When was the last time you evaluated the commercial work in the hotel? Now is the perfect time to make a self-assessment, which is a good starting point for capturing the returning demand. We have put together a fun and simple-to-use worksheet that you can download and calculate your total commercial team score.
It is essential to evaluate how well some of the core functions in the hotel work from time to time. Acquiring revenue is one of the most critical activities. Therefore a self-assessment about the five most vital building blocks for a high-performance commercial team in a hotel is a high priority.
- The organization
- Leadership
- Tools and systems to make the team productive
- Team alignment
- Reporting
Evaluate each process from several different perspectives. Each building block has a few unique variables to support the evaluation.
The organization
A well-organized commercial team will produce more revenue. The new way of working during and after the pandemic opens possibilities for teams to work closely together wherever they are based. The company can also easily include freelancers, experts, and outsourced functions in the group by using modern technology.
Leadership
Generating revenue is so important in a hotel that the GM takes full responsibility for this by having all functions as direct reports. It is a considerable burden for a GM to drive all commercial activities. Therefore, many independent hotel groups have appointed a talented leader as the commercial manager with full responsibility for the team and total revenue. The commercial leader reports directly to the CEO of the hotel company.
Tools and systems to make the team productive
During the recovery after the pandemic, commercial teams tend to be smaller. Therefore, it is vitally important to provide the right tools and systems to help the team focus on the activities that bring in the most revenue. During the pandemic, many hotels have upgraded their systems to be ready when demand starts to grow. Data is the new gold and only so if the quality is high. Collect all data to one central storage to make information and insights available for everyone in the team.
Team alignment
All team members must be aligned towards the same objectives and work closely together to reach the hotel's overall vision. Top management needs to communicate the long-term vision, goals, and objectives to get everyone on board. Team objectives work better than individual goals.
Reporting progress
Finally, you want to know how the revenue generation is progressing. The revenue reporting system should produce timely and accurate reports without much manual work. Evaluate the systems involved in the reporting process and identify bottlenecks for preventing reporting from being convenient and precise.
Rating each building block
Be honest when rating each building block. The whole idea is to find the areas where an improvement will make a significant impact. Rate each building block from -3 to +3, where -3 indicates that the building block is not working at all, and +3 shows that the building block is best in class. When you have given each one of the five building blocks your score, it is time to calculate the total score. Your score will be between -18 (nothing is working) and +18 (everything is best in class).
Start to improve
Very few hotels have a score of +18, so most hotels have room for improvement. Involve the team and start to improve each building block where the importance is the highest and the score is low.
For more ideas, download the white paper "Create a High-Performance Commercial Team."
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