Hospitality Paradigm

Airline overbooking can add up to 3% incremental revenue on an annual basis and hence is a concept taken seriously by most airlines the world over.

Airlines overbook in order to maximize revenues and load factors and ensure that empty seats are avoided (aka spoilage) on high occupancy or sold out flights. Seats may go vacant even after booking for various reasons… Passengers may cancel their bookings, they may be no-shows, they may make duplicate bookings, they may misconnect flights, etc. This process of selling more seats than are available is the ethos of overbooking and by appropriately setting authorization levels higher than capacity to compensate for passenger cancellations and no-shows, airlines increase their bottom lines substantially as the entire amount apart from the meal/amenity costs of the overbooked passenger goes to the bottom-line.

When airline companies overbook a flight, the known factors are the aircraft capacity, current bookings and the company policy on overbooking while the uncertain factors are the no-shows and cancellations, the booking behaviour and activity, the customer reaction to denied boarding and associated costs and the number of unsold seats in a higher cabin.

If we want our guests to take us seriously, we must first look at building trust-bridges with them. Some of the factors that help develop trust with our guests are:

• Execute guest requests promptly and attend to their queries and complaints with alacrity
• Your body language and communication must communicate your openness and care for the guest.
• Do homework about your guest through ‘in-house guest recognition programs’, MICROS, social media, LinkedIn etc.
• To create a connection, seek for anything common between the guest and you in terms of Language, Interest, Caste, Acquaintances, etc.
• Exude confidence – a smile is the shortest distance between two people.
• Guests would like to deal with competent supervisors / executives.
• Remember that Competence is created by a) The Organization you work for             b) Similar projects you or your company may have executed and c) You

I had a mundane experience recently at Mumbai Airport where I had to while away in excess of 2 hours of my time as I had finished off my work earlier and had reached the airport four hours ahead of my flight schedule.

I decided to go into a Food and Beverage outlet on the first floor as I could not get any available recliners which have been recently placed towards the end of the domestic terminal at ground level. Normally, I would reach the airport just in time for my flight and would pass by this outlet without having any time or need to visit it. Since I had a few hours to spend, I decided I would lounge at this café.

Suffice it to say that the experience was absolutely nothing worth writing about, with surly young wait staff and uncaring supervisors’ one had to wave about for and whose attention one caught only if one waved rather more frantically than the other guests. I watched guests of all shapes, sizes and configurations during my hours here and noticed that all were uniformly served with an apathetic approach.

But my aim on writing this piece is not to dig into the service standards; rather it is to question the service model. When are we really going to get it? What is the customer coming here for? Do we really believe it is for the food or the beverages? Think again!

During my time at this lounge café, I noticed that it was 80-90% full always. However, the focus was not on food or beverages. The users really wanted good old fashioned butt-space… comfortable seating to while away their time until their flight. Yes, there were a few who did come in for the occasional snack or coffee, but the needy hungry of these were not more than 15-20%. Those who ordered food, beer or hot beverages were simply doing it so as to while away their time. The café benefitted from their ‘share of stomach’ simply by default.

So here are my offerings for those who set up these lounges and coffee shops for the proletariat (I do not refer here to the bourgeoisie who flood the airport lounges in their Armani and Louis Vuitton):

• Why not consider what the modern day frequent flier really wants?
• Keep the food and beverages – that’s fine… After all it would be nice to have a base revenue provider!
• Is the seating what the guest would like? Would be possible to have more cushioning, reclining, massaging, etc?
• Availability of iPad, iPod and what have you. Chargeable by the minute of course.
• From their table devices, guests should be able to order food, browse the web, hear their choice of music, watch a movie and stay updated with real-time flight information.
• Would it be possible to do a virtual tour of the airport shops while seated here? Is it logistically possible to purchase and have delivery of purchases done at the table or else at the store itself? An incentive would be required for this, both for the guest as well as for the lounge.
• Kids play pen in a corner perhaps?
• Board games, computerized play stations.
• Reading options… the good old fashioned way with real books (promoted by the airport book stores, to encourage people to sample recent releases and then order & pay for them through their table iPad and have them delivered within minutes to their table)… or else there’s always the iPad offering e-books!
• Innovative OTC food knick knacks as an impulse purchase take-away, synonymous with the city in which the airport is located.

Many of the above ideas may be chargeable and would be a supplementary revenue stream for the Café apart from the fact that guests will now be offered an experience.

Café owners may argue that not many travelers have the time to spend lounging around at airports, but I would beg to defer. Our fast paced lives today compel us to ‘waste’ our time at airports thanks to airline schedules and force majeure. In fact another way at looking at these innovative cafes could be that travelers may actually be ready to come in earlier knowing that they can truly ‘refresh’ themselves here instead of hanging around in the city with the impending peril of perhaps reaching late for their flight.

