Why Should You Know About All the Challenges in the Hotel Industry?
Running a hotel business isn’t a cakewalk. The level of risk involved is immense.
Therefore, hoteliers must keep an eye on every hurdle that comes their way.
Numerous hotels around the world tend to overlook most of the challenges. As a result, they face serious repercussions.
Let me share an incident.
There’s this hotel I visited in Prague. The property was just marvelous and I was loving my stay. On day 2 of my stay, I met the hotel manager and had a colloquy. And I got to know a lot.
They had to close two of their POS outlets. Reason? The system they were using to manage the outlets was sort of old school and didn’t have the automation aspect.
Initially, it didn’t seem to be a big issue, but when they had to perform certain tasks manually, discrepancies increased, and at one point it went out of hand.
Now, if you still think that you don’t have to emphasize every challenge, then that’s not correct. To keep a hotel running; in fact, prospering, an all-around inspection of all the challenges of a hotel business.
Common Challenges in Hotel Industry and Their Solutions
You don’t need rocket science to overcome challenges. Rather, you need to have a strategic approach.
Over the years, many hoteliers shared many pain points with us. So, in this section, we address a few global issues and challenges in the hospitality industry and their solutions.
1. Hiring and retaining the staff
Challenge
Hiring and retaining staff has always been one of the most common problems in the hospitality industry.
Every hotel requires quality staff on all fronts; be it administration, maintenance, kitchen, housekeeping, or frontdesk. Lack of skill in the educated youths graduating from education houses is also proving to be a major challenge in the hotel industry.
Solution
Training the new workforce on a regular basis is the only remedy available. Retaining a qualified staff requires you to employ a few tactics. For example, cultivating a feeling of belongingness (culture) and value for the team members will make them attached to their jobs and instill a sense of responsibility in their minds.
2. Change in marketing trends and dynamics
Challenge
Marketing is one of the most common challenges faced by the hotel industry.
Changes in the advertising and marketing trend often create problems for hoteliers. Also, traditional marketing methods aren’t that effective now. So, for those who have always stuck to the old-school ways, getting the strategy right is one of the biggest challenges of the hospitality industry.
Online marketing is a surefire method, though it would take years for hotel owners to establish their strength. Online deals are booked by genuine guests and major transactions are paid in advance.
Solution
Engaging your guests on social media, messaging apps, and other online sources can work wonders and give you results in a few months. Implementing effective digital marketing strategies is a strong solution to such issues in the hospitality industry. Be consistent and patient with whatever tactics you apply. It is inevitable that with the right strategies.
3. Operational issues
Challenge
There are countless operational challenges in the hotel industry. Ranging from reservations management, attending to guests, performing all front office operations, maintaining cleanliness in hotel rooms and premises, and more. However, hotel departments often fail to perform all tasks in sync which leads to chaos and customer dissatisfaction.
Solution
Besides operations, front office problems and solutions are connected to an integrated hotel PMS system. The faster you adopt it, the better it is for your property. Your operations are automated and departmental functions are synced with a PMS because it simplifies communications to a large extent.
4. Rising cost of daily consumables
Challenge
Price inflation of daily use products, eatables, and other supplies has risen steeply in the last few years. While that has affected all industries, it takes a huge portion of the issues and challenges faced by the tourism and hospitality industry.
Solution
A visible solution to this would be to keep a constant check on the inventory, control stock, and reduce wastage as much as possible. Consider implementing useful cost-saving strategies at your property, which would help you manage the rising costs.
5. Housekeeping issues
Challenge
Cleanliness is a basic requirement of every guest. In fact, you’d also ask for a clean and tidy hotel room when you are traveling. A majority of hotel guests would prefer a clean room over complimentary amenities, any day.
Also, if you think about it, an unclean and messy room is also a common guest complaint.
But there are times when it becomes a little difficult for hotels to stay true to this. After all, there are various housekeeping challenges involved and strategies are needed to be made to cope with them.
This is the best way to manage tasks, and keep track of the arriving and departing guests, and you can prepare yourself well in advance. This way, you can easily avoid challenges in housekeeping operations.
6. Change in guest expectations
Challenge
Changes in guest expectations are one of the biggest hurdles in the hotel industry. You’ve witnessed that nowadays guests demand a lot more from a hotel. Be it free WiFi, entertainment system, unique stay experience, or swift check-in check-out services.
And lately, people have also started expecting contactless hotel services to ensure a safe stay and eliminate their dependency on hotel staff. Certainly, it’s quite difficult to abide by these demands because of resource or capital bandwidth, but it will be imperative to do it.
Solution
So, contactless hotel services can be provided with the right technology. Consider deploying a self-service guest portal that will facilitate quick check-in and check-out services, share the location of your property, and even let guests request pick-up and drop-off services. Keep yourself updated with the latest hotel industry trends. Doing that will help you meet the changing guest expectations in a better way.
