The facilities play a big role.
Your location's facilities play a big role in creating and building up your image and brand. Their maintenance and condition are of vital importance to ensure they are presentable and comfortable.
Facilities include the internal and the external part of your building such as the lighting, access to your venue, parking, garden, as well as any other sports and leisure facilities for hotels.
TIP #1 MAINTENANCE PLAN
It is essential to have a Maintenance Plan incorporated into the Asset Control Plan for facilities, those are currently in use and going to be acquired in the future.
Your maintenance plan should be scheduled daily, weekly, monthly, bi-monthly, quarterly, annually, and bi-annually. For example, the plan for 2022 should be planned ahead and finalized in the last quarter of 2021. This is the perfect time for you to have reports of the current year's maintenance for reviews, analysis, updates, and upgrades where necessary so that you are ready for the new year.
For each task, you must determine who will be in charge, when it will happen, what will be inspected, the budget and the financial plan as well as any resources you may need to put in place such as internal staff, external contractors, etc... It can be useful to set a location where all this information will be put up so that the staff can easily find all information concerning the operation.
When making this plan, don’t forget to take climate into consideration. For instance, it is recommended to check your and water drainage prior to the rainy season in order to avoid any major issues.
Besides your periodically scheduled inspection, you may wish to conduct random "walk-throughs", regular "site-checks" or by "observing in the role of a customer." Depending on the size of the venue, an inspection can be as detailed as checking each individual facility one by one or by looking at the location as a whole.
Case study
We helped a customer to review the financial performance of a 180 seat restaurant in the city – lounge/bar open from 11:00 am until 01:00 am with extensive offers: lunch – tea time – after work – dinner – after dinners.
TIP #2 COMFORT
Don't overlook any sensory aspects for your facility, because more often than not, they have a direct correlation with your customer's behaviors and opinions towards your location, directly impacting your potential for revenues and affecting your chance for return customers.
The touch: including direct and indirect body contact like cutlery, seats, bed and bed linen, napkin...
The smell and taste which is present in any facility details like dirty glass or smelly washing chemicals…
The sight: such as aggressive lighting or lack of lighting …
The noise: such as loud music or unbalanced room echo …
TIP #3 USER FRIENDLY
Contactless for hygiene and safety:
In these pandemic times, contactless devices in public areas are recommended; for instance, restrooms' lighting, doors, wash and basin, hand dryers.
Very common non-user-friendly objects for immediate action:
Safe-box is placed in the dark under the wardrobe.
The hairdryer is not strong enough or/and its cord is too short.
Towel hangers are not available next to the shower or/and lack of space for 2 towels.
Electric plug’s locations are not convenient or/and lack of electric plugs in a room.
Air-conditioner is installed too close over the customers' heads, or airflow is too strong/weak.
TIP #4 CLEANLINESS
Nobody says “Let’s go there because it isn’t clean”
Keep in mind that your cleanliness standard might not the same as other’s. Some nationalities are very sensitive about cleanliness. For example, the standard of Health and Safety in Japan may be different from that of Western or European countries.
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"Never Waste a Good Crisis" is a special series prepared by Dôme Hospitality to help F&B and hospitality professionals anticipate the post-covid period in the most efficient way.
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