By 2050, there will be 3 billion people enjoying middle-class wealth – meaning more middle-class consumers enjoying more travel, creating more jobs and generating more GDP. Growth opportunities ahead should be a wake-up call to the private and public sectors of travel and tourism to join together and plan sustainable, long-term strategies.

By 2023, WTTC forecasts that travel and tourism’s total economic contribution will account for 10% of global GDP, US$10.5 trillion and one in 10 jobs. Total travel and tourism employment is forecast to add over 70 million jobs over the next decade, with two-thirds of those additional jobs in Asia. Asia will continue to lead growth of the industry, with annual average growth of over 6%.

Government leaders must realize that taxing the tourist does not lead to positive economic growth – in fact, it leads to the opposite. Too many people still find it too complex and too difficult to cross borders as international tourists. Governments need to balance security needs with a change in mindset and implement visa waiver and trusted traveller programs. The travel and tourism industry needs to continue to lobby for change and demonstrate to individual countries the economic opportunities, which will be generated, through improvements to visa processes.

You’re not going to fool your guests if you rely too much on smaller portions or inferior quality product as they’re not going to come back. It’s a very delicate balance when you weigh out the experience for the guest.

Here are a few of the strategies which may work for your restaurant.

• Don’t focus on selling menu items that don’t make a lot of money. Lower cost doesn’t necessarily mean a lower margin. Items with a high cost and a high margin are much better than those with a low cost and a low margin.
• Know what is available seasonally and use those products, as they often have low costs and high margins.
• Purchase product carefully. Too often chefs and kitchen managers purchase too much product and sell it at a low price, driving up cost.
• Consider creative plating and pairing higher-cost proteins with lower-cost choices. For example, a pork chop can be plated with a house-made pork sausage to enable operators to offer a smaller chop while still satisfying the guest.
• Fixed-price menus offer value to guests while allowing operators to limit portion sizes.
• Build strong relationships with vendors, and communicate with them to find out when their oversupply issues might translate into good deals for their customers.

Wellness Tourism Worldwide, which provides wellness-focused market intelligence and education, has released its top 10 wellness travel trends for 2013.

The forecasted trends are based on analysis of consumer and B2B surveys, site visits and feedback from travel suppliers.

1. Wellness takes flight

To draw more passengers and increase revenue, airports renovations are featuring sleek, ultramodern designs incorporating natural light, art installations, high-end dining and shopping venues as well as a plethora of health and fitness offerings such as spas, swimming pools, gardens, walking paths, private napping cabins and cultural centers.

2. Health-focused hotels

Hotels have realized there is an unmet need for guests to maintain health during travel that goes beyond gyms, pools and spas. Now hotel rooms are designed to alleviate altitude sickness, reduce jet lag, induce better sleep, humidify the air and eliminate bacteria, waterborne chemicals and allergens. Guests also can access in-room fitness equipment and healthy lifestyle education as well as take-home tips, programs and wellness apps.

3. Digital detox

Surrendering laptops, tablets and smartphones at check-in are a part of several hotel “un-plug” programs. Some destinations are also creating technology-free vacation campaigns as a way to market their rustic settings.

4. Reconnecting through nature

Natural assets are the most critical component to wellness tourism product development. Destinations are beginning to fully leverage their landscapes in response to the human need to explore and relax outdoors.

5. Sleep at the forefront

Micro naps in urban spas create a respite from the frantic pace of cities. Private napping cabins offer respite for weary travelers. Hotel designs have evolved to combat jet lag and to help both business and leisure travelers sleep well and prepare for the day ahead. Even airlines are catching on, with well-appointed linens on a full-size bed and turndown service in first-class private cabins.

6. Spiritual seekers

The interest in non-religious spiritual practices is growing around the world. An increasingly secular global society is seeking meaning and purpose in spiritual pilgrimages, retreats, temple stays and workshops.

7. Indigenous healing traditions

Exporting a region’s traditional healing practices gives consumers the opportunity to experience them firsthand.

8. Rewarding wellness travel

In light of the economic downturn, companies are seeking peak performance and maximum efficiency. Consequently, meeting planners are seeking destinations that align with corporate initiatives for maximum ROI. In addition, most U.S. companies plan to increase the dollar value of the incentives they offer employees to participate in health improvement programs.

9. Celebrity instructor retreats

Yoga, Pilates, meditation and fitness gurus have been elevated to rock-star status with their own following and are taking their expertise on the road.

10. Intergenerational family travel

Grandparents are more active and fit, and the travel industry has designed programs to bring several generations of families together to learn, love and play.

Posted in Hotels Magazine by A.B.Storck on 1/21/2013