By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.hotelmogel.com)
Long before Covid-19 shattered normal hotel operations,
every prudent senior manager already knew that technology and outsourcing could
both be deployed to cut costs. But why were we so often resistant when it came
to implementation?
With the current thrust for enabling remote work conditions
and maintaining each department with a far leaner team than before the
pandemic, let’s focus this discussion on the front office because there is a
profound way to save on expenses that you may be overlooking. While I don’t
mean to besmirch any manager in this mission critical department, the answer
for the question above often comes down to individual ego and a defensive need
for control.
Of course, the psychology behind this requires thorough
examination so that we can see how our own best interests may be getting in the
way of a property’s overall success. First to state, though, is the proposed
cut-costing solution itself – farming out the reservation team to a call center
that specializing in the hotel industry.
Outsourcing Benefits
Working as an asset manager through the early stages of this tumultuous
shutdown, one of the main concerns brought up by our front office manager was
the ongoing need for associates to cover the phone lines in case guests called
to inquire about the reopening or to move an existing reservation.
But maintaining those wages with zero revenue on the books
simply didn’t fit with the primary objective of stopping the bleeding in order
to prevent the hotel itself of going heavily into arrears. Hence, we had a
conflict of interests between front office and finance. A hotel call center
offered an amiable compromise because of its pure commission-based compensation
model.
That is, we received 24-hour coverage for our voice channel
and only reimbursed the provider whenever a booking was completed. On top of
that, all calls were recorded for quality assurance and the agents had access
to our CRS, so no guest data was lost.
“Another problem we’re addressing during the coronavirus
crisis is mitigating abandoned calls,” said John Smallwood, CEO of Travel
Outlook Premium Hotel Call Center, the company we selected for this task. “With
barely anyone on staff, inquiring guests are either put through to voicemail or
left on hold for an irritably long stretch. In either case, there’s a high
chance that customer has already moved onto another property, likely a
competitor, and will not be recovered. Having a rolling switchboard means
guests always reach a live agent within a couple rings.”
The Front Office’s Perspective
Despite the clear advantages, the pushback from our front office manager always
fell back to how outsourced reservationists would never know the property as
intrinsically as a homegrown team. Even after showing us concurrent success
stories, as well as assurances that the call center agents would undergo
extensive training and be capable of upselling, this became a die-on-a-sword
type of situation.
There had to be more to it, with the resistance guided
principally by underlying emotions manifest in logical concerns that were back
rationalized to justify not changing to this new system.
Putting myself in the front office manager’s shoes, I saw
that it boiled down to a fear over a lack of career advancement. Many in this
position are groomed to become general managers, in part because the number of
people under their direct control teaches good delegation and personal
relationship skills. Ergo, having fewer team members implies a loss of power
within the organizational structure, potentially threatening their chances for
a raise or promotion.
Knowing this core reason, I resolved the manager’s
opposition by taking them aside and giving a guarantee that they would be the
key point of contact between the hotel and the outsourced intake team. This
manager would still be responsible for all reservations and would be
instrumental to our success in handling the surge of new booking inquiries once
travel resumed.
Where We’re Headed
Guests don’t care where a reservationist is located so long as this agent is
able to politely answer all their questions and finish the transaction in a
timely manner. Your owners probably feel the same way, especially if there’s an
apples-to-apples cost saving that arises from switching to a hotel call center.
Nowadays, Covid-19 offers two additional benefits for
outsourcing. Firstly, it’s safer because fewer onsite employees means less
potential for viral spread. And second, the compensation structure means that
there are no staffing hiccups during a ramp up or any forecasted ‘second wave’
which may bring us all back into a lockdown situation once again.
In this sense, it is best to view the pandemic as a ‘grand
reset button’ for your hotel operations where any new process should be given
your due consideration. As it relates to the front office, once you assuage the
egos of your managers, you will see that there are seldom reasons not to
implement such outsourcing ventures that can drastically cut costs to help you
prosper in the new normal.
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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