forty six – Action Planning for COVID-19

Posted On May 4, 2020 By admin With Comments Off

In this episode of the Suite Spot, we continue our discussion on COVID-1 9 and the virus’s impact on the inn manufacture. Host Ryan Embree welcomes Jason Lee, Vice President of Product& Technology, back to the Suite Spot to get his perspective and penetrations on this unprecedented global crisis.

With years of experience as a inn owned and general manager, Jason shares the similarities and differences between this crisis and those from the past, like 9/11 or the Great Recession. Ryan and Jason make tips and opinions on how to reassure your hotel’s guests and future travelers exercising social media, online refreshes, and review responses. They offer some pithy the recommendations on how to “stay in the today” and control what you can in these uncertain times.

If you are looking for help with a hotel action plan during this time, trying to reach us by phone or text at 407 -9 84 -7 455.

Episode Transcript Our podcast is produced as an audio source. Transcripts are rendered exploiting speech approval software and human revising and may contain errors. Before republishing repeats, we request that you invoke the audio.

Ryan Embree: Therefore welcomed Suite Spot, where hoteliers check-in and we check out what’s trending in hotel marketing. I’m your emcee, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of the Suite Spot. This is your host, Ryan Embree. We are continuing our educational content on the current COVID-1 9 situation that our industry is in, our person, and globally is in. So for this discussion today, I figured I’d pull in a little backup, a highly seasoned ex-serviceman of the hospitality industry. You’ve heard his expression many times now on the Suite Spot, that is Mr. Jason Lee, he is our vice president of produce blooming and technological sciences who joins me remotely. So usually we’re in the place together, but Jason, I admire you taking the time to join me today.

Jason Lee: Awesome. Thank you for having me, Ryan. Yeah, it is a departure from being able to look you in the eye, but I do appreciate you having me on.

Ryan Embree: Yeah, perfectly and we’ll kind of jump right into it. As I referred to above, you know, we did an occurrence in the past about the beginning steps to this situation. It’s been a couple of weeks since, so I figured, let’s go ahead and got to get in now. You’ve been on both sides of the breast desk as a general manager, proprietor, and then on the other side working with Travel Media Group, you know, so I wanted to get your input on, because you’ve been through this, you’ve been through some sort of crisis, whether that’s something like 2001 in 9/11 or the 2008 financial crisis, you know, “were having” those declines and spurts in our the businesses and in their own economies. How is this crisis, this COVID-1 9 crisis, in 2020 different from perhaps those that you’ve knowledge before?

Jason Lee: Well, I make, I think there’s the good and the bad of developments in the situation and the bad was just the way drastic the tenancy fluctuating was. So in other areas, like even during 9/11, there was obviously a huge swing in travel in general, so people didn’t want to travel. The people didn’t have money or didn’t have as much discretionary coin at the 2008 financial crisis, but in such cases, it’s something where it’s a full shutdown of everything, you know, so it’s a shutdown of diners, its a shutdown of passage, of merely movement- so that’s the bad surface. The bad area is like how drastic of a cut it is. The good side, unlike the other ones, is that there is a clear end in sight. And even though it may not seem clear from maybe nightly word or from the stuff you read, there is a clear end from “countries ” that’s experienced this, whatever it is you identify the footpath back and this is something that is temporary. It’s something that has an end and so it’s understanding that and being able to weather this time period. So with the financial crisis, the uncertainty and like the literal like stroke of discretionary fund or people’s doubts about their business future, stopping them from spending money. All of those things is, you know, made those seasons I think a lot- there wasn’t a clear aim in sight and 9/11 the same thing. 9/11 lasted a very long time in terms of people’s appetite for tour or fear of circulate. So I consider with this, you know, we’re going to see it come back faster, I think it’s going to come back a little better than it did in terms of time. But, you are well aware, when you think about where we’ve been headed for the last 10 times, I mean we were just getting back to that, you are well aware, 2006 -2 007 tenancy/ RevPar. So we’re just barely getting back there, however also had a ton of supply come into the market during that time as well. So I’m still very optimistic about where we’re headed and I’m very optimistic about people’s appetite for travel.

