Six Questions for Leaders in Hotel Management

LODGING asks six hotel management leaders what hoteliers need to know before putting their property in the hands of a professional manager.

1How do you choose the right management company for your hotel?

“Hoteliers should conduct thorough due diligence when screening management companies to ensure there’s a good fit. The hotelier should look for a management company that has similar goals and objectives. A visit to the company’s head office is recommended to get a true sense of corporate culture and meet the team who will support the hotel on a daily basis.”

Stan Jones
Director Of Development
Intermountain Management

2How can a management company help lower a hotel’s operating cost?

“Implementing a dynamic labor management tool is a must. While wage pressures are not going to subside anytime soon, we can manage the efficiency and effective of the associates. Pairing these tools with effective forecasting can minimize the squeeze on margins.”

Beau Benton
President
LBA Hospitality

3What should hoteliers know about revenue management services?

“Revenue management is dynamic and takes a sophisticated set of skills. The ability to set effective strategies is more critical now than ever before in a manager’s ability to maximize top-line revenue to deliver owner profitability.”

Mary Beth Cutshall
Senior Vice President and Business Development Officer
HVMG

4What’s the best way to vet a management company?

“Insist on meeting with the operations team that will oversee your hotel. It’s the commitment, talent, and experience of those individuals who will have the real impact on your NOI. Also, look at actual numbers for the market penetration of other hotels they manage. Finally, look at actual guest satisfaction scores from their brands on TripAdvisor.”

Steve Van
President and CEO
Prism Hotels & Resorts

5What makes a good revenue manager?

“A first-class hotel management company yields a diverse team of revenue managers with years of experience both on and off property, as well as multi-brand knowledge that can be applied across a portfolio of brands and parent companies. This ensures that your revenue manager will understand each market and hotel’s specific needs, pricing philosophies, and competitors.”

Amy Greenwood
Regional Revenue Manager
Hotel Equities

6What is the role of technology in hotel management?

“As much as technology has streamlined things, we can’t rely on it to nurture the relationships that are important in this industry. From an outsider’s perspective, an established hotel is stabilized and needs less energy, so a representative can take on more accounts. In reality, you have to continue updating strategy and consistently communicate to multiple channels for a hotel to continue to be profitable.”

Kirk Pederson
President
Kokua Hospitality

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