8 Unanswerable Questions The Hotel Industry Should Stop Raising.

Tons of articles, blog posts and interviews. All trying (or claiming) to answer a bunch of unanswerable questions.

So many so-called hotel experts, consultants and professionals, in their attempt to share their opinions about how the future will unfold, have ended up being just a bunch of wannabe-soothsayers raising a whole bunch of questions that not only remain unanswered, but generate even more questions and doubts.

And to be honest, here I am: guilty, too!

A vicious, endless loop.

But what are these questions?

Here’s a quick list whose answers I consider impossible to give, by anyone.

Questions we can’t help but reply to with a simple: “who knows?”

1. When will the rebound happen?

Who knows?

There should be a valid reason why everyone keeps referring to this period as “unprecedented times”, shouldn’t be?

So, if they are unprecedented, what kind of historical data can we refer to, in the attempt to try to answer this question?

There are so many crazy variables that are totally out of our control, that we better accept (and stop fighting) the fact that it’s just how it is: out of our control.

2. Will the Travel and Hospitality Industry be the same?

Who knows?

First, let’s define same and different.

What does same mean? And what does different mean?

Different in what?

Because if our conception of “different” is every single thing that is not like it used to be yesterday, then tell me, wasn’t it already like that BEFORE the pandemic?

Take the hotel distribution, for example: it is beyond doubt that distribution had changed more in the last 5 years than in the previous 50.

And, even more so in the next 1 to 2 years, it’s likely to be so radically different. But this is just guessing. And no decision should be taken upon this idea. Because it’s my idea, based on my personal experience and tons of gut-feelings.

1 million people could agree with me. And another 1 million would disagree.

Fair enough. It’s just guessing. What can you do with guessing?

3. Will Business Travel be back? If so, when? And how?

Who knows?

I recently read an article saying that business travel will not be back in full ‘till 2025.

At first, I didn’t know whether I should have cry or smile.

We don’t even know what we will be eating for lunch tomorrow, how can someone be so wise (or fool… or stupid) to predict what will happen in 4 years from now?

It’s so true that with the pandemic so many Nostradamus have come to our lives…

4. Vaccine Tourism: Should the Hospitality Industry Acknowledge this Trend?

Who knows?

Like acknowledging the trend of Digital Nomads, the trend of Hybrid Meetings, the trend of “who-the-hell-knows-what-the-trend-is”.

I must confess, I can’t really stand the word “trend”, because it’s so misrepresented and misconceived.

A trend starts with an opportunity, meaning a potential market to be filled.

I take the example of Digital Nomads, simply because I am one of them, therefore I can advisedly speak about them:

• Is Digital Nomadism a trend?
  Of course.

• Can Digital Nomads become a target market for hotels?
  Of course.

• Do Digital Nomads consider spending nights in hotels?
  Nope.

DNs will never go to a hotel if the only thing hotels offer are hotel rooms for working.

I don’t know exactly how to say what I want to say, but the principle is this: if we have to pay to end up in a closed room with a bed in which we will not even sleep on, an uncomfortable working desk and working chair and, most importantly, an internet connection that sucks, to say the least, well… “No, thanks”.

The problem is not the trend, the problem is not knowing how to turn a trend into an opportunity.

Speaking of Digital Nomads, do you want an example of who, instead, has managed to turn this trend into success? CitizenM Hotels.

5. How will Revenue Management evolve in post-pandemic times?

Asked another way? Will RM be the same?

Who knows?

This is probably the most frequently asked question amongst all. And as a former Revenue Manager, I have to say that it doesn’t surprise me.

Numbers,  metrics and KPIs are to Revenue Managers as a fast internet connection is to Digital Nomads: more important than the air that they breathe.

And since those metrics and KPIs most RMs used to deal with on a daily basis are now quite messed up, here’s the question that raises naturally.

Yet, who knows how Revenue Management will be?

Seriously, whatever you might hear about this topic (and many others), that’s just guessing.

No one, literally no one, not even Nostradamus, can predict the future. And even if, how many conflicting opinions have you heard so far?

So, which one to follow? Even if you agree with one particular way of thinking, for the time being that is, again, just what it is: pure guessing.

6. Is Google taking over the online travel market?

“Who knows?” Well, everyone knows.

This is the exact opposite of all other questions, because there’s no need of Nostradamus here. Even rocks know what is going on.

What nobody knows, neither Nostradamus nor (maybe) Google itself, is what will happen next and how this will impact the Hotel industry.

Did you ever think that Google could have played such a big role in the Hotellerie, let’s say, 2 years ago?

Just like the very first question of this list: “When will the rebound happen?”, there are so many crazy variables, none of which being under our control, so what’s the deal?

The only real sticky point here in my opinion is just one: the Hotel Industry has become overly dependent on 3rd parties.

Now it’s Google, before it’s the OTAs.

So, logically, if it’s not going to be Google, it’ll be the OTAs again.

We’ve spent some good 15 years trying to figure out how to disintermediate the OTAs, and now we also have to find out how to disintermediate Google.

The next one, probably, will be Facebook. And Amazon.

This is in fact a much more valid question I’d love to get an answer: How can we become less dependent from any 3rd parties?

The biggest risk that I see in these tragic post-pandemic times is that hotel managers, owners and all of us in the industry are sooooo much in desperate need of bookings and revenue, that we could be willing to pay any amount of commissions and fees to anyone to get any possible reservation.

I’ve heard already someone saying: Who cares where the reservations come from, as long as they flow in.

To be honest, I’m not so much positive in this regard, not because of Google, not because of any other OTAs… but because of our approach as Hotel Professionals and Hotel players.

Differently put, if we are where we are, it’s also our fault.

7. How Different will the relationship be between Hotels And OTAs?

Who knows?

Back in the years, I’ve seen OTAs changing completely their approach towards the hotels, going from walking all over us to being cooperative and kind in every aspect… over a time span of 1 single month. And the other way around.

I’m extremely convinced that at a certain point we all fell into the OTAs’ famous trap of referring to hotels as “partners”, making us unconsciously think that “they are there to support us”, when ultimately they are simply there to “use” us.

Which, in fact, is exactly what they are supposed to be doing.

I mean, seriously, the OTAs are simply businesses, just like your hotel, like my hotel coaching and consulting business, like any other business.

Put another way, they do their interests, not hotels’.

You are not their partner, you are their supplier.

So, will this relationship Hotels-OTAs be any different? Who knows?

For sure our role and their role will remain the same.

8. Will Hotels be getting more “direct” bookings? Or “indirect”?

Who knows?

At the end of the day, the real focus should be the customer. Not Google, nor Facebook, nor the OTAs.

As obvious as it sounds, this could make the difference.

Think about it. The typical booking journey is becoming shorter in terms of days (time), but longer in terms of interactions (sessions).

Can we turn this to our advantage?

I really think so (in fact this is exactly what I have been doing), because more sessions means more possibilities of interaction between the prospective guest and the hotel.

In other words, we have more chances to become “sticky” into the mind of our prospects, even though over a shorter period of time.

And these additional chances, if used well, could represent the golden nuggets we desperately need to overcome our dependence on 3rd-party channels.

Direct bookings or indirect bookings? It’s mainly up to each of us. Our destiny is more in our hands than we think it is.

Let Google and the OTAs play their cards, you use yours. Wisely.

Conclusions

We don’t know what we don’t know, but we can act based on what we know now.

And if we don’t know what to do… we better do something anyway. So let’s not let fear and doubt make us frozen and stuck.

There is no better time than now for marketing your hotel.

There is no better time than now for testing the market, to see what kind of responses you will get.

There is no better time than now for taking action, because done is always better than perfect.