Ryan Embree: I agree. We were going, you know, we are speaking of it, we were riding record highs, you are well aware, going into this crisis, very strong ADR/ tenancy. You know, we would go to these powwows and we would hear that this time period was a great time for hoteliers. Our biggest edition was actually encountering those people to help us at our inns, you know, employment. So I think it is very different from what we’ve seen, but the other thing that you’ve really honed in on in discussions that I’ve had, you know, is all the innovation that comes out from these crisis, lessons that have been learned. In 2001, I’ve seen some sections about the rise of the OTAs, 2008 Airbnb. Obviously you don’t have to give me your big idea that’s going to change the world, but what type of tasks have you learned from maybe those crisis past that you can share with hoteliers today?

Jason Lee: For me, I feel like it’s always about the same thing. It’s about product quality and in some ways innovation. So you look at a traditional continental breakfast and you go,” Hey, we can do pre-packaged continental breakfast for beings to make with them and leave, you are well aware, so they don’t sit where they’re epidemic .” I think we’ve seen some of these things- there are certain hotels that did that before this, but I see this kind of process of wanting to protect our guests, wanting to protect our faculty- where we’re starting to like innovate little areas. When I say product quality, I’m talking about that on any demonstrated day at any hotel there are still- I mean this is going to be gross- but there are blood-borne pathogens, there are all kinds of stuff inside of hotel rooms. The type of disinfectants, the type of cleaning, the type of studiousness of scavenging a inn room needs to be there. And I feel like it’s times like now that we really need to think about what exactly is going on this area of our home. So we have all these housekeepers, we train them, we give them chemicals, we do all of these things. What accurately is happening there and how can we get really good at drawing assured that our rooms are really clean- and they should be clean anyway- even without a pandemic, these offices shall not be required to be have trash that are capable of distres our other guests that are now in. Cleanliness has been an ongoing issue. And if you look at assesses, which is what we do, cleanliness is probably the number one issue of guest accusation. I’m hoping that through this we all take a look in this industry. We take a look at our process, we take a look at the compounds we use, we take a look at the training that we’re doing, and we do a really great job of moving sure that our apartments are super clean. And that’s what we start to tell people, we present our guests what we’re doing. We talk about it in social media, we talk about it on our website, we back the fact that we’ve got very clean apartments, and that we practice this statu of cleanlines. And I think that’s something that maybe will come from this situation solely when you talk about innovations like Airbnb during the financial crisis, I think that was born out of the necessity for different types of travel and for lease a office in someone’s house and things like that were born out of a financial crisis. From this, I think that alternative lodging might take a smack, frankly. I think that vacation rentals may take a little bit of a hit because that is where there is sort of a question mark on cleanliness. And if you’re a hotel and there’s a question mark about cleanliness in your reviews, I would quickly prepare that.

Ryan Embree: Agreed. Yeah absolutely.This is the time to really get back to elementaries now. Create these habits today so that when you start to ramp up tomorrow, these processes are put in place that is overall, you are well aware, going to help your hotel. I completely agree with you. I’ve never seen a review that has said this hotel is too clean, right? Or they did too good of a place of cleaning their hall or scavenging their amenity neighbourhoods. So that is just something that if we can create those attires today and comes into contact with our guests, that’s going to have peace of mind for them today, but it’s also going to set the foundation for better wonts tomorrow. And I want to switch over to communication with guests, guests that are coming into our quality or clients that is now staying on our owned. You mentioned social media. That’s just one store that we can communicate to special guests, whether it’s, you know, moving them a Facebook message or telling them to connect with you on Facebook so that if they need anything they don’t need to have that face to face interaction with the figurehead table or if they don’t feel comfortable picking up the phone, they can use their cell phone to connect with you that way. Other types of communication are not as oral or over text. You know, there’s a discernible communication there. If they participate someone cleaning at the quality that’s telling them about the cleanliness. What other type of messaging should hoteliers be communicating to- let’s just start with onsite patrons and patrons that are coming in through our figurehead openings?

