Professional Documents
Culture Documents
ABSTRACT
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The Pre Opening process covers the “necessary pre operation management up to the
Hotel Opening”. The pre opening management knows exactly what is needed for the
successful opening and operation of the hotel. It requires many small, individual
steps, the first of which is taken long before the hotel opens its doors.
The pre opening budget contains gross estimates for the various activities such as
advertising, manpower etc..
Details of sales & marketing costs according to the Sales & Marketing plan for the pre
opening period must be indicated.
Timing of hiring and the start date of all department heads and associates must be
indicated by position. A complete budget for compensation and benefits in the pre-
opening period is needed.
General Manager expenses must be detailed by category, travel, office expense, other
promotions, legal fees, recruitment fees, training fees and other operator expenses
during the period, etc.
A realistic time frame to enrol the required personnel in the payroll is crucial. This is by
far the largest expense during the pre-opening phase and must be monitored very
closely in order not to overrun the budget. The recommended time frame must be
presented and discussed with the owners well in advance. In most pre openings,
according to the hotel’s size and facilities, the following time frame should be adequate in
order to ensure a smooth opening:
• The General Manager (12 to 14 months before the expected opening date)
• Personal Assistant (PA) to the GM (10 to 12 months before the expected opening
date)
• Director of Engineering (10 to 12 months before the expected opening date)
• Director of Finance (8 to 10 months before the expected opening date)
• Director of Sales and Marketing (8 to10 months before the expected opening
date)
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1 Manager shall, prior to the Opening Date, which will be scheduled according to …….,
render the following pre-opening services:
(a) Recruit, employ and direct the Sales & Marketing staff
(c) Develop and implement a pre-opening marketing plan for the Hotel and enter into
agreements with domestic and international travel agents and tour operators.
(d) Develop a homepage, brochures, flyers, printed matters such as menus and the like,
advertisements, direct mailings, familiarisation-trips, press invitations, PR-events to
business multipliers etc., and initiate and prosecute sales, promotion and publicity
programs designed to attract guests to the Hotel on and after the Opening Date.
(e) Negotiate lease agreements for gift shops, office space etc. within the Hotel premises
with Owner's prior approval.
(h) Not later than 90 (ninety) days prior to the scheduled Opening Date, prepare and
submit to Owner, for review and approval, the annual budget for the first Fiscal Year.
(i) Define the distribution channels strategy and start distribution activities like: integrate
the Hotel within a world-wide global reservation service, define and start e- & m-
commerce activities.
(n) Undertake other necessary steps to ensure broad market penetration and efficient
operation of the Hotel.
Owner shall provide Manager a pre-opening office on the site equipped with all necessary
communications technology (telephones, fax machine, P.C., calculator, paper etc.) as well
as initial office supplies etc.
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Modul II:
Development of a strategic PR and communication Plan
Modul III:
Applied Marketing Consulting - execution of operational PO Marketing activities,
implementation of a Sales & Marketing department, reporting and controlling of all S&M
activities.
Modul IV:
Selection, implementation and training of a new Sales & Marketing team.
What do we charge:
Modul I and II – fixed amount
Modul III and IV – price per hour, per day, per month or fixed package for a period.
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bank-account:
• also most of the time done by your investor/owner
• in the pre-opening period the working account and the bank might be different to the bank
after opening
installation of an office:
• the easiest and cheapest way is to install your pre-opening office at a partner-hotel
• advantage: you get assistance and feedback from your colleagues and they immediately
get do learn the new property and do cross-selling
• furniture: take care to buy furniture that can easily be transported to your main-office in
the hotel after the pre-opening time
• do not forget to book computer-installations resp. software-installations and trainings in
time – the computer employees are often very busy!
• try to make a pre IT organisation-plan before buying
car:
• in the pre-opening the DOSM is often using his/her private car due to the fact that no
additional investments should be made until effective business has started
• advantage for the DOSM: additional salary out of km-payment (no taxing on it) and
therefore extra benefit & motivation
fact-sheets:
• this is the first real “media” you present to the public – therefore make it as good as
possible, because: “First impressions go a long way!”
