Part 2: Project management hotel pre-opening - succesful hotel opening according to the NH-hotel consulting- method - Case Health Care Hotel "Das Bad Peterstal" in the Black Forest
Project management hotel pre-opening - succesful hotel opening according to the Nübel Hotel GmbH method - Case Health Care Hotel "Das Bad Peterstal" in the Black Forest
In the final phase the set objectives will be compared with what has been achieved and the hotel will be handed over for the use of guests. The determination of who is accomplishing the final examination and what members of the project team will do after the hotel opening will complete the project.
A hotel opening, due to its long range, strategic characteristics and the investor's high financial committment, always has a time frame and a financial frame. Therefore this should be the main task of a least one full-time employee. The project schedule (samples are available upon request here) gives an overview of the hotel opening as a whole. A project plan details activities, dates, capacities, employees and costs of each milestone.
Such a milestone is for example the decision about which hotel software to purchase and the installing of it. Accomplishing the milestone accounts for the control of the project's progress and gives the go-ahead to enter the next project phase. This works as an important monitoring instrument for the initiator.
A gantt chart provides for a good overview and makes it possible to delegate particular tasks.
As the case arises the actual composition of the project team decides about relations between project team members, project leader and only partly involved company departments (front office team, head office). The organisation of activities, competencies and responsiblities within the team is vital for succes. The actual appearance of this organisation will be depend on whether the hotel opening will be managed by a truly external project team (e.g. the Nübel Hotel Consulting, www.nh-hotelberatung.de) or by internal employees. "Too many cooks spoil the broth".
Establishing sub-projects (to be generated from the project schedule, see above) will provide for a boost in the timeline. This is where the experienced project leader will make use of his employees' various skills in an optimal way. It is necessary to employ everybody's individual response tendencies (adaptability, reclusiveness, assertiveness and tendency towards balancing) in an optimal way.
For the pre-opening leader/ projet leader himself it is a must to apply a cooperative leadership style and his ability to guide properly assesed individuals, to integrate, to encourage, motivate and train.
The project leader will train his fantasy and creativity therefore not only on the hotel to be opened, but also on the way to the opening day's moment.
As a matter of course the role heavily depends on the pre-opening manager's/ project leader's functional and professional empowerment and authority to decide. This also comprises his authority in financial terms and by disciplinary measures. If any of these capacities is not delegated to the project leader, problems are bound to occur.
Resolutions for teamwork:
- Once it becomes apparent that important objectives are at risk, this should be brought up.
- Responsiblity is applied regarding the task not the hierarchy.
- Everbody has to communicate important information.
- We speak frankly about problems and work together on solutions.
- We ask ourselves after each decision: „What comes next?“
- Everything what has been defined once, can be redefined again.
- We get piece and quiet to reflect continously and question our results.
- My make use of backlashes by searching for the causes and to make it better the next time.
- We don't chase the strenghts of others, but establish our own.
- We strive to stay close to the client and make continous adaptions towards his expectations.
A prerequisite for good team work is:
- A clear and fair delegation of tasks
- A way of working that is characterised by reasoning instead of commanding
- A certain transparency in decision-makig
- Ability for cooperation
- Ability to communicate
- Technical and human authority.
The project manager's resolutions:
- I identify myself with the project's topic.
- I pressurize the team for productivity and creativity and provide for continously developing new motivational structures.
- I think positive. The senctence „no, this does not work“ is difficult to say for my team.
- I am succesful once my team is succesful.
- I am aware, that every mismanagement originates from human relations.
- I try to response to different expectations with flexibility and allow for changes.
- I obtain my authority not from my position but from my tasks.
- Resolute in execution but treating people with fairness and respect.
- I don't distinguish myself at one other's cost.
- I don't establish any shadow management opposite to the existing company structure.
Good preconditions are available, if:
- a consensus on the objectives is reached,
- everybody has agreed on the approach,
- common standards are adhered to,
- roles and role allocation is clarified.
You have a good team, if
- everyone gets it straight that they are all in the same boat
- everyone pulls together,
- everyone can count on the other,
- there is security that everyone gains something from the project
- all work being aware that she or he can achieve something as an individual or as part of the group
- there is an open attitude and everyone is up to learn from the other, everyone respects each other and is ready to help when problems arise
- if the composition of different personalities with different approaches is not seen as an annoyance but as a strength
- work is done effectively and the team produces high-quality results.
