Communication is a key element if you want to promote your hotel’s sports activities. Social media, newsletters and the hotel’s website can be used to inform guests about available sports activities, schedules and rates. Don’t hesitate to show sports facilities and guests participating in activities either with photos or videos. Social media, in particular, can be a great way for properties to promote their sports activities and attract potential customers. By communicating on these aspects, you will be able to build your community or attract the curiosity of sports enthusiasts.
Manage access and cleaning of sports venues
The availability and cleaning of sports venues are two essential elements in providing unique sports experiences for your guests. Hotels that have a PMS with inventory management can use it to rent and reserve sports equipment. Offering a sports activity often requires access management. When the location is indoors, access management is done through the implementation of a key system within the establishment and thus allows limiting access especially if it is not available to everyone.
Manage billing
Payments for sports activities can be centralized and automated through the use of the PMS, either as a package or by adding charges to the room via a POS (Point Of Sales). Some activities require a deposit, such as motorized activities and activities with expensive equipment. A security deposit may also be required. Regarding the pre-authorization, it is easier to manage when your payment system is connected to your hotel PMS since all your transactions are secure. Automated payments help hotels save time on a daily basis but also reduce transaction errors and improve payment security.
Use customer reviews
Customer reviews can help hotels analyze advantages and improvements of their sports activities. Reviews on your website and online review platforms, sports shares on social media and satisfaction surveys can provide valuable information about your guests’ experiences. Hotels can use this information to improve their sports activities by offering new equipment, by changing schedules or offering special rates for popular activities.
By offering unique sports experiences, hotels can provide complementary services that help them stand out from the competition. Implementing these sports activities involves operational adjustments within the property to ensure a successful customer experience. By focusing on customer communication, availability and billing management, and the use of customer reviews, hotels can improve the experience offered to their guests and increase their satisfaction. Hotels that offer unique and memorable sports experiences can also improve their online reputation and therefore boost bookings and revenue.
The best way to define revenue management in the hotel industry is as follows: sell the right room, to the right customer, at the right price, at the right time, through the right distribution channel and with the best quality/price ratio.
This sentence summarizes the dynamic and the different data that the Revenue manager needs to anticipate demand and other customer behaviors. This data will allow him to take decisions regarding pricing and will help maximize revenue. The concept of revenue management was originally used in the airline industry, but it is a concept that can be use in any industry, especially when there is only one product to sell, or a limited quantity of that product, at a given time or when customers are willing to not paying the same price for the same product.
Before implementing a revenue management strategy, it is important to have the capacity to anticipate demand and habits. This could be for example, historical data of the property but also external data such as the weather or an event.
Analyze your key data and understand trends
First of all, data analysis is essential in a revenue management strategy. It starts with selecting the right data to consider. To do so, a resort will certainly have to take weather data into consideration in its revenue management strategy. On the other hand, this data is not essential for a hotel that organizes conventions.
In addition, market trends are not negligible. A popular year for tourism in your area will not have the same impact on your strategy in comparison with a year where there were fewer customers. For example, a trend related to eco-friendly tourism will have an impact on your target if your property is not prepared to implement sustainable actions in its daily operations. The target clientele of this trend should not be targeted, so you will need to obtain other data on the clientele of this trend.
A good understanding of these trends is just as important as the analysis of the data, since a misinterpretation of the data or of a trend will have a significant impact on your strategy, and more importantly on its final result.
Modify rates: test and learn (looking for the sweet spot)
The revenue management strategy inevitably involves frequent and rapid changes of your rates. Some actions will sometimes be ineffective because even if the data is compiled, the interpretation of this data can sometimes lead to different conclusions and therefore different decisions. The more you analyze data, the more you will be able to automate and reduce errors. Therefore, the amplitude of price changes should be minimal in order to reduce your risks and the more your rules work, the greater the amplitude between your prices can be.
Stimulate your demand: marketing actions
Hoteliers tend to let the customer come to them, one way or another, either via their website or via OTAs. However, it is possible to stimulate demand through marketing actions, especially to attract new customers or to retain existing ones.
To stimulate demand, several tools are available at varying costs and with varying effectiveness.
Here are some marketing actions that can be considered to stimulate demand:
Loyalty
New clients
Publications on social media Newsletters Mailings Satisfaction survey Loyalty program
Ads campaigns Social media campaigns Traditional media campaigns
Optimize your online distribution
What is an online distribution?
