Over the years we handled several upgrades for hotels and resorts in Thailand and all of those assignments have been challenging in one way or the other.
The fact is that it is not really important what ‘we’ like! We must ensure that our guest like the property.
Today we like to give you a simple check-list of what to consider and what to think about carefully to ensure you handle the upgrade and/or renovation correctly.
- Firstly, you must evaluate the current positioning of the hotel and the market to understand what is actually needed in your area/destination in terms of product. Should you keep the same position? Move to a higher position? Or even a lower position? – We actually re-positioned one of our former projects from being a 4-star resort to be 3-star resort very successfully generating more profit then before!
- Do a good new feasibility study and a very detailed SWOT analysis to understand the market, the guests, your competitors and room rates in your area or destination.
- Based on the basic feasibility study you must generate a detailed 10 years cash flow forecast to understand how much you should invest and when your investment will be returned. This document will give you a good indication on how much your business can afford to invest and find the right solutions.
- Prepare a new rate-sheet for all markets and agents and compare it with your competitor’s rate strategies.
- Based on the basic feasibility study, you should decide what product is needed in terms of ‘look’. Boutique and colorful? Simple ‘Zen’ Design? Traditional designs? A ‘total’ renovation or just applying some good ‘make-up’? – Very often we learned just some paint, new art-work, new services, colors and good sales and marketing is needed.
- Considering the level where you will position your property, your services and guest experiences must be reviewed.
- All re-positioning and upgrades must also include to review the Human Resource system as your property will never be better than your staff!
- Evaluate all back-of-house and employee areas. Are those areas suitable to handle a upgrade of your property to a higher category? Will those areas be sufficient and suitable to provide new service and experiences as expected by guests and agents?
- Make a new sales and marketing plan and marketing communication plan to communicate you’re re-positioning to guests and agents as early as possible. New sales and marketing material and a new website-design will also be needed from our experience.
- Consider using a good hotelier or expert to help you
Klaus R. Rauter
Managing Director
I am interested by your good work in south east asia. I’m architect living in vietnam.