The inestimable value of accolades

Over the years I’ve heard lots of hoteliers say that awards don’t matter very much; that they’d rather have happy customers than a Michelin star; that travel writers are just freeloaders; that they might stop working with the AA because it “doesn’t bring any customers”.  Some are equally dismissive of poor reviews on Tripadvisor, claiming these have no real effect on business.
Whilst you could make a strong argument either way, there’s no easy method of proving what impact our complex system of grading and reviews actually has on customer behaviour – most of us just feel we know in our guts that praise from an authoritative source is going to help and that criticism from almost any source can hinder our efforts to attract new business.

What I do know, from hosting and attending countless awards ceremonies myself, is that winning accolades can give a massive boost to the people working in any business. A recent example was the AA Hospitality Awards in London which attracted around 1,000 industry professionals and plenty of valuable sponsorship. Don’t be fooled by anyone who says they’re immune to the appeal of another rosette or an upgrade to red stars – successful hoteliers and their teams devote considerable resources to the quest.

Think how many useful objectives can be met by securing one piece of recognition from a worthy industry body: a higher profile for the business, encouragement for the team, reassurance for both new and existing customers, a boost to the resale value of the business and, let’s not forget, a nice pat on the back for the boss.

It’s virtually impossible to put a monetary value on these things. No matter how good your reservations team are at identifying the source of bookings, very few guests are willing or indeed able to state how they came to select your hotel beyond such crude answers as “internet” or “recommended”. In practise, we know that a typical journey from look to book might include many factors from a Google search for the location or type of experience, a glance at Tripadvisor reviews, the vague memory of a newspaper or magazine article, the star rating, the price, affiliation with a brand, the quality of images, ease of booking and much more. You will never know how close the guest came to choosing somewhere else because they scored higher than you did based on their criteria, nor how many guests might have chosen you over a rival but for one small difference.

To compound this, we have copious records relating to online reservations enabling us to precisely target our spending on pay per click advertising, for example, whereas the 50% of guests who make their actual bookings by telephone slip through this data trawling net completely.

My own view is that accolades are very much worth pursuing in exactly the same way that having pleasant conversations with customers and keeping the garden looking lovely is worthwhile. At the end of the day we are selling hospitality in all its forms, so if you employ people who understand how to look after others properly the plaudits will follow naturally.

Just one word of warning… there will come a time when years of effort and the accumulated recognition you receive as a hotelier finally catches up with you and someone presents you with a Lifetime Achievement award. Be very afraid, because that will be your signal to retire gracefully and allow the next generation of stars to rise.