Jason Lee: I see definitely having a clear cut process, a course to check-in that applies the guest at ease. A space to get to your office, a practice that a maintenance person might be accessing that area that keeps that guest at ease. In hotels we have standard operating procedures or SOPs, you’ve got to have an SOP, create an SOP around such a situation. And that should be around check-in, around checkout, around housework. So not just the cleanliness procedures, but what a maid does when someone’s in the apartment. So what is it that, you’re going to clean around this person. So you’re frame your maid at risk and putting this patron at risk. So you’ve gotta have some stuff in place. You know, someone says their Tv doesn’t work, you send a maintenance guy up there, what’s the methods used? But having it clear cut so your staff feels good and so guests feel better, you know, makes all the difference. Yeah, I went to Trader Joe’s this week, you are well aware, and they made a line to get into Trader Joe’s. So there was only so many people that could be in the store at one time and then they met you go from one area of the storage to the other. So you had to start on this one aisle and then go to the other side. And so everyone coming in, was going to this one area and everybody leaving was coming from this other arena. So they created this whole area and they compiled it so that as you walked in, they passed you a go-cart that had been emptied. Like all of those things situated me at ease, so if you have a lobby that has a slip opening, then you’re probably enormous. If you have a lobby that has a door that parties have to touch, then you should create something around that. Either have it open or “youve had”, you know, someone that’s cleaning it regularly.

Ryan Embree: Yep, some signage there or precisely again, communicating with that guest for peace of mind. I, knowledge something very similarly. I had a couple of local takeout homes, over the past couple of periods. One of the two places that I went to had a sign outside that demonstrated everything that did in order to assure their patrons that were coming in, that everything was clean. They had different timeframes of when everything was going on. Again, just for the reassurance of their purchaser. The other arrange I went to didn’t have anything like that. So I think it’s important to be communicating with the clients, but you likewise make a great point about the staff as well. Your guests are going to be able to sense that, everyone right now is in a state of various kinds of that shopper horror and anxiety about everything they’re touching and everywhere they’re going, every decision that they’re making. So if you don’t have clear Sops for your organization, your guests is going to feel that, they’re not going to feel that confidence of that guest to be able to assure them that,” Yes, you are well aware, we’re here to protect you. We’re here for your safety .” So I think that’s super, super important to not only be communicating with your in apartment patrons, but likewise your, your organization as well. But what about future travelers? What type of messaging should we be communicating to future travelers that is likely to still be deciding on,” Okay, am I is taking this, I am weighing this decision of whether I’m going to stay at this property or if I’m just going to stay home ?”

Jason Lee: I think it’s definitely around the same thing we’ve been talking about. It’s what you’re doing to ensure safety. It’s what you’re doing to ensure safety of your staff and safety of your guests. And I think you can create social media uprights that,- and I think there’s great ideas to show off. Show off your crew, you know, show off your crew and their chore, right? Take a picture of a damsel with a mask and a polouse on and with gloves on, you are well aware, scavenging a bar. There’s nothing- I meditate those kinds of likeness and that kind of reassurance that this is not something that we’re taking thinly at this hotel. We’re not business as usual. We’re making assured that our staff is- so guaranteed to your organization is safe genuinely ensures- if your organization is safe and they’re following those measures, that is ensuring guest refuge. And so those things together are really important. And so the more that you can communicate that trash from- Google my business just opened up a blot inside of their application where you can post, exclusively post, COVID-1 9 pertained announces. And I’ve seen some hotels that have said,” During this time we have restraint foyer access .” They’re talking about some of the things they’re doing. I think in saying things like that, it prepares the high expectations for the clients, but it’s also telling the guests that,” Hey, this hotelier is not messing around .” They’re buttoned up, they’re ready for business, and I’m going to be safe. So I definitely feel like that, but I think there’s this other thing extremely. So there’s a day where we need to start focus back on our regular, you know, guest possession. And there is this thing, so there’s a record announced,” The Peak” and it’s using Maslow’s hierarchy of need in business. There is a part in there that talks about survival mode, right? When you’re in this survival mode, your occupancy is super low-grade, you’ve got debt service issues, you’ve got payroll matters, you’re in existence procedure. The next mode after existence state is translation. Is that alteration procedure and then you go into success mode. But change procedure I think is that space that is coming. And that’s the cavity that we need to have kind of maybe a foot in both sides of that. So we might be precisely subsisting, but we also need to be thinking about metamorphosi. And that changeover is, how do I extend from where I am today to a full hotel and if I’ve laid off staff and what is it that I’m going to do? So looking at future reservations is a great indicator of where you’re going to be. And so realise sure that you’re assuring guests, that you’re going to be open for business, that you know you’ve goes these measures, and that you’re going to be transitioning from this arrange of very low occupancy and back to full tilt.

