Wellness in Hospitality - Interview with Paul Bayliss

“The more you can sell the story to people, the more likely they are to come back and stay again because they've had a good experience. All the intangibles [pre-pandemic] that you hoped people would understand are now the tangibles...and the level of expectation will be so much higher than before.” - Paul Bayliss

Rarely do we get the golden opportunity to start afresh as an industry. Yet here we are. We have survived the precarious times and we continue to push and innovate. The industry is reshaping itself. What we are experiencing now are the growing pains of a stronger, more consolidated business model that will pioneer a new era of hospitality.

This belief was cemented during my interview with Paul Bayliss. Paul is a seasoned general manager based in the UK. With over thirty years experience in the industry, he has honed his ability to identify opportunities in the toughest circumstances.

Interview highlights:

1. A fight for trade

Urban hotels were in a challenging position. There simply wasn’t enough business to go around even as markets reopened within the cities. Boomtowns like Manchester had been on a five-year rise and hotels were scaling up in these regions. These were the rooms that were then sitting empty as occupancies dwindled. Today, these hotels are enjoying the pick up in corporate and business travel, albeit they continue to fight to maintain competitive rates and increase their occupancies. Protecting revenues remains the overall main priority, and hoteliers will do what it takes to survive the shortage of talent, the crises of energy and materials and the skyrocketing inflation rates. The road is not quite clear as we go from one crisis to another.

2. Streamlining payroll

Payroll is one of the biggest expenses in our industry (with energy costs perhaps creeping at a close second in some regions!). The pandemic opened our eyes to operational inefficiencies that were hidden. Some hotels have done exceptionally well in the current situation with only 60% of their staff on board. With this realisation, positions that weren’t filled during the harder months of the pandemic are unlikely to be filled, at least fully, now. The silver lining is that the industry will grow at a rapid pace. Hotels will hire more skilled personnel who can multitask and handle bigger responsibilities. By the time these individuals reach higher positions, they will have a richer experience which they can use to contribute to the industry at large.

3. Selling the story of wellness

Wellness has taken an even bigger role in hospitality than before. Hotels can no longer get away with offerings that do not cater to the wellbeing of the guests - even if they’re urban hotels catering predominantly to business and corporate clients. This does not mean creating complex concepts that require immense investment. In fact, the reality is quite the opposite. Simple wellness offerings will thrive in the coming months. For instance, a hotel can offer a selection of teas in the room, highlighting the benefits of each one. Similarly, they can have programs on TV that are designed to help the guest relax even further. The success of these simple services will be driven by the story behind them. More than anything, guests want to know why certain things are done and how they will benefit them. The hoteliers that excel at this storytelling will see massive returns in the future.

Guest expectations have elevated, of that there is no doubt. We have to be tougher and rise up to the challenge to meet these expectations. It may not from the get-go, and so managing these expectations is vital to the success of the industry.

I am so grateful to Paul for taking the time to speak with me about wellness in hospitality.?

Thank you to everyone who has been following this series and engaging in the constructive discussions in the comments section. If you are a hotel general manager, hotel owner or investor and you are interested in being part of my Wellness in Hospitality interview series, direct message me here on LinkedIn. Please note responses may take a couple of days due to increased interest in putting wellness at the core of hospitality.