Coronavirus brought down all strategic planning of the hotel

I have read, do research and follow this subject a lot on Coronavirus (COVID-19), especially its effects on the world hotel industry, and I can observe that no existing strategic planning could predict what hoteliers are going through now.

How will the management of these hotel businesses in the world act from now on? The current scenario is one of total uncertainty. Huge losses will come, are already happening at all times, recession and unfortunately many will stay in the way. How to act in these moments of despair and total chaos?

Is it possible to prepare ourselves for these losses? What’s the best way to act together?

There are centuries-old hotel chains in the world and I can mention one of them that throughout its history has followed an immeasurable value in the provision of services. His motto or mantra is “take care of our guests and associates”. This hotel value is north to move forward and face this crisis, this recession caused by Coronavirus (COVID-19), whose World Health Organization declared a pandemic in the world.

In this time of total chaos, our thoughts and actions should go primarily to the people who have been affected and we must continue to respect and support all health professionals and all those who are on the front line working 24 hours a day to contain this situation.

All hoteliers in the world are monitoring and actively vigilant,taking all their care to ensure the safety of those who are still working and maintaining a healthy stay for guests.

Trust in hotel chains

To customers, guests who have had to cancel their trips, Recommend rescheduling and relying on hotel chains, as all are engaged in delivering the best within their operations. First of all the safety of all.

Keep your reservations and trust in management, as everyone is working for your comfort and safety so that as soon as this passes, everyone can move on with their lives as normal as possible.

All the world’s hotel industry has reinforced and recommended appropriate health and safety measures guiding everyone.

We are living a VUCA moment

These are difficult times and all hoteliers must prioritize the safety and well-being of all. Worldwide tourism, hospitality has been affected daily. Hotel occupancy is on average 8 to 10 for less. Hotels closed in large centers. Businesses are stopping in several places or drastically reducing in so many others.

No one knows when this crisis, recession will begin to recover and return to normal. I see that the first quarter of this year 2020 will be extremely difficult for all hoteliers in the world. We are experiencing a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous moment, the VUCA world, which has already directly affected hotel professionals as well as their companies in general.

Even the most pessimistic could not predict this scenario

Usually when you start carrying out your Strategic Planning (PE) for the following year, you even try to measure a certain negative impact for your company, but who in the world could predict that Coronavirus (COVID-19) would stop the hotel from day to night?

Prudent now is to have agility and think internally with your team and have the ability to reduce all these losses that will come in your business, hotel, resort.

General manager, operations, board, CEOs, presidents, shareholders, investors, hotel owners and resorts know right away that something is not at all well and everything seems to be out of your control.

Think with me: serious and responsible hotelier likes to have everything on hand, know indicators and control his business on the nail with iron hand, likes security and stability, but this situation is out of your control. What’s to be done?

Action plan: with all this, what can I predict in my business and be as agile as possible to continue dealing with the unexpected? Invest all your time, your energy, your best brains in this brainstorming.

Everything you had planned was to go down the drain. Review, study, analyze and look for other ways to reverse this immense loss in your business.

What’s your Break Even Point?

Do you know how much it costs to maintain a hotel development, you know your Break Even Point (BEP)? It is essential to have real indicators on hand for taking actions and decisions.

Yesterday’s solutions no longer apply to the current situation in which we are living. You have to work with your team the unpredictable, because chaos is installed,as well as complexity, and traditional management models will not be enough for you to rebuild your hotel or resort.

What has been accomplished in other crises of the past? Is it possible for you to replicate some action in the current scenario?

Maybe a few small actions, but overall I believe not, as it is a totally atypical scenario and you can’t look back and compare your management history.

Gather your best professionals, your team of hotel executives and work together all possible skills.

What can you do differently now?

The Coronavirus (COVID-19) came to cause damage worldwide, your business is in danger. Roll up your sleeves and get your hands dirty, because the changes will be inevitable and it will take a lot of resilience to know how to deal with all of them “cool-headed”.

Adapt to this chaos and be mature with enough emotional balance to develop new strategies at your hotel or resort.

Flexibility is key

What can you do differently in your hotel now? And as soon as this goes away? Total flexibility in all negotiations.

In my opinion, flexibility at this hard time we are going through is critical because we are dealing with the unpredictable.

“Accept this crisis”, do not fight with the topic, but do not accept that it stays in your business and be very flexible in your negotiations going forward.

Time to work with your team to deal with chaos

I am absolutely sure that in your company you have good people with brains and that will help you make the best decisions to solve these problems that are instituted in hospitality.

An employee inside hotel will have to do the function of three or four at the same time. This means delivering more, doing more, having the ability to be multidisciplinary. This attitude will be necessary for times of severe savings and reduction of costs/expenses that already knock on the door.

Everyone is anxious, stressed, nervous, but now is the time to keep balance with your team and work together learning how to deal with chaos.

This will be the main management challenge: where do I seek revenue to pay my bills for the month? And where will I seek to save, cut, reduce within my operations?

Fifty-year-olds and even centuries-old companies have experienced many crises along their trajectories. It will take a lot of courage to deal with this crisis.

For the hotels that have already set up a crisis committee, I say it’s an excellent initiative. Make joint decisions to benefit your business and the people you are with.

We’re going to make mistakes, but it’s important to act now and not wait and see what happens tomorrow. It just doesn’t make a mistake if you don’t.

Learning is collective and should unite all hotels

I wrote another article recently about the timing and the need for hoteliers to help each other. The most assertive way in my opinion is to create between hospitality an environment of sharing best practices and exchange knowledge and actions together.

Learning today is collective in favor of business continuity. Do not keep knowledge just for you, share with all the hotel. After all, there is no management manual capable of telling us what needs to be done in a situation never before experienced.

The hotel industry, whether in Brazil or in the world, must be connected to each other and everyone should think like a great team in search of actions and results, because it is now a matter of survival of hotel companies.

A manager of a venture thinking alone will not have the same result if all managers, together, think of intelligent ways out to withstand this crisis.