• the following facts should be in:
• opening date
• rooms + description (size, no. of rooms, equipment, etc.)
• interior business portfolio like restaurants with theme, bars, banqueting facilities, Club-
Lounges, Room-service, recreational facilities
• incentive-programmes
• location of the hotel + area-description (only if necessary)
• CONTACT address + tel.no., fax, e-mail, web-site, mobile phone, etc.
• Maybe transfers, airport-connections, etc. – any point you feel that is necessary to give an
overall impression
produce printing-material:
• in order to transport your CI and your logo (done by your advertising-company or you got
an existing logo from your hotel-chain anyway) right from the beginning, let print
envelopes in different sizes, letter-paper (1st and 2nd page!) and maybe already
presentation-maps
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• additionally to that let print your business-cards in the correct CI, also include the info that
this is the pre-opening office and maybe also the opening-date of your property
information-material:
• in order to know what is going on in the area your hotel is built, let yourself put into the
mailing-list of important hotels in the area resp. of hotels of interest (the ones you could
learn something of or you can compare with)
• if these hotels know you by name, you can also ask friends and relatives to get into
mailing-lists
• additionally check the information-material of all competitors in the area resp. try to get
image-brochures of the region to get involved
• if there are any tourism-fairs the region/hotels of interests participate – go there as a
regular client
• nowadays it is very easy through internet to get updated information easily – almost every
hotel and region already got an own homepage with updated, actual information – take
your time and check-it up at least once a month!
competition analysis:
• after figuring out the strengths and weaknesses of your hotel and the other visited hotels,
you are able to do your competition analysis
• the following facts should be included:
• name, year of building, stars of the hotel
• brief description of restaurants, bars, banqueting facilities, recreational facilities incl. exact
capacities
• facilities belonging to the hotel like tennis-courts, golf-courts, kindergarden, etc.
• facilities close to the hotel like eg. helicopter-landing-area, fitness-centre, lake, etc.
• comparison of prices (rack rates, seasonal offers, packages, conference-all inclusive offers)
• USPs + shortcomings of different hotels
• Positioning of other hotels in comparison to your hotel
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• simply start with things you need every month like eg. travel expenses or enrolment-fees
and go step by step until the opening
• generally keep most of the budget for the last three months before the opening – in this
time most of your advertising efforts should take place
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• in general the overnight stays are calculated at a lower rate than the rack rate (10 to
20% lower) and also the other items should be purchased at a lower price (negotiations
with your partners is therefore necessary)
• you can include items that do not cost you very much, but have a higher value to the
client like welcome-cocktail, late check-out, VIP-treatment in the room (flowers, pralinés,
bath-robes, personal welcome-letter, information map, a bottle of champagne, additional
guest supplies, etc.), free ticket for public means of transport during stay, complimentary
use of in-house fitness-centre and sauna, children in the room of the parents free of charge
(especially interesting for holidays), etc.
production of a shell-/rack-folder:
• the so-called shell- or rack-folder is most of the time the first printed item going to the
clients (after your fact-sheet) - therefore you advertising company has to put big effort in
it
• you can include facts (how many rooms, exact opening-date,…), first image-texts,
mission statements, a slogan, as well as rack-rates and first packages
• as your photo-material is limited at that time buy pictures from picture agencies like eg.:
Pix or talk to the local tourism-board for assistance
• a drawing or computer-animated version how the hotel and the rooms will look like should
be included as well as pictures from the region/town to get a first imagination of the site
• never forget a small map, a description of the access (highways, streets) and distances
to the next airport resp. train-station
• often after the official opening shell-folders are updated, new prices and pictures are put in
and they are used for giving first, short information (especially for fairs, TOs, at the front-
desk for walk-ins, etc.) to avoid a high production of the more expensive
• printing-material – if the guests and companies are still interested, you can afterwards
send them more detailed information-material (banquet maps, image-brochures)
Hiring of employees:
• “Good employees are the key to be successful in the long-run!”
