As hoteliers and hotel managers, we are busier today more than ever. Between managing the day-to-day operations, trying to find additional revenue source ensuring that the hotel remains profitable and constantly monitoring what the competition is doing, 24 hours is definitely not enough to accomplish everything and not get burnt out. Especially trying to deal with our online presence such as TripAdvisor, Facebook, Twitter.
This is where outsourcing comes in. As much as we all want to pretend that we’re superhumans who can do everything on our own, it’s just not sustainable to manage your hotel this way. You need to expand your team. However, hiring additional staff can sometimes be expensive.
Hiring a virtual assistant (VA) is a great way to lighten your workload without having to spend too much on salaries. Basically, a virtual assistant is someone who works for you, but is not physically present in your office. Sites such as OnlineJobs provides a deep pool of talented VA’s and because of the difference in currency, you get more for your dollar (you’ll probably save 75% or more in salary if you hire a VA from the Philippines versus hiring a VA from the United States).
Still not convinced? Here are 15 reasons why you should take advantage of this global outsourcing boom and hire yourself a virtual assistant.
1. Save Precious Time
No task is too small. However, as a hotel owner or hotel manager, you should not be wasting your time doing mechanical tasks. You should be involved with high level strategy that directly impacts your hotel’s revenues. With a virtual assistant, you can offload these mechanical tasks from your plate and focus on more productive tasks.
2. Timely Response to Guest Reviews
Once, you’ve oriented your virtual assistant about your hotel and once you’ve given him/her the basics on how to respond to guest reviews, your VA can regularly monitor travel review sites and draft responses to guest reviews that you can approve. This is important since more than 50% of travelers said that online reviews have significantly influenced their hotel booking decisions. Timely response to negative and positive reviews is important and your VA can give you this benefit. Read my article on How to Get More Reviews from Your Guests.
