FEATURE
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EXTERNAL CONTRIBUTORS
Maintaining Performance
ROBERT ALLEY, COO at Roomzzz Aparthotels, explains how a proactive maintenance regime,
dedicated resources and carefully considered capital plan with ongoing furniture and equipment
provision on your P&L will keep your hotel on the front foot
I
was going to write about Brexit this course, these days, we add so much more make sure we get the best value for the
month. It seemed timely, as we rush technology, which doesn’t always behave investment we make in them and retaining
towards the exit date with one eye on the quite as it’s meant to. their services. How are you going to get the
crystal ball trying to work out what is going
At Roomzzz, we have a small yet
same results from contractors who come
diverse set of buildings across our estate. and go, often different faces, who have to
We have original owned buildings, we’ve learn their way around the building each
just shifted for a delay into either April or bought other converted assets which have time they are called out? It only makes
May, depending on the seemingly unlikely been re-branded, we’ve built new buildings sense to plan properly, organise well, and
scenario that the MP’s of Westminster are and developed old listed ones. Owned, execute consistently across the estate.
able to get a majority behind something? leased and managed. Each deserves a
to happen next.
At the time of writing, the dates have
Of course, we don’t have every skill
focus on long-term value appreciation, needed within the team. Specialist cover
motion in Westminster, and deeply capex strategies and maintenance ensures we fill the gaps and manage
considered pressure on business owners schedules which preserve the guest legal compliance in areas like the lift
to look at their investments and plans experience and a well-earned customer maintenance, water testing, fire systems
ahead of what might come next, let’s reputation for personal service. and ventilation. You need to be honest
So, with this backdrop of perpetual
think about the long-term sustainability of
Let’s first look at the value of having a
with your approach to maintenance
assets we own and operate. Preservation maintenance team on site, with the skills budgets and building preservation. Don’t
and value being key words to guide a to look after the building properly and bury your head in the sand and don’t cut
property management strategy. In the the passion and pride of an employee corners; it will often come back to haunt
hotel owner and operator’s world, what who cares. There are plenty of options you… Buy cheap and you buy twice! It’s far
does it take to maintain performance and to address the daily maintenance rigour better to ‘plan to protect’ your business
standards across a complex estate of with contractors, but we chose to build a than ‘plan to be lucky!’
bricks and mortar? team of skilled employees with experience
Let’s face it, over a period of time,
hotels take some stick. High occupancies
with guests who come and go for often
So now you have your short-term
and qualifications, such as plumbers, resources and budget organised to deal
electricians and decorators. with the ebb and flow of people through
How can you get to know your
the building, it’s crucial to start planning
very short stays. They don’t always treat buildings any better than with your own for long-term development and value
a hotel room in the same way as they love team with all the different skills needed to protection. Capital planning also takes
and respect their own home. Corridors get underneath the surface of the place? time to prepare and organise. Capital
and bedrooms alike take sustained A team of people who have a vested investment is not something you should
pressure from the stream of roller interest in getting things right first time. leave for every 7-10 years when you feel
suitcases in and out, week after week. Having your own team means they watch the product is tired or fashions have
Buildings are tested to their maximum as the budget and spend on the right things; changed. Capex planning is helped with
often as possible. they don’t cut corners and they protect a mature and innovative approach to
the building as if it were their own. Our construction and interior design. If you
to every shower up and down the building team has a solid schedule of planned have thought about how you build and
all at the same time. The air conditioning preventative maintenance. It drives how you refurbish your product from the
needs to cope with the constant change, the compliance requirements and legal outset, then the planning and spend can
and the lifts go up and down repeatedly obligations. be delivered in the best way possible.
The boilers have to deliver hot water
all day, every day. There are many moving
parts as a hotel breathes 24-7, and then, of
20
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Team members support each other and
they share their skills across the estate to
Maybe we cannot predict a lot
about the future, if the current political
April 2019