Online distribution consists of selling your rooms on an online reservation platform. Also called booking engine, this platform shows you in real time, the availability of your rooms and also your rates. OTAs (Online Travel Agencies) play an important role in online distribution as they will allow you to appear in the search results of a person wishing to rent an accommodation in a city or region and that person does not know you. The most popular OTAs are Booking.com, Expedia, and Airbnb.
Selling on these platforms is greatly simplified by the implementation of a channel manager. Its role is to update in real time your inventory and your rates on all the selected platforms.
Practice overbooking or upselling
What is overbooking or upselling
Overbooking is the practice of selling more rooms than the hotel has. This strategy also comes from the airline industry and is based on the simple observation that for a given quantity sold, there will be an average number of people who will not show up. This strategy is high risk as it can have very negative consequences on the supplier.
Upselling is the process of encouraging the consumer to add items to their initial purchase. In the hotel industry, this could mean encouraging the customer to choose a room superior to the one they have booked and for an additional amount.
Mastering the art of overbooking
Overbooking cannot be applied to all properties. You must either have different types of rooms in your property or at least an equivalent property close in order to be able to relocate a client who has made a reservation and shows up while the property is full. It is necessary to have a second plan in case of this situation and until the day is over because nothing indicates to the hotel that the overselling will be realized.
In other words, even if the hotelier has overbooked his rooms, the problem occurs when a guest wants to check in while the property is at full occupancy. His plan B will be to either offer him another room type in the same property or another room in another hotel.
Therefore, the overbooking strategy must be based on either an upsell upgrade strategy or based on actual no-show data. The hotelier needs to be able to estimate the amount of possible overbookings, the potential risk to overbook and all the options he has to be able to accommodate the customer in the event of an overbooking situation.
L’upselling
Upselling can occur throughout the customer’s journey with the hotel. For example, during booking and before confirming the type of room, the hotel can suggest a superior room for X amount of money. Some hoteliers can also suggest a few hours before arrival, a bidding system on the remaining superior rooms. The customer can bid an acceptable amount for the superior room. They can also be solicited for a multitude of items upon their arrival, during their stay and even at the end of their stay by offering an additional night for example.
Overbooking on room types
It is about selling more rooms than the number of rooms available for one type of room. The choice of the type is often made at the level of the standard room since it gives more possibilities to the hotelier to suggest an upgrade to a loyal customer or to concretize an upselling. The main objective will be to sell more and to distribute the surplus in upselling or upgrading while having an occupancy rate and a revenue probably higher than if the hotelier had not proposed his standard room anymore.
Overbooking in your property
Overbooking in the property is more complex as it is based on the probability that someone who has booked will cancel at the last minute or not show up. This data is compiled by the PMS and needs to be analyzed to determine the right number of rooms to overbook without causing too much impact on the property’s operations and its reputation. A customer who makes a reservation at your property does it for specific reasons, if you have to relocate him to another location, it might not suit him and will have consequences on your reputation.
Structure and improve your offers
What is an offer and a package in the hotel industry?
An offer is an advantage for the customer regarding a regular rate, under specific conditions and usually due to a lack of occupancy in the hotel.
These offers can be a discount in percentage or cash on the regular room rate, a discount on the length of stay, a discount depending on the time of payment, or even the addition of items to a reservation such as a bottle of wine or an upgrade…
On another hand, the package is a set of services in addition to the accommodation, which the property or third party can offer. These services are added under a special rate for one guest. This rate is more advantageous than if the client pays each item independently.
A clear and simple description for the client
Whether it is for offers or packages, the description of what it includes is essential for the client. Both for selling it successfully and also to avoid customer dissatisfaction. The more restrictive your offers are, the more clearly you should describe it. An offer can be applied between 2 dates with exceptions but can also be purchased today for later. All combinations are possible but its simplicity of understanding will make it a success or not.
Ensure that the offers are in adequacy with your customers
Your clientele has specific characteristics, it can be local or international, of a particular generation, have a purchasing capacity that is not identical to your competitor’s clientele. To do so, when you suggest an offer to your clientele, several factors must be taken into consideration, such as the period. If you attract a couple without children, you can suggest offers outside of school vacations. You can also act during the booking, for example by proposing a discount for a future stay because you know that your customers are used to book their stay last minute. You can also adjust your pricing on a frequent basis if you know that your customers are eager for discounts or even on additional services if you know that your customers are loyal to your services.
