Moteliers, give yourselves a break…
Everyone would love to live by the mantra, “work smarter, not harder”, but this is extremely difficult to do. Rolling the sleeves up and getting the job done is simply the Australian way.
It is just so easy to think “by the time I explain it to someone, I will have the job done myself”. The trap here is that we end up working harder, and running ourselves into the ground, and while this is easy to do in any profession, it is especially rife in the motel industry.
When living on site at the business and trying to operate that business as efficiently as possible, the result can easily be running oneself into the ground.
The most important position in operating a motel is the role of the owner/manager. It is therefore important to avoid falling into the old trap of only working ‘in the business’ and not ‘on the business.’
Working in the business takes care of the day-to-day jobs, but it does not grow the business. It is the owner/manager who will take the business to a higher level by attracting new customers and growing the client base, making the operation more efficient, improving the online presence, and so on. If the owner/manager is not working on these things however, and is just focusing on the day-to-day jobs, then the role is really a caretaker’s role as opposed to being a management position. Working on the daily items will cut wage costs but this is a very short-term view.
Delegating certain roles to free up time to either work on the business or take some time out is extremely important.
Burn out is a common reason for selling, and far too often before they have been able to achieve what they set out to do with the business.
In many cases this ends up in the sale of a motel (or any business) at a lower value than could have been achieved had the owner not been tired and more eager to sell than necessary. A typical example is when a new owner takes over, spends a large sum on capital improvements or refurbishments and then sells out short of their planned time frame prior to realising the full benefits of their investment.
Effectively managing the roles in a motel environment is important, whether it be management, reception, accounts, cleaning, garden maintenance, meal preparation, and so on.
If one is attempting to fulfil all these roles there is going to be a point where it cannot continue due to fatigue.
If an operator can free up some of their time by allowing staff to handle certain roles, this will assist in freeing up time for the operator to work on improving the business or alternatively taking time out to recharge the batteries. And this is an important factor to consider. Taking time out can often refresh the mind and assist in working on the business too. New ideas and improvements that can be made to the operation will often come more easily when one is relaxed, having taken some time out from the pattern of the day-to-day jobs.
Enjoying the process of building the business will also make for a more relaxed environment for all concerned including family and employees.
An excessive work week cannot be sustained for any length of time, and this is where working smarter rather than harder by delegating some of those jobs to staff, even just for a few hours a day, will make for a much more enjoyable motel operation. It may cost a little more in staffing extra hours, but in the long-term it may be a cost that is recouped in many ways, tangible and non-tangible.
Andrew Morgan is a Specialist Resort & Motel Broker & Partner at Queensland Tourism & Hospitality Brokers & he writes the monthly Motel Market column for Resort News
May cost a little more in staffing! Hahahah. I wonder has the writer actually owned and run a motel!