Küçük Oteller Danışmanı ( Small Hotels Advisor )

Adnan Mordeniz anlattı: "Küçük Oteller Danışmanı" nedir?

Küçük otelciliğin konaklama sektörü içinde ayrı bir segment haline geldiğini belirten Küçük Oteller Derneği Genel Sekreteri Adnan Mordeniz, "Küçük otellerin yönetim ve pazarlama ihtiyaçları büyüktür. Yönetim, pazarlama ve teknolojik desteğini danışmanlık sayesinde satın alırlar" dedi.

TurizmdeBuSabah 20 yıldır turizm sektöründe küçük otel işletmeciliği yapan ve www.smallhotelsadvisor.com sitesi üzerinden danışmanlık hizmeti yürüten Küçük Oteller Derneği kurucu ve Genel Sekreteri Adnan Mordeniz, küçük oteller danışmanlığının işleyişini anlattı. Danışmanlık yapılan konuyla doğrudan ve dolaylı bir çok alanda deneyim, bilgi ve görgü sahibi olmak gerektiğini belirten Mordeniz, "Olaylara makro ve mikro seviyelerde bakabilme becerisi, öngörü, geleceğe dair olduğu kadar bugüne yönelik teknolojik ve yönetimsel vizyon sahibi olabilmeyi gerektirir. Ayrıca işbirlikleriniz olmalı. Bu saydıklarım birer üstünlük vasıflarından ziyade danışmanlık için gereklilik ve yeterlilik tanımlarıdır" dedi. Deneyimin önemine vurgu yapan Mordeniz, şunları söyledi:

"İş dünyası her ne kadar hızla değişip gelişen bir bilgi havuzuna dönüşmekteyse de, yeniliklere açıksanız deneyimlerinizi daha değerli hale getirebilirsiniz. Boğaziçi Üniversitesi İşletme Bölümü'nden mezun olduktan hemen sonra bağımsız denetim ve finans sektöründe kariyer yaptım. Ancak; turizm sektörü ile kişisel olarak her zaman ilgim mevcuttu.Yirmi yıldır katıldığım toplantılar, yurtiçi ve yurtdışı fuar ve kongreler, kamu temsilcileri ile yapılan temaslar, meslektaşlarım ile yaptığım fikir alışverişleri benim için çok önemli bir deneyim hazinesi oldu.

"SON DÖNEMDE KÜÇÜK OTELCİLİĞİN YILDIZI PARLADI"

Hepimiz biliyoruz ki sosyal ve kültürel hayatın dinamikleri son 10-15 yıldır sürekli değişmekte. Bu değişimden etkilenen sektörlerden biri de turizm ve konaklama sektörü. Bu dönemde küçük otelciliğin yıldızı parlamış ve bu alana yapılan yatırımlar kalite ve hız kazandı. Bu olumlu trend günümüzde de devam ediyor. Küçük otelcilik, konaklama sektörü içinde ayrı bir segment oldu. Kendine özgü bir karakteri, kendi ihtiyaçları ve pazarlama yöntemleri oluştu.

Küçük oteller adı üzerinde küçük ölçekli işletmelerdir. Ölçekleri bellidir. Ancak yönetim ve pazarlama ihtiyaçları büyüktür. Yönetim desteği, pazarlama desteği veya teknolojik bilgiyi danışmanlık sayesinde paylaşarak satın almış olurlar. Bu yönetimsel altyapıyı kendilerinin kurması maliyetli olduğu gibi yapılanmaları da eksik kalabilir.

"DANIŞMANLIK, İHTİYAÇ VE TALEPLERE GÖRE ŞEKİLLENİR

Danışmanlık, küçük otelin ihtiyaç ve taleplerine göre şekillendirilebilir. Yönetim desteği, teknoloji desteği, pazarlama desteği, yatırım desteği şeklinde belirlenebilir. Yönetim desteği dediğimizde insan kaynaklarının eğitim ve yönetimi, haftanın belli bir veya bir kaç gününde otelin genel işleyişinin otel yöneticisi gibi denetlenmesi gözden geçirilmesi gibi konularını kapsar. Teknoloji dediğimizde online site yönetimi, dijital pazarlama, online satış platformları ile ilişki yönetimi, potansiyel pazarlar yönetimi, teknik operasyonel altyapının yönetimi konularını kapsar. Pazarlama konusu da önemli ölçüde dijital platformlara kaydığından teknoloji konusu altında değinmiş olduk. Yatırım konusu ise standart dışı bir alandır. Kapsam tamamen karşılıklı görüşmelerle belirlenir.

