If you’ve worked in the hospitality industry for a while, you’ll no doubt have come across the important work that consultants do. Hotel management consultants in particular are in high demand due to the valuable service that they bring to many companies.
In this article, we’ll go over what a hotel management consultant is, and what you need to do to pursue this as a career, beyond your hotel management degree. We’ll also discuss how a hotel management consultant assists hotels to become more successful and what it’s like to work in this kind of role.
Definition of hotel management consultant
Hotel management consultants are skilled professionals who use their expertise to help hotels, resorts or other hospitality venues improve.
This means that they assess the current situation the hotel is in, including its finances, services, and organizational structures, and then offer bespoke plans for how the hotel can perform better or update.
This means that the consultant has to be an expert in all the factors that can affect hotel performance, as well as know about management techniques to suggest changes.
Consultants can work with hotels of different sizes, and even hotel chains. The work can include considering all the aspects of a hotel, such as restaurants, spas, and other services.
Why do people hire hotel management consultants?
Hiring consultants to boost a hotel’s success is one of the big hotel trends of recent years. There is a range of predicaments hotels can face, from financial issues to poor reviews, or difficulties with competition, so there are many avenues for making changes.
As a consultant, some of the main improvements you could suggest to hotels include the following.
Improved revenue management
Consultants are very often tasked with helping a hotel manage its revenue and outgoings. This means you would have to be able to run a full cost analysis on the hotel’s expenditures and look at ways to lower costs.
This might be by changing what the hotel offers, finding new suppliers for essential items, or changing staffing.
It also means looking at ways to increase the income for the hotel and general profitability.
Increased operational efficiency
Efficiency is vital for any hospitality venue. Not only do employees need to be working effectively, but guests or customers will expect efficient service.
As a consultant, you would have to look over operations management issues such as the scheduling, staffing, and duties of all employees in the hotel and make sure that all sectors are delivering value.
Improved guest experience
Hospitality venues can succeed or fail based on the experience of their guests. Guest experience links directly to reviews, bookings, and, ultimately, income. This is why it’s so important for a consultant to make sure that the guest experience at the hotel is excellent.
This might mean changing what services the hotel offers, implementing new procedures and protocols for dealing with guests, or planning refurbishments or rebranding.
This may involve conducting guest surveys and obtaining feedback, as hotels might not be aware of guest perceptions.
Better brand positioning
The hospitality business is very competitive, and almost every hotel will have significant competition. One of the main ways that consultants can help is with better brand positioning. This means figuring out what a hotel’s unique selling point is and capitalizing on this.
Figuring out competing advantages for a hotel might mean advising on new services such as a restaurant and bar, or encouraging the hotel to move into a different part of the market, for example, the luxury hospitality sector. Of course, the strategy might not always involve a major overhaul. It might consist of simply getting a hotel to advertise its special features more to improve market reach.
Enhanced employee performance
If a hotel has issues with its employee performance, this is another factor you would need to consider as a consultant. Consultants can interview staff to check for issues.
They can also evaluate the training a hotel gives to its employees as well as make sure the company is recruiting the appropriate staff by looking at job description drafts and qualification requirements.
Consultants would also need to look over the scheduling of employees and check that they have the resources needed to perform their jobs with maximum productivity. This could mean handling conflict and complaints between different employees and managers.
Other types of consultants
Of course, a hotel or hospitality organization could hire another type of consultant if they have specific needs, so there are other paths you can take in the consultancy field.
Revenue management consultants
Revenue management consultants focus solely on revenue. They will look at cost analysis and develop a growth strategy to make the finances of the hotel more robust, but they would not go into detail with the other areas such as marketing or employee productivity.
Hospitality management consultants
As well as the hotel industry, general hospitality consultants can work anywhere within the hospitality industry. There is a great deal of overlap, and hospitality management consultants can expect to work with hotels quite frequently.
How to become a hotel management consultant
Consultancy is one of the most interesting and flexible careers in hospitality, and it’s no wonder that it’s a dream career for many people. If you’re excited by the idea of offering hotel consultancy services then you’ll need specialist skills and qualifications.
Work experience as a hotel management consultant
Whether you want to work for one of the many hotel management consulting firms or start your own consultancy business, you’ll need to have plenty of experience working in hotel management. This will help you hit the ground running when you start consulting, and it will give you the essential knowledge you need in the hospitality industry.
This might be from working in a chain hotel, a boutique hotel, or even running your own hotel.
Education and training requirements
You’ll usually need at least a degree in hospitality to work as a consultant. However, if you want to work with some of the top hotel brands in the world, you would also benefit from having an advanced degree that gives you more skills and experience in management, and you should also aim to get some international experience in the field to help you better aid international hotel brands.
Skills and abilities required for successful consulting
Some of the main skills you will need as a hotel consultant are:
- Real-world experience in the industry
- Good organizational skills
- Knowledge of SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis
- Familiarity with making business plans for entrepreneurs and established businesses
- Strategic thinking
- Exceptional communication
Pros of working as a hotel management consultant
Working as a hospitality management consultant can be a really interesting and rewarding career. It allows you to travel to different hotels throughout the world and work on different strategy types with every client.
Plus, it can be incredibly satisfying to see how your work gives a hotel a platform to raise performance and become more profitable and successful. On top of this, it can be a flexible career, which can be great for people who want a specific work-life balance.
Finding job opportunities in hotel management consulting
Most people who go into hotel consultancy will start out working with a consultancy firm or a hotel management company, where they will have clients and be assigned projects.
Once a consultant has more experience and a network of hotel managers they’re on good terms with, consultants may be able to start their own businesses if they prefer, using their professional network to find work.
Setting up your own hotel consulting service will give you the option to work with independent hotel venues and chains directly, which can be very rewarding.
Building a successful hotel management consulting career
The key to building your consultancy career is making sure that you have a solid educational background with rigorous development of the skills you’ll need in your consulting. Getting an advanced degree gives you specialized skills, and it also makes you a more attractive prospect than consultants with bachelor’s degrees.
You also need to make sure that you get experience in a wide range of different hotel types, including different sizes of hotels and hotels serving different sectors in the market.
Conclusion
Working as a hotel management consultant can be rewarding and exciting as it lets you use your hospitality expertise to help a hotel company thrive. If you are looking at moving into this field, you’ll need to make sure that you have a good degree in hospitality management, as well as plenty of experience.
Consulting is a fantastic career if you like the challenge of solving a new puzzle with each job. You’ll need to be a good communicator with plenty of business knowledge, and you’ll need to at least have a thorough understanding of finances and marketing.
If you want to make a step towards your future as a hotel consultant, enroll in a degree with Les Roches.
Photo Credits
Main Image: JP Delmotte/500px via Getty Images
