The global pandemic has put the hospitality industry under enormous strain. However, lockdowns will end, and borders will open, and once that happens, you will need to ensure that your hotel can handle your customers efficiently.
Use Software To Your Advantage
If you are a hotelier, you know that your business is a 24/7 operation, with guests checking in, rooms being cleaned, service being delivered, and food being cooked. To minimize disruptions for the guests and improve the affected areas, you must know how to improve hotel operations. Technology can significantly simplify many of these processes.
Hotel software is an umbrella term for hotels’ technology for booking, reservations, and concierge services. Bookings are a vital concern for many hotel managers because of the complexities of booking channels and syncing calendars.
When looking for the best hotel booking software, you should keep in mind that it is used by most of the staff in everything from providing them with the work that needs to be done to helping them stay organized. It should be easy to learn and simple to operate.
Furthermore, it should sync up with a variety of tools that most hotels already use. This could include accounting and human resources software. Whatever you opt for, your staff should enjoy using it, and it should allow everyone to do their jobs efficiently.
Take A Proactive Approach To Team Building
Team building implies a short-term objective to improve the efficiency of a team. Team building can help communicate and address issues within a team. Team building can also enhance creativity. A happy employee is more likely to put in the extra effort.
However, you should avoid making this a forced event; your staff will see through the facade, which may negatively impact productivity. It needs to be genuine and show your team that you care about them. If you help them out, they will often reciprocate. The pandemic is a good example of this. Hotel owners that treated their staff well in the past found that they were willing to be more flexible during the downturn in business.
Get Feedback From Your Team
Team feedback sessions are valuable since the team knows more about the hotel guests and their preferences. Staff members are on the front line, so they ask guests what they think to seek ways to improve so that your guests have a fantastic experience. It would be best to incorporate the tips from room attendants into your training program to meet standards while saving time.
Maybe there are a few items that the engineering team is continually fixing; perhaps it’s time to replace all of them at once. Their insights into your hotel’s operations are precious because they see a different side of the business. As a result of listening to their suggestions, you might discover that your hotel becomes dramatically more efficient.
Staff Should Be Empowered To Make Decisions
Employees should be encouraged to make decisions when their managers are unavailable. For example, you could allow front desk staff to handle issues they deem appropriate before growing into more significant problems. This could be offering a complimentary service to an angry guest or merely suggesting places to go outside of the hotel’s pre-planned itineraries.
No matter how much managers want to be present, they can’t always be there. Ensure your team knows how to serve your guests generously and trust them to do so.
Read Reviews And Act On Them
This step involves having some pretty thick skin. Some reviews can be savage, but ignoring them will make things worse. Furthermore, some of the complaints may be warranted, and by ignoring them, you could be setting yourself up for more of the same. There are many times when you read a review, and you think that the customer is out of line.
Nevertheless, you reply and apologize, promising to make things better, only to click the reply button and carry on as usual. This is a huge mistake. You should make an effort to read into the problem and attempt to see if any patterns are emerging. If rooms are not clean or are double-booked, you might need to call a meeting with the relevant departments to straighten things out.
Your Team Should Cross Train
Through cross-departmental training, your team can better understand your hotel’s operations as a whole. When teams cross departments, they become more aware of communication breakdowns and can prevent problems before they arise by understanding the whole business process.
Additionally, it fosters a great team environment. Instead of the front desk staff being angry at maintenance for not fixing a broken shower, they will understand that accounts may not have given them the money to buy a spare part. While that is a simple example, the point is that when your employees comprehend what other departments do, teamwork will improve, and processes will become more effective.
Preventive Maintenance Should Be Emphasized
It cannot be overstated how essential preventative maintenance is. Hotel rooms are home away from home for guests, so they should be treated as such. Guests expect a clean and modern room to feel comfortable. By expending effort in fixing an issue before it becomes more serious, you will save money and frustration. After all, a stitch in time saves nine.
Establish Partnerships With Local Businesses
Going out into the local community where your hotel is based can be a fantastic opportunity to boost efficiency. Setting up partnerships with local businesses will reduce the time it takes to produce or actions to occur.
For example, if your hotel is near the sea, you could find out where the local fish market is to ensure fresh seafood for your guests. You can also speak with local contractors to set up a system to fix problems at any time of day and night. This could either be a monthly fee or a fixed rate. The takeaway point is to reduce the time it takes for things to happen.
Hotels are complicated businesses to run and live and die on the service they provide their customers. You can improve productivity and efficiency to make your guests’ experience even better and save money and increase the hotel’s bottom line.
