ILHA WEBINAR SERIES: THE SYNERGY BETWEEN DIGITAL, REVENUE MANAGEMENT, SALES, AND BRANDING
Hotel operations need to be agile and lean to survive these unprecedented times
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ILHA WEBINAR SERIES: THE SYNERGY BETWEEN DIGITAL, REVENUE MANAGEMENT, SALES, AND BRANDING
Hotel operations need to be agile and lean to survive these unprecedented times
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Category: Worldwide - Industry economy -
Trends / Expert's advice
This is a press release selected by our editorial committee and published online for free on 2020-07-24
Bridget Tran, Founder of The Transformation Groupe (TTG) and former Head of Digital Strategist & Innovations at Nobu Hospitality moderated the webinar on Agile and Lean: The Synergy Between Digital, Revenue Management, Sales, and Branding, with panelists, Jaclyn Riley, Sr. Director of Brand and Communications for Premier Worldwide Marketing, representing Karisma Hotels & Resorts, Gabriela Talpa, Director of Distribution at Nobu Hotels and Director of Revenue Management at Nobu Hotel Shoreditch, London, and Ginger Gibson, Senior Lead Consultant at TTG and former Director of Sales & Marketing, The Millennium Times Square and The Premier New York.First and foremost, the panel agreed that it was important to work smart; get everyone in the virtual room to talk regularly. Effective communication is essential. The panel spoke about breaking down the traditional silos and aligning visions and business objectives across all departments and departmental heads - Revenue, Sales, Marketing, Branding, Communications, and Digital. It is important as a collective group, everyone shares the same purpose.
"The pandemic is the great equalizer," said Ginger, "and within every crisis is an opportunity. You need to seek it out within the reduced segments that are now available across domestic and leisure travel." She added to "stay close to your customer, be empathetic, and avoid the hard sell, now is not the right time."
"Digital Transformation is about ways an organization restructure themselves to embrace innovation, by leveraging technology, and empowering the team to grow their business to the next level," said Bridget. "We have to adapt how we operate and think about how we can improve on guest services and communication, not only with our consumers, but also internally, with, for example, our housekeepers and front desk; contactless technology or AI-powered websites are other examples that can be extremely helpful in this aspect."
"We also need to think about how we collect and leverage data so that we can create and nurture the 1:1 relationship with our guests by delivering messages that are both relevant and timely," Bridget added.
Gabriela spoke about looking at costs and financial goals and how hotels can improve and enhance operational workloads with less staff. "Pricing has to be dynamic," she said, "and avoid discounting, rather add value," she said, "as this won't reduce your offering."
"All this change is very uncomfortable," added Jaclyn, "we are trying to do the best possible so need a leadership mandate 'don't make it perfect, make it quick.' It is crucial now that your website tells your story and the content shows what makes you unique."
"There is no rule book," said Bridget, "you need to take calculated risks; many old templates and rules no longer apply in our new normal. Tap into your emotional selling. This is a human event and you must humanize your brand and speak to the individuals, as individuals. Everyone is going through this. Focus on learning new things, talk it through and get the right people together. The end goal is business optimization."
The panelists answered 31 of the most pressing questions attendees asked before and during the session. Learn more about how to transform your operations here
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About the International Luxury Hotel Association
The International Luxury Hotel Association is luxury hospitality's preeminent association promoting, unifying and advancing the industry through insight, opinion, and research. ILHA reaches an audience of more than 500,000 hotel professionals in 90+ countries and produces LUXURY HOTELIERS Magazine, ILHA SmartBrief and the INSPIRE SUMMITS in Europe and North America. They also run LinkedIn's largest hospitality and travel group, which ranks in the top 100 of the more than 10 million professional groups on LinkedIn.
About The Transformation Groupe
The Transformation Groupe is a hospitality boutique consulting agency, partner and advisor founded in 2015. The Transformation Groupe specializes in business growth and customer strategies, involving digital transformation, customer experience innovation, revenue optimization, omnichannel marketing and hotel sales representation. Each team member has the most current experience in hotels and resorts and is a thought leader in the different areas of expertise. We take pride in our client-centric and solution-tailored approach, creative and innovative thinking, always remaining nimble, and turning ideas into realities.
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