advertisement
Principles of Success:
Fine Tuning Your Hospitality Business Strategies for A Measurable Competitive Advantage - Part 2
|
News for the Hospitality Executive |
advertisement
Principles of Success:
|
by Dr.
John
Hogan, CHE CHA CMHS
March 24, 2011 In every
economy and location, there are market leaders and laggers. In Part 1 of this short series, I shared
the perspective that hotel owners have the financial obligation for
their hotel
overall and that at least some of them must modify several of their
business
practices if they want their hotel to move forward and not remain just
a member
of the pack or worse, be a market lagger. I offered two
fundamental action steps to assist in becoming a market leader:
The previous section included specific details on how to make those action steps work that I have used them myself and seen work at all kinds of hotels. Many owners do follow the intention of these two fundamental steps, yet still have a level of frustration because their properties do not perform as well as hoped or budgeted. That responsibility often rests with their designated management and sales representatives, which brings us to Part 2 of Fine tuning Your Hospitality Business Strategies for A Measurable Competitive Advantage Offering and providing a competitive advantage requires identifying a specific target audience with distinctly defined requirements. It means developing and delivering high-quality and suitably priced accommodations, meetings and/or other services that you provide better than anyone else in your competitive set and market. Hospitality
businesses and hotels are always looking for a
way to stand apart from the masses and that no longer means being with
a
particular brand. It means providing
something that means the needs for a specific target audience and there
is the
(secret) answer. It should be obvious – to excel and lead the field
means being
better than the rest of the field. The
question to
answer is direct: what must my hotel do to to
excel and lead the field? I
have found in my
career there are two specific answers. 1.
The first is
to significantly study your market. You
research and find an undeserved market
segment that your
property can serve, add any services or amenities needed and then get
aggressively pursue and acquire the lead in market share.
I have successfully worked with many branded
and independent properties in numerous locations and this can be done,
as long
as management and ownership support the plan with the needed resources. 2.
The second is to step up the commitment to serve.
Sir Richard Branson, Founder of Virgin Air and many other brands, shared some of his perspectives on these strategies in a January 2011 issue of American Express' Open Forum. The story, titled Delivery is in the Details, stressed several points Branson felt were essential to take an idea to the level that one could changethe industry. He outlined the background setting:
The
article talks about he, as CEO, takes notes everywhere he goes and most
importantly, he acts on what he sees needs attention.
He commented on a specific occasion that the
"Staff seemed desperate for someone to listen”
and he shared that he made sure that staff
reports/needs were acted on as that was the real key to getting
problems
solved. In the last quarter of
2010, I had the pleasure of
offering a series of programs for MeetingsQuest in four major cities. In a program titled A Career
Hotelier’s
Insights on Optimizing Meeting Success, I was able to interact
with several hundred meeting
planners and hoteliers who shared their descriptions of the “Ideal
Group” and
the “Ideal Hotel”. In a column to be
offered early next month, I will share their descriptions and you can
see how
your hotel compares.
Success can be achieved with commitment, focus,
service and
belief, as evidenced in this short video: It's all in a
State of
Mind http://youtu.be/R428_ZFKR78
In the meantime, what are you
doing to be the BEST in
your market?
Don't forget the special values being
offered to industry
professionals available
Feel free to share an idea for a column at [email protected] anytime or contact me regarding consulting, customized workshops, speaking engagements … And remember – we all need a regular dose of common sense.  John Hogan is
a successful hospitality executive, educator,
author and consultant
and is a frequent keynote speaker and seminar leader at many
hospitality industry events. He is
Co-Founder of a consortium (www.HospitalityEducators.com)
of successful corporate and
academic professionals delivering focused and affordable counsel in
solving
specific challenges facing hospitality today. www.HospitalityEducators.com is a membership site offering a wide range of information, forms, best practices and ideas designed to help individual hoteliers and hospitality businesses improve their market penetration, deliver service excellence and increase their profitability. Individuals wishing to contribute materials may send them [email protected]. Special pricing is in effect for a limited time that also includes a complimentary copy of LESSONS FROM THE FIELD- A COMMON SENSE APPROACH TO EFFECTIVE HOTEL SALES. |
Contact: Dr. John Hogan, CHA MHS CHE |
on
annual membership at