• therefore take care about the hiring, start with the hiring-process on time and do at least
2 interviews with every employee: a pre-selection can be done by yourself resp. by the
HR-manager and the 2nd interview has to take place with the future department head,
because the liking of each other plays an important role as everyone in the business has to
deal with a lot of stress, must be flexible all the time and therefore fit into the team
• to get employees, you could do the following:
- put advertisements in national, regional or special interest media (like “Rollin Pin”,
Traveller, etc.)
- place the ad in your internet-system (when you belong to a hotel-chain)
- check the employees in the area (at your competition hotels, because they know
the job, the area AND the competition!)
- ask a “head-hunter” for assistance
inventory-check:
• If the future F&B Manager and other department-heads are not yet employed, you also
have to take care about first decision of your inventory
• Most of the time you must not care about gathering information, because as the other
companies also want to sell something, they find out who is working in the pre-opening
department and therefore you often get more information-material and calls as you wish to
get!
• Select the best ones and gather the information for your colleagues later on
• There are additionally a lot of special fairs for hotels that offer all needed items
(glassware, cutlery, guest-supplies, washing-machines, caddies, towels, etc.) – you
normally gather all needed information within the visit of one specialized fair eg. in Austria
“Gast” – taking place every year in November for 1 week in Salzburg
• If you have to take first decisions about your inventory by yourself (often they have to be
ordered months in advance as they have to be produced specially in your wished quality
with your logo), check your inventory-lists incl. your budget first, let the companies
make offers and let them bring patterns (it is usual that you get free patterns)
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• Not only the design is important (style of glasses has to fit to style of cutlery, etc.)! You
also have to test these pattern-items on their quality (eg. put the towel 30 times to
washing-machine, scratch the cutlery, etc.), before you take the final decision.
Fairs:
• As you have to book fairs 3 to 12 months in advance, inform yourself at the fair-offices
you know directly, ask your colleagues in the chain for assistance or contact your tourism-
board for additional information (normally a fair-calendar is released every year from the
national tourism-board incl. exact dates, costs, locations and contact addresses)
• To save costs try to find a partner (another hotel in the area that is not your main-
competitor, a partner like a travel-agency or taxi company or a hotel from your chain).
Often you can also participate at the booth of your local or national tourism-board
• It is important to know in advance, how you are going to present yourself as the
professional fair-organizers worldwide already need very detailed information when booking
a booth (m², tables & chairs, lights, electric-power in VAT, water, floor-coverings and
colours, flowers, etc.)
• If you are not experienced, ask for help in your advertising agency or at the fair itself –
they always offer the service of booth-designing, lightening, etc. – this of course costs you
more, but it is better to do it in a professional way (as the booth itself already costs you a
lot, you shall not save money on the wrong place!)
• Also check flights and accommodation on time – especially international fairs like WTM in
London or IT & ME in Chicago require bookings of at least 6 months in advance!!!
Photo-shootings:
• Organize a photo-shooting as soon as your first “show-rooms” resp. “mock-up rooms” are
finished
• You can ask your advertising agency for assistance – most of the time they already know
good photographers. You can also invite some, check their work they did up to now and let
them make an offer
• A professional photographer costs you a lot of money but is at the end worth it –
normally in Austria you can calculate for 2 days including all material (films, light, prints –
best in slide-format, medium size) approx. € 2.500,--
• Photographers are artists – therefore make the working-atmosphere as cosy as possible!
• Additionally you need professional models. You get them from model-agencies or check
model-cards by yourself. If you use non-professionals, check in advance how they will look
on pictures with make-up. Often natural beauties do not look good any more on pictures!
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• Also check for a visagist and hair-dresser (often the same person) – do not try to save
that money, it can make one model look completely different!
• Prepare a list with all necessary accessories – it otherwise can hinder your work
tremendously! Check for flowers, books, drinks, guest-supplies, etc. on time.
Press-Mailing:
• Inform the press that you are here!
• Normally the local press and the tourism-press is doing this for free – check the exact
responsible persons in advance in order to avoid your mailing to land in the dustbin!
