Your hotel’s resources are essential to its operations, and managing them strategically is key to your overall success. Resources range from tangible assets such as hotel room bedding, to intellectual resources like the management skills your front desk staff possesses. Managing your hotel resources correctly takes careful thought and strategy. When looking for effective resource management strategies, hoteliers can learn a lot from other industries. Here are some best resource management practices that may prove useful in the hospitality industry.
Forecast for Seasonal Changes
Farming and Agriculture
The agricultural industry is built entirely on effective planning. Farmers plant seeds in the spring in good faith that by fall they will reap a harvest. Farmers must also plan for the seasons and prepare themselves for unpredictable and uncontrollable factors. Hotels are no different—depending on the seasons, occupancy, ADR and RevPAR will fluctuate.
In the same way a farmer would study weather patterns and rely on almanacs, hoteliers should use booking data to predict trends and allocate resources that prepare them for seasonal changes in occupancy. Accurately forecasting traveller habits can help hoteliers to better plan for their scheduling and budgeting needs.
Allocate Team Members Strategically
The NFL
Each year the NFL takes its most essential resources—its players—and distributes the talent among teams across the nation. The basic design of the draft is that teams who performed poorly will get the chance to snatch up the best players first, evening out the skill levels of the teams. You might consider using the same strategy when scheduling your staff.
When a housekeeping team is performing under par, try “drafting” your MVP to that particular team and you’ll likely see an improvement. Distributing your resources can mitigate risk and move your operation steadily ahead. Good players have a way of increasing the average level of performance and providing the kind of positive example that others will likely adopt. A strong PMS system can help you keep track of which shifts are seeing the most on-site bookings, and help hoteliers learn where your staff may need additional training or support.
Treat Your Staff with Respect
The Tech Industry
Companies like Google and Facebook are known globally for attracting the world’s best talent and keeping them. What are they doing to win the most effective and innovative workers? For starters, they create the kind of workplace where people want to be. Twitter, for instance, holds its team meetings on a rooftop garden atop its building and allows every team member to have a voice.
Providing your staff with simple things like an aesthetically-pleasing environment where they can voice their opinions, thoughts and complaints is a simple to do, but can make a huge difference to your company. Helping your employees feel like valued members of a larger team will inevitably benefit operations overall. Part of treating your staff right is empowering them to do their jobs efficiently and confidently. Be sure to give your front desk all the relevant information they might need to succeed, such as complete guest profiles and accurate up-to-the-minute reports. When employees have the necessary information they need to do their jobs, their workdays will be less stressful and more enjoyable.
From traditional agriculture, all the way to the tech companies of this decade, the hospitality sector can learn a lot from the best practices of other industries. Resource management can be daunting, so it’s important to take the time to forecast seasonal booking trends, allocate team members effectively and value the skill sets and happiness of your staff.
Having strong resource management tactics is key to running a profitable hotel. Learn more about how an innovative PMS can help you manage, track and allocate your properties’ resources.
