On the occasion of the presentation of the training program HBM 2015 (Hotel Business Management), the seminar “The hotel as a company” was presented in Buenos Aires. In it, the partners of The Innova Room (Francisco Gutiérrez and Mónica Muñoz) gave an introduction to the key aspects of the hotel business, with a second part dedicated to innovation as a factor in the competitiveness of companies.
A) The hotel as a company
B) Innovation as a factor of competitiveness
Innovation can be defined as a creative response applied to the market, and aimed at obtaining a business result. Here are some keys to business innovation:
1. Cross
It affects transversally all business areas, which interrelate with each other.
2. Dynamic
Introduce the variable of time in the cost-quality equation. It is dynamic, since market trends or user preferences are constantly changing. And this means that competitors are also acting at all times to maintain or increase their market share.
3. Reactive vs Proactive
Innovative solutions are usually proposed to reposition a product, as a reaction to an adverse competitive situation in the market. However, it is more productive to consider a long-term, proactive strategy, anticipating trends. Or at least, combine short- and long-term projects, within a joint innovation strategy.
4. Market
When the market has moved and new players have appeared, it usually entails an adjustment in the transaction price, which can jeopardize the viability of the company.
5. Infrastructure
In competitive situations with low prices, innovative responses usually arise based on the adjustment of infrastructure costs and the service offered. These low-cost formulas are usually readjusted or disappear when the market returns to a more stable situation (or sometimes they become the new standard).
6. Client
The client evolves over time, his motivations or needs change, and therefore the aspects of our offer that he values and for which he would be willing to pay the transaction price. In the hotel field, a multitude of trends are pointing out clues about the new customer profiles: nomadic workers, hyperconnected in real time, whose user experience breaks the barriers of traditional categories.
