The hotel industry is currently going through a time of accelerated change. Unpredictable occupancy rates, social distancing, new cleaning protocols and, increasingly, staff shortages have all contributed to new working practices.
Managing these changes effectively, or change management, is vital to ensuring support amongst employees, a smooth transition and ultimately long-term benefits for your hotel operations and your guests. For the hospitality industry, change comes through technology, as hoteliers embrace innovation that will streamline their operations. In this blog we want to talk through why now is the perfect time to embrace change management and what you need to consider when implementing change to get the most from it!
Communicate your purpose
Change can be intimidating, particularly when it comes to new technology. Some may be reluctant to move away from familiar, established processes, like pen and paper methods. Others may not be so tech savvy, and a little unsure using a new app.
To help bring your employees along the journey of change management, you need to communicate the purpose of it. Why are we doing this now? How will this help our operations and day-to-day jobs? The answers to these kinds of questions need to be communicated with not only external stakeholders but also everyone who will be using the new software. Your team needs to understand the reason for the change to fully get behind it. Implementing technology will help save your team time and money and ultimately make their day to day job easier, with less focus on manual tasks and you want to make sure your team is aware of the value and benefits it will bring to them so they can be on board from the start.
Teaching and training are essential for long term success
For some hotel teams implementing new technology may be a breeze, whilst others may find it a little daunting. The best technology solutions are easy to use and can be seamlessly adapted and if your team is already using a smartphone outside of work then they are already using a tool that will help them in their everyday job. If you teach your teams how to use the features and tools of your new software, then they can see the real benefits for them in their day-to-day job.
Stay up to date with training, do regular check-ins with your team to see how they are finding the new tech and to ensure they are using it to its fullest potential. Particularly in the new working environment where there can be small or big changes to regulation that impacts hotel operations. Don’t forget to celebrate the small wins when your team is doing a good job to help maintain enthusiasm and motivation for the training.
With Optii Housekeeping, the training feature means you can continually train members on evolving cleaning protocols and see which teams or individuals may need a refresher on their skills. Enlist the help of internal champions, who have picked up the new technology quickly and can help their colleagues.
Track the positive impact of the change
Once you have implemented your technology solution, utilize the capabilities to report and audit its impact. Discover where and how you are saving your operations time and money to help motivate your teams and increase productivity. This is essential to not only get employees on board but also stakeholders within the company to show the return on investment and the true value of change management.
By adopting a system such as Optii, you can track audit trails, identify inefficiencies, improve communication amongst colleagues and increase productivity.
Change management is an important part of any innovation in our industry, but it is not always easy to get right. If you are interested in making your hotel more productive and profitable with operations software, book an Optii demo here, and one of our team members can walk you through the ongoing advice and consultation we provide, to help you easily transition to the future of hotel management.