Independent hotel businesses are struggling to fill open position throughout their operation as well as finding suitable candidates for key positions, which is contributing to a harsh impact on the hotel's revenues. Many Hospitality Revenue Management Companies are now advising hotel businesses to hold their current room rate but push the guest length of stay to attain more revenue growth.

Staff need to keep up with the booming demand.

Right now, many hospitality workers have difficulty finding childcare, and other hotel workers are apprehensive about returning to work after the pandemic. With many workers choosing to stay under the unemployment benefit status to alleviate current needs versus returning to hospitality jobs.
 
On top of this, housekeeping personnel have health concerns returning to work. The shortage of workers in the hotel and travel industry is extreme, and hoteliers are now struggling to keep up with the booming demand as there is not enough personnel to clean rooms and maintain the property.
 
The WSJ reported that hotels are struggling to hire enough housekeepers, and other hourly workers, including personnel that were dismissed during the pandemic. COVID-19 has changed where and how individuals operate, and as the nation moves toward a strong restart, hotels are straining to fill the several open positions.
 
Regardless of the several new incentives that the hotels offer to motivate workers, such as higher salaries, bonuses, and flexible work schedules, workers still resist returning to their high-demand hospitality jobs.
 
Additionally, several trained and experienced hospitality workers have turned to different business venues. During the pandemic, the already limited number of qualified workers became rarely available as they have been recruited into various industries or stuck in other companies.
 

Balance your payroll costs with revenue growth strategies...

A LinkedIn report announced that less than half of pre-COVID hospitality positions are now filled; however, due to the high demand and scarcity of workers, labor costs are higher than ever. The article explains that Hotel Labor Force and hospitality contractor services have always dominated budgets in the industry, and the current difficulty is making it more prominent. Finding enough personnel to supply hotel maintenance and being able to compete with other fully staffed hotels is crucial to keep up with the higher payroll rates. According to LinkedIn statistics, most hotel businesses can fill their properties, but it is hard to balance revenues as low room rates prevail. Also, other hotels must leave rooms vacant due to the shortage of personnel.
 

While staffing is still an issue, and revenues are getting negatively impacted, Hotel Revenue Management Companies suggest focusing on the solution versus the problem. 

Scott Frothingham – RevOptimum CEO and Founder, explains that "As personnel shortage becomes more prevalent it’s important to build upon a whole new operational structure with innovative and creative ways to operate, to stay efficient and profitable. While there are many resolutions to this problem, I would start with strengthening price and pushing the length of stay to attain revenues and reduce labor." adds Frothingham.

Hotel business creativity is key to revenues.

Hotel operators and managers that focus on sales and revenues based on an increased length of stay attain stronger revenue performance and a flexible solution for the lack of staff. It is an effective solution to improve the results and value of their hotel business.

Additionally, it enhances their creativity in managing revenue strategies and achieving the best practices when struggling with hospitality crises. Furthermore, it helps the hotel achieve healthy competition amongst the market and grow into local market leaders.

As professional and experienced hotel operators are limited in the staffing market during current times, other methods of hotel support are available for revenue growth. For instance, Independent Hotel Consulting Companies offer high levels of solutions in critical divisions to the business's success.

"Many hotels have doubled their revenue when outsourcing hotel revenue management solutions versus staffing in-house," says Frothingham. "Hotels new to these solutions get their revenue numbers up by more than 50% compared to pre-COVID when hotels were fully staffed," added Frothingham. “Additionally, review your technology deck to focus on contactless operations, here is another opportunity to do more with less staff.”

Adapting resourcefully to the new "normal"...

An important goal for hoteliers is to understand and know about the lessons we have learned from the COVID-19 pandemic. The main one is learning to adapt to the changing trends and become flexible to new strategies while abiding by new regulations.  

Another way to adapt is to become creative with longer-stay strategies. For instance, Hotel Minder suggests operating with Length of Stay Restrictions to better the pricing strategy and encourage guests to book rooms for a more extended stay under the same rate every night during their stay. 

Staffing may normalize soon, but stay adaptable.

According to the SIA- Global Staffing Advisors, staffing may normalize for the hospitality industry within the next six months, as the COVID-19 cases are decreasing. Twenty-two states plan to discontinue extra unemployment benefits soon, workers may go back to work, and the industry may become balanced again.

In the meantime, it is crucial to adapt to current times and develop into an innovative hotel business that is ready to intelligently manage the impact of seasonality and complex revenue growth issues as well as uncertain economic conditions, technological changes, and global crises. 

Start your Revenue Growth Strategies Now.

RevOptimum tailors robust revenue increase solutions, strategies, and hotel systems for all hotel types and sizes, without the need to purchase expensive hotel software or pay for high revenue management teams. RevOptimum helps independent hoteliers attain the most innovative hotel trends and adapt to current changes smoothly and productively. RevOptimum offers hotels advanced systems and methods to help increase revenues rapidly. The company facilitates trending, cost-effective solutions and highly knowledgeable revenue management experts for independent hoteliers to help them achieve their maximum success. 

A complete list of benefits may be found on RevOptimum's website, where hotels interested in becoming RevOptimum's client can quickly join online. Additionally, RevOptimum can schedule a free presentation exclusively for your hotel.

Learn why we are the Nation's Leading Hotel Revenue Management Company.

RevOptimum enables revenue management transformation for the hotel industry and supports hoteliers through our expertise and innovative revenue increase structures and proprietary tools. Every day, we strive to deliver the highest levels of revenue performance, client excellence, service quality, and integrity that brings the power of success to the hospitality industry.

We’re here to work with your hotel one-on-one to build a revenue management plan that brings in more RevPAR. Contact one of our revenue growth experts to learn how you can reach your hotel revenue goals.

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