Ms. Lutz

Social Media & PR

Creating a Crisis Communications Plan for Your Hotel

By Didi Lutz, President, Didi Lutz PR

Hopefully, it will be the only part of your strategic Public Relations plan that you will never have to execute: a crisis plan is often times the most important part of the communications strategy.

A crisis is usually referred to as an event that can affect a property in a negative way. This can be anything from a fire, to a guest relations issue, a computer glitch, or it can result from a renovation, a management change, new ownership, etc. The effects of a crisis can be short term or long term, and many times the damage can be irreversible. When a crisis is handled poorly, it affects your reputation, brand management, and most of all your credibility- and when credibility is badly damaged, the affects can be fatal to your business.

Ultimately, a crisis plan outlines the communications strategy and tactics that should be undertaken for each scenario identified by the Executive Committee of a hotel. As I have indicated from time to time in my columns over the years, your PR or Communications counsel, whether an in-house or outsourced professional, should have a seat on your hotel's Executive Committee. I am seeing more hotels follow this practice in recent years, and I hope other properties follow their example.

Parts that should be included in a strategic crisis plan include designating a spokesperson, writing out talking points, compiling a list of who should be notified, and who should be contacted first about the issue, how employees should address the crisis, how other stakeholders should respond, what steps are being taken to remedy the situation, a list other damage control measures, and much more.

I encourage all my hospitality clients to create crisis plans for their properties, regardless of size and type, as it is a very involved project that requires objectivity, discretion, and professionalism. If drafted properly, crisis plans can not only save a property from a potential PR nightmare, but often times it can help prevent it.

Steps to consider when creating a crisis plan:

• Dedicate the task to the right person and have everyone contribute. It is necessary to have everyone's feedback in order to create a comprehensive crisis plan that everyone can use.
• Take your time and hold meetings. No one has time for more meetings in a hotel, but every so often it is important for managers to get together with the Executive Committee to discuss the progress of the plan and not rush into finishing it or leave it incomplete. Cooperation and feedback are key to the success and detail of the crisis plan.
• SWOT analysis. Probably one of the most effective ways to identify specific events that may happen to your property is to explore all Strengths/Weaknesses/Opportunities/Threats and outline all of these aspects very clearly.
• Identify possible scenarios and solutions to each one. You must think in terms of every detail, and planning out worst case scenarios for each situation is important in a successful crisis plan. As you determine your strengths and weaknesses, you will be better equipped to prepare for a resolution to each one of the proposed crisis scenarios.
• Tailor the plan so it addresses situations and scenarios for each department. There are crises that may affect certain departments more than others. Have your department heads speak up and give you their feedback. It is necessary that the plan is tailored to address specific situations for each department, and how those scenarios can affect the whole property.
• Make sure Executive Committee and department heads have copies. This may sound redundant, but when a crisis hits, every department head and manager should have immediate access to a copy of the crisis plan.
• Update the crisis plan at least once every 18 months or after a major event, such as a renovation, expansion, ownership change, etc. It goes without saying that part of effective administration is updating all documents and reports as needed, and that everyone should have the most updated information issued by the Executive Office.
• Media train managers. While costly, and depending on the size of each property, it may make sense to invest into media training certain managers who run the highest risk of being confronted by a surprise phone call from the press or an uninvited on-site reporter trying to put a story together on a crisis that is affecting your hotel. Managers should be able to address the press with confidence and poise, not sounding panicked or defensive. Media training helps identify talking points and how to state them on camera in order to avoid heavy and unfair editing.
• Write in a language that is understood by all and hold occasional meetings to brush up scenarios and the process to tackle each one. Every so often, as needed, it is beneficial to meet with your department heads and managers in order to find out if there is anything to add to the crisis handbook, and if there are scenarios that can be changed, altered or even dropped. Remember that over time the plan changes as the property evolves in the market and the crisis plan should reflect this process. If you ever had to navigate through a crisis and have had to refer to your crisis handbook, I am sure you were grateful it was there to assist you with damage control. It is important, however, to hold debriefing meetings with all departments after the crisis has passed in order to assess the situation. That way, all parties will have an opportunity to provide feedback, indentify what was learned, and what can be addressed in order to avoid the situation from recurring in the future.

Issues management, which I'd like to talk about in a future column, and crisis plans are imperative to your overall Public Relations plan. Protecting your property's reputation should be a carefully carved process, and should not be treated as "another plan to write." Investing the time to create one can only help you and your employees, so if/when a crisis hits, big or small, you will be far ahead of the damage control game.

Didi Lutz is an internationally acclaimed hospitality public relations professional specializing in boutique hotels, luxury travel, destination and tourism communications. Prior to starting her own business in February 2005, Ms. Lutz was the Director of Communications for the Hotel Commonwealth, a 150-room luxury property in Boston. Within the first year of the Hotel Commonwealth's opening, she established the media relationship that led to worldwide recognition for the property as one of Ten Best New Business Hotels by Forbes.com. Ms. Lutz can be contacted at 561-628-7422 or didi.lutz@gmail.com Extended Bio...

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