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| The ‘haves’ & ‘have nots’ |
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Written by Ranjiv Bhalla
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Thursday, 17 March 2011 00:00
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 Never has the gap between the ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’ been wider. And I’m not referring to material wealth. It’s hoteliers and their definition of customer service. We have already seen how the majority of UK hotel proprietors and managers in the 3 and 4 star sectors would reluctantly and belatedly change their attitudes to the group market due to the economic downturn and this has proven to be the case. However, what has surprised me is that there is a bigger divide between the hotels that care about and cherish their customers from the group market (the ‘haves’) and those that don’t.  In the last week, I have been really impressed with the creativity shown and buy in from many of our hotel partners in drumming up business for next winter. They’ve adapted their outlook and operation even further to be as proactive as I have ever seen them, in order to generate cash flow for the winter period.  On the other hand we’ve been approached by an unprecedented number of new hoteliers offering masses of space who just follow the market. And it’s these types of hotel managers that you must watch. They’ve only got this amount of space as they’ve miscalculated the market. In the current circumstances there’s no shame in that. But to erroneously judge the market again and this time with a touch of arrogance is foolhardy. In the last few days, we’ve given these hotels the benefit of our market knowledge, given them guidelines in producing sellable packages, only for them to impose ridiculous terms and conditions and give us an earful for being too difficult to deal with - because we’re being specific about details on service delivery and the property, such as number of ground floor rooms for hotels without a lift, and service such as meal times/choices etc.  Clearly they’re good enough to solve their own low season occupancy problems without our assistance.If this myopic attitude is going to return 5 minutes after reports that we are officially out of the recession then let’s hope for a slow and steady recovery. The sooner such thinking is eliminated from the British hotel market the sooner our hospitality can be competitive on proper criteria – not because we have a weak currency but because we have the right service to the guests – wherever they come from and however they arrive. As far as Veenus customers are concerned   In the last week, I have been really impressed with the creativity shown and buy in from many of our hotel partners in drumming up business for next winter. They’ve adapted their outlook and operation even further to be as proactive as I have ever seen them, in order to generate cash flow for the winter period.
On the other hand we’ve been approached by an unprecedented number of new hoteliers offering masses of space who just follow the market. And it’s these types of hotel managers that you must watch. They’ve only got this amount of space as they’ve miscalculated the market. In the current circumstances there’s no shame in that. But to erroneously judge the market again and this time with a touch of arrogance is foolhardy. In the last few days, we’ve given these hotels the benefit of our market knowledge, given them guidelines in producing sellable packages, only for them to impose ridiculous terms and conditions and give us an earful for being too difficult to deal with - because we’re being specific about details on service delivery and the property, such as number of ground floor rooms for hotels without a lift, and service such as meal times/choices etc.
Clearly they’re good enough to solve their own low season occupancy problems without our assistance.
If this myopic attitude is going to return 5 minutes after reports that we are officially out of the recession then let’s hope for a slow and steady recovery. The sooner such thinking is eliminated from the British hotel market the sooner our hospitality can be competitive on proper criteria – not because we have a weak currency but because we have the right service to the guests – wherever they come from and however they arrive. As far as Veenus customers are concerned
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| Last Updated on Thursday, 17 March 2011 12:09 | |
