Building a successful resort business is not simple, and success doesn’t happen overnight. Every resort manager knows that improving operational performance is a constant undertaking. To achieve exceptional outcomes for a resort, proper preparation, prioritizing, and perseverance are required. 

Making the right judgments, streamlining work processes, offering higher-quality service, and aligning departments and objectives are areas where there is always the potential for growth and improvement. But which of these should you prioritize?

In this article, we look at some of the top practises and techniques for improving resort operations:

The operations team is the cornerstone of providing outstanding customer service and developing a profitable resort business. Disregarding this function or losing focus on its importance will result in significant performance issues.

But how is this possible when travel hasn’t fully recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic, and staffing numbers aren’t back to where they were? Resorts can’t just sit around and wait for better times to come. Now is the moment to act and make your resort stand out from the crowd.

1. Making the best choices

Anyone who works in resort operations knows it is easy to become overwhelmed by the many responsibilities and opportunities constantly available. As a result, it is critical to establish priorities. If you don’t set the correct priorities, you risk overlooking more critical responsibilities that might directly affect the service quality of your operation.

Patrick Landman, CEO of Xotels, addresses this issue in his blog for Ehotelier. His advice is to start with a logical framework that answers the following question:

“What brings the most value to your guests?”

Using this logic and reasoning, you can determine which processes, initiatives and projects contribute to a positive guest experience. Importantly, this can be achieved on a case-by-case basis, allowing for the extensive range of products and services your resort offers.

2. Get to know your visitors and personalize their experience

“Do you know what your guests want?” is another critical question that resort managers should ask themselves.

Yes, many of your guests own a timeshare or have a membership with you, so they will return to your resort regularly. But that is no longer enough. It’s time to learn a little more about them! And realize the rewards of a well-maintained customer database.

You can generate income and improve the client experience by personalizing services and goods. Focus on collecting their preferences and developing their profiles, which should all be kept in your operating software CRM. Merlin Software makes this easy to manage.

Also, make sure your staff understands the value of obtaining guest data and updated email addresses. This strategy will struggle to take flight without their efforts!

3. Don’t wait until your guests arrive to start preparing

In many cases, waiting until the guest arrives will hurt your business. Instead, take a proactive approach and begin boosting client experience and revenue from the beginning. The advantages are numerous, including:

Increase the amount of time you spend interacting with your visitors

1. Increasing the exposure of your products and services to your guests to provide more revenue opportunities;
2. Making the service feel more attentive and usually of a higher level; and
3. The guest will get the most out of their stay if you provide them with more ideas for things to do throughout their stay.

Allow for a truly stress-free vacation

Help your guests with the planning and decision-making processes by curating various activities that they can follow without doing their research.

Answer the following pre-arrival questions

Address any inquiries or concerns before arrival. This reduces the workload that the front-office team would otherwise undertake.

Consider sending a welcome email (with basic information and confirmation of their reservation), followed by a reminder email just before their arrival (include directions to the resort, parking information, things to do, products and services, including bookable options).

This also generates traffic to your website (for example, package pages and blog entries), which is always good for SEO.

4. Give your employees a sense of control

Create an environment where your operations team are empowered and trained. Employees should become the “one-stop-shop” for all their guests’ needs.

Providing them with the necessary knowledge and tools will help them manage unforeseen circumstances. In addition, guests and employees will benefit from the confidence established during this process, as they will feel more at ease and prepared for any situation that may arise.

Learning from many perspectives inside the resort will make this process much more manageable. So include cross-training and knowledge sharing among different departments.

5. Instill a sense of ownership in your employees

Lack of ownership is an all-to-often problem. Nothing is more irritating than making guests feel their situation is being passed down the line. This goes back to the importance of empowering employees to handle any circumstance independently. Dealing with problems directly demonstrates that you care about making sure your guests have a great vacation.

6. Communicate and cross-communicate

Landman believes that improving inter-departmental communication and breaking down existing silos is the only way to overcome persistent operational obstacles.

When it comes to solving complex problems and improving overall performance, it’s essential to take a step back from working with blinders.

We can all cite cases where team members continue to work in opposite directions. Instead, start aligning goals and improving inter-departmental collaboration. Resorts can prevent avoidable efficiency losses and optimize opportunities by considering multiple views and ensuring they can openly share critical information.

7. Work smarter rather than harder

Find solutions to shorten the time it takes to complete operational processes without sacrificing service quality. Again, Merlin’s automated tasks can help with this. Working smarter will positively impact service delivery time and reduce employee workload.

The Front Desk

Make things as simple as possible for your guests! Plan ahead of time for their arrival and ensure everything is ready for check-in. Complete any information you need with the details you have on hand, check housekeeping and maintenance have finished in their apartment, and have systems in place such as express check-in/out.

Food and Drink

When it comes to hospitality, more isn’t necessarily better. Reducing the menu size is a perfect example of how less is more. The size of your menu and the ingredients you choose can significantly impact the performance of your F&B operations.

Smaller menus provide quicker preparation times, fresher materials, and less waste, resulting in lower food costs.

Also, consider incorporating local items on your menu to ensure that your clients receive the freshest products and an authentic taste of the region.

Housekeeping

Focus on your sustainability initiatives and benefit by bringing down linen and amenity refreshments, decreasing waste and energy usage, and lowering labour and material costs.

Add a note of this information in your systems for future reference, so guests don’t have to repeat themselves.

8. Creating a strong brand with standardization

At the heart of resort operations are SOPs which play a critical role in ensuring everything runs smoothly and guests receive the best service regularly.

Writing SOPs may appear to be a simple process, but be careful; using a cookie-cutter approach here could cost you.

Make sure your SOPs reflect your resort. Some workflows may function well in one property but require minor adjustments in another;

It is critical to ensure that your brand values are reflected in your SOPs. It enables staff to adopt your values and, as a result, better communicate the brand message you want to convey to your customers.

9. Access technology and software to increase efficiency

To improve resort operations, technology is crucial. Resorts of all sizes can save time and improve customer experience by implementing a solid tech stack. The following tools can considerably enhance your operational performance:

POS (Point of Sale) with PMS (Property Management System)

1. Automation reduces labour intensity and the chance of errors;
2. Frictionless interactions with clients;
3. Better data collection and access (less likely to include errors than manual reporting); and
4. Features like keyless check-in are possible with well-designed systems.

CRM (customer relationship management) software

1. Boost customer loyalty and service levels with personalized offers; and
2. Automate marketing initiatives with email/SMS campaigns.

RMS (Revenue Management System)

1. More in-depth examination of resort performance; and
2. The analysis takes less time.

Tools for internal collaboration

Software will manage guests’ preferences, requests, complaints, maintenance, housekeeping, internal communication, and more.

Merlin Software can also support every aspect of your resort operations from front desk to back office – and everything in between. To find out more, contact Mark Thomas or sign up for a demo.

10. Consider outsourcing to uncover untapped potential

Success does not happen quickly. It takes hard work and dedication to the right initiatives and projects to achieve the required outcomes.

Putting all of this together can be demanding on employees and management, causing them to lose focus and their performance to suffer. For resorts that lack experienced in-house know-how, resolving performance issues can become too much to bear. Management consulting services may be the key to unlocking a resort’s true potential, so don’t be afraid to ask for help.

Source: Patrick Landman, CEO of Xotels