DELIGHTING OUR WAY OUT OF THE DOLDRUMS

Hotels play a pivotal role in the health of the hospitality industry. They form a central hub around which other players in this vast and varied sector thrive. When guests stop staying at hotels, that region’s theatres, restaurants, venues, taxi firms, tourist attractions and many other hospitality businesses feel the pain too. As the former Head Concierge of Oxford’s Randolph hotel and member of the global concierge network Les Clefs d’Or, I am acutely aware of a hotel’s status and importance in the community. It is a centre of gravity. It provides the heart beat for the enormous and intricate body of business that surrounds it.

Current predictions say that the hotel industry could take four years to return to last year’s levels, even if an effective vaccine helps heal the damage done by Covid 19. A recent report by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) forecasts that daily revenues per hotel room will not reach 2019 levels until 2023 across the UK and a year later in London. So what can be done?

 As I launch my new concierge and lifestyle assistance business Ask William (www.askwilliam.co.uk), I am confident that something most definitely can be done to help. I know what guests want from their stays, and how to deliver it. From all my years serving the guests of a 151 bedroom 5-star hotel, enhancing their experiences, anticipating needs and winning their loyalty, I can help hotels exceed guest expectations. Be in no doubt, delighting guests can bring businesses out of the doldrums. 'Delight' earns higher room revenues and repeat business as a result. Businesses around the hotel win too. Life comes back to the sector.

 As guests return to hotels, albeit in smaller numbers to start, they should be lavished with service and sold other experiences and goods from the community. They must have an exceptional stay, enjoying everything the locale can offer. But at a time when a hotel’s resources have been hit, staff furloughed or let go and revenues dwindling, how can it be expected to do all this? My answer is that it cannot afford NOT to do this – and Ask William is stepping in to help.

 We are collaborating with hotels and local businesses to provide an enhanced, integrated and personalised guest experience. We contact guests before arrival and, using our knowledge and relationships built over many years, leverage new channels for sale. We add value to each and every guest booking, increasing per capita revenues to the hotel and building guest data and meaningful insights for each participating business.

 We are devoted to helping bring back our beloved hospitality operators - bigger, better and more delightful than ever. And we are signing up partners now. Please allow us to enable your recovery and take part in the sector’s revival too. Call me to discuss this important opportunity on 07960 289961 or contact us at hello@askwilliam.co.uk

 At your service. More awaits.

Kind Regards,