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HOTEL BUSINESS REVIEW

FEBRUARY FOCUS: Social Media

 

Outsourcing: A Way Out of Stalling Hotel Revenue Streams

Have you realized this ticket to sustainable incremental revenues?

By S. Lakshmi Narasimhan Founder, Ignite Insight LLC | February 2020

The Year-On-Year Growth Mantra

Hotel managements have long been frustrated with the year-on-year mantra that stakeholders throw in their faces. The year-on-year mantra can also be called the growth obsession. Irrespective of whatever kind of abnormal circumstances that come up during the current year, stakeholder demands are transfixed on the growth syndrome. In other words, it does not matter what circumstances are different from last year, they want growth delivered in the current year.

This unreasonable expectation can get unpleasant since the hotel being a seasonal business does deal with peaks and troughs more than any other industry. Peg that to the state of the economy and you have quite a few reasons why business may not be the same as last year. Tourism and hospitality are two causes as well as effects of a strong or weak economy.

Given this scenario, hotel managements have to pull out all stops to keep that revenue graph edging upward if not entirely soaring year after year. This would mean having laser focus on target markets including new ones that will deliver incremental revenues. And never mind if last year included some abnormal event which delivered a chunk of revenue and which is unlikely to be repeated this year. Tough luck! 

The Traditional Weary Ways

Hotel revenues traditionally are delivered by rooms and food and beverage departments. Rooms tend to be between 65% to 80% of total revenues while food and beverage tends to be between 20% to 35%. Other operated departments fill in the small gap in most cases up to a maximum of 5% of total revenues. This entire sourcing year after year in the hope of sustained incremental revenues is getting to be a weary exercise. A lot will depend upon whether the hotel is a branded one or an independent one. The former will be able to call upon its brand muscle in delivering revenues each year. But achieving consistently incremental revenues year after year is easier said than done.

Take rooms to start with. The principal bread and butter of hotel business is notoriously unpredictable. The traditional fare being served up even by branded hotels is not going to work. It is important to clarify that when I say, "it is not going to work," what I mean is sustaining this over year will not work. Customers are becoming more and more particular about what they want in their hotel stays. Food and Beverage even traditionally was a more dynamic operation than accommodations. But vanilla restaurants of the past serving predictable, even boring fare will find customers dwindling at a rapid rate.

Current Disruptive Scenario

In the recent past, millennials and Gen Z as primary target markets of hotel chains and even independent boutique hotels are now demanding customized stay experiences as far as accommodations go. In the case of restaurant operations, the current scenario is one of high quality and innovative menus, flexibility in changing menu sets and the allure of organic produce.

Bars with elaborate snack items on offer are traffic magnets more than traditional sit-down restaurants. Casual dining has become more popular even at the high end. A new kid on the block for some time producing incremental and sustainable revenue streams is retail. In particular, retail operations are regularly being outsourced by hotel companies. In short, a mixed-use project is a huge attraction for stakeholders in hospitality.

What is the Outsourcing Magic?

One of the cures suggested for a stalling revenue and profit line is outsourcing. Industry experts tout this strategy as one which shakes up traditional, underperforming approaches and delivers that magical elixir of sustainable revenues. How so? But before that, what is outsourcing?

The limited, not so valued approach of outsourcing is that of hiving off parts of business to a third party to manage. This definition of outsourcing is rather weak. Outsourcing has broken the shackles of these mostly ineffective strategies and paved the way for some out of the box thinking. This lateral thinking method questions the very foundations on which outsourcing is based. What does that mean?

One of the major and often radical thinking processes using the concept of outsourcing have been brought about by the role of asset management. Asset management looks at how an asset is being utilized to deliver results rather than how a business is run. So, the question now becomes whether the asset's highest and best use (a cardinal principle in real estate which is critical in hospitality) is keeping the operation in-house or outsourcing it. This is of course from the perspective of return on investment and that creates a paradigm shift in itself. 

