Invest in the Guest Experience to Increase Your Hotel’s Profits
AUGUST 2024
CONTRIBUTING EXPERT: GREG GLINIEWICZ, SENIOR MANAGER OF SALES AND OPERATIONS | EIS NORTH AMERICA
Investing in hotel upgrades, especially renovations and conversions, is critical to enhancing the guest experience, competitiveness, and profitability. Here’s why.
Investing now in preventative maintenance measures ensures the longevity of a property. Regular maintenance and strategic upgrades will prevent costly breakdowns and extend the life of your hotel’s infrastructure, from plumbing and electrical systems to millwork and casegoods. Hotel owners should also know that investing in upgrades will often increase brand loyalty among customers. When your hotel is part of a more prominent brand, like Hilton or Marriott, ensuring that your hotel reflects your brand’s values and promises is critical to building and maintaining guest loyalty.
Like many markets, though, the hospitality industry is competitive. Today’s consumers have an endless number of options when it comes to choosing the right hotel for their needs. Staying competitive and relevant is more than excellent customer service or luxurious amenities. But cutting costs doesn’t have to mean cutting corners. Hotels can strategically invest in key areas to save money over time while enhancing efficiency, sustainable hotel practices, and overall guest appeal. This information will help enhance the guest experience and boost revenue.
Challenges of Implementing Hotel Renovations
Understanding industry challenges and why increasing revenue isn’t easy is important. For example, renovation and conversion projects require a steady supply of construction materials or specialty items like hotel furniture and fixtures, millwork, or casegoods. Supply chain disruptions can lead to shortages of these materials and delays in project timelines which will impact ROI.
Local Competition
Local competition is also a challenge for hotels, as they must strive to stay attractive to guests in a competitive market. Loyalty programs, price shoppers, changing guest expectations, and market saturation are all factors of local competition. General inflation is another challenge here because as the cost of renovation and construction materials rises, the overall budget for a project can quickly escalate, making it harder for hotels to finish within set financial parameters. Cutting costs is a solution, but it isn’t the most effective. When costs are cut, the guest experience is impacted. Maybe amenities become scarce, maintenance is overlooked, cleaning services might be reduced, and a lower level of customer service might be offered. If you cut costs and any of the above happens, your brand’s image is on the line. Cutting back on these seemingly trivial things can also make a hotel feel more generic, reducing guest loyalty. That's why hotel management isn’t merely a science – it's an art.
What About Budget?
Finding the budget to implement these upgrades might be overwhelming at first, so it’s essential to resist the temptation to choose cheaper alternatives to high-quality materials, millwork and casegoods, or hotel furniture. This approach results in higher costs down the line due to the need for frequent repairs, replacements, or even a poor guest experience. A true investment means balancing quality against cutting costs to ensure the upgrades are durable and stand the test of time. There’s also the challenge of weighing short-term expenses against long-term benefits. Investing means an immediate financial impact without seeing benefits right away. The cost of renovations might be high, but the long-term benefits, such as predictability high guest satisfaction, higher occupancy rates, and lower maintenance costs, often outweigh those initial expenses. It’s important to remember that although initial renovation costs can seem daunting and excessive, focusing on long-term value and avoiding cheaper, short-term solutions will ensure the investments made will truly enhance the experience at a hotel and its profitability.
The Value of Investing in Public Spaces and Guest Rooms
When deciding which areas of your hotel to upgrade, consider the spaces that impact your guests' experience. Renovating guest rooms and public spaces are great places to start. Public spaces in a hotel, such as the lobby, lounges, restaurants, and other shared areas, play a pivotal role in shaping the guest experience. These are the first spaces guests encounter upon arrival and the last they see before departure, making them crucial in forming lasting impressions.
The lobby is the heart of the hotel and sets the tone for the entire stay. Upgrading this area to be well-designed can create a welcoming, stylish, and comfortable environment for guests when they arrive after a long day of travel. Refreshing the lobby or restaurant can also create hubs for locals to connect for events and gatherings. Investing in these areas means a great experience for the guests and a memorable impact, encouraging them to choose your hotel time and time again.
Choose Elkay Interior Systems for Your Hotel Renovations
Investing in hotel renovations isn’t only a matter of keeping up with industry trends – it’s a strategic move that will make a financial impact and save your business money over time. These upfront expenses might seem costly or overwhelming, but renovating strategically is the right move. Whether it’s improving efficiency or enhancing the guest experience, implementing these changes will position your hotel for higher success. You’re investing wisely in your hotel’s future by choosing to renovate over cheaper, short-term solutions. Don’t wait until you’re faced with problems, though. Take steps today to enhance your property.
Contact EIS Hospitality, a division of Elkay Interior Systems, to help you plan and execute the upgrades you need to make your property thrive.
About Elkay Interior Systems
Elkay Interior Systems (EIS) is a tight-knit team of industry-leading designers, commercial-grade manufacturers, innovative engineers, resourceful project managers, and sourcing experts committed to every stage of your project by guaranteeing quality and reliability. We stand out from the crowd with our 40+ years of global experience in the restaurant, hospitality, retail, and education markets. We believe in simplifying the complicated.