An example of optimisation in hotel management in an urban hotel chain in Barcelona.
About three years ago we started working with Praktik Hotels. The experience with this chain of 5 hotels located in the best locations in the centre of Barcelona, has been a great opportunity for GuestPro and a lever for learning about the urban hotel sector.
Praktik Hotels are 5 ecofriendly hotels that share the same philosophy but without losing their own identity. Practical and functional design, unbeatable value for money for a destination like Barcelona and first-class facilities and services with a staff that works tirelessly to make guests feel comfortable, as if they were at home.
To find out how Praktik Hotels and GuestPro have been working together for almost three years, we spoke to Magaly Julien, Senior Operations Project Manager at Praktik.
Holiday vs. urban
We chatted in what would be an authentic bakery environment, at the Praktik Bakery where they serve some of the best bread in town. Magaly Julien has been working in the hotel industry for almost 20 years now and her experience is very interesting for us to observe first hand the differences between holiday and city hotels. She started working as a receptionist in hotels in Menorca such as Roc Hotels or Casas del Lago, to make the leap 14 years ago to Barcelona, first as director of Praktik Bakery, then as director of openings and, finally, in her current position as director of operations of this urban chain.
The change is considerable, Magaly tells us, "from signing contracts and closing quotas for a year in Menorca, to arriving at Praktik and selling the hotel directly with the help of a platform and calculating the revenue, something I had not done until then". But the differences go beyond that, he explains that it is a different customer profile with shorter stays in Barcelona, which makes management more agile due to the higher turnover. In addition, Julien comments that his chain works to offer different experiences and differentiate itself from the rest. " In a city that has hotels on every corner, you have to specialise and differentiate yourself on a human level by offering an experience, which is why we have customised each hotel".
Experiences and themed hotels
And this is one of the most visible characteristics of Praktik Hotels. Its philosophy is based on offering experiences and that is why its 5 hotels each have a different theme. In this way, their guests add a parallel experience to that of visiting the city once they return to their accommodation.
The 5 Praktik hotels each have their own theme. For example, Bakery has its reception inside a bakery and, in addition, thanks to ducts leading to the corridors of the rooms, the whole hotel smells of freshly baked bread. Vinoteca, as its name suggests, is dedicated to wine; they welcome you with a glass of wine, offer wine tastings and change their selection of local, quality wines every year. Thanks to a very carefully crafted storytelling they have created their themes; Èssens is based on perfumes, so they created three fragrances with a local perfumer that combined create the smell of Barcelona "what does Barcelona smell like? At Praktik Èssens you will find out". Finally, Praktik Garden has a garden in its inner courtyard where gardening workshops are offered and, Rambla is located in a modernist building and revolves around history.
Facing the COVID
Another thing that surprises us about the history of the chain and its way of working and organising itself is what Magaly tells us about how they faced the most difficult period for the sector, the COVID. The management team's ability to react and anticipate, which they knew how to pass on to all the staff, led them to convert some of their establishments into Hotel Salut. Together with the Consorci de Sanitat, the fire brigade... the rooms of hotels such as the Bakery itself were transformed to attend to COVID patients. They were pioneers in Barcelona in helping during the pandemic, which meant, as Magaly tells us, the best experience she has lived during her career on a human level and also the hardest.
What happened during those months was undoubtedly a test, a test that taught them to anticipate, to reinvent themselves, to try new things according to the needs that arose. For example, some of their hotels were also transformed into colivings as soon as they were able to open to meet the existing demand for this type of service. What needs arise at any given moment, what can I do in these cases and always make the best use of them to keep the business afloat, this is one of Praktik's mottos.
Optimisation, optimisation, optimisation
Let's talk about hotel management, day-to-day business and how to optimise a chain of 5 urban hotels to the maximum, which is something Magaly Julien knows a lot about.
How to optimise to the maximum this chain of 5 hotels in a city like Barcelona, with a total of 266 rooms and 60 staff? At Praktik they are different and Julien is very clear about this. To achieve this optimisation, they base their expenses on revenue, that's the secret. They are using revenue management not only to sell better, but also to adapt their expenses and their budget in order to optimise resources. " There is no other secret than to make ratios and take good care of our staff," Magaly tells us. The importance they give to the team is also fundamental for the optimisation of their management and the success of the project.
In Praktik "there is no archaic hierarchy of management, assistant management, reception manager...". They are committed to people who are willing to learn and work, with empathy and capable of getting involved in the project. Of course they need basic training, but they do not hesitate to continue training their staff and to give them freedom and trust so that they can help in management and take on responsibilities. The result is an involved team, with little turnover, that believes in the project and feels Praktik as their own home. They create talent and talent moves and this is what the chain prides itself on.
The key role of technology
Another of the fundamental aspects that contribute to the optimisation of its management is, without a doubt, technology. And this is where the collaboration with GuestPro starts, using our PMS soon 3 years ago. Magaly Julien, who clearly opted for this implementation, highlights how it helps them to optimise time, for example, in check in and check out, displaying rates or managing inventories. According to her, this is very valuable for optimising her staff, as it saves time that can then be invested in customer service and improving their experience at the hotel. The management also takes advantage of this time to train and accompany new recruits or to work on new ideas.
We spoke to Rut, receptionist at Bakery, who told us that the PMS is like her mobile phone in real life, "without it, without the PMS, I can't do anything at reception". She uses it above all for check-ins, check-outs and planning, and appreciates its agility, the fact that it is very intuitive, "almost made to order", she points out. " Even trainees can handle it," he concludes.
From management, what they use most are the revenue and occupancy reports, the forecast and production, and from here they have all the information for the day. Then there is time to go deeper, but this is the main thing, says Magaly.
The final assessment of these years working together is very positive: "we have established a conversation between technology and hotel", says Julien. This has translated into improvements that have been made to the PMS thanks to requests from the Praktik team, after all, they are the ones who are working and who provide us with ideas and suggestions that we implement. " Of everything we have asked for, 95% has been solved", she says; but there are always things to improve, such as "putting a notice when a note is entered in the room on the day of check-out so that we have a record at reception", suggests Rut.
