5 Challanges Facing The Hoteliers of Tomorrow

Hotel students face a daunting road ahead of them, and educators are finding it increasingly difficult to prepare them for all the twists and turns along the way, according to a panel of deans from some of the world’s leading hotel schools.

“Our students are going to graduate into a really tough environment. And that environment is going to get worse and not better,” said Bjorn Hanson, divisional dean of the Preston Robert Tisch Center for Hospitality, Tourism and Sports Management at New York University.

Hanson—who along with four of his peers shared their thoughts on the state of the hotel industry and hotel education during a keynote session Tuesday at the Cornell Hospitality Research Summit—said NYU is responding by adjusting its curriculum to reflect today’s challenges.

Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne, a Switzerland-based hospitality university, along with the other schools represented on the panel, have responded in kind, developing new and innovative approaches to immerse students in the hospitality experience, said Fabien Fresnel, dean of education and research at the university.

But even those efforts can seem lacking, he admitted, because hotel companies often look for skill sets that are outdated the moment a new hire walks in the door.

“You’re hiring for jobs you needed yesterday,” Fresnel said, adding it’s a function of the rapid pace of innovation throughout the industry.

To combat these trends, educators and hoteliers need to bridge the gap between research and practical knowledge, the panelists agreed. They must also do a better job of anticipating future challenges.

During the 90-minute discussion, the deans identified six such obstacles that lay waiting for the next general of leaders.

1. Compounding costs
The costs of doing nearly everything will compound during the next five years, NYU’s Hanson said. Construction costs, for example, might be low now, but they’ll begin to tick upward as more product begins churning through the pipeline.

As industry fundamentals pace upward along with broader macroeconomic trends, so too will costs of capital, he added.

Other costs that will see significant increases during the coming years, according to Hanson: utilities; payroll; taxes; social media; and technology.

2. Confounding communication
“Our students—your employees—don’t communicate the way that we did,” said Christopher Muller, dean of the School of Hospitality Administration at Boston University. “I have a phone in my office. It rings twice a day.”

Students are more inclined to communicate via text message, Twitter and other social networks.

But the influence of these emergent channels of communication are not limited to students and associates, said John Bowen, dean of the Conrad N. Hilton College of Hotel and Restaurant Management at the University of Houston. Social media has changed the way hotel companies interact with guests.

“How do we manage that interaction with the consumer? How do we manage it from a positive standpoint?” he asked. “It raises the game because now things are magnified.”

3. Dwindling demand growth
“We need more demand growth beyond what comes through the economy,” Hanson said.

During the past 50 years, demand growth averaged 2.1%, he said. From 2002 to 2012, its average was 1.5%. And if you take out the recovery years of 2002, 2003 and 2004, demand growth since 2005 has bumped along at only 1%.

The industry was able to generate demand in past decades via new product offerings, such as conference hotels and extended-stay hotels, Hanson said.

But the newest offering of late, boutique properties, are merely an extension of the luxury and upscale segments and have yet to prompt more consumers to travel.

“Our industry needs to find ways to allow us to continue to grow,” Hanson said. “If we don’t, we’re not going to attract capital. … We’re not going to attract the talent of students attending our programs.”

4. Stagnant innovation
“Our industry is one of the least innovative industries,” said Kaye Chon, dean of the School of Hotel and Tourism Management at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

Hotels, historically, are built based on what’s already been done. To combat this trend, the School of Hotel and Tourism Management helped develop the Hotel Icon, one of Hong Kong’s top-ranked properties and a veritable test kitchen for innovation.

Chon highlighted the property’s “Timeless” lounge, a comfortable, relaxing space where guests who arrive on an early, cross-continental flight can freshen up or rest while they wait to check-in.

Implementing the Timeless lounge wasn’t rocket science, but it has drawn interest from several major global chains nonetheless, Chon said.

To better serve guests and break out from commoditization, the next generation of leaders must think outside the box, he said.

5. Representative leadership
Near the end of the conversation, Boston University’s Muller motioned to the panel and asked attendees what was missing on stage.

His response: “Women.”

“Seventy percent of my students are female,” he said, adding the numbers don’t correspond to the percentage of women executives in the industry.

The same, too, could be said for ethnic and racial diversity, the panelists agreed. Hoteliers will be hard-pressed to lead associates or serve consumers with whom they cannot identify.

“We’re just not thinking about where the business is going to be in five to 10 years,” Muller said.

Some progress has been made, however, said Bowen.

Chon highlighted the recent appointment of Peninsula Hong Kong GM Rainy Chan, the first woman and Asian to serve in the post in the property’s 80-year history.

But by and large, the panelists agreed that the hotel industry still has a long way to go.

Source: www.hotelnewsnow.com