Hotel Managers: Focus on These 5 Areas for Best Operations Efficiency

Hotel managers play a central role in efficiently running a hotel and therefore need a range of skills to succeed. They know great customer experience cannot be built in a day. Nor can superior performance of team members be honed within weeks. Successful hotel managers often focus on several core areas. This article from Hotelogix discusses five of those areas.

 

1) Guest Experience and Customer Relations

By the year 2020, customer experience will overshadow price as the key brand differentiator. Gartner predicts that in the year 2018, more than 50% of organizations will carry out substantial business model changes in their efforts to improve customer experience. The hotel industry will be no exception. To keep guests happy, hotel managers should:

1. Pay close attention to a guest’s requirements
2. Review feedback – positive and negative reviews
3. Spend time addressing issues, lending a personal touch
4. Use innovative methods to enhance the guest experience
5. Be aware of the latest hospitality technology trends and use them to build customer relations

2) Reputation Management and Branding

The impact of online reviews and the social media buzz that follows a very positive or very negative review can no longer be ignored. In fact, one study showed that websites displaying genuine reviews get crawled up to 200% more frequently. A whopping 92% of travelers place faith in the reviews of close families and friends. Therefore, a hotel manager should prioritize online reputation management and branding. Here’s a look at the basic responsibilities:

1. Track reviews and manage a hotel’s online presence
2. Respond to every negative review in an amicable manner
3. Create a buzz online with offers, promos and more
4. Ensure guest queries receive a timely response
5. Reinvent branding strategies to create a brand recall

3) Be an Excellent Role Model

Hotel managers know that there is a direct relationship between content employees and happy guests. Disrespectful or disinterested staff behaviors could cause guests to leave a hotel property and never return. Therefore, managers must make the effort to train and develop hotel staff. The following training will help to prevent that from happening:

1. Help employees develop skill sets, identify talent and hone their skills
2. Build up a positive work environment to keep motivational levels high
3. Communicate. Talk with the team, ask about career goals, and set targets
4. Work with HR on areas of employee retention, employee engagement
5. Be the kind of role model they would want to emulate

 

4) Strategize for Revenue and Budget Management 

The hotel industry is often vulnerable to changing economic conditions. Hotel managers must keep watch on economic trends and should be able to strategize to drive high levels of occupancy. But it’s not about adjusting room rates and inventory. A hotel manager needs to be able to strategize long-term solutions. Here’s a basic list of hotel operations manager’s responsibilities for this category:

1. Optimize the revenue based on demand
2. Oversee the distribution strategy and manage daily operations
3. Create pricing strategies, competition analysis
4. Track hotel revenue, manage budgets
5. Analyze channels, market segment reviews, reports and more
6. Analyze sales figures

 

5) Focus on Latest Hotel Technologies

Customer demands drive business and right now technology plays a key role in attracting hotel guests and enhancing their stay at the hotel. Knowing which innovative technology to implement will translate into an experience that will drive real value for the guest. Free WiFi is no longer enough, now offering guests a virtual reality experience is expected. But hotels will also benefit when they update their day-to-day technologies so as to provide guests the best experience, such as their property management system. Hotelogix found that an updated property management system increases room reservations and cuts down time spent on manual updates. Hotel managers should consider:

1. Acquiring a complete knowledge of the latest in hotel technologies
2. Keeping a watchful eye on competitors
3. Implementing cloud-based technologies to improve hotel management
4. Updating employees, ensuring training for software updates
5. Exploring new technology to support goals

 

Smart hotel managers don’t just do what’s needed to be done. They predict customer behavior, anticipate problem-areas, and go the extra mile to manage a hotel. Successful hotel managers do the right thing at the right time with the help of prioritizing and strategizing. This is when they turn out to be effective leaders and attract success for the hotel’s business.