Steps to Prepare for Peak Season The peak season is an exciting time for any hotel. You get to see the fruits of your planning come together in the last few months of the year, and it’s great for your bank account after a long winter.
to keep up with demand. That means you aren’t maximising your sales if the bar is three-deep or people get impatient with slow table service and pass on dessert or another round of drinks.
However, it’s also a challenging time of year.
The festive season is when hotels are busiest and in the current staffing crisis, the ratio of staff to patrons is probably at its lowest.
QUARTERLY CYCLES Most businesses plan in 90-day cycles (quarters). To make sure that you don’t fall behind during this busy time, you need to plan ahead. PRICING AND PROMOTION Don’t make important pricing decisions on the run. Make sure you have a good handle on your hotel’s peak season price points - how much you will charge for rooms, functions, packages, meals etc. during this season. Have a Plan B; for example, if you find yourself in early December with Christmas Day tables well below last year’s bookings level. Will you use selective pricing, or ramp up your promotional efforts? How much will you commit to advertising or an email campaign? CHECK YOUR EQUIPMENT IS IN TOP SHAPE One of the most important things to tick off your peak season checklist is ensuring your equipment is in top condition. This includes everything from your kitchen appliances to your housekeeping equipment, to any communications equipment you may have. Make sure that you’re doing regular maintenance so that it doesn’t break down during peak season. If something does fail, you need a plan in place to repair it as quickly as possible. STAFFING One of the most common issues that affects hotels during peak season is that they’re simply too busy Back to Contents
This is not going to change during the peak weeks of 2022. If you can’t find more staff, then you either need to reduce patron numbers – or find more efficient ways to operate. For example, that might mean going over your menus (again) to make sure they are able to be prepared and delivered to the table in the shortest possible time, without impacting quality. If you are really short on staff, complex dishes may have to be sacrificed. Set menus may have to be introduced. Or they may have to be introduced earlier in December that would normally be the case. Make sure staff understand what peak efficiency looks like. Now is the time to be training and holding refresher sessions. You might even consider offering incentives for teams that can cope with high load shifts with fewer staff on deck. Motivate them by giving them a share in your success. Look after your key staff. Make sure you are not overworking any one person and causing burnout, especially a top performer you can’t afford to lose. In making sure you have enough staff members to adequately service each guest, understanding your operation ‘inside out’ is vital. Get into the details or delegate this to someone you trust – but make sure you have a good grasp on how long each part of your operation takes so that you can properly schedule your staff members.
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