Typical Areas of Outsourcing

Having defined what outsourcing is all about, a logical point that comes up next is: what are typical areas in a hotel operation that are suitable for outsourcing? Well, if asset management approach is applied, any area of a hotel can be considered suitable for outsourcing. However, some areas are more suitable than others in the hotel operation.

One of the earliest movements from an in house run operation to being outsourced is the banquet operation. A typical banquet operation gets it revenues from hosting events and earning through function room rentals (in recent times this has stopped) and more importantly food and beverage revenues from the event. An asset management question raised related to outsourcing would envisage considering every square footage of the banquet operation as real estate space to be rented out on a per square foot rate. This is a change in the business model itself.  

Other areas are like the security function which is not a revenue earning function and hence more flexible to the outsourcing strategy. Even some restaurant spaces are being outsourced both from an external management perspective as well as renting of space approach. 

Does Outsourcing Achieving Anything?

The logical but almost tongue in cheek question that would often be asked is whether outsourcing was indeed the magic elixir that produced sustainable results, or it was all mere hype. Well, outsourcing is indeed an effective strategy that can be applied.  What does it achieve?

To begin with, outsourcing blows away the long-standing myth that all areas of the operation are most effectively managed in-house. Sourcing externally for a part of the operation to be managed brings with it some powerful elements - a professionally managed area by those who are experts in doing that, avoidance of expensive payroll costs that come with employees, to name a few. On top of this, if you stack an ability to set some goals for results as part of the outsourcing exercise and you begin to understand how powerful this strategy can be.

As mentioned earlier, adopting an asset management approach to outsourcing raises it to a totally different level. This is particularly because entirely new business models become possible if the area of the hotel operation is treated as an asset and managed accordingly.

The Tool is Good; Usage will Vary

Yes, the tool is good but it's effectiveness will depend upon how it is utilized. Outsourcing is neither a one size fits all solution nor is it without its pitfalls.  For instance, outsourcing will not be effective where the culture of the organization or motivation of employees is critical. For example, it will not be effective to outsource the human resource function in a hotel because it needs to have a pulse on the culture of the place as well as how motivated employees are. Having said that, the tool is indeed a useful one if customized to the situation. If used indiscriminately and as a single solution for all the problems faced by the operation, it will certainly lead to failure of the strategy.

More than merely looking at hiving off management of operational areas to third parties, the success of an outsourcing strategy will squarely depend upon how the goals of the strategy are set and how well there is sync between the problem and solution.

The Way Forward

In the end, does it make sense to adopt outsourcing as a strategy? Does it have a future? With asset management becoming a critical stakeholder driven role in business performance, outsourcing has been given a dose of steroids. By marrying key asset management strategies in the execution of an outsourcing exercise, predications of success have become better. This is particularly because thinking outside the box will be essential in these outsourcing exercises to ensure sustainable returns on investment for stakeholder capital.

More and more hotel chains and even independent hotel company ownerships have turned their development divisions into asset management divisions. Financial control as a function is also beginning to take a back seat to an asset manager function mainly because of the approach adopted.

Thus, the way forward looks bright for outsourcing and other asset management strengthened strategies as they seek to deliver the year on year growth that stakeholders seem to be obsessed about. Stakeholders could be laughing all the way to the bank with this approach to return on investment delivery.


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Lacey Leone Mclaughlin Three Main Areas Leaders Can Improve Remote Work Policies
  • By Lacey Leone Mclaughlin, Executive & Leadership Coach, LLM Consulting Group

    • COVID-19 changed everything. We all learned that sometimes you must travel with a mask. In the office, how we work dramatically changed. Zoom was just another business software before COVID-19. Today, it’s a verb. Entire etiquette has emerged around how to behave on a Zoom call. For workers and leaders, the office is still changing. Some people are back to the office. Others are working half at the office and half at home. COVID-19 created a whole new world for business leaders, team members, and everyone else in an organization.Those changes are still manifesting throughout the travel and hospitality sector....

