The current global economic news is not generally positive these days in the hospitality and many other industries. The need for planning is more critical than ever and the quote from Peter Drucker says it all - it takes focused efforts to address the situation and begin to turn the situation around.

This 2 part series is very straight forward and common sense in approach.  The first part addresses revenue building and the second will examine some expense evaluation topics.

Principles of Success in Planning in a Challenging Economy - Part 1 of 2

In prior economic downturns, the developers of timeshare, fractional interest, and private residence club properties -- referred to in this article as "vacation ownership product" or "VOP" -- were fortunate to see the industry continue to grow. A diverse buyer base and strong demand, due in part to effective selling methods implemented in the industry, were among the reasons industry fundamentals stayed strong. But the scope of the current financial crisis and credit freeze has not spared VOP developers from the adverse forces affecting development and consumer demand worldwide.

Both abundance and lack exist simultaneously in our lives, as parallel realities. It is always our conscious choice which secret garden we will tend... when we choose not to focus on what is missing from our lives but are grateful for the abundance that's present -- love, health, family, friends, work, the joys of nature and personal pursuits that bring us pleasure -- the wasteland of illusion falls away and we experience Heaven on earth.

We are currently facing a global economic crisis and there is little in the news that offers short term relief.  Even the drop in oil prices and gasoline costs is somewhat offset by other economic indicators.  We know that the hospitality industry is resilient, overall in strong operating posture and that we will return to success but these remain trying times.

Household's consumption and spending of are mixed in this difficult period of time and many retail businesses are experiencing a decline in their customers visit frequency. But what can make some brands or outlets resist better than others? In terms of marketing, sales and customer service there are five conditions to fulfill and they all relate to fundamental and adaptability of the band or the outlet, not to its size.

• High awareness: a hotel or a restaurant that is in the consumer's mind has a better chance of maintaining its occupancy level compared to an unknown operator. This level of awareness refers to the trading area whether it is the neighbourhood, the region, the country or the world. It is never too late to do whatever must be done to get known like handing out flyers, improving the visibility of the sign, prospecting offices around, advertising in paper guides, having an efficient (attractive, user friendly, enabling on line booking) web site, popping up on web search engines, or being listed on major on line booking platforms. These are not luxury but investment. In order to be desired, one ought to be known first.

When lodging industry insiders and experts convened at the International Hotel Conference in Rome a couple of weeks back, many attendees were fretting about the impact of the economic slump exacerbated by a worldwide tightening of credit markets. But as in other reports, it seems as if a state of panic is messing with the evidence on what’s really happening in terms of the health of the global lodging business.

Morris Lasky, conference chairman and chief executive officer of Lodging Unlimited Inc., opened the three day gathering at the Hilton Cavalieri by noting he has been in the hotel industry for more than 50 years and has been through at least seven down cycles. The current one may be the most severe.

"We’re into something now that none of us have before, essentially a world crisis within the hotel industry," Lasky said. "I can tell you from past

The impact of the current global economic crisis has reached the tourism industry, which is starting to feel the pressure as growth begins to slow. Once again, hotel managers and owners at a corporate and hotel level are looking for opportunities to tighten the belt in their operations. But after so many years of various crises and smart operational management, are there any further improvements that can be quickly applied in order to tighten the belts and maintain profit levels without affecting their hotels' core business? Optii Solutions has released the only truly innovative technology solution that addresses effective resource management in housekeeping with a view to increasing the department's profitability.

Tough times require creative solutions not just business as usual!  Not only are hotels being buffeted by the economy but also by the new competitive hotels have come online and/or are coming online in the near future. Make no mistake; there will be winners and losers in this environment --- some hotels that will prosper and those that will capitulate!  

The Business Travel Coalition recently conducted a survey of corporate travel managers. "The Business Travel Coalition, which represents corporate travel buyers and suppliers here and internationally, surveyed travel managers last week and found a sense of real urgency. More than a quarter of nearly 200 travel managers surveyed said that their companies had recently started emergency cutbacks, on top of the cuts already in place this year." (New York Times, October 20, 2008) The good news in this is that 75% of travel planners were not in panic mode but, as we all know, are watching those travel dollars. 

With the global credit markets in crisis, stock markets fluctuating, fuel prices erratic and a recession looming, the travel industry is gloomy. Companies quickly shifted into belt-tightening gear and if they're not feeling the pinch now—they're at least preparing for a long, cold winter ahead.

So it was no surprise that the economy dominated much of the discussion at PhoCusWright’s Town Hall Meeting in Palo Alto, CA, on October 8. In a Q&A session moderated by PhoCusWright president and CEO Philip Wolf, the one question on everyone’s mind was: “Will the 2008 economic meltdown be as bad for our industry as September 11, 2001?”

The answers to this question, of course, vary. Certainly, there are key differences between the two events. The terror attacks were a direct assault on the U.S. and aviation industry. The economy was already suffering from the tech stock bubble burst of 2000. Then the September 11, 2001 events virtually froze the travel industry for weeks—if not months—before the eventual thaw. Yet while cutbacks prevailed and some travel companies fell, online travel companies reported surprisingly bright results.

A newly released survey by the Business Travel Coalition (BTC) designed to explicitly capture corporations’ responses to the financial crisis that has dominated news headlines this fall offers evidence of broad-based reduction of business travel and changes in corporate travel policies. The BTC also lists steps corporations and business travel mangers are taking.

The survey of 196 travel mangers from 17 countries, titled “The Financial Crisis & Travel Policy Changes: An Order of Magnitude Worse than 2000,” says many corporations began cutting back on air travel at the beginning of 2008 based upon worsening economic data but that, by mid-year, reduced business travel activities seemed broad-based.

Your company is up for sale and under scrutiny by a variety of potential acquirers...there’s a death "under questionable circumstances" at your retirement facility...an employee commits a crime...regulators are questioning your compliance...a market analyst recommends that stock be sold...investors and/or customers are confusing your successful firm with your unsuccessful competitors...

All companies which provide goods or services to seniors are, routinely, faced with minimizing the impact of such crisis scenarios on their ongoing marketing programs.

However, not all companies, unfortunately, are aware of the difference between marketing in routine versus crisis situations, namely:

Marketing’s routine function is to build the value of the business.

Marketing’s crisis communications function is to preserve the value of the business.