The Hotel Operator’s Checklist for Recovery

What Can We Do Right Now?

by Caryl Helsel, Founder/CEO Dragonfly Strategists

I love the hospitality industry. I have devoted my 30+ year career to our industry and my heart goes out to everyone who is impacted by this global pandemic. Working and living in New York City means I am at the heart of the crisis. I am so impressed by how this amazing city has pulled together in this time of crisis. Every night at 7 pm we open our windows and clap and yell in support of those on the front lines. Some play trombones, bang on pans, emergency vehicles turn on their sirens and one person even plays his oboe on his balcony. Every night. At 7pm. Together. I am absolutely confident that we will come out of this stronger and able to overcome future adverse situations with greater ease as a result of what we are walking through right now.

 Having been cooped up with a husband, son, friend and two dogs in a NYC apartment for almost 60 days now, I want to focus on what we can all be doing – not just thinking about or listening to on a webinar, but actually doing. I want to share these things to serve as a resource to my colleagues in our beloved hospitality industry.

#1 Implement Action Steps for Recovery

There isn’t a market on the planet that hasn’t been impacted by this pandemic. We truly are all in this together. While many communities are under mandatory or voluntary lockdown and some hotels are under strict occupancy or even closure guidelines, there are a few things that can be done right now to help immediate and future business.

“ The Right Rate at the Right Time on the Right Channel with the Right Policies with the Right Spirit of  Hospitality”

Just because we are in a crisis doesn’t mean the fundamentals of revenue management or hospitality disappear. Now more than ever it’s important to make sure you have the right rates showing on the right channels to capture what business is out there. However, we also need to ensure our policies are guest friendly and that we manage with the heart of hospitality.

There are some specific recommendations that have worked for us such as:

1.     Make sure you have all government and military rates loaded for sale, as these rates are being booked. Many hotels have never loaded them as per diem was too low; but today, they make sense in most markets.

2.     If you are offering special rates for first responders in your area, explore what websites and networks they are using to find lodging. (Hint: Hotelengine.com is one of them).

3.     Focus on the future – recovery will happen; therefore, you need to position your hotel appropriately.

4.     Be responding to leads and group RFPs – some hotels are not, and it is bad for business.

5.     Be more generous with groups – group ceilings and MARS may be out the window for a while. These are private rates that can be supplemented when transient business returns but more than ever, we will need base in the future.

6.     We are walking into RFP season right now – don’t forget that. There will still be corporate and consortia RFPs for 2021. Someone needs to manage this.

7.     Adjust policies for the time we are in -flexible cancel policies, less restrictive attrition policies, policies regarding cleaning and occupancy in meeting rooms…there is a lot to review and modify for our current environment.

8.     Don’t tank rate – that does not result in demand and it will make recovery harder for everyone. Instead, look for negotiated and group opportunities to drive additional demand.

9.     Use creative marketing and good PR to rebuild business. Enable people to dream about traveling again.

#2 Preparing for the Future

hotel services

It is rare for a hotel, especially in busy markets, to have the luxury of downtime. If you reframe this tragic loss of activity into a blessing of time you and your team can accomplish some monumental things that normally would cause more disruption during normal operations. System changeovers and technology integrations are much easier right now. We are helping some clients revise their market segmentation and recoding room types like ADA rooms. Others are taking this time to implement new technologies. This is so much easier than when running at peak occupancy.

Hotels usually only get the chance to completely relaunch and reopen when they have a major renovation or are part of an acquisition. The crisis has brought this once in a lifetime opportunity to reinvent your brand when you reopen. Use this opportunity to realign your brand promises, your team structure and communicate who you want to be after the recovery.

Also, use this time to plan and prepare for recovery. Here are some questions to ponder putting into your reopening plan:

  • What will your hotel services and processes look like when you do reopen?

  • How will you create an environment where your staff and guests feel safe when you reopen?

  • How will you communicate that you are back in business?

  • Will you be offering contactless check-in and keyless entry?

  • Will you be checking the temperature of your team and/or guests?

  • What are your new revised sanitation processes?

  • Are you partnering with any company to certify your sanitation like Hilton partnered with the Mayo Clinic?

  • Are there systems that need to be audited or certified to go live again?

  • Are my future transient and group rates positioned appropriately for revised demand?

#3 Upskilling Opportunities

In hospitality, it was not uncommon to be working 60+ hours every week. For some of us, this slowdown has given us all the amazing gift of time. There are several opportunities to enhance your skills to be better positioned as a professional in the future. Here are some courses our team and clients at Dragonfly Strategists are taking advantage of during this time.


Professional Development Courses & Certifications

Personal Development Opportunities

The extra downtime might also be a great time for you to learn how to master or learn new skills. There are hundreds of classes and tutorials for cooking, baking, gardening, crafting, arts, woodworking, music, meditation, and more available at your fingertips.

#4  Webinars & Networking

Our high-touch business is based on personal connections. There are more webinars than ever on how to navigate the crisis. Our team has been dividing and conquering as we simply cannot attend them all. One thing we like to practice is to try to take away at least one immediate action item that we can implement from each webinar we attend. We also create and attend virtual events like Zoom happy hours to keep in touch with industry colleagues that we normally would see at in-person conferences and networking events.

 Networking helped us sell out two New York City hotels in Manhattan in the middle of the pandemic in April and May because we followed up on a tip about listing the hotel on a website housing medical professionals. There are opportunities available to all of us if we listen, learn and most importantly, take action.

#5 Make a Difference

Central Park.jpg

Living in the center of the pandemic I have been uplifted not only by our nightly NYC cheer but also by the flowers and notes we see left for first responders along Central Park. I find that taking action to do something positive truly uplifts my spirit. You can send encouraging words to healthcare workers, have check in calls to your team members even if they are furloughed and reach out to people you haven’t connected with for years – just to see how they are doing. The same is true with clients – we are hospitalitarians and no one can do hospitality like we can. If you or your company can donate or volunteer to food banks or donating meals to first responders, it is by giving back that we can make a difference. Our coming together in this crisis is what we will remember.

#6 Journaling

Tiny Corona Diary.jpg

This time that we are living in right now is unlike anything in our modern era. We are living in and creating history every day. This is an historic time that will be talked about for generations in the future. I am journaling regularly about my thoughts and feelings during this crisis. It helps just to write about it – looking for the good in each day and documenting the hard days. A friend of mine, Jessica Kramer with SEVENROOMS, creates a darling #tinycoronadiary where she records her daily thoughts.  Document this strange new normal we are all wading through will allow us to tell our grandchildren and future generations about living through the COVID-19 Coronavirus Pandemic. “I remember 2020” when the worst black swan event happened – now we all truly know what that means, and we can teach future generations about preparation.

 

An edited version of this article first appeared on HotelRecovery2020.com

Caryl Helsel