How does working in a Single property vs. Multi-property hotel cluster affect your mindset in the hospitality industry?

While working within a cluster of hotels for one of the biggest hospitality brands in Qatar, I was blessed with an opportunity to manage a segment of residential services for two properties in Lusail – the newest developing area in the country. There, my operational background definitely came in handy while getting accustomed to a new role as it required me to closely work with the operations team in order to ensure the Sales success of both properties. In this article, we are going to explore the fundamental differences between working in a cluster vs. a single hotel and how that creates the need for developing an individual and tailored approach for each property.

The differences can be categorized in the following sections:

1.       Multiple properties multiplied by brand standards plus different target markets

There were two different properties with two different target markets and fundamental brand standards differences. For example, one property was an upper upscale hotel with several facilities ranging from several F&B outlets to concierge services and SPA, while another property was still in the process of conversion at the time from a newly constructed residential building into an upscale hotel that for the moment had only a small lounge on the ground level with a smaller team overall.

2.       Target market and positioning

The clientele’s demographics, psychographics, as well as past behavior, can be completely different based on the property and warrants the creation of unique Sales&Marketing strategies and tactics. For instance, the brand strategy of one property can be expressed as “attracting customers with high buying power by offering a luxury shopping experience” while another property focuses “on creating the feeling of home for an expat community”. These strategic distinctions call for a range of tactics, such as harnessing third-party platforms to identify prospective residents or maintaining exclusive advertising rights solely on the official website. This not only enhances the aura of exclusivity but also thwarts competitors from monitoring rates on external platforms.

Even 5-star hotels that seemingly have the same 5-star label attached to them might have different standards of excellence, thus attracting different guests based on the concept, facilities, and location. That’s the primary reason there are several hotel brands that cater to different needs of different people even within the same segment of luxury hotels

3.       The management structure and ultimately the division of tasks

Ultimately, the size of operations defines its structure and hierarchy. Bigger properties with high daily occupancy would require a rooms controller whose entire role is based on rooms allocation while in smaller properties that responsibility can be a part of the front office team that’s evenly distributed between its team members. Sometimes even directors of rooms division can be no exception. For instance, primarily a director of rooms division did rooms control in one of the properties while another director was not involved in that at all.

4.       People’s culture and eventually adapting to the management style of each hotel

The leadership style of senior management of different properties drastically affects its culture and communication style. Being part of the cluster means that in order to get the same things done in different properties would require different approaches and means of communication. For example, the operations team in one hotel is okay with informal messages to the duty phone number while another property would appreciate an official email reaffirmed via phone call, purely depending on the preferences of teams. There are still irreplaceable standards such as the official means of communication being email. Therefore, a mix of differences above may create the need to quickly adapt to each property’s style. Especially in light of the dynamic market of Gulf Countries.

Getting accustomed to the new role in the new department especially after working primarily in the luxury segment of hotels was an eye-opening experience that broadened my horizons in the industry – a breath of fresh air as I would call it.

Working in a multi-property establishment affects you in several ways:

1.       Makes you more versatile, making you adapt to different styles of management and communication.

This cannot be overstated since it shows how adaptable you are. As your job routine changes, you find yourself doing similar tasks in a different way.

2.       Makes you challenge your status quo on several different points regarding the hotel business such as service standards, procedures, and even approach.

3.       Deepens your understanding of the human aspect as a hospitality professional by immersing and working with a set of different teams, offering a rare opportunity to interact with a higher number of people ranging from management to line staff.

4.       Makes you think more about the purpose and less about following strict standards deepening the knowledge of your craft. This is the reason why in the hospitality industry working for a cluster is usually valued more over a single hotel. This can be bypassed by the extensive experience of working in several properties. However, working for an already multi-property establishment allows you to observe and implement the best practices observed from several hotels.

5.       At the same time allows you to polish the fundamental elements and immovable standards that are key to the success of any property regardless of the chain, location, or country. Sometimes these characteristics become KPI in the case of GSS, RevPAR, and ProfitPAR.

6.       Leveraging the strengths of different properties. In hindsight, it might seem that it’s only applicable to Sales as you can offer a bigger variety and thus catch more potential clients. However, it also hides in other departments and divisions as well, for example, the task force from Front Office can be formed in one property and sent to another, allowing you to leverage the strengths of both properties thus being more productive and efficient.

7.       Increased complexity warrants a more complex hierarchy that in turn provides wider career prospects and opportunities within all the involved departments. As trivial as it might seem, a small hotel will have only one Sales & Marketing Manager with fewer opportunities for others to grow. While multi-property establishments might have up to 50 Sales people and even more.

In conclusion, we can say that working for a multi-property establishment has several impacts on operations and management in terms of SOPs, standards, and other aforementioned factors. It has several opportunities that can be embraced for personal growth and further development as a hospitality professional.