Master your KPIs
What is a KPI?
A KPI is an acronym that stands for Key Performance Indicator. It allows us to measure the efficiency of an action or an organization. It must be quantified and must be measured frequently in order to evaluate the impact of an action. The benefits are also called ROI (Return On Investment). Hotel management requires the measurement of several KPIs to estimate the actual and future revenues.
Hotel key performance indicators
The 8 key performance indicators of a hotelier are:
-The occupancy rate
– The ADR: Average Daily Rate
– The REVPAR: Revenue Per Available Room
– The REVPAC Revenue Per Available Customer
– The GOPPAR which is probably the most difficult indicator to obtain. It is your gross profit per room
– Customer acquisition cost, a metric that represents the cost invested for each “acquired” customer
– Le ROI (Return On Investment) is the analysis of the profitability of an investment. It is the percentage of income you get from your initial investment.
– The hotel retention rate is defined as the proportion of customers who remain loyal from one period to the next period.
Learn more about the occupancy rate
Although your hotel PMS is an indispensable ally for gathering information and calculating the data, it is good to know how to do it in order to link the results to possible actions and to be able to properly analyze the situation.
Your hotel’s occupancy rate is the percentage of occupied rooms compared to the total number of rooms in your property. So if your hotel has 100 rooms and 65 of them are occupied, your occupancy rate is 65%. This data is relevant because it allows you to analyze the situation of your hotel in real time and to see which elements encourage customers to book with you at each time of the year.
This concept can also be used at the organizational level. It can provide you with forecasting data for different departments. When you reach a high occupancy rate, it is important that each department responds properly to customers. The occupancy rate greatly influences your human resources needs. It is therefore important to have a yearly overview of your occupancy rate to ensure that in times of high occupancy, each department has a sufficient number of employees to provide proper service.
Knowing how to calculate your occupancy rate will give you a way to analyze your hotel’s profitability. Your occupancy rate can vary depending on certain factors such as the selling price of your rooms. For example, if your prices are low, you may have a very high occupancy rate but it may not be profitable. In other circumstances, analyzing the occupancy alone may not be relevant as a performance indicator. If you have a very high occupancy rate, you will probably have to add more employees especially for housekeeping and it will inevitably impact your profitability.
Learn more about REVPAR and REVPAC
The REVPAC (Revenue Per Available Customer) metric represents the revenue per customer staying at your hotel. REVPAC is calculated by taking the total amount of revenue generated by all your customers and dividing it by the number of customers staying with you. With this, you will get the average revenue generated by each guest staying at your property, which allows you to make forecasts based on the occupancy of your hotel and the time of year.
The REVPAC is often an element that can be improved easily since it acts on an “in house” customer. Some actions can allow you to generate additional revenue. Why not offer them a room upsell at their arrival and for a small additional fee? Offering this superior room will have positive effects on them. First, your guest will be satisfied because he will feel that he got a good deal. Secondly, the standard room will be available for a customer who wants to book at a lower price.
Improving the REVPAC is a team goal that can be taken into consideration by all departments of your hotel. As for example, the possibility of delivering a bottle of wine to the room (crossell) or the activities to enjoy experiences offered at your property. The front desk has a very important role as it will be the one to suggest your offer to the guests and certain elements such as an early check-in or a late check-out.
When you fail to improve your REVPAC, keep in mind that there are many things you can improve and sometimes it’s as simple as refreshing your employees’ memories of the many sales opportunities your hotel offers.
The REVPAR is the revenue per available room. This means that a particular room can be rented during the observed period. This metric is calculated by multiplying the ADR by the occupancy rate. It is used to determine the average price for available rooms.
As an example, you rented your rooms at an average rate of $100 during one month and your monthly occupancy rate was at 75%, then your revenue per available room is $75. With this analysis, you could adjust your prices and lower your rates to $75 in order to achieve your full occupancy. On the other hand, if you realize that you did not reach your breakeven point during the month, the solution will not necessarily be to lower your rates but rather to check which department was not profitable. If it was your housekeeping that did not reduce its expenses despite a 75% occupancy rate, your lack of profitability may be coming from there.
All about the GOPPAR
This metric shows you the performance of your hotel’s departments. It takes into account the profits of your entire hotel including food and beverage sales. This amount is then divided by the number of rooms to give you your GOPPAR. It gives you a clear picture of the average profit you make when you rent a room. So the closer your GOPPAR is to your average ADR, the less your other departments will perform.
