The purpose of all decisions is to choose the option to produce the best possible outcome in the future. The alternatives are different future predictions, and the decision-makers role is to evaluate and take a calculated risk to achieve the best result.
There are many aspects of decision-making. One is to make decisions fast and then adjust along the way towards the goal. Another is to improve the quality and predictability of decisions to reach the goal quicker and more accurately. High-quality decisions drive companies faster towards success. Many industries have focused on increasing the quality of decisions by better preparations and analysis of the different options. The increased availability of data has opened new ways of preparing and analyzing various options before making decisions.
Gut feeling decisions due to old tech
In the hospitality industry, people traditionally make many decisions based on experience and gut feeling. Unfortunately, hotel technology has prevented hotels from developing the ability to improve decisions. The primary reason for this has been the lack of access to data in old legacy systems. The lack of data access is slowly solved when new modern technology exchanges old legacy systems. The latest technology will give decision-makers in the hotel industry access to extensive data and, if used correctly, improve decisions.
Leadership skills drive the team
There has recently been a discussion about the profile of the new commercial team leader in hotels. Is this only a new title for the revenue manager, or is this a new role? First and foremost, the head of all commercial activities in a small hotel group or a large independent hotel should be a great leader - not necessarily an analytic thinker with a background in revenue management. The revenue manager will continue to play an essential role in the commercial team understanding how to draw insights from large data sets.
Make data available to all
The first step towards data-driven decision-making is to understand which data a hotel needs, capture and store that data, and transform the data into insights. There should not be any secrecy or magic around the data that only a few people can access and understand. The only way to improve decisions is to make information and insights widely available for all team members. The hotel should implement a culture of preparing and analyzing different options before making vital decisions instead of just making quick decisions based on gut feeling.
New structure improves decision-making
The role of the commercial manager is to implement a systematic approach to decision-making based on high-quality data and then continuously improve the outcome of every decision. There is more revenue data than ever before, so there are no excuses for bad choices anymore. Insights based on high-quality data will show the way to a hotel company's success.
The pandemic has allowed hotel companies to change the organizational structure for all commercial activities needed to attract and capture guests. Hotels that do not take the opportunity to improve decision-making within a newly formed commercial team will find themselves left behind since decisions based on gut feeling do not work any longer.
For more ideas, download the white paper "Create a High-Performance Commercial Team."
