What the field
has taught us.

The problem no one sees

In most independent hotels I have audited, procurement is managed by instinct. You order when things run out, throw away when things expire, and never really know what stock is worth at any given moment. This approach has a cost, not a spectacular one, but a silent one that erodes margin every week. In a 40 to 60-room property, unstructured procurement management represents on average 3 to 8% of annual revenue in avoidable losses.

The 3 most common sources of loss

1. Untracked perishables. Without expiry date tracking and FIFO rotation applied, fresh products go in the bin.

2. Phantom stock. Products ordered but poorly received, stored in two different places, or "borrowed" without traceability. Real stock is below theoretical stock, and nobody knows it.

3. Non-optimised purchasing. Without consolidated volumes or supplier comparisons, you often pay 10 to 20% more than necessary on standard references.

Where to start

Three simple actions to regain control: a monthly valued inventory, a systematic purchase order with sign-off, and a loss tracking by category. Not complexity, method.

What I've seen in the field

I have been involved in several hotel openings, from Geneva to Paris, from Toulouse to Switzerland. Different contexts, budgets and teams. But the same mistakes recur with disconcerting regularity. Not a competence issue. A method, and timing, issue.

80% of opening problems originate in the 6 weeks before day 1.

The 5 most common mistakes

1. Recruitment too late. Bringing teams on board 2 weeks before opening guarantees a chaotic first few weeks. 6 to 8 weeks minimum are needed.

2. Undocumented processes. Without written, validated SOPs before opening, each team member improvises. Result: inconsistent guest experience from the first stays.

3. Open stock without tracking. In the first weeks, the temptation is to order widely. Without tracking, costs spiral.

4. Insufficient training before day 1. Theory is not enough. Teams need simulations and role-plays on difficult situations.

5. No KPIs from month 1. If you don't measure from the start, you don't know what's working.

A documented figure, not intuition

Several studies, including Cornell University and ReviewPro, have established a direct correlation between a hotel's average OTA score and its RevPAR. A one-point improvement (out of 10) is associated with a 10 to 15% revenue increase.

A hotel at 7.8/10 on Booking moving to 8.8/10 can legitimately raise prices by 8 to 12% without negative impact on occupancy.

The 4 most effective levers

1. Standardise the guest journey. Inconsistency is the main enemy of scores. A guest can accept an imperfect hotel, not an unpredictable one.

2. Systematise review requests. The best-rated hotels have a precise process for soliciting reviews at the right moment.

3. Reply to all reviews. Positive and negative. Replies to negative reviews have a direct impact on future guests' perception.

4. Pilot by indicator. Tracking the global score is not enough. Identify the weakest sub-scores and address them first.