Kendimizi danışman olarak lanse ediyor ve tanıtıyoruz. Bu, bizim danışmanlığımıza yönelik talep yaratılması açısından önemlidir. Ancak üstte belirttiğimiz ihtiyaçları, bir gereklilik olarak küçük otel sahiplerinin belirleyebilmesi ve bu hizmeti talep edebilmesi ise daha önemli ve değerlidir. Çünkü ülkemizde hala danışmanlık konusu göz ardı edilen bir konudur. Bizde 'az olsun benim olsun' mantığı ile düşünülebiliyor. Danışmanlık, 'dış kaynak' bir oluşum olduğu için biraz bu hizmete mesafeli durulabiliyor.

"ÇOK KURALCI BİR ANLAŞMA BİZİM SEGMENTİMİZE KATI GELİR"

Küçük oteller danışmanlığında sözleşme tamamen her iki tarafın da faydası dikkate alınarak yapılır. Otelin faydası daha fazla gözetilir. Burada karşılıklı görüşme, anlaşma ve güven daha ön plandadır. Çok fazla kuralcı ve kurumsal bir anlaşma bizim segmentimize biraz katı gelebilir. Daha esnek, daha yakın temaslı, çözüm odaklı, bol danışmalı bir ilişki içinde sistem işlemektedir. Bu sürecin fiyatlaması belli bir seviyede oluşmuş bulunmaktadır. Teknoloji ile ilgili somut ürün ve hizmetlerin fiyatlaması ise sektör içinde bilinen şekilde uygulanmaktadır. Amacımız küçük otellere ekstra maliyet çıkarmak değil, yönetimsel maliyet avantajları sağlamaktır."

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The Bronx is booming with boutique and luxury hotels

Plans are in place for hundreds of new rooms across the borough, which has already added several upscale lodging options in recent years.

BY DENIS SLATTERY  

 

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

 

Monday, September 15, 2014

TOM CRANEThe Opera House Hotel has been doing brisk business since opening last December on 149th St. in the Bronx.

Hotel, motel, holiday in the Bronx?

That’s right, the borough is booming — with boutique and luxury hotels.

Plans are in place for hundreds of new rooms across the borough, which has already added several upscale lodging options in recent years.

“We welcome the development that’s going on in the Bronx,” said Douglas Brookman, director of operations for the Empire Hotel Group, which helped to open the Opera House hotel on 149th St. last December. “We’re excited that people recognize that the Bronx is a destination.”

We welcome the development that’s going on in the Bronx.

The popular Opera House is only one of a number of boutiques and bed-and-breakfast-style options have been popping up around the mainland borough.

A sleek new 56-room tower in Melrose, dubbed the Umbrella Hotel, is set to start taking reservations by the end of the month.

And plans were filed last week to build a 75-room luxury hotel on the Grand Concourse and 140th St., according to the office of borough president Ruben Diaz Jr.

CUNNINGHAM, TOMThe Bronx Opera House on E. 149th St. in the Bronx circa 1979.

“It will be a high-end hotel,” developer Sanjay Patel told real estate blog newyorkyimby, which first reported the plans.

A 12-story hotel is already under construction on nearby Exterior St. and E. 146th St., and work has begun on a Comfort Inn on 135th St. and Third Ave.

Some residents are cautious in their assessment of the potential impact the new hotels will have on the blue-collar neighborhoods.

It’s going to be interesting to see how these hotels play out.

“It’s going to be interesting to see how these hotels play out,” said Melrose native Ed Garcia Conde, who noted that other areas, including Harlem and parts of Brooklyn, were already gentrified when the hotels came in.

“We don’t know yet the effect this will have on the South Bronx,” Garcia added.

Some big names are being drawn to the borough as well.

How the short-term lodging rental sector is evolving

With the current trend towards creating a sense of place and embracing the local community among many boutique hoteliers, we caught up with Alan Clarke, CEO of HomeStay.com about how the short-term lodging rental sector is evolving.

by Piers Brown

Alan Clarke's previous e-commerce roles at McKinsey, Yahoo, and gaming giant Paddy Power - all focused on global technology platforms, and being an avid traveller, HomeStay seems a natural progression. "HomeStay is the e-commerce business that facilitates hosted travel experiences, connecting people with like-minded interests where technology is the catalyst," says Clarke.

Recently described as 'the next disruption in travel', and with boutique hotel commentators split on whether similar new alternative accommodation options actually impact on revenues and profitability within the sector, we were keen to discover more about this new player.

