The new commercial team in a hotel

(2 min read)

Lower demand in the near future

The covid-19 pandemic will change how hotels are run and in particular how all commercial operations are planned and implemented.

In the years to come, we will live with the virus in our midst and it will continue to spread until we have herd immunity or until we have a vaccine. Measures, such as washing our hands and keeping distances to other people, to minimize the spread will become part of everyday life. Marriott, Hilton, Accor, Airbnb among others have partnered with experts in hygiene and epidemiology and introduced new rules for cleaning, hygiene, and security. All to ensure that no guest is infected by the virus when staying overnight away from home. It is important to communicate what the hotels are doing to help stop the spread of the virus to make guests feel safe so they dare to start traveling again. Only then will the demand for overnight stays slowly but surely begin to increase.

The hospitality industry will slowly return to a new normal but will face challenges for at least the next two years (the rest of 2020, the whole year 2021, and the beginning of 2022).

As the demand for overnight stays will increase gradually over the next few years, it is a good time now to create the new commercial team.

Create the commercial manager role 

Start with a blank piece of paper to design the hotel's new commercial organization. In the next few years when demand is lower, the commercial team should be much smaller than it used to be. There is not the same demand for overnight stays and therefore there will be fewer commercial activities. The roles and jobs to be done will be different as the demand from various segments looks completely different. The silos between marketing, sales, and revenue management must disappear forever. Do not think about what roles are needed, but start by defining the jobs to be done to generate revenue for the hotel and thereby be able to assess what resources are needed. Long-term, the new normal requires a "Revenue Generation Team" that works together to create the most profitable revenue streams for the hotel.

Right now, many hotels only need one person to handle all commercial activities and many hotels can only afford one person as the revenue now and in 6-12 months will be much lower than usual. There will be no groups, no big events, no big meetings, no international guests, and also significantly fewer business travelers in the next 12 months. All commercial activities will, therefore, be less extensive.

Download job description including
major responsibilities

Which tasks are most important right now and how can these be handled by one person? We have prepared a comprehensive job description for a “Commercial Manager” that contains the most important jobs to be done in the near future.