Tuesday, 3 November 2009
Friday, 30 October 2009
Part 1: Project management hotel pre-opening
Part 1: Project management hotel pre-opening - succesful hotel opening according to the Nübel Hotel GmbH method - Case Health Care Hotel "Das Bad Peterstal" in the Black Forest
hotelberatung | 09 August, 2009 20:17
Project management hotel pre-opening - succesful hotel opening according to the Nübel Hotel GmbH method - Case Health Care Hotel "Das Bad Peterstal" in the Black Forest
The opening of a hotel is always a project. It has the typical characteristics according to DIN 69901 in DIN 1989, page 11:
- Complex, cutting-edge assignement comprising construction, investment and organization
- Written goals
- budgeted financial and staff configuration
- Defined start and end
- Interdisciplinary collaboration of different persons, companies and departments
Therefore a hotel opening without project management would be unconveivable.
Focal points in project management are 3 aims:
1. resulting quality
2. date of hotel opening (end of project)
3. budget project costs
These overall aims are above all subordinate objectives, tasks, solutions and personnel decisions during the whole project. The project manager is responsible for the dates, contents, staff and budget.
The organizational structure of a hotel opening consists of three levels:
1. Initiator
2. Executive committee (approves budgets, takes decisions beyond the project group's competence)
3. The project team with project manager and members of staff
To find the right people and determine hierarchical and managerial authority as well as business relationships are important steps towards a target-oriented hotel opening.
This hotel opening is organized into the phases of prearrangement, implementation, controlling and closing.
To the phase of prearrangement belong:
- the feasibility-study
- the marketing plan including budgets for hotel and restaurant operation
- the permanent alignment with the customer's, architect's or initiator's expectations
- checking information paths and defining particular tasks, competences and responsibilities
By this time it will become clear whether an external pre-opening hotel manager is necessary or not. In the phase of prearrangement the team members (or candidates) will be allocated to one or more tasks/ roles according to their motivation, experience and temporal ressources.
The phase of implementation starts with the day, when the work to reach the first partial result has started. This can be:
- Human resource planning
- Marketing concept
- IT-concept
- Front office concept
- Food &Beverage concept
- Housekeeping concept
- Room design (furniture, fitting colors and materials)
- Controlling concept for hotel operation
- Architect's plan
These are the partial results of phase 1 of a hotel opening. This is also when it is decided about who informs who via which communication path abouth the next dates and results and where assistance can be asked for.
In this phase the project manager's operational compentences will be proven. She or he has to realize whether training is necessary, the team is motivated or not and whether everybody is aware of the in the prearrangement phase established goals, methods, norms and roles.
Parallel to the implementation starts the phase of controlling consisting of:
- the permanent adapting of plans to the actual status
- assessment of leeway for changes
- exact costs, dates, monitoring the quality of the overall aim as well as all subordinate goals and tasks.
hotelberatung | 09 August, 2009 20:17
Project management hotel pre-opening - succesful hotel opening according to the Nübel Hotel GmbH method - Case Health Care Hotel "Das Bad Peterstal" in the Black Forest
The opening of a hotel is always a project. It has the typical characteristics according to DIN 69901 in DIN 1989, page 11:
- Complex, cutting-edge assignement comprising construction, investment and organization
- Written goals
- budgeted financial and staff configuration
- Defined start and end
- Interdisciplinary collaboration of different persons, companies and departments
Therefore a hotel opening without project management would be unconveivable.
Focal points in project management are 3 aims:
1. resulting quality
2. date of hotel opening (end of project)
3. budget project costs
These overall aims are above all subordinate objectives, tasks, solutions and personnel decisions during the whole project. The project manager is responsible for the dates, contents, staff and budget.
The organizational structure of a hotel opening consists of three levels:
1. Initiator
2. Executive committee (approves budgets, takes decisions beyond the project group's competence)
3. The project team with project manager and members of staff
To find the right people and determine hierarchical and managerial authority as well as business relationships are important steps towards a target-oriented hotel opening.
This hotel opening is organized into the phases of prearrangement, implementation, controlling and closing.