Airbnb has featured on these pages many times, credited for spearheading the emergence of the short-term rental market, gaining publicity for having a plethora of choice accommodation options, from serviced apartments to treehouses to lighthouses and igloos. It continues to drive consumer awareness of genuine alternative lodging options with or without the host present. What Airbnb tends to overlook however is the actual lodging experience, an area ripe for new disruption.

"Delta Partners (our investors) were excited about not just the product but the size of the opportunity - the home stay travel vertical had no platform until now, and we estimate it's worth around €10 billion in market size," says Clarke.

Home stays are clearly becoming more popular whilst evolving, with two million students globally using home stays for overseas study for instance, with a spend of nearly US$3 billion annually. Broad consumer demand for the hosted travel experience is also being driven by:

• Relocating professionals
• University housing needs for student overflow
• Solo travellers
• Small family holidays
• Retirees
• Tourists and other leisure travelers

"Our average length of stay is 12 nights and guests spend between one and 230 nights at hosts' accommodation. We've done lots of work understanding the nature of our customer with around 50 per cent being over 30 years of age. The business model is based on providing our hosts and guests value for money among like-minded individuals, and we take a 15 per cent fee from each host for every home stay booked," says Clarke.

As social travel networks including HomeStay, TripTogether and others gain popularity facilitating like-minded connections, and the choice of accommodation options expands, guests are no longer confined to hotels that can feel solitary, empty places at times, particularly when travelling alone. The choice of where to stay is much more of a 'social' decision making process.

Like Airbnb, Roomorama, Tripping and other disruptive short-stay rental companies, 'trust and transparency' to an already happening transaction overlayed by host and guest reviews continues to be an important pre-determining factor for the booking process. "We've just implemented host reviews, and guest reviews and a verification process will be arriving shortly," says Clarke. "It won't be long before we offer a Skype video calling option. We don't have blunt rules within our customer eco-system, we just aim to offer good incentives for guest and host to engage." Chip Conley, brand ambassador for Airbnb, calls it the 'generosity of spirit'.

These companies focus on embracing the behaviour of the individual, and making it easier for them to control and facilitate the capture of information that is necessary to get the results they're looking for, something the hotel sector is only just starting to get its head around. Because of the nature of the hotel owner today, the sector over the generations has lost many of the family owner mentality and is much more of a business - a different real estate asset class with higher risk and higher potential return, not necessarily conducive to the generosity of spirit which has diminished over years passed. There remain lots of exceptions within the independent boutique hotel sector. But with the influx of large hotel brands launching boutique and lifestyle offerings into the space, the latest being Hilton'sCurio lifestyle hotel collection, there is less flexibility based on brand standards, revenue and profitability targets.

What is clear with a closer look at short-term rental companies is a big push towards democratising hospitality and travel, and we're only at the start of the journey with developments in socially-connecting digital technology driving easier real life experiences.

Ironically, "the more digital we become, the more ritual we need," says Conley. "The more we're possessed by our URL websites and communicating through phones, communicating through texts, the more we need the IRL experience - the 'in real life experience'. There's a thirst for people to have that sense of connection," he says.

Homestay's connection in its purest form requires a host to be present and to add value. Value being defined by the traveller's desires: true engagement with the local community, language immersion, shared interests with the host - eg. cooking, sport, similar social interests etc...

Challenges in making the short term rental market more ubiquitous include the complex rules and many differing regulatory concerns often cited city by city and country by country. Current market fragmentation based on quantity and quality of often disparate providers and their approach to technology or not, as the case may be, is an inhibitor too. That said, when quizzed on satisfaction levels so far, Clarke states a healthy "85 per cent of our hosts and guests rate the experience as very good or excellent. Five per cent say the experience didn't fulfill their expectations." One wonders how that would compare to hotels on Trip Advisor? Now that's another story.

Boutique hoteliers keen to take a closer look at the short term rental market may wish to pay more attention to an established hostel sector that has been creating a sense of place and community for decades. 

Social media remains vital to boutique hotel sector

Leondakis: Social media remains vital to boutique hotel sector

Social media offers a tremendous opportunity for the boutique hotel sector to compete with larger international chain hotels, according to Commune Hotels & Resorts chief executive, Niki Leondakis.

Addressing delegates at the Boutique Hotel Summit 2013, Leondakis said: “Social media has grown to become one of the most important and levelling aspects of marketing today, offering the opportunity for boutique hotels to connect with their guests as never before.”

Social media channels - including Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Flickr – allow hotel brands to “emotionally engage” with guests, building loyalty, Leondakis explained.

