What are the key lessons the hotel industry has learned from the last year?

Bouncing back from Covid: strategies for hoteliers – Lessons Learned from COVID: Operations, Inventory, Tech

Last year hotels reinvented their processes from how they manage their inventory to their operational structures to various tech tools they have never had to consider before.

So we teamed up with Hotel Owner for a virtual event called Lessons Learned from COVID: Operations, Inventory, Tech and asked our expert panellists. Here is your chance to get their learnings all packed into 45 minutes. Watch the recorded replay below:

Always Be Communicating
One of the key lessons all three panelists agreed upon was how critical communication has been, and will continue to be; whether that is communicating with guests, staff, suppliers, or other stakeholders.

“We very quickly realised that we would have to over-communicate,” said Nicholas Northam, executive vice-president of Interstate Hotels & Resorts. “Communicating with owners, employees, and guests we learned was absolutely critical.”

Giles Fuchs, owner of Devon’s Burgh Island Hotel, also highlighted the importance of drawing on a hotel’s local community: “The relationship with your immediate hinterland is very key to your survival and your success.”

Let Tech Help
The pandemic has forced hotels to rethink in numerous ways, and one of the main upshots across the industry has been finally acknowledging that technology can be a huge help. Patrick Jones, general manager of Gloucestershire’s Tewkesbury Park, told the webinar that he had initially been sceptical about using a hotel app.

“But we realised we’d been missing a trick. We could put everything on an app and not lose that personal touch,” he said. “And better still, we could change things very quickly. We learned digital was complementary.”

Giles similarly talked up the advantages of tech, saying that using an app to allow for contactless communication, activity booking, and food and drink orders “has made people feel far more comfortable upon returning”.

Nicholas concluded: “It’s impossible to see going forward how that won’t just become part and parcel of the way that you operate your food and beverage in a hotel.”

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