Hotels panicked when the pandemic eliminated the demand for overnight stays. As a result, the whole commercial team or the majority of the roles had no market to capture and no potential guests to attract. Hotels furloughed or laid off their teams as fast as they could to survive. No one thought about long-term consequences, and as the demand is slowly returning, there is a need for skills and knowledge in marketing, sales, and revenue.
The problems for hospitality are not over yet. People are not yet allowed to travel internationally as freely as before the pandemic, and the short-term uncertainty of when borders will open is very high. There is no doubt that people will start traveling again, but hoteliers seek an answer to the question of how soon. Maybe an answer would ease the burden of uncertainty for some hoteliers, but it has no practical impact.
New research from Google and Kantar shows that a primary reason for travel right now is visiting friends and family. This travel reason accounted for 27 % of all travel before the pandemic. People want to reconnect with their loved ones, and this opens opportunities for hotels. The other primary travel reason is getting away from the day-to-day life mostly at home during the past year. People will travel for this reason during the fall and upcoming holiday season. Until borders open, getting away means discovering other parts of the country where you live. Therefore, the demand for domestic weekend travel will continue to be strong for the next 6-12 months. Someone at the hotel needs to attract weekend travelers. Otherwise, they will stay in other hotels.
The hotel business is long-term, and a hotel-commercial team cannot impact much of the day-to-day business. Therefore, the highest priority for the commercial team is to create a commercial strategy and detailed activity plan for 2022. In addition, during fall 2021, negotiations for corporate agreements, travel agent consortia, and other contracted business is vital to be in the game for 2022. Other priorities are adjusting the rate plan for 2022, planning campaigns, and doing other marketing activities. There are no shortcuts to capture revenue, and it does not happen automatically. Hotels have to create high-performance commercial teams to recover faster from the pandemic.
However, the first action for hotels is to make sure that there is a commercial team in place. The competition for knowledgeable and skilled people will be fierce since many left the industry during the pandemic. Talents are now a scarce resource. So even if the hotel has a compelling offer to re-hire the industry's best talents, it might not be successful. This time it is more about if the talents want to work for your hotel or not. People got jobs in other industries and have seen different cultures, management styles, and much better compensation packages. Research shows that the primary motivator for employees is having a positive attitude toward the company culture. People prefer to work in a hotel where they feel that they are making a difference. All employees also long for leaders that express appreciation and gratitude. The management of the hotel has to create all these motivators.
For hotels to find and hire talents, a job offer should at least include these parts
We can help with some ideas about how to define responsibilities and set clear expectations. A good starting point is downloading the updated job descriptions for the commercial manager, sales, and revenue to save time and get some ideas.