By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.hotelmogel.com)
The pandemic continues to plague our operations and
practically all aspects of our daily lives. In 2020, we may have found
ourselves feeling disconnected from the world around us and losing touch with
old friends as we all shuffled about to adapt to the new normal.
That’s why it was great to reconnect early in January with
Cornelia Kausch, a veteran hotelier who hails from Germany and who I worked
with in what seems like several lifetimes ago. Currently living in Berlin,
Cornelia is the founder of CK Hospitality Advisors, and she can offer a unique
perspective on where hospitality is headed as we anxiously slide into the
decade ahead.
Tell us a little bit about your career and
experiences.
I am a senior expert in the hospitality industry and true hotel all-rounder,
born into the business and smelling its air for over 35 years in different
positions. As a member of a 200-year landmark hotel family business with a
Michelin-star restaurant, knowledge of such areas as F&B, conference
operations, logistics and ROI comes naturally.
As a coach and consultant, I enjoy working with diverse
groups of people on an international platform. I am a sounding board, a
paraphraser, a challenger and an inspirer of business professionals. I also
invest time and energy as a mentor for bachelor and executive postgraduates at
EHL as well as professionals of iW50 INSEAD Alumni UK, INSEAD ON-TRACK Germany
and Reach UK.
How has the COVID situation altered your business
practice?
I have taken my whole business online. Thankfully, I had already started back
in 2018, so the challenges from a digital perspective were not there for me. I
lost some of my clients and gained new ones. Right now, business is
flourishing; currently 95% of my work has come from professional executive and
leadership coaching.
How do you think hotels will have to continue to adapt
to maintain their relevance?
We have been devasted and we need new ideas to see us through. Maybe a hotel
will become once again a ‘one stop-shop for services’ for guests as well as for
the immediate neighbourhood. This could mean being a safe space to go, a
gathering place, a place of belonging and maybe include serviced apartments,
elderly homes, a daycare center, common workspaces, laundry or numerous other
community utilities.
Hybrid forms of meetings are going to stay while big
conferences may become even bigger and much more global. New pricing models
will be needed to calculate ROIs and everything what has been done prior to
COVID19 will need to be questioned. However, client centricity was and will be
even more important than ever before; anything which worked digitally should be
an integral part of the hotel offering.
Right now, the major chains have a big role to play as
they set standards. Do you see their role diminishing or increasing?
If they are able to adapt and be agile, yes, they will stay relevant. Some jobs
in HQ will become obsolete. They will need to let go of their tight HQ control
centre to more performance-driven reporting for the sake of the operation and
not for the sake of protecting these HQ jobs. Recruitment and development of
people is already a different ball game as we need people with different
skills, driven by personal motivation and not control.
There is a lot of investment set for our hotel
industry over the next five years in terms of new and renovated product. Is it
too late, though?
Interestingly, I addressed this with a client and his project which is supposed
to open in 2022. The client said, “Well, but the shell is there.” I think
concepts need to be revisited, such as in-room exercise integration (and the
opportunity to upsell those categories) in lieu of the common fitness center.
Others off the top of my head may be easily accessible organic food parlours
for both locals and overnight guests while also keeping all the services under
one roof for efficient management. Pricing should also be calculated by the
square meter (or square foot) and not be only rooms dependent.
How do alternate accommodations play into the future of traditional hotels?
These will flourish in the new normal because people are now in the habit of
being self-contained and getting all the room features that are important to
them. Yet there will be a host of new players emerging besides Airbnb – Under
the Doormat is one such example of how niche entrants will carve out segments
in the home sharing travel economy.
What technologies do you believe should be embraced by
the hotels as a priority in 2021?
Everything needs to be embraced as far as technologies are concerned. Depending
on the size, the location and the business model, digitalization through and
through is what is needed. Here property owners also need to be part of the
team and invest instead of just sticking to any kind of valuations like what
they had done some five years ago.
If you had to describe the hotel experience in 2030,
how would it be different than today?
Picture this. Already when setting my eyes on a destination, I would be linked
up to the hotels that are within my pattern of being, based on big data
analytics. Booking is easy – completed within 30 seconds, including payment
details and fulfilling any extra wishes or amenities I might want.
Closer to my date of arrival, the hotel would send me
tailormade offers for my well-being, enhancing my stay and I would be highly
inclined to book these. All is seamless up to the moment that I enter the
lobby. Here I am greeted by name by a real person, who has a full understanding
about me as a ‘Persona’, and is trained to handle me, recognizing my needs and
accompanying me into my room.
Digitalization within the property is used to support my
well-being during the stay then real people would individualize and tailor my
experience, touching my emotions and making me want to come back. It is all
very ‘high tech meets high touch’ where the former enables the latter. It’s us
relearning how to be ‘hosts’, reflecting what this business is truly about.
Welcome any opportunity to better personalize our services, then continue to
elevate the experience for both guests as well as your team.
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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