breaking down your target market. Think of factors such as:

• Geographics
• Demographics
• Socio-economics
• Psycho-graphics
• Behavioral segmentation

Imagine the type of guests which will be likely to visit your hotel. Painting a picture of guest types will give you the insight needed to evaluate how value can be provided to your customers.

5. Competitive Analysis

Of course, studying local competition is essential to highlight your strengths and weaknesses, as well as weighing those of the competition against your own. This can also be defined as a SWOT analysis, which investors use to see how you differentiate and stand out from the crowd.

6. Strategic Plan

The strategic plan consists of three important parts covering marketing, distribution and revenue management. Further down we have listed a time-based planning covering these topics.

7. Operations Plan

This is all about the details when it comes to running your operations smoothly. Do not make the mistake of not diving deep enough here, so make sure to include the following:

• Staff, anyone from lower level staff to managers should all be quantified.
• Operating processes, how/when/what you will be developing manuals for. Make sure to set your service standards.
• Suppliers, which/and what will you be needing suppliers for (linnen, food, drinks, office supplies etc.)
• How will your inventory be managed?

8. Management Team

Who will be running your business, and what makes them unique and capable of creating a great hotel that stands out. Explain your team’s backgrounds will give insight into this.

9. Financial Plan

How much money will be needed to fulfill your needs. Start with the capital investment (start-up costs of the hotel), followed by ongoing business costs and operational expenses:

• Profit
• Payroll
• Purchases
• Rent and Utilities
• Other Expenses (franchise fees, marketing expenses, maintenance costs etc.)

10. Key Milestones

Setting milestones will increase the likelihood of success. The risk for lenders or investors decreases each time a milestone is achieved, reaching high chances of success once the last milestones are in sight. Important milestones include:

• Location selection
• Permits & Licenses
• Build-out / Construction of the Hotel
• Staffing and Training
• Opening
• GOP Break-even
• NOI Break-even
• 10% Ebitda

11. Appendix

All other content less relevant to getting your important message across belongs in the appendix. Try keeping your plan as concise and straight to the point as possible, referring to the appendix when needed to avoid an over cluttered appearance to the investors.

Do not be Too Late: Start on Time

Beginning on time is not only essential to your success, but it can save you a lot of money.
Consider the below timeframes to give you an idea of when to start your business processes.

The Planning: From Start to Finish

0-1 months:

Grand Opening:

• Do not put your entire marketing budget in the grand opening. This is just one day, and it will be impossible to reach enough potential business to fill your hotel in the long run. View marketing as a constant long term effort instead.

Soft opening:

• Final finetuning and testing for the staff and systems before official opening
  Great opportunity to take press and industry bloggers on a tour of the hotel without the burden of operational pressure of a full hotel. Reporters really appreciate all the help you can give them with preparing a story on this new hotspot in town.
  Invite corporate decision makers to test the hotel. Treat them like VIP’s. Wine and dine them, and turn them into ambassadors of your business. Impressing them with an unforgettable experience will start spreading word-of-mouth for you.

3-6 months

Open for sales on your own website and OTAs etc.

Reservations:

• Prior to this it is possible to have staff taking inquiry and answering questions with scheduled callbacks at a later stage once everything is organized. However, from 3 months prior to the opening the reservations call center needs to be up and running.

System selection

• MS, Web Booking Engine, CRS, GDS, Channel Manager, Rate Shopper, CRM. These all need to be selected, purchased and installed between 6 to 3 months prior to the opening.

9 months

Sales

• Schedule visits daily with decision makers of companies from 9 months prior to the opening trying to win them over from the competition.

12 months

Website live

• Websites page/history is a strong factor in ranking on google, so launching your website as earlier as possible would be the best. This will also ensure your website is properly indexed on search engines

• Preferably, 18 months prior, but certainly no later than 12 months prior to the opening. Even if it is with temporary images and content.

Revenue Management

• This might be the point where most hotel owners miss the boat when it comes to maximizing their potential. It starts to get complicated when thinking about using different pricing techniques (covering both opening prices as well as long term rates) across multiple scenarios and room types, as well as setting your mind on payment and cancellation policies.
• Budgets, forecasts, rate strategy, room type strategy, packages, distribution strategy (covering everything from direct sales to promotions)
• Choosing here to outsource revenue management can bring a strategic advantage, both when establishing your business plan and the execution of your plans.

Distribution

• Eventually your rooms will have to be sold somewhere right? Which 3rd party distribution partners will you contract, and what technology will be necessary to facilitate all this.

Marketing

• On the marketing side, questions such as how you will be attracting customers, how you will be positioning your hotel, what message will be delivered across different segments, and how your website will be planned out when it comes to SEO, SEM, SMM, social media, and blogging.
  Having the right strategies will help driving direct sales to your hotel

Sales

• Sales strategy should be ready to set into action. Think of tools, templates and how you will be executing visits and follow-ups.

+24 months

Staffing

• We tend to overestimate how easy it is to find a good management team. Experience has taught owners opening hotels it is not. Moreover finding a highly qualified pre-opening team that has develop, implement and execute your strategies is even more difficult. You will need to start recruiting this team 2 years before the opening to be able to find the right people for the job, and have them start in time.
• Be precise in what their responsibilities are and where they overlap with other departments. Considering the needed experience here is important as well, since it will help make the staff budget and hiring process. Lastly, make a planning according to your pre-opening phases to decide on when everyone should start (think as far ahead as possible).

Promotion/PR

• ‘Coming soon’ Put up a big sign ‘Coming soon’ with some breathtaking images of what you are building to attract the attention of people walking and driving by. This should start the day the first construction is initiated.
• Local media, keep them in the loop on developments (even let them visit your construction site)

• Regular press releases up until the opening (construction progress, interesting anecdotes, mission statements, sneakpeaks from the rooms etc.).
  Combine everything in a well curated social media that attracts attention. Make anyone feel the need to follow how the final product will look like.

Financial Plan

• Covering this will be the revenue projections for the next five years. Important metrics to follow are your expected occupancy rates, ADR (average daily rate) and RevPAR (revenue per available room). This should give you the outline of how much money will need to be raised, giving you the start of how much will need to be raised (internally or externally) and when you will be needing it (investors need to know when lenders will get paid as well to secure their own return on investment).

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