Ryan Embree: Yeah. If you’re not in preparations for that, if you’re not frame things in place now, you’re not going to be set up to be in that position where you’re going to be able to invite all these travelers- that again, were at a flower age before this. We were, you know, prepping for an episode, prior to this crisis, about prepping your inn for your busy season. We are about to jump into the summer season where trip is at a peak for most of the hotels out there. So, well let me pose a question to you this path. We see that dip in residence. Give me a ethic hypothesi for why hotel reviews and review response matter at a time of crisis like this?

Jason Lee: Well, I believe any time that you’re in any situation, right, you want to get the most out of every accessible traveler. So right now, when there’s not that many travelers, they’re still a share of travelers that exist in your grocery. You want to get the most out of that share. So your significance overture is probably at its most charged. And so any information that a patron has has said about your hotel that’s negative, you need to quickly offset either with most positive re-examines or with a resolution type response. A response that resolved the above issues and has left that issue- specially if that issue is,” I came to the hotel and the inn was filthy .” That kind of thing in this environment could be a killer, even for future future bookings. But in this environment right now, concluding sure that you have, that the clients are staying with you are number one, leaving reviews and that those reviews are positive, but they’re having huge events with you. But that is leading, you know, your future patrons into a mindset and that your cost hypothesi is steadily increasing. And I think that’s where scrutinizes become very important. And I do feel like clients are going to be cautious. I’ve been through truly nosedive, I represent I made over a inn with 16% tenancy in 95, so I retain times, I represent “. com failure” and some of these other ages in our economic biography where, you know, where we had very low occupancy and we were scrapping for clients. We have had a very great pass. There are new hoteliers that maybe have never experienced, you know, so for the last 10 and a half times we’ve had year over time growth. There could be a brand-new hotelier that came up during this time that “ve never” knew this. So “re thinking of” your guests, and this is maybe a mindset shift all the way around where we start to really get back to what we do in this business, which is focused on our guests and focus on hospitality. So it’s handing a great product, clean-living, and well maintained, having friendly staff members and making patrons a great experience and not taking them for granted. Sorry, that’s a very long answer to reviews.

Ryan Embree: No, you’re right on level. And I would tell hoteliers the game has changed right now. You know, you could be a hotel that has been at the top of your grocery, your reviews have been stellar over the past six months, but if you don’t get that review in this span right now, today, those reviews that you’ve had in the past, those travelers aren’t looking at, the game has changed. This whole situation has changed. What they’re looking for is reassurance today that your hotel, in the time that this has all happened, is clean, they’ve articulate the suitable things in order to better, and you need to be responding to what you’re doing. If you’re able to get all of a sudden a slew of five star revaluations talking about all the precautions that you’re doing to make sure you’re protecting your guests, those travelers that come into town and they predict those refreshes, you’re going to capture that some busines there, because they’re going to have that peace of mind about their stay.

Jason Lee: Yeah, clearly. Yeah.

Ryan Embree: I know you still have a lot of ties in the inn manufacture. What are you kinda examining from hoteliers? What sort of sentiment are you hearing out there about this situation? What type of feelings? And is there optimism? I know there’s that certainty of this is going to ramp up, but what are you hearing?

Jason Lee: It’s a mixed bag because I’ve talked to parties I’ve known for years who actually enjoyed the last bit of expansion and they’re in panic. I’ve talked to other hoteliers that are, they’re steadfast. They were like,” Yep, I’ve done, you are well aware, all of my, my variable penalties. I’ve cut back my fixed costs. I’ve tried to like mitigate as much as I can and I know that I’m going to be open for business here in a couple of months or that I’m gonna be back to my level of tenancy .” And there were other beings that I’ve talked to that have actually, you are well aware, attended tenancy tick up during this time because they’re, you know, roadside hotels. They’ve got a inn where they’re going a lot of trucking business and a lot transportation business. You know, there’s some hotels that have made a lot of hospital business. So it’s funny, you know, I spoke to a chap out of LA and he’s close to one of the major hospitals in Hollywood and he’s full. He’s full of staff, the staff members that don’t want to go home. And that’s not everybody, right? I convey most hotels are experiencing a real downturn. I have a friend of mine that’s running a inn in La Hoya and he’s spending most of his time, you know, doing preventative maintenance right now. So, so he knows his summertime is going to be big, he still has enormous reservations still on the book, so he’s still sold out for July and August. So they’re like, you are well aware, making this time, he brings with it actually another upkeep person because they’ve got open apartments and they’re like doing all the things they wish they could have done because they’ve been running 90% tenancy. And now that they’ve got half that, he’s like, they’re going to town on, you are well aware, contributing trash, putting in new mattresses, like they’re spend money on FF& E right now. So it’s interesting.