To the phase of prearrangement belong:
- the feasibility-study
- the marketing plan including budgets for hotel and restaurant operation
- the permanent alignment with the customer's, architect's or initiator's expectations
- checking information paths and defining particular tasks, competences and responsibilities
By this time it will become clear whether an external pre-opening hotel manager is necessary or not. In the phase of prearrangement the team members (or candidates) will be allocated to one or more tasks/ roles according to their motivation, experience and temporal ressources.
The phase of implementation starts with the day, when the work to reach the first partial result has started. This can be:
- Human resource planning
- Marketing concept
- IT-concept
- Front office concept
- Food &Beverage concept
- Housekeeping concept
- Room design (furniture, fitting colors and materials)
- Controlling concept for hotel operation
- Architect's plan
These are the partial results of phase 1 of a hotel opening. This is also when it is decided about who informs who via which communication path abouth the next dates and results and where assistance can be asked for.
In this phase the project manager's operational compentences will be proven. She or he has to realize whether training is necessary, the team is motivated or not and whether everybody is aware of the in the prearrangement phase established goals, methods, norms and roles.
Parallel to the implementation starts the phase of controlling consisting of:
- the permanent adapting of plans to the actual status
- assessment of leeway for changes
- exact costs, dates, monitoring the quality of the overall aim as well as all subordinate goals and tasks.
Thursday, 24 September 2009
Software Solutions In The Front And Back Office Area For Hotels.
An interview with Hermann Nübel in the November issue of the "Gastronomie" (Huss-Medien GmbH) magazine.
Who usually takes the administrator functions in medium-sized hotels?
To define mid-sized hotels under the criterion “organizational structure”, as part of a major hotel chain or one that has no connection with hotel chains, then the answer is: It depends ... private-owned hotels are those that are controlled and operated by the one who invests the working capital. It is not surprising that many of these entrepreneurs undertake the tasks themselves or delegate administrative functions, but to leading employees. Often, this high level of responsibility is “"accidentally” assigned to external service providers.
For example, the technician of a hardware supplier then takes the simple tasks such as; from the hotel reservation program, to the uploading of the data given new rights and to establish security policies ... It also happens that some private hotels may belong to a corporate network - an aluminium factory or a shipping company - the administration will be by the parent company of the hotel. As a hotel consultant I am not aware of data collection on this issue, but we in our operating practices have encountered just about everything, down to hoteliers, who simply give every employee administrative rights ...
The standard should be that the rights of the individual structures are defined and systematized course of operations are adjusted. That is - with an exceptional programmatically experienced hotel manager in the hotel – and if there is non then it is a classic task for outsourcing to a management consultancy specializing in gastronomy.
What are the most common error in software used?
Two mistakes we meet again:
1. The hardware is not adapted to the needs of advanced software
2. The software is used incorrectly or only 10% of their possibilities.
Example: The server has been bravely running for five years, one is pleased about the good investment of time. In parallel, the hotel software has been upgraded four times, additional modules have been purchased, the property management now also runs on the system and the database has swollen to more than 20,000 records. No wonder that the system has become slower and slower? Because it is so slow, employees prefere to work with paper and pen instead of the system thus work is done twice: One writes first and later enter it into the system, or usually instead of the slow text feature in the hotel program everything is simply written in an external text editor ...
The second error is found, unfortunately, especially in the medium described above hotels more often. Because training is costly, it is given a minimal budget, even worse, is the frequent change of personnel in the industry - also at the front and the back office - even this minimal knowledge is often lost after two years when the employees leave. We know many companies that just go bad because no one computerized a reservation system that we can really use. Additional expenses, slowing orders, duplicate records which are impossible to make statistic of, false and erroneous entries in the master data are the consequences.
Walkthroughs are really beneficial? If yes, why? / If not, why?
Total solutions should be always economically examined in the context of comparing offers. Everything from one source is advantageous if the provider guarantees safety, service and system stability. In any case, it makes sense to examine every hotel individually. It depends on the IT expertise in house, the staff structure, the turnover, the company's goals. There are still cases where we recommend the good old reservation plan...
What services does your company offer?
The hotel Nübel mbH – which is incidentally celebrating its tenth anniversary this year - is specialized in the hospitality industry. Our expertise is to know the hotel industry with its special features: a service around the clock, 365 days a year, has a maximum lifetime of 24 hours (for each day on which a bed is not occupied, you did not really need to buy a reservation system and construct a million-dollar hotel building ...). We advise and give results-goal-oriented help to deploy resources. We employ specialists in training, controlling and marketing. The result for the hotel is always an increase in returns, often up to 200%. In the field of software, I am personally responsible as the managing director. On our website – by the way is the number one placed company under the search words “hotel consultation” or “hotel pre-opening” in Google for detailed offers and products: http://www.nh-hotelberatung.de.
