How to Pivot Through and Manage Your Hotel Assets for Reopening.
There is a profound quote by Jean-Bertrand Aristide, “If one suffers, we all suffer. Togetherness is strength. Courage.” During this turbulent time in the world, the adverse impact of the COVID-19 has been beyond challenging for all industries, healthcare, hospitality, families, and communities. The incredible stories of selflessness, heroism, and strength of humanity have continuously poured out across the globe. As the world slowly starts to regain its strength day by day and mitigate the damage, the hospitality industry is looking at the drivers of recovery and watching the indicators for when reopening and re-engagement will occur. The consensus remains positive that hotels will reopen and once again incrementally increase toward full capacity as travel resumes and life gets back to a normal cadence. The hospitality industry leaders have forged a united front and tirelessly held steadfast to be transparent and supportive for hotel owners and with employees around the world.
Photo Credit: Fortune Magazine; Arne Sorenson, President and CEO of Marriott International, speaks during a meeting with President Donald Trump and travel and tourism industry executives to discuss the economic response to the coronavirus pandemic on March 17, 2020. Drew Angerer—Getty Images
Reporters raise their hands to ask President Donald Trump questions during a press briefing with the coronavirus task force, at the White House, Monday, March 16, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Photo Credit: People walk along the Las Vegas Strip devoid of the usual crowds after casinos were ordered to shut down due to the coronavirus outbreak, Wednesday, March 18, 2020, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)
In recent days, extraordinary efforts have been made to help pass legislation to provide financial relief for Boeing, the airlines and hotel industry in order to lift the economy out of distress. Travel and tourism accounted for about 319 million jobs, or 10% of total world employment in 2018, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC). Leisure represents almost 80% of the total compared with 20% for business spend, it says.
Photo Credit: Reuters
But for hoteliers, the key decision right now of whether to keep a hotel open or completely close it doors, even temporarily, is a difficult one with many factors and people’s livelihood to consider. Keeping a hotel open even with the bare minimum staff, if the owner has the means to do so, can eliminate future costs of fees, reactivation, reapplying for licenses and permits. As Chris Green, President and CEO of Chesapeake Hospitality discussed in a recent podcast, by keeping 7 to 15 associates operating one of their full-service hotels, it is a better decision than to completely close it down during this time. Sloan Dean, President and CEO of Remington Hotels, stated that out of their 88 hotels currently 78 hotels remained open during the crisis but at a cost of having to painstakingly furlough 80% of the employees. Of course, the safety of the guests and the employees comes first and foremost. Additionally, it is very important for hotel owners and operators to develop tactical teams that focus on protecting the hotel assets and begin planning a strategy for ramping back up and getting hotels back in service. The guests will return, and the question remains will your hotel be ready?
During this unforeseen downtime, a proactive approach to consider in moving forward is the completion of guestroom renovations that were planned for later in the year. Making use of this time right now with the least impact on guests, can be more cost-effective and refinishing your FF&E is the most efficient use of capital long term. The Refinishing Touch® provides sustainable FF&E asset management to hoteliers throughout the U.S. with a community of on-site services.
Photo Credit: The Refinishing Touch®
When it comes to staying on budget, this is where you will see a dramatic difference by choosing to refinish your existing case goods instead of replacing them. Our proven on-site full refinishing process will save you a minimum of 50% up to as much or more than 80% AND we will meet your brand standard specifications.
Photo Credit: The Refinishing Touch®
There are the obvious concerns of sanitizing the hotel and rooms before guests can return after the COVID-19 crisis. This is a priority for getting a hotel back in service.
When our technicians fully refinish guestroom furniture, we completely clean and sanitize the entire piece before starting the refinishing process. This kills viruses, bacteria and germs and prepares the surface for our refinishing process. This has always been an added value of our service.
Photo Credit: The Refinishing Touch®
It has always been important to focus on improving a hotel’s existing assets. “If you have a high-quality asset in a good location you may do well. Focus on high-quality assets in long-term markets & you’ll survive anything,” stated Bob Habeeb, Pres. & CEO–First Hospitality Group. While positioning is important, it means nothing if the product is neglected.”
Photo Credit: The Refinishing Touch® – On-Site Refinishing, Re-Engineering, Color Change, Solid Surface Replacement, Hardware Replacement
Photo Credit: The Refinishing Touch® – On-Site Reupholstering for chairs, banquettes, headboards.
If your hotel has scheduled a renovation for this year, the more detailed planning and communicating you do right now with your general contractor, designers, suppliers, teams and importantly your guests, the more cost-effective & successful your renovation will be. The Refinishing Touch® team understands how critical it is to get your rooms back into service as soon as possible, incurring minimal downtime. Our on-site full refinishing is done in the rooms avoiding costs of moving furniture, disposing of furniture, storage, shipping and transportation costs for furniture, long lead times.
Photo Credit: The Refinishing Touch®
“One of the biggest concerns is always making sure that a project finishes on time and on budget. It all starts with putting together preliminary budgets,” said Mark Friesen, Principal, Beyer Brown.
Our expertise includes providing strategic timing for when it’s best to have our team on the property during the renovation to keep it running seamlessly. We save you additional costs by not moving the furniture out of the rooms and incurring additional manpower, time and storage and reducing downtime of rooms out-of-service by getting the rooms back in-service the same day in many cases. This sets us apart and provides you with a trusted partner that has the professional experience you can count on.
We are the trusted and preferred supplier for HILTON, HOST and many brands. For 43 years, The Refinishing Touch® has been at the forefront of providing the hospitality industry affordable and sustainable FF&E solutions and asset management. As a trusted PIP Advisor and Preferred Supplier for HILTON and Host Hotels and Resorts and many more, we have completed over 7,000 renovation projects nationwide. We help Project Managers, GM’s, Chief Engineers, effectively navigate around the costly PIP pitfalls because of our years of experience and expertise.
We have completed over 7,000 hotel renovation projects!
https://therefinishingtouch.com/list-of-projects/
When you make the environmentally friendly decision to refinish your existing case goods instead of replacing them, you are dramatically reducing your carbon footprint and putting more sustainability into your hotel.
Photo Credit: The Refinishing Touch®, www.carbonfootprint.com
“There is a general-consensus that the world will not be same once COVID-19 is gone again. Let us take this opportunity – following an exogenous shock – to take monumental steps, question decade long practices and stigma and eventually rise to the occasion by implementing steps to permanently to ensure the proximity to our guests, providing outstanding experience, employing versatile team members, enhancing the returns of our operations and as such becoming more resilient at times of crises.” Theodore Kubak Head of Hospitality, Arbireo Capital.
Call us today for your online quote at 1.800.523.9448 and email Erek Schwartz, Sales Manager at [email protected] to discuss your project. It would be our pleasure to be your Sustainable, FF&E Solution Provider! For more information about our community of services, we invite you to visit www.therefinishingtouch.com
During this challenging time, we want to assure our clients that we are fully operational and committed to providing all our services in the completion of scheduled renovation projects. As we navigate through this together, we are here to assist you in the completion of your projects and provide you with cost-effective, sustainable FF&E solutions.
All Our Best to You.
Mario Insenga, Principal, and The Refinishing Touch® Team.
RESOURCES:
Inner Circle: Asset management in a time of crisis by Theodore Kubak, Hotel Management Magazine
Carbonfootprom.com
Marriott CEO’s authentic message to employees By Ellen McGirt
Canceled bookings, empty rooms: coronavirus takes toll on tourism by Elisa Anzolin, Josephine Mason, Maya Nikolaeva; REUTERS