How Hotels Can Excel at Strategy AND Execution

I recently came across an article in @Harvard Business Review titled, “How to Excel at Both Strategy and Execution.” It’s a great read and I recommend any business leader take the time to read it. After doing the prescribed exercise in this article with Influence Society, I wanted to adapt it specifically for hotels. I hope you find the below useful!

First let’s start with the cold truth: 8% of company leaders excel at both strategy and execution. In other words, most of the time leadership is not fully meeting their strategic or operational needs. Of course, it’s crucial for hotels today to meet high operational standards, but those standards must be guided by a forward-thinking strategy.

Most of us in the hospitality business know that guests can tell when strategy and operations are closely linked. Think about how front desk staff act when well-trained, motivated, and tapped in to the greater company mission compared to an undertrained, disinterested receptionist. The difference is night and day. And ultimately, this difference is one of the strongest ways to differentiate a business, especially in an era when differentiation only becomes more difficult over time.

So how do we get there?

Step one: Strategy

Build a bold but doable strategy. Your strategy must balance ideas that wow guests and are regularly executable for staff. Ask yourself questions like, “What are we great at?” and “What are we able to achieve?” These questions will identify the talents or qualities that already differentiate your business and what is realistically possible to accomplish in order to meet the executing side of the equation.

Other ways to explore your strategy: Define how you add value for customers in ways that your competition doesn’t or can’t. As you define your strategy’s details, make sure you are able to actually execute on the ideas, either with existing resources or resources you’ll be able to find as the project goes on.

Step two: Execution

Make sure your budget accurately reflects the answers to the two questions above. Regarding the things you’re great at, ask yourself, “Is there enough budget behind these to optimize the performance?” Regarding what you’re able to achieve, ask, “Is there enough budget to make sure that is achieved successfully and efficiently?” Make sure your budget represents what you actually want to accomplish.

Another key component to executing any great strategy is to make it extremely clear and actionable. Everyone involved should understand what they’re doing and how it fits into the strategy. Create a system for accountability and transparency, and reward those who go above and beyond.

Step three: Motivate staff (and guests)

That brings us to our next point. As alluded to earlier, one of the strongest ways to make sure operations are in line with strategy is to make sure team members are knowledgeable about your strategy and are motivated to be a part of that vision. Get the team involved and get them excited about it! This should be done daily so that staff are enabled to work together to get things done. It takes more than measuring results but analyzing how you can improve and adjust as needed.

This same enthusiasm can be applied in your marketing. Tell your story the right way, with honesty, enthusiasm, and character. Let guests know you’re working to amaze them and they’ll reward you in many ways. By the way, if you want to transform your storytelling, we’re happy to help, just get in touch!

In conclusion

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, in a post-COVID-19 world, hoteliers will need a strategy that is agile, flexible, and collaborative. If you apply the approach above, you can leverage your strengths to not only make it through these times but have a chance at being even stronger than ever.

Sébastien FELIX
Founder @influencesociety
www.influence-society.com