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Recent discussions with and Menti poll results from all three of HSMAI’s Rising Leader Councils have identified issues impacting our rising leaders. Looking at the challenges across commercial functions reveals nuanced concerns that vary across sales, marketing, and revenue management. Economic uncertainty was a concern across the board, closely followed by the need to manage rising operational and marketing costs effectively. Technology offers immense opportunities and presents some adaptation challenges, even for the digitally native generation. Read on for a look at each council’s rankings.
For sales professionals, the primary concern is rate management and revenue strategy conflicts.
Marketing leaders are primarily focused on rising operational and marketing costs as the issues impacting hotels. In the rank of what was impacting the rising leaders themselves, career progression topped the list. One participant shared, “there’s limited director of marketing positions for on-property. If you want to grow when you’re on property, you get pushed to corporate. Many may not want to jump into a portfolio of 30 plus because you still want to do social media, the fun activations and more of that guest experience marketing, but you get pushed more into analytical marketing, because there aren’t other positions to move into.”
Revenue management professionals cite economic uncertainty and inflation as their top concern. One rising leader suggested “Everyone’s uncertain when it relates to this and the reality is there is no magical formula to figure out which way it’s headed tomorrow or even a couple months from now. What’s most important is recognizing that uncomfortable feeling is mutually felt by everyone.”
Despite these variances, a unifying thread among all groups is the impact of economic uncertainty, which underscores the need for all disciplines to have a seat at the table. One participant astutely posited, “It’s so important to address this economic uncertainty with all teams, not just revenue management or sales or marketing. You have to bring in distribution as well. A key word that I’m using a lot lately is prioritization. What’s going to be our strategy moving forward? Are we going to be focusing more on heads and beds? Are we going to be focusing more on technological improvements. That has to be a conversation amongst the commercial strategy team.”
Technological adaptation, another theme, highlights the industry’s push towards digital transformation. For rising leaders, however, the challenges often extend into personal development, with issues like career progression, work-life balance, and leadership credibility. Burnout is a prevalent issue among rising leaders, driven by the need to manage multiple responsibilities and keep up with rapid technological changes. “With technology that’s ever changing…every morning you wake up and you feel like you have to be on top of the next trend or something new. And just when you think, I finally caught up, a new course comes out about something in digital marketing and you think oh, now I have to start all over again. You’re constantly feeling like you’re never caught up and you’re just go, go, going and you can never take a break.”
The leadership strategies that emerge in response to these challenges will likely define the success of the hospitality sector for years to come. Rising leaders are fostering environments where innovation is encouraged, collaboration is required, and learning is continuous.
They are seeking career pathways and mentoring programs can help mitigate some of the unique personal and professional challenges they face. Moreover, adopting flexible pricing and marketing strategies that can quickly respond to market changes will be crucial for maintaining competitiveness.
Rising Leaders Councils are made possible by funding from the HSMAI Foundation. They are two-year term advocacy groups, comprised of up-and-coming professionals working in a mix of hospitality roles (e.g., hotel on-property, regional, or corporate, DMO, DMC, Management Company, brand or partner, etc.), learn more about HSMAI Rising Leaders.