High Quality and Lower Costs

In order to maximize the effectiveness of your hotel, being able to keep the level of quality you want to give can also help lower your costs. There’s no reason why the terms must be mutually exclusive. Here are some things to keep in mind when trying to achieve the highest caliber of service.

Guest Satisfaction

Most directly, a higher quality staffing firm can ensure the quality and training of its personnel. Cleanliness is considered the #1 driver of guest ratings of properties. A guest ratings of cleanliness extends from luxury properties all the way to budget-conscious brands. Working to achieve best-class cleanliness should never be compromised.

Turnover

High turnover in staff can have a cascade effect within a hotel in terms of quality and in terms of budget. Overtime costs can skyrocket, quality can drop, and the cost in time of finding replacements all impact the bottom line. HSS’s turnover rates are among the lowest in the industry. This is achieved through a robust recruiting process, intense screening, and market intelligence regarding payrates.

Overtime

To reduce costs, many staffing companies commit to staffing levels that are simply unrealistic. This can lead to overtime which impacts the bottom line in two ways. First, the direct costs of overtime means that you pay more per hour for a staff member to do the same job. But there is a second, often overlook result: employee stress. Although many workers enjoy occasional overtime, HSS studies show that the stress from consistently working more hours can increase turnover as a result of burnout and fatigue.

Experience

In the hospitality industry, experience is everything. Hotel staff with experience deliver higher quality, lower turnover, and require less on-the-job training. In addition, the experience of the staffing company itself can help reduce costs. For example, HSS has been working in hospitality staffing for nearly 30 years. Many of its own internal staff and management come from the hotel and resort industry. This knowledge and experience is invaluable in terms of knowing what works and what doesn’t at a property – experience that can save you money.

Compliance

When it comes to following state, federal and local regulations, properties rely on their staffing partners to follow the law. Unfortunately, many properties incorrectly assume that any missteps by a staffing company do not reflect on their brand. This is untrue. When it comes to safety regulations, classification of labor and eligibility to work, properties are responsible for following regulations and ensuring their staffing partners are doing the same. While taking shortcuts with regulations will result in al lower bill rate short-term, there are long-term costs and repercussions. Shortcuts in this arena simply don’t make long-term economic sense.

Summary

Working with a staffing partner to increase quality, reduce turnover, and ensure compliance will deliver better results to the bottom line. This strategy requires digging deeper into proposed bill rates to ask adequately compare costs. A low bill rate that doesn’t include key elements like experience and compliance is not savings; it’s a long-term cost liability.