4 Ways Hotels Can Reduce their Operating Costs

Times are tough for the hospitality business and owners are trying to find ways to stay afloat. Some may have to downsize or find original ways to repurpose rooms. Others may be trying to diversify their product offering by switching to medium- and long-term leases. But one thing they should all do is try to find ways to keep their operating costs to a minimum. The good news is that there are many areas where you might not be as efficient and may be able to tighten up your finances. Here are a few ways hotels can reduce their operating costs.

Buy Used Equipment

Buying everything new is one of the biggest mistakes you can make as a hotel owner. You should look to lease or buy used as much as you can. If you only give carpets a deep clean once every 2 weeks, then it might be better to rent a machine instead of buying one for your cleaning crew. The same can be said about things like floor scrubbers and buffers.

Another thing that you may want to consider is buying refurbished equipment. You can find great refurbished PTAC units in case one of your units breaks down. Refurbished PTACs from https://ptacinc.com/ are perfect for room renovations or additions as well. These work just as good as new and usually come with a guarantee which will give you added peace of mind.

Cross Train Your Staff

One report stated that about 50% of a hotel's operating costs go directly towards labor. So, you want to be careful here and make sure that you utilize your current staff fully. Some may be able to handle multiple roles without being overworked.

For instance, you could train some of your staff to help with the front desk if there is a surge in activity, or you could ask your front desk people to help with social media management or marketing. This way, you won’t have to bring in as many new hires and have a more versatile workforce.

Embrace Technology

If you’re a small operation and prefer to run things the old fashion way, then you are probably not running it as efficiently as you could. Some may feel like they won’t be able to get a return from hotel management software. While you will have to deal with the immediate costs, you will get a return in the long run.

Software will allow you to streamline and automate your operations. These systems will allow you to keep tabs on things such as inventory distribution, billing, housekeeping, check out and check-in, and online reviews just to name a few.

Another thing you could do is embrace things like self-check-in. You should consider looking into adding kiosks to your lobby to alleviate the load on your front desk crew. It could also allow you to have fewer people running the desk. You should make it as easy as possible for people to book and pay for their rooms online as well.

Go Green

Utilities are also one of the biggest expenses for hotels and you have to do everything that you can to save here. One of the best ways is to embrace green technology. MVHR, or mechanical ventilation with heat recovery, is a system that could allow you to both save a lot of money on energy and give your guests better air quality. These use an air exchanger to condition air that is coming from the outside. This means that the air that was cooled or heated inside the building can be used to temper air being pulled in without being wasted.

You should also make sure that you consider upgrading the appliances in your hotel if you haven’t already. If you haven’t bought new refrigerators in a while, the ones that you have now may be consuming way too much energy. Making the switch will cost you for now, but you’ll be able to make significant savings in the long run.

These are all things hotel owners and managers can do to keep their operating costs to a minimum. We suggest you look into all of these in detail and keep looking for more ways to run your hotel in a cost-efficient way.

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