Some Irish Hotels can do better
endalarkin
pricing and value for money and the subject gained much exposure over
the past year. Industry representatives rightly rejected the nature and
tone of some comments directed at hoteliers, and correctly defended the
sector against unfair criticism regarding pricing structures. However
there are valid concerns concerning the value for money offered by some
hotels, which should be considered in order to ensure that the future
potential for the industry as a whole is realised.
The accusations of overcharging within the industry are mainly
inaccurate and the use of words such as rip-off hotels, or greedy
hoteliers is naturally unhelpful. On the subject of price levels in
Irish hotels, the facts are clear. Operating a business in Ireland now
involves high input costs and hotels, like any other enterprise, must
protect their margins. Given the economic realities, there is upward
pressure on consumer prices and this is likely to continue. Ireland is
not a low cost destination and we need to adjust our mindset
accordingly. Therefore, the current challenge facing Irish hotels is to
continuously enhance the quality of the guest experience to justify the
higher consumer spend required.
In light of this, what can Irish hotels do to address these problems?
The ongoing efforts at national level to tackle the wider issues in
tourism will make a contribution over time, but let's focus on
practical measures that can be adopted by the sector itself and indeed
within individual hotels.
Reviewing Standards of Performance
In conjunction with a renewed focus on getting the basics right, some
hotels also need to review their current approach to implementing
Standards of Performance (SOP's). SOP's are vital in achieving the
required consistency of guest experience and as such they serve an
important role in all hotels. In fact, in a labour intensive
environment where turnover is high, they are perhaps more essential
than in other industries. Yet SOP's have become a problem, a bone of
contention and occasionally a source of conflict in certain operations.
Employees in these hotels often view SOP's in a negative light,
seeing them as a burden, a form of control, or something they get in
trouble for not doing. Ask a selection of such employees to define a
standard, which I often do, and responses will vary from "what
we're supposed to do", "what the boss wants us to do" or as in
one case, "a big stick". Given the prominence afforded to SOP's
over the past decade, the lack of understanding that remains among many
employees regarding their concept and purpose is surprising.
Hoteliers who introduced quality systems in the past have often found
that the downside of such initiatives was that the 'system' took
over, thereby masking the real value and benefits of such programmes.
It can be argued that a similar problem has arisen in relation to
SOP's in certain hotels and therefore a rethink is needed on how they
are packaged and presented to employees in these operations. The truth
is that a standard is simply an expansion of a guest request. As an
example, when a guest phones down and orders a pot of tea for two in
their room, what they really mean is; "Could I have a pot of tea for
two, in a clean pot, with fresh hot tea, nicely presented on a clean
tray with all the required accompaniments. A 'standard' is simply
an expansion of the abbreviated guest request. We know this, but it
surprises me how few employees actually understand this point.
Today, most Irish hotels have standards manuals of various
descriptions. When working with hotels, I always ask to see them, as
they can be quite informative. Examination of these manuals reveals
good and bad practice, but sadly, often more bad than good. In a lot of
cases, the SOP's are filed away somewhere and hardly see the light of
day. Rarely are they living, breathing tools that are continuously used
for training, assessment and self-auditing purposes. How might this be
changed?
One important consideration is to examine why we still use a
paper-based system. Why create these big paper trails that serve only
to add to our workload, thereby turning us against the concept? Using
available technology can greatly streamline the process of implementing
SOP's. My recommendation to clients is that they purchase a laptop
and input all the SOP's for each department, uploading pictures where
appropriate to facilitate learning. This approach eliminates all the
paperwork. It is not a difficult process and in fact, every hotel will
have a 'techie' within the ranks, who will be quite content to lock
themselves in a room for a few days to do it.
In future, when on-the-job training is carried out in each department,
trainers use the laptop as their training tool, showing the uploaded
photos as visual aids. This is a much more efficient and innovative
approach. It also aids recordkeeping, as when a given number training
sessions have been completed, a single sheet of paper can be printed
off, signed by both parties, then forwarded to the HR department. This
approach also facilitates easy updating of the SOP's.
Hotels that have adopted this approach have been very pleased with the
outcome and the return on the investment in the laptop has been very
worthwhile. One initial concern is often whether the laptop will get
stolen or damaged, but in practice, managers and supervisors actually
take great care of it because they recognise that it makes life easier
for them.
Improving Technical Skills training
Alongside this re-examination of the current approach to implementing
SOP's the wider issue of 'on-the-job training' also needs to be
reviewed in some operations, as it simply does not happen to the level
required. Given that the current quality of recruits is not always
ideal, it is necessary to find an effective system for upgrading their
skills and abilities on an ongoing basis. When asked, everyone in the
industry will agree that on-the-job training is essential. However in
my experience, there is often little evidence to show that on-the-job
training is always happening in a consistent, structured manner.
The long-term consequences of inadequate on-the-job training, for the
hotel sector in general, must also be considered. On-the-job training
is supposed to be about an experienced, highly-skilled employee passing
on their technical skills to newer employees. However, if we continue
down the current road, in future there will be fewer and fewer
employees with the necessary level of skills to transfer. In other
words, we will simply be transferring defective skills and there is
already evidence that this is happening. For example, whilst regularly
delivering 'Train the Trainer' programmes over recent years, I have
frequently been astounded by the poor technical skills of some
participants, particularly as they will be responsible for delivering
on-the-job training in their operations. A failure to confront this
issue may lead to a progressive decline in skill levels throughout the
industry in the decades ahead. Adopting the points mentioned above
regarding SOP's will contribute to making the process of on-the-job
training less complicated. However, hotels still need to find ways of
ensuring that the training actually happens, on a consistent basis.
In an attempt to achieve this, a number of hotels have incorporated
on-the-job training goals into the performance measurement, and
subsequently the reward, of managers and supervisors. Alternatively,
other hotels have designated a multi-skilled manager as an in-house
trainer to deliver skills training for a number of days each week.
Employees from various departments are then sent at relevant times to
get the appropriate training. This works well and removes the
responsibility for delivering skills training from departmental
managers and supervisors, allowing them to focus on other things.
Smaller hotels, in particular, often struggle to deliver on-the-job
training due to the limited resources available. Such hotels should
consider a co-ordinated approach to address this problem. One
suggestion might be for a number of small hotels in a particular area
to group together and employ a qualified, multi-skills trainer for a
fixed period. This trainer would locally deliver technical skills
training, five days a week, and hotels could send the relevant
employees to attend the appropriate sessions. By pooling their
resources, small hotels could spread the cost, gain greater flexibility
and have skills training available in their local area.
Whatever route is chosen, there is a need to tackle this problem more
creatively than in the past, as the current approach is not working to
the required level of effectiveness in some operations.