"Recovery plans" have dominated industry conversations for months. But most of them are still thinking too small. The pandemic has not just shifted the rules — it has removed the boundaries entirely. The box is bigger than it has ever been.
Start With the Traveller's Perspective
Effective recovery planning has one prerequisite: put the traveller's perspective first. Not the operator's perspective. Not the revenue manager's perspective. The traveller's.
When lockdowns began, the hospitality sector faced the most severe financial strain in modern history. Travel halted almost universally. And in that stillness, something shifted in how people think about travel — what it is for, what they expect from it, and what will motivate them to do it again when the moment comes.
A useful framework is deeply personal: ask yourself, honestly, when and why you would visit a hotel right now. What would genuinely compel you? What concerns would need to be addressed before you booked? The answers to those questions are your recovery strategy's starting point — not a spreadsheet, not a channel mix analysis.
"This pandemic has already changed the traveller's mind. Past marketing approaches are not just less effective — they are actively counterproductive."
Why Discounts Are Not the Answer
The instinct to discount is understandable. Revenue is down. Occupancy needs to recover. A price reduction seems like the most direct lever available.
It is not. Discounts alone will not attract visitors whose hesitation is not about price — it is about safety, flexibility, purpose, and trust. The traveller's mind has changed. Sending out another rate promotion does not address any of the actual barriers to booking. It signals desperation rather than confidence, and it erodes the rate integrity that will take years to rebuild.
Getting Your Planning Right
Before committing to a recovery strategy, work through these questions honestly:
- What experiential motivation anchors your strategy — and is it relevant to who can actually travel right now?
- Have you identified a new target market segment that did not exist in your pre-pandemic mix?
- Why would a guest leave their home specifically for your property — what does your hotel offer that home does not?
- What services can you offer remotely, extending your brand presence beyond the physical property?
- How effectively are you communicating safety protocols — not as legal obligation, but as genuine reassurance?
- What booking terms would convert hesitant enquiries into confirmed reservations?
Be Bold. Be Creative. Take Risks.
The financial hardship of this period creates something that is rarely available in profitable times: permission to experiment. The downside risk of trying something bold is minimal when occupancy is already at floor level. The upside risk of finding something that works is transformational.
Specifically:
- Differentiate rather than imitate — watch what your competitors are doing and deliberately do something different
- Consult your international hospitality contacts — what is working in markets that are further along the recovery curve?
- Invite external perspectives — fresh eyes consistently see opportunities that internal teams have learned to overlook
- Observe recovery strategies across industries — retail, aviation, events — and ask how their insights translate to hospitality
- Embrace structural and procedural innovation — use the rebuild to install the operating model you always wished you had
"If you think your idea is out of the box — think again. The box is now bigger than it has ever been. Be bold. Be creative. Take risks."
The hospitality businesses that emerge from this cycle stronger will not be the largest, the oldest, or the best-funded. They will be the ones that thought differently — that used adversity as a design brief and built something genuinely new from the materials at hand.
The box is bigger. The question is whether you will use the space.