Case Studies: Asset Management in Action

RAMADA HOTEL

SITUATION

• Hotel Heads was retained by the owners to provide asset management and
  market re positioning for this four star hotel and leisure complex with three ballrooms and 18,000 sq ft of health club space.
  
• The goal was to stabilise the senior management team of the hotel and to
  improve revpar performance of the guest bedrooms.

INITIATIVES/RESULTS

• Brought in an interim General Manager for six months who stabilised the
  property and created a more effective management structure. Followed
  this up by recruiting a former Hilton General Manager with the sales and
  marketing expertise to optimise departmental revenues, in particular RevPar.
  
• Negotiated the lease of the health club to LA Fitness plc. By bringing in an outside plc brand name we saved the expense of fitting out and operating the club and added value to the hotel.
  
• Secured an associated with the top local Michelin Star chef to co brand the restaurant. This led to massive spin offs for the hotels food & beverage and conference & banqueting operations.

DAYS HOTEL

SITUATION

• Despite a city centre location this hotel was underperforming the market by 10-15% in occupancy and by over 20% in average rate. The hotel suffered from a poor local perception, was typically one of the last to fill and had an over reliance on low value coach business to fill its rooms.

• The goal was to improve the local perception, improve distribution channels, reduce reliance on low rate business and began to compete on price against the top players in the market segment.

INITIATIVES/RESULTS

• We spent 2 weeks staying at the hotel to see first hand what the problems were. A lack of managerial focus on fundamental guest issues together with a lack of any clear pricing or sales policies were found.

• We redesigned the hotel website to drive zero commission business into the hotel and introduced online features for guests to easily do repeat bookings manage their accounts and log into their own guest area. This was fully optimised and resulted in a significant improvement in direct bookings at rack rates into the hotel.

• We reorganized the hotels restaurant and breakfast offering which was unattractive and restrictive in timings. Guests were given a much wider array of food over a linger period which reduced queuing and complaints given that this hotel had 250 bedrooms.
  
• We improved the kerb appeal and signage of the hotel to portray a more up market image to the local business population.
  
• Internally an interior design scheme was implemented which significantly improved the wow factor and brought the hotel to a high 3 star standard throughout.
  
• the rooms were all treated to a cosmetic facelift and better heating and ventilation controls were added fro guest comfort.
  
• The result is now a hotel that leads its market segment and outperforms the city in evpar for the first time in its 5 years since opening.

RENSHAWS HOTEL

SITUATION

• This hotel was due to undergo a complete redevelopment from a 22 bedroom hotel into a 56 room property. We were retained when planning permission had been obtained approximately one year prior to going on site.

INITIATIVES/RESULTS

• We developed a clear strategy for this development, made internal design changes and modifications and secured one of the World's largest hotel brands to flag the property.
  
• This resulted in a much clearer direction for the hotel and gave it much needed market presence beyond its relatively small size.