The GOPPAR is an indicator of profits. It is based on the revenues minus the expenses that were used to achieve that revenues. However, its result does not indicate where the performances are good or bad. It is only an overall daily indicator.
The Average Daily Rate is a hospitality industry indicator which allows to measure the average income per paid occupied room. It is not the rate at which a room is sold, but the average room rate across all rooms sold. This is one of the most important performance indicators because it provides insight into the revenue generated through room sales and the overall revenue. Although this is a major indicator, it cannot be the only indicator you look at to get an accurate view of your hotel’s business. The ADR must be viewed in conjunction with your occupancy rate and RevPAR, among others. All of these indicators will give the hotel manager a very precise understanding of the hotel’s performance.
How to calculate the ADR?
In order to calculate the ADR, you must have data on the total revenue generated by sold rooms as well as the number of rooms sold, no matter the room type or category.
The calculation of the ADR is therefore : ADR = revenue from rooms sold / total number of rooms sold
For example: the owner generated 1000$ of revenue and sold 8 rooms. The ADR can be calculated as follows: 1000/8=125$. Therefore, the average rate of sold rooms is 125$.
While the ADR can be calculated manually, in most cases it will be automatically calculated by your Property Management Software (PMS) as all the data required to calculate the ADR is continuously collected by your PMS.
How to increase your ADR?
You can increase your ADR through multiple strategies
Adjust your pricing
The ADR is proportional to the sale price, therefore pricing has a direct impact on it. A Yield management strategy could allow you to increase your ADR globally.
Increasing your pricing overall will also have a direct impact on your ADR. While this is not a strategy in of itself but rather a pricing policy, this increase can be normal and linked to inflation in which case it would not represent a real ADR increase.
Offer a unique experience
Guests who experience a unique stay are inclined to spend more. Based on this observation, offering a new experience or enriching your current offers are concise and direct actions which can help you increase your ADR.
Incentivize consumption
One strategy could be to always offer a superior room. This has an immediate effect on increasing your revenue and your ADR as superior rooms will have higher rates. Therefore, you can ask your front desk staff to always offer the superior room if it is available, no matter if you offer it at its true or discounted rate. If the customer accepts the superior room, the additional amount they will have spent will have a positive impact on your ADR.
You can also implement this strategy in your online booking engine. At the time of booking, the customer can be offered the superior room by displaying only the difference in amount between the chosen room and the superior room.
Personalize your clients’ stay
Knowing the habits of your customers, particularly through your Property Management Software, will allow you to target your offers according to their needs and interests. Personalization also allows you to build customer loyalty and to always offer them the opportunity to discover your range of superior rooms using their stay history stored within your PMS.
Conduct regular competitive intelligence
Monitoring your competitors’ advertised rates will allow you to position yourself in relation to them and to offer a competitive rate. Your reputation and customer satisfaction will allow you to charge an advantageous rate in regards to your competitors. Indeed, you will be able to justify a higher rate using your hotel’s ratings, your customer reviews and your online reputation.
The ADR or Average Daily Rate is a key indicator for a hotel manager who wishes to analyze their hotel’s performance. Increasing the ADR of a hotel is a daily and long term work, which can be achieved by implementing some if not all of the strategies that we have previously mentioned. It is therefore crucial to involve your staff in order for them to have growth objectives and also to come up with multiple ideas that could increase your hotel’s ADR.
Your main priority is to maximize your profitability
To do this, you can use yield management by analyzing your data (occupancy rates, sales, types of clientele) from the current year and the previous year and adjusting your rates. This analysis can be performed by specialized software that can also facilitate decision making or speed up the decision. Yield management is primarily based on supply and demand forecasts. When demand is higher than supply, it is appropriate to offer higher prices in order to maximize your profitability. On the other hand, when demand is too low, it is advisable to lower your prices to avoid low occupancy. You must also take into account several factors such as seasonality, weather, holidays, events, length of stay, packages and services, and offers available at your competitors.
With these forecasts, you will be able to adjust your prices at the right time, better manage your room inventory while determining your booking limit and define pricing strategies and promotional offers relevant to your clientele. In addition, yield management systems are connected to your Property Management Cloud and distribution channels so that your hotel’s availability and inventory are updated in real time.