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Mary Barker Digital Convenience or Customer Frustration? Rethinking Hotel Technology
  • By Mary Barker, Senior Strategic Account Manager, Spectrio

    • You’d think hotels would have the digital experience down by now. Most have implemented kiosks, mobile keys, and other digital tools galore. However, the focus on a digital reinvention hasn’t always led to an improved experience for guests. For example, complaints about mobile app glitches and problems with digital room keys have plagued Marriott for years. Issues with check-in kiosks can lead to long lines and frustrated guests struggling to access important services, damaging customer satisfaction and loyalty. And the list goes on. Unfortunately, as prices in the industry continue to go up and guest...

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Kenneth Heymann How to Conduct A Successful Performance Review
  • By Kenneth Heymann, Managing Director, Heymann2 & Associates

    • I recently participated in a Board meeting in which senior management explained that while there was only one formal, annual performance review, employees regularly received feedback and reviewed their objectives on a regular basis. I have heard similar claims for many years. While we can all agree that employees receive feedback in a variety of ways on a regular basis, a pat on the back, a “job well-done,” or a “that wasn’t right” hardly help people understand how they are viewed by their managers or how they can advance their careers. Unfortunately, too many organizations support a process of...

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Bendegul Okumus Quiet Quitting: Mental Health and Wellness for Hospitality Employees
  • By Bendegul Okumus, Professor, University of South Carolina School of Hospitality & Tourism Management

    • Performing only the essential tasks of one’s job and never going above and beyond is known as “Quiet Quitting"(QQ). This term can be somewhat confusing, however, as the employee remains in their position and continues to receive compensation. QQ, also known as presenteeism, is when employees disengage from their work duties and only fulfill the minimum requirements of their job without putting in any additional effort or enthusiasm. This behavior can have detrimental effects on the individual employee, their coworkers, and the organization as a whole. QQ can result in reduced productivity, lower job satisfaction, and higher turnover intentions...

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Maliha Aqeel Operationalizing The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Through a Social Purpose Lens
  • By Maliha Aqeel, Founder & CEO, The Ideas Collective Inc.

    • Let’s begin with a hypothetical but entirely probable scenario. The general manager of a boutique hotel in Lisbon sits down with her monthly performance reports. She expects to see familiar patterns: occupancy rates holding steady, guest satisfaction scores climbing and utility costs fluctuating with the seasons. But one figure makes her pause: waste diversion jumped from 48% to 72% in a year. On paper, it was a sustainability win. In practice, it was something deeper. A year earlier, the hotel had reframed its environmental work as part of its social purpose (reason for being beyond profit). For them, that purpose...

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Bendegul Okumus Experimental Travel, Remote Work, and Travel-Related Health and Wellness Services
  • By Bendegul Okumus, Professor, University of South Carolina School of Hospitality & Tourism Management

    • Experimental travel is all about taking unusual routes and challenging traditional norms to create memorable experiences and innovative approaches to travel. Mindful travel for example, focuses on engaging with the environment and culture through sensory experiences like local music, food, and traditions. Reverse travel involves starting with a random location and letting that determine the itinerary, while Theme travel centers around specific interests such as cuisine, festivals, or street art. Distance travel, on the other hand, involves exploring local areas. To immerse themselves in a different culture, travelers can stay with locals through platforms like Couchsurfing or...

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Fred Realbuto Sustainable Practices: Beyond the Hotel Room
  • By Fred Realbuto, Director of Green Lodging / Green Hospitality Certification, Audubon International

    • As the hotel industry continues its vital transition into the brave new world of Green Hospitality and implements new sustainable best practices every day, it's easy to overlook the fact that all change takes place on two big fronts: what guests see and experience, and what they don't.In other words, efforts behind the scenes further a property's stewardship commitment for the guest's (and planet's) benefit, while bolstering the bottom line, not only in capital expenditures but in customer satisfaction and return business. Vacationers look for and expect sustainable practices in every corner of the hospitality experience. Following are examples of...

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