Hoteliers: For Those About to Rage…

From Dylan Thomas, I quote:

“Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”

You my hotel friends are “the light”.

My beloved hotel industry is always on the cutting edge, sooner or later. And lately there has been an onslaught of print, post, pod about just how we should be doing things. From industry insiders, seasoned hotel executives on CNBC, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and a million other industry publications, and of course LinkedIn, the world’s leading professional network, a la Microsoft.

In the face of this, I’m going to help you vent.  I’m not going to give you a list of, “Ten Things You Must Do In This New Age”, or “Advise on post COVID Protocols”, or “How to Run Your Hotel With Even Less Staff!”. Instead, I will simply point out some common points of “rage” I hear. Next to those I’ll provide a blank: _________, and you can insert your culprit as you wish.

Let’s begin.

• AI: Promoters, prognosticators and pundits; ____________ if you have a real time measurable, factual, executed application to help us, define it in real terms and if you don’t have it, shut up.

• Mega Brands of ________and________and_________and (maybe)_______: We understand you want deals. We understand you want scale. We understand you want your “Brand” (big) to win, but brand blur is real and if you don’t think so ask any consumer to explain the price point difference between_________and_________?

• Luxury Segment: We get it. We need to be better. Post covid levels of guest experience are lacking. If __________is leading the charge on redefining what luxury means to a new generation of travelers and what they really want, let us all know. Your demographic is more stable, but fickle.

• OTA’s:  All of you __________. If this truly is a “new era of cooperation”, act like it. Quit making the case that “dumb hoteliers” just make prices available to be made fools by (Every TV ad). Back up what you sell. Period.

• Boutique Hotels: ____________We get it. You are cool. Your network is extensive. You still put your pants on one leg at a time. It’s a hotel.

•  Revenue Managers:  _________, calm down. Just let that power switch be released slowly, lest we all blow up. Start having joint meetings with Sales and Operations people, over the BEO’s (event orders, future schedules, whatever) on a weekly basis. Talk. Listen. Go have a beer.

• Directors of Sales and Marketing: __________, fire up. Get out in the field. I don’t care that it’s “hard”, “Too many decision makers”, “Nobody wants to take meetings…” Get creative. Figure it out. Quit whining.

• LinkedIn Hospitality proto pod jocks: _________, It’s a fabulous network full of high caliber professionals from the hospitality industry, make sure your pod reflects that, otherwise, cease.

• Asset Managers at all levels, worldwide: _________. Look, we know this is just a real estate transaction on a five-year timeline tied to an internal rate of return and an ROI, but it is people who run hotels, and many of you have long forgotten that.

• Hotel Consultants:____________If you can’t tell your client in two minutes what you propose to solve, what it will cost, and a return (financial) on that investment in your expertise—-you’re in the wrong hobby.

• Directors of Human Resources, Chief People Officer, Talent Acquisition Queen or King: _____________I’m sure your head is snapping again about now. What other horror will next befall you? Post Covid, post AI, what will become of the “humans that are resources”? Whether in a consolidated corporate perch or adjusting the online work function strategy of __________, so associates can “just do all the stuff on their own”. That won’t build a culture. I leave it to you.

• Hotel Management and Development Companies: ____________All. It’s time you all realize that any difference (mostly) between all of you—is incremental. The quality of your leadership is critical, and when firms like _________and ____________lose track of their charge, to the point of legal actions by ownership groups, you don’t help any of us. Get your responsibilities straight and your culture aligned with the “values”, “missions”, “heritage” on all your websites. All of them.

• And, finally General Managers, at all levels: _______________. You are the key to a fabulous hotel, no matter what scale, what size, from the Carlyle to The Broadmoor, a roadside inn on the way somewhere late at night with neon, a branded property nestled in a strip of branded properties by a highway—-you infuse what service means for where you sit. And if you love to serve people, to do what it takes; do it with all your heart. If you can’t, quit. This isn’t for you.

I’m sure all of us could go on, but I won’t. We who love hotels are in a business of helping humans’ function in every way that matters in every life moment you can image in settings from humble to grand—and ultimately, it’s a sacred charge.

There, that feels better.