The hotel business model

A good planning of a hotel business will allow to better execute the strategic plans and thus ensure success in business management.

By: Jorge Gómez Betancourt*

The strategic perspective of business leads us to a reflection: Is a commercial activity, by itself, good or bad? Or is it the business model with which we operate that activity that is deficient or successful? The answer is simple and clear: the success of companies is not defined by the type of activity, it is established by the way in which business management is structured.

In the hotel sector, the difference in success or failure is in the hotel's strategic plan, its administrative, financial, operational and commercial structure. I have had the opportunity to participate in national and international projects, where hotels of the same category, area, structures and similar clients have different occupancy levels and obtain different profits and returns. Is hospitality then a good or bad commercial activity? No, it's the hotel business model that makes the difference.

And a successful hotel business bases its management mainly on the following items:

• A strategic approach, with a financial perspective defined in terms of measurable and controlled indicators and with a financial management plan based on the optimization of resources, profit and profitability.
• An operational plan technically designed and leveraged in the concepts of innovation, creativity, differentiators and quality, supported by a competent human talent and aligned with the business.
• An administration with an efficient and effective structure that guarantees excellent levels of productivity.
• A strategic marketing and positioning plan, with a clear and effective identification and definition of customer and market niche, which takes it to a sustainable and growing competitive level over time.
• An infrastructure according to the value proposition that has been made to the client.
• A plan of strategic alliances with suppliers, competitors and entities of the local, regional, national and international context.

In this order of ideas, it is necessary that each of its hotels has a successful business model, which guarantees a strengthening and business development based on the achievement of high levels of customer satisfaction, excellent profit margins and profitability, integral development of human talent and a continuous improvement of the processes and procedures of operation.

We must be more proactive, we have to anticipate the dynamics and evolution of the market, as well as the new demands of customers. We must make synergy with the other actors in the tourism chain of the region and the country. The future of the hotel industry and the tourist development of the country is the responsibility of all of us, we cannot abstract ourselves from this commitment.

This is a great opportunity and we will seize it. I invite you to be part of this new challenge for hotels in Colombia: to have world-class hotels.

*Executive Director Cotelco, Quindío. Specialist in productivity and hotel competitiveness.