The global hospitality industry is highly competitive with location being a critical  factor for driving occupancy rates- a key metric for success.  Another key factor  affecting occupancy is service and customer satisfaction.  The industry relies heavily on customer satisfaction surveys to determine how best to improve this critical  metric. Recent industry research has concluded that four key performance indicators particularly affect guests’ service evaluations:  accurate reservations; effecient  check-in (under five minutes); a problem free stay; accurate billing.  Guests with  positive experiences in  all four of these areas were most likely to grant the hotel a top satisfaction rating, return for another visit, and recommend the hotel to others.

Recessions always pose a challenge for the hospitality industry.  The  recent economic recovery has been slow to reach many parts of the hospitality sector,  and one of the  slowest areas to regain ground  has  been the meetings and association business.  Besides the challenges to this industry presented by  the recession and corporate attempts to control travel costs, the advent of virtual-meeting technology has further affected this segment of the hospitality industry.  Consequently, the industry has further invested in research to demonstrate the effectiveness of face-to-face meetings compared to  virtual-meeting options.  This discussion can be expected to continue for some time and only increase the completion for guests.

Hospitality industry expansion is forecast to be limited over the next several years due to the current overcapacity of rooms and the intense competition to fill these rooms and maintain profitable occupancy rates.

Brook's Experiences in Hospitality

Our work with the hospitality industry includes several major hotel chains both in North America and Europe. For one major international multi-branded chain we conducted fourteen separate assignments including four large call centers and several different hotel brands.

Our work on the  hospitality call center focused on  basic productivity improvements,  reductions in caller waiting times, and increased revenues from more effective representative sales techniques. Our hotel engagements have focused on all aspects of a brand’s business, including  front desk scheduling and effectiveness, food and beverage quality and service levels, housekeeping productivity and quality, and maintenance.  The financial impact of this work has resulted  in significant productivity gains and resultant cost reductions,  improved customer satisfaction and guest retention,  increased food and beverage revenues,  and higher daily revenue per guest.