It is also important to know these performance indicators when using yield management software: – The occupancy rate – ADR (Average Daily Rate) – REVPAR (Revenue Per Available Room) – NREVPAR (Net Rooms Revenue Per Available Room) – GOPPAR (Gross Operating Profit Per Available Room)
Using yield management techniques could be very beneficial for your hotel as it would help you to increase your revenue and margins by selling the right product or service, to the right customer, at the right time.
The way in which yield management stimulates demand is mainly based on predictions and on the flexibility of rates (including the variation of prices). It is a particularly relevant strategy if your hotel has several distribution channels and if you wish to improve the segmentation of your clientele.
In order to lead change in your hotel with ease, it’s important to carefully plan your change process ahead of time. During this preparation you will learn how to put things into perspective, how to involve all hotel staff together and finally how to make sure everyone feels supported throughout the change process. Moreover, the hotel manager is a key leader of the change process, and needs to be understanding and attentive with their staff.
Identifying the barriers to change
Identifying potential barriers to change will help you better manage them in the future. There are three main barriers to change: barriers directly linked to the individual’s way of work, their personality and their abilities, collective and organizational barriers associated with the company’ values, culture and social norms, and lastly barriers linked with change, which have to do with individuals doubting the changes’ usefulness. In order to convince people you work with, it’s crucial to avoid clouding your own conviction by other peoples’ discouragement. Do not lose sight of the benefits you will achieve with your desired change, and keep in mind the reasons that led you to this change.
Adopting the right methods to fight resistance to change
There is not a single right method but rather multiple different good methods which will allow you to fight resistance to change among your team. Start by proactively explaining the change process to your collaborators, being transparent and highlighting the advantages and weaknesses of this process. Also, mention that this project of change is flexible and can be modified.
Moreover, as an actor of change, you must be convincing but most importantly convinced that this change will be advantageous for your property. Make sure everyone involved in this project understands the benefit of undergoing change and prioritize active and constructive listening in order to spot those reluctant to change. It’s crucial to allow your collaborators to express their doubts and fears related to this change, to reassure and support them throughout the whole process. This will ensure they remain involved in the process at all times.
Viewing change management as a long-term process
Leading change in your property is a long-term process which requires an environment of trust. It’s important to communicate all the necessary information in a transparent manner, to avoid rushing those involved in the change process and to be an active listener. Moreover, identifying each person’s grief will allow you to help them see the added value brought by this change. You should convince them to see this change as an opportunity to live a new experience and to innovate in order to offer the best possible experience to your guests.
Leading change in your hotel will involve your staff, management and other stakeholders, and it is therefore crucial to involve them from the get-go. Additionally, preparing for change proactively, identifying the barriers to change, adopting the right methods and viewing change management as a long term process are principles to keep in mind in order to successfully lead change in your property!
Each person undergoes adjustment at their own pace
Change can have an impact that is organization-wide, team-wide, and individual. Indeed, each individual can react differently when faced with an unsettling and uncomfortable situation. It is natural to initially feel reluctant to change. Moreover, reluctancy reflects being afraid of risk, feeling uncomfortable, confused, worried or even having biases take control of our emotions.
We can take the example of a hotel which suddenly decides to use a new property management software, or other new technologies. This forces employees to learn how to use these technologies efficiently in order to save time and gain productivity on a daily basis.
Change can be a real challenge, so it is important to motivate and reassure your staff to encourage them to embrace the change, avoid getting tied to old habits, and overcome their fear of the unknown and insecurity.
Change is inevitable and necessary
Change is inevitable so why not prepare for it in proactively? Before initiating your change procedure, it’s vital to have a well thought-out and carefully planned management strategy. The manager’s role is extremely important as he or her has the role of leadership in change management. The manager is the one who supports, leads, listens, and helps their staff and collaborators throughout the process. Moreover, change is necessary for the growth of a property while it is normal to be reluctant at first, it is important to be able to keep things in perspective to welcome change with ease.
When it comes to using a new technology to improve your efficiency on a daily basis, your staff will often assume the additional utility of such technology is small to none and that this technology will not be required for your hotel in the long run. It is therefore your responsibility to persuade your staff of its value, and inform them that procedures will be modified in order to welcome and benefit from this new technology.
