By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.hotelmogel.com)
Who is Roger Smith? As the hotel’s Director of Marketing and
Co-Owner, John Knowles, jocularly explained during our time together, the
enigmatic ‘Roger’ is many things to many people. The personified alias that has
given this Midtown Manhattan property its name has always represented a place
where great ideas are born and where bold actions are made reality. Now,
however, the 136-room Roger Smith Hotel offers an archetypical example of a
trendsetting post-Covid adaptation in a major urban center, and hoteliers would
be wise to take note.
Located at the corner of 47th and Lexington
and surrounded by a myriad of competitors, this property is no exception from
the ongoing suffering endured during the pandemic, especially as New York has
been one of the hardest hit cities. With the multitude of hotels on the island
all looking for new routes for profitability, an independent such as the Roger
Smith that has kept its doors closed throughout the summer has had to pivot
quickly and smartly to stay afloat, especially as more hotels relaunch into the
marketplace. The solution was to capitalize upon the emerging customer demand
to work from a hotel.
Since the initial lockdown in March, like all other intrepid
hoteliers, Knowles started to look at how the market would evolve and how it
would resurface once the work-from-home orders were relaxed. The first step was
obviously to implement new sanitization procedures as well as adding touchless
technologies wherever possible so as to safeguard the staff as well as
customers once they start to return. These include online pre-check-in and
platforms to expedite upfront payments – anything in an effort to ensure social
distancing in the lobby.
But those upgrades alone have proven to be not nearly enough
to bring guests back; the product itself had to evolve. As the situation became
clearer in terms of what post-pandemic travel behavior would look like, hard
facts had to be contended with. Chiefly, it was apparent by early June that
international and even domestic travelers to the Big Apple – business, leisure
or otherwise – would not be returning to their 2019 peak levels anytime in our
current calendar year. This in turn meant that the Roger Smith had to position
itself for mostly local and regional guests – that is, only the tristate area.
With spring shifting into summer, the biggest observation
from being on the ground in New York was that working remotely was here for
good but, as a consequence, many people were already growing weary of
conducting business in the same place as where they ate and slept. Not only is
the work-from-home expectation rapidly going out of style, but companies are
discovering that a fresh environment can sharply increase employee morale and,
sometimes, productivity. Concurrently, many businesses are getting out of their
office leases which are no longer financially practical, and yet they still
need space to occasionally regroup. Knowles envisions his urban property as
helping fill the void for transitional office spaces and remote work
alternatives for executives.
If hotels are to meet this new demand, they have to address
several specific criteria including:
- Rooms
must have separate areas specifically designated as bedrooms and offices
- Executives
or any other businesspersons need space to think and break out in private
- Suites
or connected rooms work best as they can be used for small group meetings
- Rooms
must have a full range of amenities to accommodate extended stays
- Furnishings
must be minimized to streamline cleaning load and thus increase
sanitization
- Despite
these removals, furnishings must still create a luxurious and
inspirational setting
- Contactless
technologies must be in place for both guest and employee safety
- Hotels
must be able to cordon off certain sections or floors for groups to limit
contact
The retrofit of the Roger Smith to meet these conditions
began in early July, and due to many of the preexisting suitability for both
rooms and suites in catering to the business executive guest persona, the
necessary inventory conversions were finished by early August, including
kitchenettes in some guestrooms. Attention to detail in both design and
aesthetics is a top driver for this market segment, and thus only 22 rooms are
being reactivated at launch in September to ensure that the new concept meets the
expectations of post-pandemic guests and to appropriately manage staffing.
Testing with pilot groups occurred throughout August, with
the hope being to incrementally reopen more rooms once all the kinks are ironed
out and the best distribution channels are identified for this work-from-hotel
model. This stepwise approach to reopening allows the Roger Smith to package
its better inventory to drive direct bookings or for sale as part of a joint
presentation. In this sense, this pivot is also a chance to rethink how the
property utilizes the OTAs.
Complementing this regional focus is a sense of community
engagement where the hotel can be viewed as an active innovator in contrast to
numerous other properties that are taking a wait-and-see approach. To help line
up revenues, the sales team has been actively looking for partnership
opportunities and local companies in need of a safe meeting and living space
for a small collection of executives, with a primary emphasis on building
relationships rather than one-off contracts.
September will be the true test for such new adaptations to
the next normal of post-Covid hospitality because this is the month when the
traditional back-to-school mentality will drive more executives to search for
creative solutions. Thus, it’s critical during this transition into autumn to
establish good collaborations with companies so that corporate bookings are
consistent, or even increase, throughout the fourth quarter and into 2021.
The longer this pandemic carries on, though, the longer it
will take for travel to resume in full. This means that for the foreseeable
future, there will be fewer customers to go around and hotels must be very
strategic in terms of what marketplace niche they play within. The plan that
Knowles has taken for the Roger Smith Hotel demonstrates a very lucrative way
to capitalize on the now underserved business guest in need of a local
workplace getaway.
About Larry Mogelsonsky
Larry Mogelonsky
One of the world’s most published writers in hospitality, Larry Mogelonsky
is the principal of Hotel
Mogel Consulting Limited, a Toronto-based consulting practice. His
experience encompasses hotel properties around the world, both branded and
independent, and ranging from luxury and boutique to select-service. Larry is
also on several boards for companies focused on hotel technology. His work
includes five books “Are You an Ostrich or a Llama?” (2012), “Llamas Rule”
(2013), “Hotel Llama” (2015), “The Llama is Inn” (2017) and “The Hotel Mogel”
(2018). You can reach Larry at larry@hotelmogel.com to discuss hotel business
challenges or to book speaking engagements.
Media Contact:
Larry
Mogelonsky
Email: larry@hotelmogel.com
Website: http://hotelmogel.com/
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