Ryan Embree: Yeah, I desire that. Repurposing of their vitality. You know, we cannot afford to stay idle. We’ve talked about this a couple ages, whether that’s physical vigor by make that preventative upkeep, doing some perhaps projects that you haven’t been able to accomplish or whether that’s mental energy: trying to listen to podcasts, hospitality webinars, networking with industry professionals. So one thing we can’t afford to do during this time is stay idle. So what kind of advice or any final plans would you be provided to hoteliers out there that might be in that emotional state of , not panic, but fright and misgiving?

Jason Lee: I review everything in life is always about the things that you have control over. So there’s always those things you’re going to be concerned about. There’s always those things you’re going to have fright about. There’s always those things that you can stress about. But what you can do today is really what it’s always about and it’s never about these large-scale monstrous swings. It’s always about steady, consistent, and focused work. And I would say, you know, just like you said, “don’t be idle.” Look at this time as a time to really prepare yourself for what’s to come. And that’s always great opinion. I talked to a hotelier who was really emphasized after they spent a ton of money renovating his hotel right before the 2008 financial crisis and it turned out that he had some of the best occupancy and some of the best QA scores, but he had the best occupancy in his area for his hotel class during that time because he had done that. And yes, it’s scary, you are well aware, I’m just saying, it’s not always about what our financial situation is today or what our residence is today, but it’s about how do we get our commodity in the best possible position when this comes back and it’s going to come back. It’s going to come back- we’re going to look back on this and go,” Wow, that was crazy ,” but I clearly feel like the more you can focus on the things that you are eligible to physically dominate- and I spin out, you know, it’s human nature to spin out on things that the, “what if” the “what if stuff”- but the more you can focus on the stuff you can control every day, you know, the better off you’re going to be, the better mindset you’re going to have, the better place your faculty is going to be. And you being confident and you being a leader during this time is super important very because I guarantee your faculty is scared. They’re scared they are to be able to lose their jobs, they’re scared you might close the hotel, they’re seeing this stuff happen all through the industry. So the more you are eligible to, you know, be confident and be pushing forward and be driving towards a successful outcome, I judge the very best for everybody.

Ryan Embree: Your suggestion, “stay in today.” Don’t look too far ahead because we don’t know what that future harbours. But again, I can’t be the only one with the mindset of as soon as we’re done with this social distancing, I’m going on a vacation. You know all those healthcare workers out there, I’m sure the same way. Same with you. So that is something to obviously looked forward to receiving but right now control you can control and stay in today. So enjoy that suggestion, Jason. As ever, genuinely appreciate the penetrations. You know, if you’re a hotelier out there at Travel Media Group, we’ve cured hoteliers through a couple of these crisis that Jason mentioned today. If you need help with an action plan, recovery plan, or really want to bounce some ideas off of, satisfy feel free to contact us. Right now we are here for you in this time of need. You was in a position to announce or verse us at( 407) 984 -7 455 or visit us at travelmediagroup.com. Jason, again, I increase you “re coming in” the Suite Spot and hopefully next time you’re on, we’ll be back in the office together. I appreciate it and I appreciate all of you for listening. Stay safe, keep health out there, and we’ll talk to you next time on the Suite Spot. To join our loyalty platform, be sure to subscribe and throw us a five whiz rating on iTunes. Suite Spot is produced by Travel Media Group, our editor is Anne Sandoval with cover artistry by Bary Gordon. I’m your emcee Ryan Embree and we hope you experienced your stay.

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