Optimism and mutual support are your biggest strengths
In order to lead your change management successfully, it’s imperative to focus on the benefits that change may bring instead of fears and potential losses that may arise. Do not forget that strength lies in numbers: you are not alone as all the staff is together with you in this process. Prioritize active and constructive listening in order to spot those affected by this difficult situation and do not hesitate to reassure them. Help them perceive change as an opportunity to live a new experience which will allow you to innovate and offer a memorable stay to your guests.
The hospitality industry is facing many uncertainties, forcing properties managers to adapt despite their reluctances to face new challenges. Whether it be structural changes or strategic changes, changes are inevitable and necessary for a property’s evolution. Most importantly, optimism and mutual support will be key for overcoming your comfort zone to better perceive the benefits of change.
How to make the most of your property’s off-peak periods? (Part 2)
Front desk and lodging department
The quieter periods is also a great opportunity to review your internal procedures. Whether it is your check in procedures, your internal communication or communication with your customers, these can always be improved. For example, ask yourself the following questions: Are the items or packages correctly setted up to reflect in the correct department? How does it reflect? Do other departments know exactly what to do with this information? Thereby, your property management software becomes your link between all these interdepartmental communications since it holds all the guests’ stay information.
Also, these calm periods could also be a good time to review your tools in order to improve them, to add elements that can help you in your daily tasks or to avoid manual actions. For the front desk or for the entire property, the off-peak season is always an excellent time for the implementation of new processes or new technologies, giving to your staff, time to accept, adapt and get into the habit of using them. Therefore, when the first customers will comeback to your property, your hotel staff will not be caught off guard.
Marketing department
The marketing department of a property is often the busiest department during an off-peak period. It must take several actions during this time but also prepare for the upcoming season. It can start with actions that requires low resources such as updating your website especially with photos, information about your establishment, packages and their components, types of room and services offered, while remaining uniform overall. Thus, a complete review of your website can be an undeniable advantage for the high season.
In addition, your online booking engine must also be up to date, while ensuring that images and descriptions used are similar to those of your website. Optimizing your online presence can go further than simply updating information. The optimization of the online browsing and optimization for conversion purposes are also to be taken into account. The final goal of your website is that the visitor can easily access to your online booking engine and that he ends up making his reservation. It is important that your website is efficient and that buttons, also called “call to action”, are visible and accessible. Furthermore, it would be relevant for you to test or have your website tested by several people in order to know if your browsing path is clear and well perceived by your visitors. Its efficiency can really make a difference, if your visitors can’t find the button to book quickly, then there are only few chances that they make a booking at your property. They will prefer to make their reservations via a distributor site, called online travel agency or to choose your competitor.
As any hotelier, it is difficult to see your establishment empty and without customers. Yet these moments are often beneficial for performing several tasks and will also allow you to improve your future performance, especially when guests will be back and in a large number.
Your front desk should be one of the most efficient services at your hotel, as your guests’ satisfaction will depend on it from their arrival until their departure. The main reason for a client to be dissatisfied with their experience at the front desk is the time spent waiting. Managing your staff is therefore crucial to optimizing your front desk’s efficiency. The PMS will allow you to get occupancy forecasts for any given period of time. These forecasts are crucial, but you will also need to know which type of clientele is planning on staying with you as you may welcome them differently. For example, if you are welcoming a group with a tour guide, checking-in could be easy as tour guides usually hand out the keys to each individual in the group themselves. Your occupancy forecasts will eventually change between the time you decide on your staff’s shifts and the actual day. However you can always use the occupancy recorded the previous year for that day in your hotel PMS. This will allow you to better decide on the number of employees needed at the front desk. These forecasts can also be used by any of your staff affiliated with your front desk, such as your valet parking and concierge staff.
The housekeeping department
Housekeeping also depends on your occupancy. To better predict your housekeeping needs, you can follow the same method as your front desk. However, there exists many staff management or performance models when it comes to housekeeping. Whether using the number of rooms, points, hours or type of housekeeping, your final calculation will always depend on your occupancy. It is therefore important to have accurate occupancy forecasts on which to calculate your housekeeping needs. You will need to study the data in your hotel PMS such as the number of bookings made but also the type of rooms booked. This is particularly important, as your housekeeping needs are different depending on the type of rooms booked. Your biggest room will definitely need more time to be cleaned than your smallest room. In addition, according to the season, some parts of your hotel may not be occupied. Your hotel PMS will then tell your housekeeping staff which building or floor has not been booked so that they do not have to clean the common areas as often. Your hotel PMS can also indicate how long each one of your clients are staying. You can therefore forecast your staffing needs according to your housekeeping policy.