• Include your name, your age, your actual position, your former career and some
important point about the hotel (opening date, how many rooms, specialization) and a
picture in good quality
• If you want to do something special (in order that everyone keeps you in mind), include a
funny picture – see example!
• The press-release is not only good for the information of your colleagues and competitors
but is also the first good advertising for your hotel!
Presentation map:
• To be able to do your first sales-calls, you should have a good-looking presentation map
including the following:
- pictures in good quality in A4-format (no colour-copies!) with head-lines
- fact-sheet
- shell-folder
- folders about the region
- idea for incentive-programmes
- prices
• Alternatively a good Power Point Presentation on your laptop is a good tool to support your
sales-efforts
Personal sales-calls:
• Most of the time a lot of companies contact you personally as they heard of your new
property – these have to be visited first as they are really interested!
• For the next appointments contact your colleagues in the hotel-chain resp. your tourism-
board resp. the government for helpful addresses
• Before doing personal sales-calls, check the interest with telemarketing. If they are
interested, suggest a date for your visit. To get an appointment it is better to suggest a
certain date - then they just say YES or NO. Most of the time then they offer you an
alternative date by themselves. If you ask them when they got time, you will often find out
that they won´t have time within the next months…..
• If they are not interested at all or not for the moment, put them into your computer-
system with a FUP-date for later on (maybe you check again one year later – a lot could
have changed in the company in the meantime).
• Always be careful with your addresses – YOUR ADDRESSES ARE YOUR ASSET!
• For the sales-call itself be dressed in a proper way, be on time (at least 5 minutes before
the official appointment-date, but not too early!), get all information requested with you
and also bring a give-away. How the appointment itself is working depends a lot on your
selling-experience and of course on your prospective client! It is the best when you ask for
his requirements first and then present the property – the rest is arising from itself!
At the end always thank your client for the time and try to arrange a second appointment
resp. any FUP-action. To stay in your client´s memory you could bring a small give-away
that he/she keeps in his/her office (maybe a nice pen, a calendar, a paper-weight, etc.
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Preparation of image-folders:
• When you got all pictures in the desired quality, all the regional information and the first
feed-backs from your prospective clients, it is time to produce your image-brochures
together with your advertising agency.
• A lot of meetings are necessary to get the final result – either you let the agency produce
first dummies by themselves without giving any input (in order not to block any creativity)
or you give them a small briefing on how it should approximately look like.
• Normally you control and correct the dummies ongoing: paper quality, size of the
brochures, texts, content of the texts, headlines, pictures, headlines to the pictures.
• The printing-order finally is going to the most experienced AND in addition to one of the
cheapest printing-offices. Be sure to get a final “digi-proof” to avoid missprints before
the litho is done. If you have a full-service advertising agency they should be present
when starting the print as especially final colour-corrections have to be done in the last
minute.
• Also let people that are not directly involved in the production process read through your
dummies – they can give you important inputs from the “non-professional” side: What is
missing? What is not clear and easy to understand? What do they think is not necessary to
put in? Maybe they also find any spelling-mistakes (often you and the employees of the
advertising agency read through the text 50 times and then you do not see the mistakes
any more!).
First site-inspections:
• In order to learn to know your property right from the beginning, you can do site-
inspections already at the building-plot. Take care that no safety-problems occur and that
the show-rooms are in a good condition (no old flowers, no dust, no emptied mini-bars,
etc.) – always check with the architect before entering the building-plot!
• If possible, also invite your guests for lunch, dinner or at least a coffee to create a more
cosy atmosphere, make a polaroid at the building-plot for their office (maybe with helmets)
and give them a give-away to stay in their mind.
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• Whatever you do a the beginning, stays in mind for a long time! So be careful when
preparing first events.
Opening-celebration:
• If you want to have something special, you should plan an opening-celebration at least ½
year in advance! The moderation, the music, the artists – everybody is having a full time-
schedule.
• If you plan something that does not fit in your budget, you can also check for sponsors
and co-investors: Often future suppliers are interested in participating – either they give
you cash-money or products for free!