What advantages does your software have, in contrast to competing products?
We prefer to use no software. As a neutral hotel consulting company, we first examine existing hotel software and website in accordance with objective criteria. We then individually adapt it to the operation and its current situation, we will obtain various offers and present them with their advantages and disadvantages to our clients.
Hermann Nübel
Managing Director Nübel Hotel GmbH
Who usually takes the administrator functions in medium-sized hotels?
To define mid-sized hotels under the criterion “organizational structure”, as part of a major hotel chain or one that has no connection with hotel chains, then the answer is: It depends ... private-owned hotels are those that are controlled and operated by the one who invests the working capital. It is not surprising that many of these entrepreneurs undertake the tasks themselves or delegate administrative functions, but to leading employees. Often, this high level of responsibility is “"accidentally” assigned to external service providers.
For example, the technician of a hardware supplier then takes the simple tasks such as; from the hotel reservation program, to the uploading of the data given new rights and to establish security policies ... It also happens that some private hotels may belong to a corporate network - an aluminium factory or a shipping company - the administration will be by the parent company of the hotel. As a hotel consultant I am not aware of data collection on this issue, but we in our operating practices have encountered just about everything, down to hoteliers, who simply give every employee administrative rights ...
The standard should be that the rights of the individual structures are defined and systematized course of operations are adjusted. That is - with an exceptional programmatically experienced hotel manager in the hotel – and if there is non then it is a classic task for outsourcing to a management consultancy specializing in gastronomy.
What are the most common error in software used?
Two mistakes we meet again:
1. The hardware is not adapted to the needs of advanced software
2. The software is used incorrectly or only 10% of their possibilities.
Example: The server has been bravely running for five years, one is pleased about the good investment of time. In parallel, the hotel software has been upgraded four times, additional modules have been purchased, the property management now also runs on the system and the database has swollen to more than 20,000 records. No wonder that the system has become slower and slower? Because it is so slow, employees prefere to work with paper and pen instead of the system thus work is done twice: One writes first and later enter it into the system, or usually instead of the slow text feature in the hotel program everything is simply written in an external text editor ...
The second error is found, unfortunately, especially in the medium described above hotels more often. Because training is costly, it is given a minimal budget, even worse, is the frequent change of personnel in the industry - also at the front and the back office - even this minimal knowledge is often lost after two years when the employees leave. We know many companies that just go bad because no one computerized a reservation system that we can really use. Additional expenses, slowing orders, duplicate records which are impossible to make statistic of, false and erroneous entries in the master data are the consequences.
Walkthroughs are really beneficial? If yes, why? / If not, why?
Total solutions should be always economically examined in the context of comparing offers. Everything from one source is advantageous if the provider guarantees safety, service and system stability. In any case, it makes sense to examine every hotel individually. It depends on the IT expertise in house, the staff structure, the turnover, the company's goals. There are still cases where we recommend the good old reservation plan...
What services does your company offer?
The hotel Nübel mbH – which is incidentally celebrating its tenth anniversary this year - is specialized in the hospitality industry. Our expertise is to know the hotel industry with its special features: a service around the clock, 365 days a year, has a maximum lifetime of 24 hours (for each day on which a bed is not occupied, you did not really need to buy a reservation system and construct a million-dollar hotel building ...). We advise and give results-goal-oriented help to deploy resources. We employ specialists in training, controlling and marketing. The result for the hotel is always an increase in returns, often up to 200%. In the field of software, I am personally responsible as the managing director. On our website – by the way is the number one placed company under the search words “hotel consultation” or “hotel pre-opening” in Google for detailed offers and products: http://www.nh-hotelberatung.de.
What advantages does your software have, in contrast to competing products?
We prefer to use no software. As a neutral hotel consulting company, we first examine existing hotel software and website in accordance with objective criteria. We then individually adapt it to the operation and its current situation, we will obtain various offers and present them with their advantages and disadvantages to our clients.
Hermann Nübel
Managing Director Nübel Hotel GmbH
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