Having a trustworthy team of people to lean on during unthinkable circumstances has been crucial for Arbor Lodging Management CEO Sheenal Patel.
As part of HNN's "Pandemic Reflections" series, Patel said his company put a big focus on investing in the corporate team since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Arbor, like many companies, went through a phase of significant property-level staff turnover during 2021 and 2022. At that time, labor costs were rising but revenues were still below 2019 levels.
"What we had to do was really look at our corporate team to provide that stability," he said. "I think for me as a leader, what it made me realize is my executive team, my corporate team that are immediately with me ... they're everything. They stuck with me ... they problem-solved and they helped figure out all the issues."
Patel said the pandemic also taught his corporate team that it's OK to make changes quickly.
"What we learned in COVID is that waiting even an extra week causes damage. But a decision needs to be made, even if it's an uncomfortable one — make it fast," he said. "That piece has stuck with us. ... Even though we've sort of gotten larger, our team's gotten bigger, have more properties now versus 2019, the decision-making process is quicker; and also as we've developed processes for our properties ... [and] become more process-oriented at corporate."
Trusting Property-Level Teams
While it was a positive that Arbor Lodging Management's corporate team became more sturdy, it's also created some issues that the company is still climbing out of, Patel said.
"One of the big things that it caused is sort of a level of micromanagement from the corporate perspective. Because we had so much turnover, the ability to train people at property was basically impossible. Not only did we have turnover, but the people that were coming in had significantly less experience," he said. "We've now created this culture of if ... it's not right or doesn't get done, 'It's OK, corporate will fix it.' And corporate is fixing it ... but now I'm having to address that issue so I don't have burnout and turnover at corporate."
The goal now is getting back to a place where senior executives are comfortable delegating back to property-level managers what they should be doing. Patel said the challenge isn't that the assistant general managers, general managers, etc., aren't capable, it's just a culture shift of responsibility.
"We have to trust them, we have to let go," he said.
"To be honest, [corporate is] having to rebuild that level of trust with everybody else, with their team, their team's teams, and building that trust takes time. Until they build that trust, it's going to be hard for them to let go," he added. "My guess is most management companies, if they're not aware of it [and] they think about it, I think they have the some problem."
For our full conversation with Arbor Lodging Management's Sheenal Patel, listen to the audio below.