As a Hospitality Assured client you will be well aware that having an ambitious, thought out, and comprehensive plan is essential It will set specific objectives in terms of both financial and non financial targets and while these may be a mixture of both numeric fact (revenue) and subjective judgement (having a raised profile) they can be supported by measurable and quantifiable evidence. It does not have to be too long or detailed -it should suit your business but whatever form your business plan takes, it should be relevant and be used on a regular basis.
A business plan is a living document that will need updating and changing as a business grows. Regardless of whether you intend to use your plan internally, or as a document for external stakeholders, it should still take an objective and honest look at your business. Failing to do this could mean that you and others have unrealistic expectations of what can be achieved and when. However irrespective of what form your business plan takes it should be relevant and therefore should be used and revised as necessary on a regular basis.
So what do the best scoring businesses present to the assessors which impress? Featured below are selections of comments that indicate the sort of evidence that creates higher scores. These are in no particular order but give a flavour of the issues considered under the criteria.
The business planning process is a well documented and continually evolving procedure with focus on a team approach. A 1-2 day workshop in December or January is held to discuss strategy for the following year and further years.
A 5-year financial business plan for 2010 to 2014 was seen together with a 3-year strategic plan. It was stated that the whole budgeting process had a major focus on customer satisfaction and hospitality. A rolling 5 year business plan developed using a well tried and trusted process continues to be in use. The plan seen for 2009 to 2013 dated November 2008 is consistent with previous plans and reflects the work carried out in determining the likely market, particularly for this and next year. The case for tightening of budgets, especially expenditure to meet a downturn in business is well defined.
The Business plan is comprehensive and comprises of sections covering;
Formal business plan reviews are held at 6 monthly intervals where any re-forecasting needed is agreed.
Review of achievement was noted to be consistently recorded at each Senior Management Team meeting, much of which is further discussed at HoD meetings. As well as monthly meetings specific strategy meetings are held, often off site, usually at a competitor or other venue used for benchmarking, to review progress and re-forecast where needed
The monthly “Dashboard” report has been updated with strong graphics to update all members of staff on progress against the business plan on a number of criteria including revenue, profitability, bedroom occupancy, and customer satisfaction.
A comprehensive process for reporting on financial performance was seen that produced weekly flash reports together with monthly route reports
Customer care and sales & marketing objectives included customer satisfaction targets, the consideration of all items raised in the report of the previous Hospitality Assured assessment, and the implementation of changes to deliver ‘World Class Customer Care’.
Sustainability targets are defined and energy costs were noted to be reported on monthly with considerable success in savings. Further effort has been planned and successful on credit control as in these tough economic times this had been noted as required.
Customer satisfaction targets are set for each ship on each route based upon the fact that each one is different and will be perceived differently by customers.
There is a detailed Marketing Strategy and Plan containing objectives and targets, including business growth. Financial targets are in place including turnover, profitability and control of working capital. Targets are set for both meeting and exceeding customer expectations. There is a long-term development plan, with an associated fundraising team in place, including in the USA. Future development is currently being restrained in response to the
Feedback from research and client networking meetings has been specifically addressed and this information was seen to have been collated for the planned strategy and business planning review in January 2010.
Approval processes ensure that key stakeholders’ needs are incorporated and agreed.
There are other local stakeholders, for example, the client is now the biggest employer in Holyhead and thus has a major role to play in the community. As an example, the planned extension of the marina will involve the town and its residents.
Feedback from research and client networking meetings has been specifically addressed and this information was seen to have been collated for the planned strategy and business planning review in January 2010.
Customer satisfaction reports are published every month along with details of complaints and compliments received.
Customer feedback is obtained through methods including periodic member and user surveys, customer comment cards (for members and their families, for event organisers, and for event participants), and via face-to-face contact with customers. Feedback from these sources was seen to be discussed at management, departmental and team meetings.
Feedback from staff using the staff restaurant is obtained from face-to-face comments and via the Staff Committee.
A full set of targets as KPI are formulated for response and satisfaction level of clients and delegates.
A management development programme, ‘Who Cares Wins’ has been a major initiative during 2008/9 and, like similar previous programmes, appears to have been well-received by managers and staff. Staff turnover has fallen to 14%. There is an absence management procedure, and it was stated that absence (other than long-term illness) is not a current concern.
A new post has been created specifically to manage continuing development of all staff from recruitment throughout employment. Specific training and development targets have been set.
All of the above are indicators of the type of evidence being sought against the criteria and as you will be aware lack of this type of evidence could result in a lower score than might otherwise have been achieved. In addition where evidence such as this is diminished or reduced in subsequent re-assessments assessors have to take account of this unless they can see an improved mechanism being brought into play to deliver the same outcomes.
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