The catering department
The restaurant services are also influenced by the number of people staying at your hotel. However, the magnitude of this influence is different for your catering department as forecasts are often far from the truth and there are significant fluctuations. Some elements, such as breakfast, remain predictable, but your client retention rate for other restaurant services is not so predictable. However, some information in your hotel PMS can be useful, such as how many packages including meals are booked. This can give a general idea of how many customers are expected across your different restaurant services. You can also use your restaurant’s average retention rate to infer your catering staff needs and shifts.
Events at your hotel
Events also require a significant amount of staff. However, as everything is usually planned in advance, managing these staffing needs across your different departments is easier. Keep in mind that every event is unique and thus has different staffing needs. The group module of your hotel PMS will provide each department with specific details concerning each group, such as the number of people in the group, the number of rooms booked, the type of group and the services booked. You will therefore be able to plan the optimal amount of catering and housekeeping staff, along with any other services or activities you provide and the staff they require.
Your hotel PMS should be your main source of information when the time comes to manage your staff, as your staff represents a large portion of your expenses. The balance between the lack and the surplus of staff can have a great impact on your clients’ satisfaction and your hotel’s profitability. In addition, recruiting and training your staff takes a lot of time, so it is important to be able to build optimal schedules to avoid your staff feeling under pressure or useless. It is up to you to find the right balance using your best friend: the PMS!
As the welcoming manager, you can easily check the guests’ arrival times via your hotel management software. You will be able to predict trends and prepare for these specific peak times. These predictions will allow you to, for example, move your employee’s break accordingly so that they are available during peak hours. Arrival times can fluctuate depending on several variables, such as the weather. On a nice day, most of your guests will plan on arriving early in order to enjoy your facilities as much as possible. Therefore, by being aware of this trend in advance, you will be able to recruit more staff to welcome your guests earlier in the day, and let some of your staff go in the evening. With this information, as trivial as it may seem, you can manage your staff costs more efficiently, but most importantly, you can prepare for peak arrival times at your front desk. This can significantly help you avoid negative online reviews.
Saving arrival times in your hotel management software allows you to detect general trends. You could therefore identify seasonal trends or daily trends. During the week, you may welcome a lot of corporate clientele, which can make it seem like your arrival times solely correspond to the end of the business day. However, by having your data compiled in your hotel management software, you are able to verify if this observation is accurate or not. By having concrete data, you have a better idea of how to create a schedule for your front desk staff, such that every employee is busy and the waiting time at the front desk is significantly reduced.
Housekeeping
Your housekeeping staff will also benefit from this information. They will be able to prioritize their tasks according to the arrival times. Whether you pre-assign rooms or not, the different types of rooms you offer also have priorities. For example, guests who book a more luxurious room tend to arrive earlier. Therefore, the amount of luxurious rooms that need to be available earlier in the day is greater than that of more standard rooms. You can thus plan your housekeeping timetable accordingly in order to have many luxurious rooms cleaned and ready in advance.
By being aware of your guests’ arrival times, your housekeeping staff will also be better prepared to equip a specific room with gifts. For example, if one of your guests has requested a bouquet of roses and you know their arrival time, you can set a deadline for when the flowers need to be delivered to the room. Similarly, your catering staff can also exploit the guests’ arrival times stored in your property management software. According to the guests’ requests and/or packages booked, your staff can prepare in order to deliver bottles of wine or delicious welcoming treats.
Late arrivals
For many hotels, late night front desk opening hours can be limited, which is why it is important to set up a welcoming procedure so that the guest can still check-in and access their room. This procedure allows your hotel to gather all the information you usually get upon your guest’s arrival, while allowing them to check-in outside the opening hours.
By knowing in advance that a guest is planning a late arrival, your hotel can prepare for such a situation according to its policy. You can communicate with your guest all the information they need in order to check-in. This often happens for condo or chalet rentals, for which arrival times can vary quite a lot. It is not unusual for a guest to arrive in their condo or chalet without having physically checked-in with a front desk staff member. This can be done effortlessly if the guest has been given the correct instructions in order to check in in advance. Do not try to reach them last minute in order to give them this information if they have previously informed you of their arrival time.
