Perfecting Profits: What Hotels Can Do About Rising Labor Costs

 

 

Rising labor costs are one of the largest challenges facing hotels right now. To find out more about what hotels can do to combat those costs, host Tyler Kern spoke to Del Ross, Chief Revenue Office at Hotel Effectiveness.

In this episode of Perfecting Profits, a Hotel Effectiveness podcast, Ross discusses what is causing labor costs to rise, what steps hotels can take to lower labor costs and how Hotel Effectiveness Solutions can help hotels lower their labor costs.

For Ross, he noticed a difference on the bottom line immediately after joining the Hotel Effectiveness solutions team.

“I’ve got to say after all this time in the industry, I’ve never had a bigger immediate impact on hotel profitability than I have since I’ve joined this company,” Ross said.

Ross also notes that the internet has created some pros and cons for hotels over the last 10-15 years.

“As the internet has been a benefit and a boon to travelers and all consumers, it’s actually created a lot of complexity and cost to hotels,” Ross said. “…So It’s gotten more and more expensive to fill a hotel over time even as the universe of travelers has not changed and not really grown.”

Most importantly, Ross believes that hotels need to change their mindset regarding labor costs.

“If you look at labor as an investment rather than an expense then you are going to have to determine what you expect to get out of that labor,” he said. “And the return on labor in the hospitality industry is productivity.”

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