Hotel Health Clubs
(Do we ensure our teams know what good looks like ?)
It’s a pleasure to write a few words on making Hotel Health Clubs a success, which has been my business for the last 20 years.
When running a hotel health club, you are usually seen as a head of department of the hotel, but it is the only department where you run a business within a bigger business. You are fully responsible for driving sales, retaining your customers and contributing to the EBITDA of the business.
So let’s make a start
Financial
The first port of call.
Ask yourself DO I really know where I am financially. The business is an incremental business in both stats and cash, so do we lay out your finances in the same way? This is different to the hotel which is usually a seasonal year on year business.
So just ask yourself.
1. When did you last calculate your average membership price and compare it to your price list? Then ask how much do I potentially discount and why?
2. Do you calculate the yield of your club, this would be a main KPI for a hotel and therefore, should be no different within the club.
3. Do you layout the DD Movement, DD rejections and annual payers month to month and compare to your joiners and leavers. Does it follow TREND or are you giving to much away ( IE FREE MONTHS here and there )
4. As businesses we rely on members staying longer? So does your software give you average member length of stay? In my last 20 years, I have probably only met a handful of managers who have measured this. Could you imagine a Mobile phone provider not doing this? So why don’t we?
So when you create financial / statistical information, some things to think about:
• Why do you measure it?
• What does it tell you?
• What practical actions does it create within the business?
Hotel Club Operations
Whether you work in a 5 Star Hotel or a budget market, do you know what good looks like and most importantly do your team know what good looks like.
In a business you are expected to hold multiple skills: H&S, Sales, Operations, Customer Service, Management, Coaching, Leadership, Finance etc.
You cannot be good at everything, so please ensure you utilise other Hotel department heads to help you. Always remember in hotels, it is not them and us, you are a team, we are not running ICI and nobody has the answers to everything. Asking for help from someone else who has a better skill set to improve or approve what you do, is a strength. I wish I had learnt that earlier in my career and was more comfortable with who I was as a leader.
So just ask yourself. How do I improve showing my team what good looks like:
1. When did you ask your direct report or the head housekeeper to walk your club, to pick up on attention to detail and operational standards? We all need fresh eyes.
2. Do you walk every team member around the club, it should only take 5 to 10 minutes, but will allow you to address operational and brand standards. This will give other fresh eyes an opportunity to give feedback for improvement, if necessary.
3. When you set your rota do you align key tasks to the people on duty? Does everyone know what needs to be done and when? How much down time is wasted within your business?
4. If you set a team meeting time, keep to it, whatever is happening in the club! When did you last ask your direct report to sit in on your meeting ?
5. If you set one to one objective / tasking sessions, make it your priority.
6. Even if you are not part of a chain. Do you have your own brand standards and do the team know what they are?
Remember anything you start, ensure you’re consistent with it. The moment you miss a meeting, do not carry out a one to one, you have lost the dressing room and as result your business performance will slide and team members will start to leave you.
Inspecting what you expect
In many cases your clubs will be open 110 to 120 hours a week and maybe more, but usually you are contracted to 40. (I can hear you now. I do a lot more than that)
So it is important. You inspect what you expect on arrival of your shift and whilst your away from the business.
So a little bit of Mirror gazing?
1. Do you have a set of tasks when you come on duty you check first, before moving onto other actions? i.e. Do you always review your daily problem swipes?
2. If you have asked for something to be done while you are away, has it been done? And if not why not?
3. Before you set new tasks or tell team members to do this that and the other, have you gone back through what you asked them the first time to do?
4. Do you check the detail of what you have asked to be done? Is what you have asked to be done easily checked, i.e. that call to an expired member the DD reject, the prospect enquire, the member care call etc.
5. Have you got systems on checking when you are not in the business? The mystery call, the mystery walk in, the mystery member experience, does the hotel Duty Manager have 5 to 10 simple checks on their walk round that you would like them to do?
6. Now with email and social media. Do we respond to our clients when you are not in the business within a timely manner?
Now for a bit of sales / Help people BUY. ( FUN taken seriously)
Whether it is a team effort or you have a dedicated sales team. Prospecting for new members and keeping members longer has to be FUN taken seriously, just remember it is very unusual for a team member to come into the workplace and WANT to do a bad job. The failure of most clubs sales processes is we do not make PROCESS stronger than the people, we do not make the team confident with the process, we do not reward the team, praise and make it fun.
So as a wise man once said to me:
1. Break the sales process into small sections so it can be trained, coached and repeated, within 5 minutes. Repetition builds consistency and therefore will improve your sales.
A. Professional enquire (Do we have a script?)
B. Professional greeting (Do we have a script?)
C. Needs analysis (Do we have one and does it drive Open questions?)
D. Tour (Do we ask questions that result in a yes answer?)
E. Price present (Have we listened and presented the best option for them?)
F. Close (Have we actually asked them to join the club?)
G. Referral (GDPR is not a reason not to ask, if they would like to bring a friend in)
2. Ensure you measure performance every day, not just when you are in the business. The Key performance indicators must be available for all to see every day.
A. Enquires
B. Calls made
C. Appointments set
D. Presentations made
E. Sales Completed
G. Referral potentials
When you leave the business at night, think about how to improve your performance, who else in the team is doing the same. It does not matter if you are team of 6 or bigger, everyone must know where we are everyday with joiners and leavers
3. Making it fun: Is setting targets that are achievable and can be built on. Do not set targets that can never be reached! Better off setting lower targets initially and then building on them.
4. Share the results. Utilise the office board, group chat, reception clip board or on a daily handout. Once your team sees a positive net member movement, they will feel the BUZZ, but again if you’re not in the business, everyone should be able to update the membership. Most people like being accountable and responsible, especially when the news is good.
5. Praise and reward the team for performance. Don’t ever forget to Say Thank You!!
Finally
Each month I just spend 30 minutes writing down, what do I do really well? What can I do a lot better and what actions must be stopped.
If you need extra help then contact me
