By G. Angelini, April 5, 2022
AN INTRODUCTION TO HOTEL BUSINESS
(Also referred to as the Lodging & Hospitality Industry)
What is Hotel Business?
- A perishable business where services cannot be stored or resold.
- A people’s business where the objective is to provide memorable experiences.
- A labor-intensive business with very high payroll and operating costs. A situation in which automation/technology becomes essential but it cannot replace the human touch.
- A service business with a clear vision/mission and operating on a 24-7 basis.
- A global business catering to travelers/demographics from all around the world.
- A business whose basic ingredients for success include location, brand credibility, value perception, loyalty, and competent management.
- A business with a clear identity/character and with attractive/innovative designs and interiors with the objective to create the first-last-lasting positive impression.
- A business focused on competitive advantage, efficiency/flexibility, and product consistency.
- A business that must provide comfort, security & safety, and promote sustainability.
- A highly competitive business exposed to many positive and negative external factors.
- A business that is vulnerable to market cycles, politics, disasters, and disruptions.
- A business in a fast-changing industry that must innovate and respond to new trends/demands.
- A business operating in a fragmented and competitive industry without a strong and unified voice.
- A business in which everyone is copying/imitating everyone, “the good, and the bad”.
- A business in which it is practically impossible to please everyone, every day.
- A business that must respond to third-party disruptors, new factors, and new processes.
- A business that must carefully manage its financial health, its operating ratios/metrics, and liquidity.
- A business where profitability is normally driven by economies of scale, i.e. the number of rooms and the size/success of the profit centers.
- A capital-intensive business that has difficulties in generating short-term results/ROI.
- A business with strong potential to generate good financial results/ROI in the long term.