September 11, 2002 - I was attending the national convention for Days Inns Of America in 1987 in Atlanta, Georgia, and if you remember that�s when Reliance Reality took over the ownership of the company. A franchisee meeting was held a day before the regularly scheduled kickoff, supposedly with out company personnel attending. The franchise advisory committee chaired the meeting and it quickly turned into a nasty yelling match. The franchisees voiced all the ways they felt the new owners were not dealing with them honestly.  This of course was their perception! 

They unified and appointed a few spokespeople to let the FAC and the Officers of Days Inns really have it the next day during the question and answer open forum. This was when Mike Leven was the new president and Henry Silverman was CEO. We all sat with baited breath (what ever that means) for the meeting to start. It did, and out of the box one of the franchisee came out firing with a litany of complaints. 

Henry Silverman and the panel listened and in one statement he calmed the entire audience down and reset the tone of the meeting.

He said, �Your perception is your reality. If you chose a negative path you will always follow a negative path, but if you will listen and be open to new ideas, you will grow beyond your dreams.� The meeting proceeded without controversy. That statement has always been with me. 

9 11

A simple set of numbers that has devastated this country in many ways and has brought us together in other ways. This devastating event has changed the way all business will be conducted in the future. Then came a massive dose of corporate scandals and increases in federal spending all of which continues to perpetuate a slowing in the economy. 

My point is, that I think we all know the problems and the continued reporting of what is wrong. Doom, gloom, and continued poor performance in the hotel business is a little more than I can handle. There is very little being reported on the positive results of some hotel operators. These results, if noted could help all of us. 

I read recently that one major hotel company was going to � Kick Out � poor performing hotels for failing quality standards! Isn�t that a novel idea? They should be promoting the fact that their company has exceeded in sales and increased market share, but that will never happen until the emphasis changes to a marketing mentality. The truth is, the franchisees in question have stopped paying their franchisee fees. It has always bothered me about companies who tell people what they are going to do instead of telling people what they have accomplished! Sound Familiar? 

Perceptions: Franchisers 

My perception is that the hoteliers and the franchise companies who are taking bold and aggressive steps to gain market share are doing so without having to discount and give away massive amounts of food and beverage. These are the companies who will win the fight for increased sales and profits for their franchisees. The perception for winners is � we have a great product� and now is the time to buy it. They know that the competition is cutting everything that effects customer service and have jumped at the opportunity to expand on those mistakes. 

• Successful sales and marketing programs that are working should not be cut out and untried new ones put in their place. 

• Frequent stay promotions should be enhanced with more perceived value added to them. This will win over their competitor�s customers immediately. 

• Starting a new advertising campaign, with a new corporate tag line when the old one was doing just fine. 

• Holding on to programs that did not work when there was a bundle of money to spend on them and now there is no money to spend on them. 

• Having an accounting person schedule the payroll at the reservation centers as to have insufficient staff to answer the telephone calls coming in. These abandoned/blocked calls will go right to your nearest competitor. 

• Maximize local and regional cooperative marketing and advertising money to increase the buying power of the franchisees. Many state tourism publications have experienced cancellations and have space in their annual publications for sale. This is inexpensive advertising along with many other publications. 

• How many companies have you seen clean house and fire the entire corporate staff only to be replaced a few months later with employees who have never been in the hotel industry? Go figure! 

• Fish where the Fish are. Successful companies today are not spending money on markets that are not producing. How much business are you really getting from the GDS systems? Great acronyms, and a lot of work, but minimum room sales. 

• Operating a hotel without a General Manager! This is NOT the way to reduce expenses when times get tough. This move will guarantee your eventual failure. This is one of the best times to recruit the very best operating people you can hire at a fraction of the cost. There are a number of talented people looking for opportunities and some stability. They can move to your hotel and bring with them an experienced staff and a sales person who will make you an instant success. 

• Successful hotel operators are exploiting the many skills and talents available to them from their franchise. It shocks me to see the complaining and blaming that is directed at the franchiser. They are the NUMBER ONE customers you have! They have the ability to make you a tremendous amount of money and why operators do not exploit their expertise is beyond me. 

• Years ago the General Manager was directed to make ten sales calls a week and that was the only effort he/she had to do to comply with the wishes of their boss. Today smart operators have assigned the General Manager the responsibility to increase sales in all areas available to them by the franchiser. This concept of placing accountability on the person who can affect sales productivity will yield tremendous results. Everything you need you already have!

• In the movie Jerry McGuire� the battle cry was �Show Me The Money.� The same is true for collecting receivables. Get your money ASAP. Companies are starting to use the technique of �vendor financing� to float cash. I know none of us are practicing this behavior.  This can be a terrific sales call if done right. 

• Back to the basics. Forecasting and staffing guides are now more important than ever. They will provide the road map to profit. 

• Good operators are taking care of their best investment, their employees, by scheduling them as much work as they can. 

Will you succeed or fail when adversity affects you? Adversity will continually repeat itself and people will fail. Your positive perception to overcoming problems that are out of your control is in your hands and will become your reality. 

Rick Welch is currently President of the Lakeshore Group Professional Hospitality Management, Consulting and Asset Management Company. 
He recently has consulted to many major Law Firms as a Professional Hospitality Consultant.