Ten Tips to Boost Your Business Despite COVID-19

Hotel SA looks at current trends and links them to hotel operations to find new ways to profit in difficult times.

1. Change your thinking.

a. It’s tough to do but try to view it as an opportunity.

b. Is there the potential in the longer term to gain more than you have lost?

c. Remember that you are not just in the hospitality business, you are also in the “confidence business”.

2. Work with the on-again, off-again nature of restrictions.

Have marketing campaigns ready to go as soon as restrictions are lifted and maximise the number of sittings your dining areas can handle. If demand is not high enough for several sittings, then use that to your advantage by promoting “no 90-minute sittings - stay as a long as you want”.

3. If lockdowns continue, how do you hang on to your best staff?

Opening a takeaway coffee window or pre-cooked meals may not supercharge your bank account but it will help you keep key staff, such as chefs, gainfully employed so they are not lost to competitors.

4. Some consumers will prefer to continue avoiding crowded spaces.

Can you offer higher quality home delivered meals (or pre-prepared heat-andeat meals) that separates you from the junk food options that proliferate?

5. The pandemic has forced people to consider health issues on a daily basis.

Make sure you have enough healthy options on your menu and that they are clearly marked (and marketed).

6. Social distancing remains important.

As we come out of winter, can you open up more space outdoors? While there is still a chill in the air, include rugs and space heaters.

7. More people will continue to work from home.

How do you reach the work-from-home segment? They still want options for breakfast, lunch, coffee and social drinks.

8. More people used shopping online during the pandemic.

This behaviour will remain. That opens up opportunities for alcohol deliveries and meal deliveries.

9. Check your own venue figures but in most sectors, the majority of people are shopping using a phone.

Does your website offer a near-perfect online experience? When did you last try to make a booking on your own website, using your phone?

10. People will pay a premium for quick deliveries.

Demand for this segment is growing. It’s an option for most retailers. As an exercise, check out the ordering options at Dan Murphy’s, which has tiered delivery payments tied to speed of delivery.