Are we seeing double? No, that’s not a typo in our bios. We do each have the same title with our company as members of the executive team.
While organizations often seem glued to hierarchies, our company decided to see what happens if we mix things up a bit and assign shared responsibility, authority and accountability in the areas of hospitality sales, marketing and revenue management.
With this approach, we are breaking down some traditional “silos,” as the two of us must now work together across disciplines: integrating sales and marketing strategies and functionality with revenue management at both the property and executive levels.
Furthermore, as women in hospitality, we welcome this opportunity to grow and advance our own careers in a new way. It’s on us.
Clear and Present Challenges
We continue to regroup from the pandemic and its unique set of challenges for hotel operators. Looking inward, for two or more years, most all staff, even general managers and directors of sales, were pulled into direct guest service — not just checking in or checking out guests but tasks such as doing the laundry or housekeeping.
Overwork led to fatigue for many, while other workers, both management and front-line hourly workers, were furloughed and did not return to the hospitality industry. We can appreciate this development, given the uncertainty in our industry and the overall economy. Overall, we estimate that many hospitality organizations have had as much as 70% turnover in staffing over the past two or so years, while attracting needed staff remains a pressing issue for us.
As a result, between loss of experienced staff and multitasking — i.e. distracted attention — by those who remained, we found that many of our basic sales and marketing procedures had gotten “rusty.” At the same time, we had many people new to hospitality that needed to be trained.
Thus, we started almost from scratch in reeducating our sales, marketing and revenue management teams. In terms of sales, we had to get back to the basics, such as how to make and keep track of sales contacts; understanding and following applicable brand standards; and team building at the property level. With everyone on the same page, we are now ready to move forward and explore new sales opportunities.
At the same time, we are looking outward. We realized that our business world has changed in a number of ways, making it more difficult to identify and reach repeat and prospective group sales. Many companies were bought out or merged with other entities due to the pandemic. Many of our previous business clients no longer existed in their previous modes, making it harder to track down contacts. Overall, we had to reintroduce ourselves to the marketplace, location by location and company by company.
Similarly, not only is it much more difficult to make in-person contact with sales leads, it’s simply harder to track people down with hybrid or non-rigid work schedules. We are still learning our way through this connection maze. Bridging these gaps will be critical to future success. Yes, drive-to leisure visits will remain strong in many markets. Regardless, while group activities are returning — weddings, celebrations, holiday parties and the like — it’s no secret that we must build back occupancy by our traditional group and business travelers.
Putting It All Together
Most importantly, we want our teams to have a consistent message across all properties from a sales and marketing perspective. This is especially important in a resource challenged era for hospitality, with the competition for talent, as well as the expense pressures that all hospitality groups are increasingly facing.
Making the best use of resources also means developing an organizational culture that encourages each individual’s contributions and rewards them appropriately. We mean it when we say we believe in a work-life balance.
We won’t get to the next great thing in hospitality neglecting workforce issues that had already been percolating through hospitality, even before the pandemic. Thus, while it may have at one time been more a consideration for women, we hope to demonstrate in our new roles that all of us can have a fulfilling, productive career while caring for and about our families.
Sometimes, one decision can have many ramifications for the good. Be willing to experiment and learn new ways of doing things. That will be one of the positives coming out of the pandemic.
Stephanie Atkisson and Nancy Obstler both serve as vice president of sales, marketing and revenue management at HP Hotels.
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