WHERE RE-INVENTION STARTS

Projecting a future performance for hospitality became a great challenge as we are up against a scenario never seen before in a world scale, No doubts we will undergo transformations. Some sectores will gain market share while others might lose it. I personally believe this transformation won’t be so strong since hospitality has already been through transformations for the last few years. 

More than 95% of hotels needed to close temporarily in Brazil. These numbers, alone, show recovery might be slow and gradual. Because of this, projecting performance post pandemic will be challenging.Small hotels as well as midsize and large ones might reach their break-even point only in the last quarter considering that continuous measures focusing cash flow availability had been previously provided. I see this pandemic as a “process accelerator” for restructuring cost base, productivity increase as well as trying to understand this “new normal”. It necessary to improve quality and processes efficiency, implement rigid hygiene and sanitization to make guests feel safer.

Importance of technology become even more evident when applied to our business. Work became remote, mostly “home office”, we saw our meetings become video conferences and corporations turned to technology to keep working. “Go-to-market” accelerated e-commerce what arouse the need to re-think the need of some physical stores. However, it is not enough “to be online”. A good technological tool must be continuously improved. Among the many ways technology has become important I point out “cloud database” which allows access to our most important asset: information anyplace, anytime.

Part of this “hospitality reinvention” after pandemic will go through technology as a great allied to build solutions, become resilient and get ready to start over won’t be exactly easy, but not impossible as well.

Let’s keep optimistic about future doing our best, planning our short-term actions but also keeping in perspective the long term ones.

By Derek Hock - Partner Hotéis

derek.hock@partnerhoteis.com.br

Graduated in Marketing and Administration, 

ongoing MBA in Business Management by FGV (Getúlio Vargas Foundation). 

12 years of experience in hospitality (administrative, commercial and operational areas)

Convention Visitors Bureau in Joinville

(text adapted to English)