Our company has been providing hotel management services since 2014. During this time, we formed an algorithm according to which we cooperate with hotels. We have highlighted the main questions about our work, which are of interest to owners, and disclosed them.
How to transfer the hotel to the management company?
Before starting work, our company must close a number of issues in order to create conditions for cooperation. Preparation includes the following stages:
- Inventory. Since we will be fully responsible for the property of the hotel in the future, we first make an inventory of it. It is performed together with the owner or his representative.
- Issuance of a defective act. Our company evaluates the condition of the items so that there are no mutual claims between the parties in the future. We draw up a defective certificate with the owner or his responsible persons. During its development, we also agree on the possibility of reinvesting money to correct existing defects.
- Employee testing. We examine and inspect staff. Our company is not determined to fire anyone, as it also works with people, but only finds out their soft and hard skills and whether additional training of the hotel staff is needed. In addition, we analyze the need to change the existing standards in the institution.
- Delegation of authority in departments. If it is a large object, then as a management company we always take over accounting, marketing and sales. All department heads work in the back office of Ribas Hotels Group. In addition, we conduct an inventory of online and offline venues that we need to access.
- Formation of the budget. We create a financial plan for one operational year, coordinating all costs with a partner.
After forming and training the team, agreeing on the budget, as well as fixing material assets, our company starts work. It takes us two months from the signing of the Memorandum of Cooperation to the moment when we begin to take charge of the facility, take over all operational activities.
When the hotel came under your control, what control points does the owner have? How can he conclude whether he made the right decision by inviting you to the project?
We have three metrics that we report on: budget performance, reputation factors (rating on Booking.com or Google) and property issues (what condition the property is in and how many).
We hold quarterly meetings where we summarize the results of our work. Our accounting department sends reports to the owner every month. In addition, it has access to all management programs. And once a quarter, our company summarizes partner activities. That is, we meet and provide a report on these three areas, according to which the partner evaluates our work.
Describe the process of delegating marketing and sales authority.
In order to decide whether we will cooperate with the object on these points, we must first of all conduct an audit of the advertising activity and sales that currently exist. We need this to understand whether we can really increase the occupancy of this hotel. If we see that it works effectively and the adjustments are insignificant, then we simply give the owner a consultation and he makes the changes himself. But such cases are very rare.
In other situations, we understand how we can improve processes. Our specialists create a marketing and sales plan that shows what we have the opportunity to bring, calculate the hotel's advertising budget and coordinate it with our partner.
Now, in a war, no marketing effort will produce the same results as it did before a full-scale invasion. However, we believe that for now it is still important not to forget about the promotion of the object. For example, we attracted bloggers to the Ribas Karpaty hotel to live there, not for the sake of lead generation, as it could be before a full-scale war, but from the point of view of its PR.
Of course, otherwise it would be possible to launch contextual advertising and it could bring calls, but now there is no demand in the market, so it is necessary to work on PR for the future.
We note that our promotion actions make the hotel recognizable, we do not invest at their expense in advertising our company.
What is the process of termination of cooperation?
This point is written in the Memorandum. Three months before the date of a desire to stop cooperation, the owner must notify us so that we can prepare everything we need to transfer responsibility. We understand that if this hotel is managed by someone else, or the owner himself, then he needs a certain period of time, as we did in the beginning, to take responsibility for the property.
Recently, the investor of one of our hotels sold the hotel and a new management company came in. We did everything that was needed for the transfer and more. As a result, they received a fully ready-to-continue operation hotel, even with a team. We have worked with this property for 7 years and it has remained in good condition and has a high rating.
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