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Key Duties:
• Sell every available room at most profitable rate possible.
• Anticipate future room availability, must be aware of existing reservation, must have
effective procedures to handling telephone reservation requests, must co-ordinate
with sales dept. On convention or group reservation.
• Must provide written confirmation of reservations.
Reservation manager:
• Works under direction of FO manager or S&M Manager.
• Is responsible for complete processing of reservations and reservation
correspondence.
• Maintenance of up-to-date information concerning room availability and statistical
control of rooms and reservations
• Preparation and distribution of reports on reservations to all relaxant departments.
Reservationist:
• Maintain up-to-date, accurate reservation records.
• Keeps convention history records and suite and VIP accommodations lists.
• Supervises daily preparation and distribution of special attention list „SPAIT“ .
• Takes charge of the reservations office and all of its functions during the absence of
the reservations manager.
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Front Desk
1. Locker Operation
2. Uniform Issue Location
3. Employee Entrance to Dept (Show the way)
4. Departmental Tour (Introductions)
5. Review Schedule
6. Time Clock (Location/Operation
7. Review Footwear
8. Introduce Training Plan/ Manual
Room Tour
1. Floor Plan
2. Types and Rates
3. Connectors as room types
4. Smoking and Non Smoking
5. Business Club and Amenities
Review AM Procedures
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a. Fitness Center
o Hours of Operation
o Banquet functions (What happens)
o Locker Rooms
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Review Availablity
Reservations (1 – 2 Hours)
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1. Practice Check out procedures and review different billing with groups
2. Do a roll-out
1. Duplicate keys
2. Suite and connector keys
3. Meeting room keys ( Security)
AM Morning Checklist
Room Orientation
1. Alarm Clock
2. TV
a. In-room movies
1. Shopping Station
2. Review account balance and check out
3. Nintendo
a. Cable Stations
b. TV Guide
1. Telephone
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c. Voice mail
d. Local and Long distance charges
a. Robes
b. Bathroom
c. Ice Service
Currency Conversion
1. Group Billing
2. Resumes’
a. Confidential rates
b. Comment fields
c. Special Service codes
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1. Meaning of codes
a. General
b. Room Type
c. Rates
a. Package codes
b. Rate Codes
a. Review folios
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b. Group Billing
1. Registration Cards
1. Bucket Check
2. Final Balance
3. Room Rate Variance Report
4. Complimentary Rooms report
5. Departed Group folios
Blocking VIP’s
Concierge Department
Bell Staff
1. Department Procedures
2. Interdepartmental Communications (Introduction to a check-in)
3. Room Changes (keys, information)
4. Delivery of faxes / messages / packages
5. Luggage and storage procedures
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Front Door
1. Valet Procedures
2. Luggage (Arrival/Departure)
3. Warm Welcome
4. Escorting guests to front desk upon arrival
5. Lap-top procedures
6. Golf bag storage- Bag pulls
1. Posting spa
2. Posting restaurant charges
3. Posting laundry
Amenities
1. Waits
2. Turn down Service
3. Guest Requests
4. Engineering vs. Housekeeping (Guest problem resolution)
1. Late C/O
2. Early C/I
3. Inroom movies
4. Wake-up calls
5. Messages
6. Special Billing
7. Faxes ( Sending)
8. Room Changes
Room Waits
1. Waiting a room
2. Computer process
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Relocating guests
Disabled Guests
1. ADA Rooms
2. TTDY sets for hearing impaired
3. Beach Wheel chair
4. Security assistance
5. Back of the House access
6. Legal Obligations
Communications
1. Interdepartmental Communications
2. Faxes incoming
3. Emergency Procedures
4. Voice Mail
5. Text messages
6. Daily function sheets and extensions
7. Maintenance and repairs
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Handling Emergencies
1. Hurricane
2. Bomb Threat
3. Power Outage
1. Logging points
2. Reference manual
3. Certificates (Processing and rate)
1. awards
2. currency
3. Gift Certificates
Date ______ Day 21: Meet with Front of the House Manager and Trainer
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