While living abroad during college, I decided to travel to meet a group of friends, who also happened to be in Europe, for a weekend in Switzerland. In my usual way, I neglected to charge my cellphone, forgetting that the outlets in the UK (where I was living) are different from those in the Eurozone. I thought little of it. However, upon my arrival in Geneve, I realized that I had no place to charge my phone, and with most of the airport kiosks closed during that time of day, I was unable to find an adapter or even someone who spoke English, Spanish, or Italian who could help me.Although I was a Girl Scout for the majority of my young life, I guess the motto of “Always Be Prepared” never quite sunk in, leaving me in quite the pickle. I panicked and quickly went from brave, young American traveling the world to desperate, mumbling, crazy girl asking for help from anyone I saw. Thankfully, I was able to find a payphone (remember those?) and after fumbling with various country codes and combinations of currency, I was finally able to get in touch with my friends.The point of this story is not to tell you to never give up in times of strife or that you can always find a way - although those are important lessons. Instead, I want you to imagine the stress and feelings of helplessness I was experiencing.Melodramatic? Sure, but when you are twenty-years-old traveling alone in a foreign country where you don’t speak the language and don't have a place to stay, excitement can quickly turn to frenzied despair.Had I simply been organized and planned out everything I needed to do to prevent such a situation (in this case charging my phone or packing an adapter) I would have avoided a self-induced emergency such as this.So instead of providing you with a list of “Resolutions Every Hotelier Should Make in 2016”, I will share the only piece of advice you need heading into the new year. Save yourself the stress and uncertainty of what the year may bring and simply be prepared.Be prepared for industry growth to slow. Hotels have been experiencing record levels of growth in ADR and occupancy rates since 2011 and reaping the rewards. Going into 2016, hotels can expect to see rates continue to grow with a 6.5% gain forecast in RevPAR. But don’t get too comfortable. Obviously, unprecedented gains like these can’t be expected to continue at such a pace so what is your plan for when they slow or even slip?Be prepared for the OTAs to continue throwing marketing dollars at campaigns and technology that your hotel can’t keep up with. Also, be prepared for AirBnb and Homeaway to continue to compete with the traditional hospitality industry. Don’t think about what you can do to copy them, think about what you can do that they can’t.Be prepared for online personalization to grow into an increasingly important marketing tactic to grow revenue and engage website visitors. Brands that ignore the person on the other end of campaigns will flounder while brands who create a personalized online environment for website visitors will see an uplift in revenue.Be prepared for big data to become a centralized part of your revenue strategy. Information is incredibly valuable especially when it comes to making future decisions. Get organized and merge online data with what is happening on property so that you can better understand the lifecycle of a booking.Be prepared for mobile to become the dominant channel in 2016 for online bookings. If you chose to ignore Google’s mobile algorithm update earlier this year, it might be time to reconsider. User experience is becoming more and more important to website visitors. If a potential booker can’t read or use your website on their mobile devices, they will navigate to another site where they can. And when 52% of travelers reported using a smartphone or tablet to complete travel bookings, that’s business hoteliers can’t afford to lose.Be prepared for email to rise from the ashes and become a marketing powerhouse again. Using functionality pioneered by the likes of Rebelmail, a few brave brands will step out into the unknown, allowing subscribers to complete their entire purchase within emails. This means a quicker and more direct path to booking for customers without ever leaving the email environment.Most importantly, be prepared to change. In our rapidly evolving environment, those who are open to new technologies and early adopters of emerging channels will be the trailblazers everyone else is trying to catch up to. Failing to plan is planning to fail the saying goes. So why don’t you try something different this year and plan to succeed?
While living abroad during college, I decided to travel to meet a group of friends, who also happened to be in Europe, for a weekend in Switzerland. In my usual way, I neglected to charge my cellphone, forgetting that the outlets in the UK (where I was living) are different from those in the Eurozone. I thought little of it. However, upon my arrival in Geneve, I realized that I had no place to charge my phone, and with most of the airport kiosks closed during that time of day, I was unable to find an adapter or even someone who spoke English, Spanish, or Italian who could help me.Although I was a Girl Scout for the majority of my young life, I guess the motto of “Always Be Prepared” never quite sunk in, leaving me in quite the pickle. I panicked and quickly went from brave, young American traveling the world to desperate, mumbling, crazy girl asking for help from anyone I saw. Thankfully, I was able to find a payphone (remember those?) and after fumbling with various country codes and combinations of currency, I was finally able to get in touch with my friends.The point of this story is not to tell you to never give up in times of strife or that you can always find a way - although those are important lessons. Instead, I want you to imagine the stress and feelings of helplessness I was experiencing.Melodramatic? Sure, but when you are twenty-years-old traveling alone in a foreign country where you don’t speak the language and don't have a place to stay, excitement can quickly turn to frenzied despair.Had I simply been organized and planned out everything I needed to do to prevent such a situation (in this case charging my phone or packing an adapter) I would have avoided a self-induced emergency such as this.So instead of providing you with a list of “Resolutions Every Hotelier Should Make in 2016”, I will share the only piece of advice you need heading into the new year. Save yourself the stress and uncertainty of what the year may bring and simply be prepared.Be prepared for industry growth to slow. Hotels have been experiencing record levels of growth in ADR and occupancy rates since 2011 and reaping the rewards. Going into 2016, hotels can expect to see rates continue to grow with a 6.5% gain forecast in RevPAR. But don’t get too comfortable. Obviously, unprecedented gains like these can’t be expected to continue at such a pace so what is your plan for when they slow or even slip?Be prepared for the OTAs to continue throwing marketing dollars at campaigns and technology that your hotel can’t keep up with. Also, be prepared for AirBnb and Homeaway to continue to compete with the traditional hospitality industry. Don’t think about what you can do to copy them, think about what you can do that they can’t.Be prepared for online personalization to grow into an increasingly important marketing tactic to grow revenue and engage website visitors. Brands that ignore the person on the other end of campaigns will flounder while brands who create a personalized online environment for website visitors will see an uplift in revenue.Be prepared for big data to become a centralized part of your revenue strategy. Information is incredibly valuable especially when it comes to making future decisions. Get organized and merge online data with what is happening on property so that you can better understand the lifecycle of a booking.Be prepared for mobile to become the dominant channel in 2016 for online bookings. If you chose to ignore Google’s mobile algorithm update earlier this year, it might be time to reconsider. User experience is becoming more and more important to website visitors. If a potential booker can’t read or use your website on their mobile devices, they will navigate to another site where they can. And when 52% of travelers reported using a smartphone or tablet to complete travel bookings, that’s business hoteliers can’t afford to lose.Be prepared for email to rise from the ashes and become a marketing powerhouse again. Using functionality pioneered by the likes of Rebelmail, a few brave brands will step out into the unknown, allowing subscribers to complete their entire purchase within emails. This means a quicker and more direct path to booking for customers without ever leaving the email environment.Most importantly, be prepared to change. In our rapidly evolving environment, those who are open to new technologies and early adopters of emerging channels will be the trailblazers everyone else is trying to catch up to. Failing to plan is planning to fail the saying goes. So why don’t you try something different this year and plan to succeed?