How to gather this information
At Hotello, we have developed an online guest profile form which allows guests to confirm their information a few days before their arrival. On this guest profile, clients are able to indicate a precise arrival time, which you can later exploit to improve your guests’ overall satisfaction. This simple way to gather information straight into your Hotello PMS is a significant advantage. You could also ask your guest their arrival time when they book over the phone, or pick a booking engine which allows guests to indicate this information, which will then be transferred to your hotel management software.
When a guest is planning their stay at a hotel, you usually already know what is happening during the day. Make sure to ask for their arrival time so that you can give them an outstanding customer experience, and that your staff is ready to welcome them.
Do not forget that you serve as a role model for your employees, whether you like it or not. Your hotel staff is constantly observing you and replicating your actions, so why not use this to your advantage? Offer positive and constructive feedback to your hotel staff whenever you can. Additionally, give your staff the opportunity to ask you questions by being approachable and available. By becoming your employees mentor, you will inspire your team’s leaders to serve as role models too.
Ask for feedback
When evaluating your staff, you must keep in mind that your work can also be improved as a boss and it is important that you stay humble. Allowing your staff to express their opinions can be just as beneficial to you as it is for them. The best way to receive feedback is through an anonymous online survey, so that you cannot recognize their handwriting. Nothing can be more frustrating than being hesitant to voice an honest opinion, as employees may fear what the boss will think. By giving your staff the opportunity to give you some anonymous feedback, you allow them to freely express their opinion, while showing them that their opinion matters and that you care about their well-being.
Invest in your staff
Do you pay your hotel staff enough? If not, do not be surprised if they leave your hotel to take a job at one of your competitors, where they are likely to be better paid. It is crucial to pay your staff a competitive and fair salary in order to retain them. In addition, if you recognize one of your employees to be particularly hard-working, or to have a significant amount of seniority, you could consider raising their salary. This will have a direct impact on their self-esteem as well as on their motivation. If you pursue this kind of rewarding behaviour, you will very rapidly see the return on your investment. Salary is obviously not the only way to invest in your hotel staff. You can offer your employees group insurances, refunds for their commute costs or even gym memberships. This will show that you care about them. Giving them the opportunity to participate in regular trainings to acquire new skills or update their current skills is another way to value your employees and invest in them. You can also set up casual meetings so you can discuss their professional development and their career plans. This way you will be able to determine what you can do for you employees in order for them to reach their goals. If you do not provide the opportunity for your staff to learn and improve, they will seek another job where they will be able to do so. By investing in your employees, you give them a reason to stay.
Offer promotions
Don’t be afraid to promote the employees who deserve it. Of course, promotions come with a raise in salary, but it does not necessarily mean that the monetary aspect is what motivates the promoted employee the most. In management positions, it is often recognition and respect from the boss, or the ability to make important decisions on their own or within a committee that motivates employees. If a member of your hotel’s staff seems ready to take on that position, understands your hotel’s operational features, and is well respected by his or her peers so that being promoted will not negatively impact the rest of your team, do not hesitate to promote him or her.
Trust your employees
Even if you are unable to promote or raise your staff’s salary, you can motivate them by trusting them. For example, cease any micromanagement where you would want to control every single one of your staff’s actions. Instead, show them that you trust them and that you do not doubt the quality of their work. Your hotel staff will improve their self-esteem and thus will be motivated to continue working hard. To motivate your employees on a daily basis, you can also remind them that they are part of your company and explain to them how much their work can make a difference in allowing the company to reach its goals.
Stay humane
Many of us have already heard of that one boss who is mean and not understanding, and who makes his employees sad and miserable. Obviously, being understanding is not always easy, but as a boss, you must try and be as understanding as possible. If you see that one of your hotel employees seems particularly sad or troubled, ask them what is going on and try to give them some advice instead of worsening the situation by asking them to smile. Try to step inside your employees’ shoes and to show them as much empathy as possible. If one of your employees shows up late to work due to a flat tire, you do not need to add to their trouble with a snarky comment. Also try not to get too involved in your staff’s personal life. Each person is different and some of your employees might prefer coming home to their family rather than accumulating extra hours. As a boss, it might be hard to accept, but then again try to understand your employees and to show empathy.
By taking these six pieces of advice, you will certainly become a better boss. This way your hotel staff will gain motivation on a daily basis, and more importantly, they will be motivated and they will enjoy working for you.
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