Delivery the keynote address at the summit, Leondakis added: “Guests can learn about our brands, allowing them to make a selection based on shared lifestyle affinities, through our shared love of art, design or fashion, for example.”

“Through social media we have the opportunity to groom guests before they arrive, to build that relationship.”

Leondakis also stressed the concrete results of a successful social media strategy, pointing out Google Analytics now allowed hotels to directly track revenue through the various channels.

She explained Thomson Hotels, of the two brands under the Commune umbrella, had determined guests who were ‘fans’ of its properties on a social media channel spent 35 per cent more during a stay than those who were not.

These guests also booked direct through the Thomson site, reducing revue lost to third party booking engines, while also rebooking at other properties within the portfolio.

There were also other advantages to social media, allowing boutique hotels to improve their searchability on search engines, for example, while also boosting partnership opportunities, allowing hotels to introduce customers to similar aspirations brands.

In future, technology will redefine the hotel sector, Leondakis argued, allowing hotels to offer customisable in room entertainment, for example.

The ability to check in remotely using a smart phone and to open room doors with the same device, will follow in the not to distant future, she added.

The event was hosted by the Montcalm Hotel in London

Leondakis

As arguably the highest profile woman in the US boutique and lifestyle hotel sector, Leondakis is making her mark as one of the most intriguing players in the space, having spent nearly 20 years at Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, most recently as president and chief operating officer, and now at the helm of Commune.

In her new role as chief executive of Commune Hotels & Resorts, she is charged with growing the company’s annual revenue to a target of $1 billion in the next five years.

The joint venture between Thompson Hotels and Joie de Vivre Hospitality has a portfolio of 45 hotels throughout the US, and in Canada and London.
Commune is the first multi-brand platform in the boutique hotel sector.

The group currently has new projects opening or under development in markets including Honolulu, New York, Chicago, Miami, Cabo San Lucas, Mexico and Palo Alto, California.

Target markets for expansion include gateway cities in Europe, Asia and South America.

Hotel’s Robot Butlers Could Revolutionize Room Service

WHY ROBOT BUTLERS ARE NOT GOING TO REVOLUTIONIZE HOSPITALITY (YET)

post by mcconnellinc

Earlier this week, in an article titled  “Hotel’s Robot Butlers Could Revolutionize Room Service” CBS reported on a Silicon Valley Hotel that is trying a novel approach to improving guests experience with room service by adding Robot Butlers to its staff.

As exciting as it sounds… “could” is a very important part of the article’s title. Yes, technically it’s possible that in the next few years robotic hospitality will be all the rage,  but we kinda doubt it.

First of all, the title “Robotic Butler”  is a pretty drastic overstatement. The automated devices the “Aloft” hotel refers to as robotic butler’s are really just automated delivery carts.

The process starts when a guest contacts the front desk with a need. They request towel, water bottle, toothbrush or some other minor item and the front desk attendant loads the object into the robot butler’s carrying compartment.  The robot butler then navigates to the guest’s room using a combination of lasers, cameras and sonar.

If a robotic butler could make a bed, pour a drink and draw a bath all while reading guests a bedtime story than yes, it would probably revolutionize the industry… but that’s not even close to what the Aloft’s “robotic butlers” are.

 Why it’s not going to change anything

1) Doesn’t give guests a benefit 

If anything, the robot butlers are probably going to take longer to deliver items than a human would take.

They also lack any human interaction that adds to guest experience    “have a nice evening sir” or “can I get you anything else?” coming from a good employee adds a level of comfort that robot butlers can’t match.

The only value robot butlers add is novelty. Will guests book a room at the Aloft just to get their room service in a highly futuristic way? Probably, but how long will the excitement last?

2) Detracts from good customer service. 

Oh, you know what, I want to know a good place to go out to eat, maybe I’ll ask the room service person if he knows a good place.

NOPE, your robot butler cannot recommend local places to eat, it can’t  tell you what time the continental breakfast opens in the morning and it probably can’t even set up a wakeup call!

Having a real person do tasks such as room service actually adds to guest service by giving them a real person to interact with. A person  hat can answer questions and give advice.

What hotel’s should be doing instead

Yes, it’s a novel idea, and it does save front desk attendants to work the desk, so it may benefit the hotel. But Hotel’s would be better off by spending their money in actually improving guest experience.

If Hotels want to do something edgy and futuristic they should take notes from the world’s first Twitter Hotel. 

Another option is to create an app, or even a way for guests to enter their rooms using their phones as keys! The point is, their are already some really cool ideas out their that could change the industry. Using robots is a gimmick!