The world as we know it is dissolving. A transformation that scares.
Like everything outside of our experience and control.
And the transformation we’re experiencing is huge.
Hotel industry and tourism are among the sectors most affected by the Corona crisis. To reduce the risk of infection, the hotel product became practically unsellable from one day to the next.
After weeks of perseverance, now the way into a new reality starts slowly and carefully.
How hard will it be?
It mainly depends on the perspective from which we look at things.
Do we focus our thinking on the losses and vacant rooms? Or do we use our very special strengths as hoteliers to break with the traditional and the routine to reorganize the hotel industry in a different, maybe even better format?
From a neuroscientific point of view, we’ve spent the last two months mostly on an adrenaline rush. The “stress hormone” spurs the body to peak performance for a brief time in dangerous situations. When the immediate danger is over, a leaden fatigue sets in. In the past few weeks, this has certainly contributed to the eternal “up and down” of our emotional world.
In the short term, adrenaline rushes are helpful, but long-term, it puts your health at risk …
Time to reactivate inner reserves and use the characteristic skills of a successful hotelier.
True, the virus is still there and is forcing us to break unfamiliar ground, but if you look at the potential that lies dormant in you, the future may not look so bleak, after all.
Being a hotelier is not for everyone. You have to be cut from a different cloth to be successful in this business:
Hoteliers are masters in problem solving
and incredibly creative with solutions. They always keep a cool head and are not easily upset. There are no problems – only challenges to be overcome.
Some of us could write a book about the complexity of everyday hotel life: from day-to-day issues, such as technical problems in the conference room to dramas like that of the wedding photographer who had forgotten to insert a film. From lavish celebrations to hotel rooms in which one unexpectedly finds a deceased guest. From dealing with natural disasters to terrorist attacks.
A hotelier is always in the middle of life. And even in the greatest chaos, remains calm and shows the way (even if he/she does not yet quite know where it’ll lead)
Nobody connects better
Hoteliers have strong social skills – they can listen, they create trust and they offer support.
These are the values that are extremely important to people, especially now. Post-quarantine life has begun, and now it’s time to feel your way forward and weigh the next steps under new conditions.
Boutique and private hotels in particular have a significant advantage. They do not have to laboriously win the trust of their guests. In most cases they already have it: “I know the team and the manager / owner personally and I know how much he appreciates his guests. He will do everything in terms of hygiene and other measures to protect us / his guests. I feel in good hands and safe at his hotel.”
Corona has shown us that even the best technology does not have all the answers. In the end, it was the people who helped and supported each other in solidarity in the worst days and hours. We appreciate more what we are for each other.
Hoteliers don’t just talk, they take action.
You are committed and get involved. Whatever is necessary is being put into practice.
As all-round talents, hoteliers can repair toilet flushes, serve as bartenders and act as psychologists, and oversee three different projects at the same time.
If you can’t do something yourself, you’ll have an extensive list of on-call support.
This is more than some top-class managers in the private sector can say about themselves.
Hoteliers have a sense of humor.
How could they not, with what they experience every day.
That also helped us over the awful Corona weeks. Funny text messages, black humor, videos that made us laugh and now and then even a little joke in the news.
For months, we were only exposed to gloomy forecasts and horror scenarios that paralyzed and only allowed tunnel vision.
Now it’s time to look ahead and consciously switch direction.
If the perspective changes, the answers will change as well and who knows what the outcome might be.
As with this question:
“What if everything in your life happened for you, not against you?”
Christoph Bischoff, Mental trainer
