10 most common mistakes in hotel pre-opening and opening
03 May 2011
A professional managed pre-opening process with extraordinary attention will likely lead to a smooth opening and this will help ensure a successful hotel operation for years to come; all my experience of 14 openings suggests that failure to direct and resource the pre-opening will have detrimental, sometime disastrous, effects for many years and in a managed hotel will certainly create tension between the owners and the operating company resulting in deteriorating relations and loss of confidence.
The hotel business, like any other business, is a business of detail evidence by the fact that the pre-opening check list prepared by Hotel Solutions Partnership shows 600 or more interdependent activities including the monitoring of the progress of the pre-opening.
The General Manager and each department head will each have check lists and all should be co-ordinated and monitored for progress by the General Manager as project manager. In a managed hotel there will also be teams contributing to the process from the head office teams of the operator as well as the office of the owner.
This is a critical phase in the life of the hotel and close attention must be given to it by the selected hotel team together with the head office in order to ensure the maximum return on the employed capital (ROEC) from day one.
Quite often, this task is not given adequate importance and deserved attention, especially by owners who are not familiar with the hotel business. Wrongly, some owners delegate full responsibility to the operator without regular control and accountability.
Turn to the next page to view the list of common mistakes
It is great depth of comprehensive knowledge and an excellent piece information to serve as guideline for pre-opening project. Apart from the check list and budget, time factor is important one as the General Manager have to dirve every effort to make it happen that the targeting opening date would be met. to expectation.