On this third and closing installment of our 2024 Proprietor Sequence, LODGING speaks with Harry (Himesh) Patel, director of Solvue Hospitality Group, concerning his strategy to optimizing the visitor expertise. Amongst a number of finest practices, the Selection Resorts franchisee discusses the significance of comparatively frequent property renovations that exceed PIP necessities.
Those that are smitten by delivering nice customer support can discover rewarding careers in lots of business sectors, together with the fast-food business, the place Harry (Himesh) Patel labored for 10 years again within the Nineties and 2000s as a Subway franchisee. Ultimately, he found that the lodge enterprise delivered fairness whereas additionally fulfilling his ardour for customer support, the significance of which was careworn by Patel’s mentor, Khandu Patel. Together with serving to to fund Harry’s first lodge in 2011, the pharmacist-turned-hotel developer gave him two main ideas: “Once I took over my first lodge, Khandu’s first recommendation was to verify your property is able to be inspected daily,” he stated. “And the second factor was to prioritize customer support, which is important in any form of enterprise you run in your life.” The 2 finest practices are associated as a result of a lodge that’s saved inspection-ready is in a fantastic situation to please friends, which is the objective of customer support.
As we speak, as director of Commerce, Georgia-based Solvue Hospitality Group, Patel retains his mentor’s recommendation in thoughts and is keenly targeted on making certain his firm’s inns are totally modernized. One among his early tasks was a top-to-bottom renovation of an Americas Greatest Worth Inn in Georgia that his firm purchased in 2015. The end result was a High quality Inn, a Selection Resorts model whose representatives “have at all times been very supportive with their information and recommendation,” stated Patel. He subsequently added two extra High quality Inns in Georgia to his portfolio, buying and renovating one in 2022 and changing the opposite from a Purple Roof Inn in 2023. Selection Resorts has additionally supplied incentives in bringing these properties as much as model requirements, including to the worth of the lodge.
Exceeding PIP Necessities
After the preliminary renovation, Patel totally upgrades his properties each 4 to 5 years, together with the set up of recent beds and FF&E, whereas most hoteliers renovate roughly each seven years, he famous. “My mentor taught me that folks prefer to see a brand new and trendy product, in addition to one thing completely different.”
Patel additionally goes the additional mile on every renovation, usually exceeding model expectations for PIPs. “Each single renovation I’ve finished with High quality Inn went past the model requirements,” Patel stated. “And Selection’s franchise group members at all times pay attention and supply sincere suggestions when I’ve strategies on bettering throughout the model requirements. So long as I’m not asking one thing that’s fully inconsistent with the Selection model, they’ve at all times labored with me on the sorts of modifications that I like with the furnishings, exterior colours, and so on.”
Comparatively frequent renovations and exceeding PIP necessities name for added funding, however Patel believes that “You need to spend cash to earn cash,” and his monetary outcomes with the High quality Inn model help that adage.
Differentiating Particulars
Making a good impression on friends with property upgrades needn’t contain large-scale adjustments. Vacationers discover and admire delicate options that improve comfort. For instance, “friends prefer to learn books at evening, so on prime of the headboard, I’ve an LED strip put in,” Patel famous. As well as, his guestrooms are designed in order that there are not any uncovered wires across the cellphone or TV—for each aesthetic and security causes—and loo lights have occupancy sensors. Many of those options and particulars usually are not discovered within the competitor set for his inns, and he usually will get the concepts from properties in greater chain scales, which finally makes his inns standouts for friends.
Visitor Satisfaction
Together with property modernization, Patel goes the additional mile on visitor service. As a Subway franchisee, he carried out a leaderboard to share buyer opinions for all staff, tracked the variety of buyer refunds and the price of every, mentioned operational enhancements with the group as wanted, and made certain high-performing group members had been acknowledged to spice up morale. He introduced those self same customer-centric practices to hospitality. “My mentor, Khandu Patel, stated to make sure that each visitor remark or suggestions is addressed. We hate to lose even one buyer, so we attempt to satisfy and exceed friends’ expectations,” he stated. Whereas acknowledging that “you can’t make each buyer 100% blissful,” Patel urged, “There may be at all times a solution to make the client imagine that you’re keen to do no matter it takes to make their keep higher.” Patel and his onsite groups convey that willingness, and so do the totally modernized inns that welcome their friends.
