Analysis is key. Don’t even consider lifting a pen towards the budget plan for 2016 until you, and your team, have thoroughly analyzed the budget and results from 2015. It’s no easy feat to develop a budgeting and marketing plan for your hotel, but there’s no reason to do it blindfolded. Arm yourself with the budget data depicting the results of each strategy and tactic used last year, and whether or not they worked as expected.
A coach pours over each play by play of past games, taking notes, jotting down fresh ideas. As the team practices every day until the next game, the coach implements new strategies and teaches his players new tactics. It’s game time once again, the team is ready, they’ve rehearsed their new plays a hundred times. Whether they win or lose, the entire game was directly influenced by the analysis of the previous games.
Unfortunately, it can be quite common for hotel management teams to develop the budget for the new year, without truly analyzing the results from the previous year. Here are a few tried and true budget data analysis practices that will help ensure your 2016 budgeting and marketing plan is set up for success.
Let The Force Be Your Guide
“Force” referring to your individual managers. Talk to the people who are running the program on a daily basis. It’s one thing to sit around a table, look at figures, and plan all day long, but if you haven’t received input from the men and women whose efforts are making the budget, then your new budget will be sorely misinformed.
Not only will these rock star team members help inform you of what strategies and tactics didn’t work, they will likely have ideas for improvement next year. Additionally, making sure they feel heard, and taking any feedback they provide in earnest, will help foster a more friendly and team oriented atmosphere, which will always improve sales.
Get Some Real World Experience
The “economy” is the popular subject to address, but aside from how good, bad, or who-really-knows-these-days the economy is doing, there are many other worldly elements to consider. Politics – is your hotel in or near an area that will attract political events? 2016 is a campaign year as we all know, and if you’re a coal in the fire then you can expect your bookings to heat up during certain events.
Scan the environment around to determine if there’s any reason whatsoever, that one week, a month, or an entire season will be much busier than it was last year based on your budget data. On the flip side, also consider if any special events occurred this year, that won’t be happening next year, and take notes accordingly.
To Help Others, You Must First Help Yourself
Scan yourself. Is there a leak in the outdoor pool that needs to be addressed next year? Is your wedding decor no longer appealing to brides to be, and therefore must be replaced? Is the restaurant due for a much needed facelift? Just as you scan the outside environment to help guide your plan, you must also address what non routine budgetary items are needed over the course of the next year.
Analyze thoroughly, thoughtfully, and with the intention of improving, and you will be setting yourselves up for success in 2016. Don’t fixate on what you may think the owners want to hear, the owners want their hotel to be profitable, and disillusioning them with a budget that isn’t realistic, won’t satisfy anybody’s goals. Communicate with your team, embrace the outside environment, and pay close attention to your own environment, and you just might have the greatest year yet.
To learn more about how you can achieve your budget plan goals, and set your hotel up for ultimate success in 2016, contact us today!
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